American consumers will continue eating tilapia despite a recent drop in consumer confidence, according to Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based Aquabest, a major supplier of fresh tilapia from Columbia and Brazil for the American market.
“Tilapia consumers are fairly steady,” CEO Cesar G. Cantos told SeafoodSource at 2025 Seafood Expo North America, which took place 15-18 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
“It’s such an accessible, gentle fish,” he said. “It has such a mild taste, whatever you put into it, that’s what you [taste].”
The company has grown from its beginnings in 2009, when it sold only farmed Columbian tilapia. It now imports from farms in Brazil and has expaned to farming rainbow trout and selling other species, both frozen and fresh. Cantos said that sourcing tilapia from beyond Columbia was key to stablizing his company’s supply, and he credits his loyal customer base to reciprocity.
“They’re such loyal customers for years, you have to take care of them,” he said, noting that some of his customers date to before the founding of Aquabest.
Aquabest Business Development Lead Jose M. Azpiazu told SeafoodSource that the company had also grown through diversifying its production.
“We believe that the more value added you do with your customers, the less opportunity you have to lose them. So we do skin pack, we do smoked trout, we do many things,” he said.
Cantos told SeafoodSource that he predicted the strength of the tilapia market would only grow, even if the U.S. economic downturn that some have predicted occurs. “
If you go to the supermarket, which will be the cheapest … good quality fish? It will be tilapia,” said Cantos. “Salmon is much higher. If you go to the wild, even trout is much more expensive. Tilapia is going to keep growing, it’s going to keep growing, it’s going to keep growing.”
