New data presented at GAA’s GOAL conference in Guangzhou, China, has shown global tilapia and pangasius production are growing at a faster rate than farmed shrimp production. In addition, global Atlantic salmon production is expected to decline this year.
Here are the top 5 facts to know about aquaculture production from GOAL:
1.) Global tilapia production is expected to reach 5.97 million tons by 2018, an increase from 5.3 million in 2015, according to data presented by Ragnar Tveteras, a business economist at the University of Stavanger in Norway.
2.) Global Atlantic salmon production will slide from around 2.3 million metric tons in 2015 to 2.17 million metric tons in 2016. However, in 2017 production should grow slightly to 2.27 million metric tons, Tveteras said.
3.) Global shrimp production is only expected to rise from a projected 4.1 million metric tons in 2016 to 4.5 million metric tons in 2018, according to data presented by James Anderson, professor of food and Resource economics and director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Florida. Shrimp production is projected to grow 4.2 percent annually from 2015 to 2018. Farmed shrimp is still the top choice for global buyers over wild shrimp, accounting for 54 percent of world shrimp supplies in 2014, according to Anderson.
4.) Similar to tilapia, total catfish production – including pangasisus – will reach nearly 4.9 million tons in 2018, up from a projected 4.4 million metric tons projected for 2016. In 2018, Vietnam is expected to produce 1.3 milion metric tons of pangasius, while India will produce 640,000 metric tons and Bangladesh will produce around 450,000 metric tons.
5.) Lower farmed shrimp growth projections could be attributed to a decline in 2015 production in China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. “In response to higher prices, increased production in India, Vietnam, Ecuador and Mexico led to an overall increase in world production in 2014,” Anderson said. However, “production has fallen again in 2015.” Plus, while China is producing less shrimp, it is using more of its shrimp domestically. Chinese shrimp consumption soared 60 percent from 2010 to 2015, according to Anderson. As a result, Chinese shrimp exports plunged 37 percent from 2011 to 2015.
