Exhibitors at last month’s FOODEX Japan food and beverage trade show displayed a host of supply trends, one being changes in the farmed grouper supply chain.
Lucky Holder Frozen Foods Co., Ltd., based in Taipei has been exporting farmed grouper mainly to China, with live fish transported by boat an important part of the business. However, Business Manager Jackson Tsai sees this trade shrinking as the mainland ramps up its own grouper production and undercuts his prices.
He hopes to find new customers in Japan and the United States and is counting on quality to overcome future Chinese competition in these markets. The company has Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point certification and has applied for the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices certification.
“Grouper takes a long time to grow, and during that long growth period the fish are likely to get sick. We have good techniques to keep them healthy because we have a lot of experience with this fish,” says Tsai. “China has poor regulation of fish medication. Sometimes they use banned substances.”
Lucky Holder raises giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) and orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) south of Taiwan and has it available year-round. Wild grouper can grow to hundreds of pounds. The USA likes big grouper for steaks, while in China the whole fish is used in a plate presentation, so a size of 1-2 kilograms (kg) is preferred.
Japan cultivates the seven-band grouper, also called “convict grouper,” in reference to the striped uniforms once used in U.S. prisons. The species (Epinephelus septemfasciatus) is called “mahata” in Japanese. Longtooth grouper (Epinephelus bruneus) is also farmed.
Grouper is well liked in Okinawa, but is not as regularly eaten elsewhere in Japan.
Ehime Prefecture aquaculturists have added the fish to their mainstay sea bream operations with success over the last five years. While a 2.5-kg grouper (the preferred size for Japan) sold at about 2,500 yen per kilogram (USD 26.57, EUR 20.42) in 2010 when Japanese grouper production was reaching commercial scale, last week most suppliers were estimating prices at around 1,500 yen (USD 15.94, EUR 12.25).
Japan’s production is mainly aimed at the domestic market. But now there is research in Okinawa to tap the Chinese market with a red grouper. Japan’s Fisheries Research Agency (FRA) displayed bright red farmed leopard coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus) at the Seafood & Technology Expo in Osakain February.
Dr. Tadashi Andoh, Research Coordinator for the FRA, says they expect to get a higher return raising this fish, as the bright red color is very appealing for the Chinese New Year in February. Bright red is considered a festive color in China.
“The key point is the red color,” he said.
Grouper has a special sweetness and has abundant collagen in its skin, making it suitable for steaming or serving in a broth. Compared with the seven-band grouper, this species has a lighter taste, not as fat, but with more depth.
Dr. Takayuki Takebe, researcher of the Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute’s Research Center for Subtropical Fisheries and Aquaculture heads the research effort. He says flow control of water in the aquarium in the first 10 days from hatching is a critical point in reducing mortality. A 30 percent survival rate is considered good.
The program was started in 2008 and the annual volume now is 2,000-3,000 kg. The harvest weight at 18 months to 2 years is 600-700 grams. The species gains weight more slowly than the seven-band grouper. Dr. Takebe said that they hope to reach commercial scale in two to three years by transferring technologies to a hatchery in Onna-son village, Okinawa.
