The U.S.’s usage of pangasius increased in 2024 as an uptick in the price of tilapia drove customers to find an inexpensive whitefish alternative.
A panel of experts at the 2025 Global Seafood Market Conference – which ran from 20 to 23 January in Palm Desert, California, U.S.A. – highlighted U.S. customs data which shows a steady decline in U.S. tilapia imports since 2020.
That decline is occurring even as global production continues to increase and is expected to approach 16 billion pounds in 2025.
Pangasius production is also projected to increase in 2025, with Vietnam producing most of the world’s supply. As that product’s price remains stable and frequently ends up lower than the price for tilapia, it often ends up as a substitute for tilapia in the U.S.
Data for 2024 highlights some of that relationship.
Tilapia imports in 2024 declined, while imports of pangasius were up 37 percent.
According to Grobest Seafood Global President Ron Risher, the core driver of that shift is an uptick in the price of tilapia.
“Just focusing on the U.S. right now, we’re seeing that the current price for shallow skin-frozen [tilapia] fillets from China have been moving up over the last two years due to a number of different reasons – a lot of which just has to do with the cost of feed – and, of course, we have the Section 301 tariff which adds 25 percent and could go even higher,” Risher said. “Then, you compare that to pangasius, which has been stable for the last couple of years, and that is definitely a much lower price item compared to tilapia.”
Risher said another benefit offered by pangasius on top of its lower price is ...