Global tilapia production has increased by almost 150 percent over the past 10 years and will continue on a fairly strong growth trend in the next few years, but prices have been decreasing, Ragnar Tveteras, business economist at the University of Stavanger, Norway, told delegates at the Global Aquaculture Alliance's GOAL 2017 conference in Dublin, Ireland.
Overall tilapia production is expected to climb by a further six percent this year to a level of 6.4 million metric tons (MT), and rise to 6.5 million MT next year and 6.7 million MT in 2019. However, looking at the market – in particular the key U.S. imports of frozen fillets – prices have decreased from a level of USD 4 (EUR 3.41) or USD 5 (EUR 4.26) per kg in 2008 to an average price this year of USD 3.75 (EUR 3.19) per kg.
This means that demand has not grown in line with supply, said Tveteras.
China is the world’s leading tilapia producer with a total harvest in excess of 1.7 million MT last year, followed by Egypt (879,125 MT) and Indonesia (770,475 MT). China’s output is expected to be at about the same level this year, but with increased production coming from both Egypt and Indonesia.
Alex Ko of Taiwanese aquaculture group Grobest informed GAA that 2017 had brought a lot of change in the tilapia sector, and that while there was still “good demand” for the fish in the United States, the demand in the market had stopped growing.
With Chinese tilapia accounting for more than 90 percent of the frozen tilapia imported by the United States, Ko said that the market price at the pond level is now the same as the cost of production, so the farmers “aren’t happy.”
Supply is plentiful while demand isn’t sufficient to lift prices, he said.
Liu Rongjie, chairman of Hainan Xiangtai Fishery Co. Ltd., told GAA that the tilapia market had been on a downturn since 2015. Specifically, he said it has suffered from negative consumer perception with consumers incorrectly believing that the fish are farmed in poor conditions, and that it is also competing with pangasius, which has a lower cost of production.
China’s total tilapia export volume has increased this year, as has its export volumes to the U.S. market, but the export value and profit have remained the same as last year, said Liu.
