Blue Archipelago Bhd, a Malaysian shrimp aquaculture company, is targeting to capture 5% of the market in the next five years to take advantage of the rising global demand for shrimp products, according to CEO Faiez Shahridan.

The company is investing MYR4 million (US$1.25 million) in information technology (IT) in which SAP Business All-in-One and SAP BusinessObjects Edge Standard solutions will be used for more efficient operations, inventory and resource management as well as for international expansion plans to the US, Europe and Japan, Shahridan explained.

He was speaking after the signing of an agreement between the company and SAP, a leading provider of business software and its business partners in Malaysia, ObTech Asia Pacific and IBM Global Services.

Shahridan said the implementation of the IT system was expected to start this month and would be managed by ObTech Asia Pacific as the SAP channel partner and IBM Global Services as the consulting partner.

Apart from operating at a 420-hectare shrimp farm in Kerpan, Kedah, the company is also building a new 1,000-hectare Integrated Shrimp Aquaculture Shrimp Park (iSHARP) in Setiu, Terengganu.

Shahridan said iSHARP Setiu was designed to cater to premium export markets and was expected to contribute more than 70% of the company's total augmented production volume once it starts operation in early 2011.

"The iSHARP Setiu, together with our existing operations in Kerpan will give us a combined production of 14,000 tonnes valued at MYR150 million (US$47 million)," he said.

The company is currently exporting its products through a third party but planned to export directly from July, according to Shahridan.

The global shrimp market, currently worth about US$19billion, has been growing at an average 11% annually for the past five years.