Singapore’s Oceanus Group, which breeds premium Japanese abalones, said it aims to enter the Japan market next year to supply the chilled marine product and sees Abalone prices rising 5%.

“It’s a niche market but not a small market, quite substantial,” Chairman Ng Cher Yew told Thomson Reuters about the chilled frozen abalone market in Japan.

Oceanus, which farms Abalone along coastal lines of Fujian and Shandong provinces in China, has a cost advantage against other suppliers, he said.

“We are definitely well-positioned, we have the Japanese species, others are selling the Australian species not the same. We are very low cost,” Mr Ng said in an interview.

He also said that he sees abalone prices for the industry rising 5% this year.