U.S. catfish producers' sales jumped 12 percent in 2021 to USD 421 million (EUR 371.4 million), according to newly data released from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. states of Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas dominated the market, accounting for 97 percent of the sales. Mississippi again took the top spot, with sales of USD 258.4 million (EUR 228 million) in 2021, a 15.2 percent improvement from the USD 224.4 million (EUR 198 million) in sales its producers reported in 2020.
Alabama’s catfish producers reported USD 105.7 million (EUR 93.3 million) in sales, up 4.5 percent from 2020. In Arkansas, producers reported USD 22.3 million (EUR 19.7 million) in sales, up from USD 20.8 million in 2020, and Texas saw a USD 1.3 million (EUR 1.1 million) increase to USD 20 million (EUR 17.6 million) in 2021.
While sales increased, producers are now using fewer acres than they did a year ago. The USDA reported a total of 58,310 water surface acres were in use as of 1 January, 2022, a reduction of 1,795 acres from 2021.
Mississippi’s available acreage decreased by 600 acres this year to 34,100, while Alabama’s dropped by 700 acres to 14,900. Arkansas acreage increased by 200 acres to 3,800, while Texas lost 200 acres, reporting 1,600 available for 2022.
Producers are also reporting increases in broodfish inventory and decreases in foodsize fish.
The 730,000 broodfish available on 1 January, 2022 represents a 14 percent increase from a year ago. However, inventories for large foodsize fish – defined as catfish weighing at least 3 pounds – dropped 25 percent to 4.2 million this year. Inventories for medium-sized foodfish, defined as fish between 1.5 and 3 pounds, declined 6 percent to 44.2 million. Small-sized inventories also declined 6 percent, as the number of catfish between 0.75 and 1.5 pounds dropped to 97.8 million.
Alabama, the top producer of large-size fish, saw its inventory drop from 3.4 million in 2021 to 2.3 million this year.
Mississippi, the leading producer of small- and mid-sized catfish, reported declines of 1.9 million in medium-sized fish to 20.4 million and 9.8 million small-sized fish to 56.4 million.
Photo courtesy of Consolidated Catfish of America
