MIAMI, Florida, US -- Barramundi was the clear winner in an audience vote (see below) on the most promising emerging and underutilized species on a panel on the topic at the Global Seafood Market Conference, held this year in Miami, Florida. 

It’s not hard to see why. US imports of the farmed fish -- raised in both salt and fresh water -- have gone from just under 3 million pounds in 2015 to close to 6m in 2017.

Global production, in Asia and Australia, is also growing and should be close to 100,000 metric tons by 2019 (see below). 

Sales of barramundi are growing across all categories in US foodservice, according to SupplyTrack data presented by the panelists. 

The one flagged up by the panel leader is the drastic growth in what SupplyTrack classes as the “recreational” sector. 

This, he said, is cruise lines. A panelist with a retailer said barramundi has also worked well in his stores. 

“The response has been great. Customers ask for us to bring it back,” he said. 

An issue with barramundi is its grey in color, then goes white when cooked, so educating chefs and customers on this is key for growing sales, said the panelist speaking on the species. 

In 2015, big foodservice distributors also took barramundi under their wings, she said. 

“They’ve all been putting it in the mouths of consumers.” The other species covered on the panel were monkfish; croaker; walleye; Pacific rockfish; orange roughy; barramundi; steelhead; and yellowtail. 

Steelhead was voted second by the audience in terms of its market promise, with orange roughy and Pacific rockfish next. 

Although steelhead, also known as rainbow trout, has traction on menus in some regions, US imports are down in the latest data for 2017.