| Tilapia Market Report - February 2007 | |||||||||
Tilapia
boom in the USA
US imports and consumption of tilapia is growing, some 360 000 tonnes (liveweight equivalent) were imported in 2006, which gives a per caput supply of 1.2 kg, impressive when considering that only five years ago this species was almost unknown in the market. Also in Mexico, per caput consumption of tilapia is similarly high, considering 90 000 tonnes of domestic production and a unknown quantity of imports. The Mexican market is awash with cheap and good quality tilapia from China, and local producers are suffering from this presence. On the other hand, in Europe, tilapia is still quite unknown, and total imports are stable at some 10 000 tonnes. Interesting
social and environmental initiatives
Aqua Finca is the biggest tilapia farm in Honduras, with 30 tonnes daily of fresh fillet exports mainly to USA. In 2006, Aqua Finca Saint Peter Fish opened a brand new fishmeal plant and a biodiesel plant based on tilapia oil. Total investment totalled US$ 20 million, which included fishmeal, biodiesel, processing and production. All the vehicles and the machines of the farm are running on biodiesel The company has huge interest in social activities (reforestation, education, health centres, community owned cages) which are entitled by the owner to receive 10% of company production capacity. This enables the communities to produce by themselves. All their proceeds must go back to the communities for environmental and educational projects. The company is also very active in good environmental practices, such as the production of biodiesel and is now venturing into organic aquaculture. They have just received the organic seal approval by Naturland and the Bio Swiss seal as well. Aqua Finca just started to send fresh fillets by boat, with a new technology called OceanChill. This way of transporting reduces the energy spent for transport and obviously the costs. In addition, the quality of the product at arrival is better then by air. These important investments are also reflected in the performance of the overall economy of the country. Total revenues for the export of tilapia from Honduras stood at approximately US$ 50 million in 2006, up from the US$ 41.2 million in 2005, according to data from the country's central bank Banco Central de Honduras (BCH). Tilapia thus becomes the country's sixth-leading export product behind coffee, banana, prawns, gold and zinc. Aqua Finca Saint Peter Fish leads the industry with a production volume of some 7 700 tonnes of tilapia. Around US$ 40 million are estimated to be invested in Honduras in 2007 in order to expand even further the tilapia production. More tilapia goes to the US market Most tilapia imports are now going directly to the US foodservice sector due to its white-fleshed meat and stable prices. Total tilapia imports in 2006 reached a new record of 158 000 tonnes product weight, or almost 360 000 tonnes liveweight equivalent. Tilapia is thus an important part of the US seafood diet. 2006 experience a 17% increase over the previous year. Frozen fillets are now the most important product form, overtaking whole frozen tilapia for the first time in history. This product form accounts now for almost half of all US tilapia imports, five years ago this share was only 20%. Fresh fillets increased only slightly, mainly due to disease problems in some producing countries.
In the past years, China has taken over completely the US frozen tilapia fillet market. A overwhelming 85% of the US imports of this product come from China, and all the recent growth is due to exports from this country. All other supplying countries play a secondary role, with no major movements to be recorded. Maybe these countries could target the European market in future years, as the US market appears dominated by Chinese supplies. The frozen tilapia fillet from China has all the characteristics of a commodity: same size, same shape and same quality in all shipments. This characteristic makes tilapia from China the ideal product for the food service sector. The unit vale of the Chinese frozen tilapia fillets is US$ 3.00/kg, while the major competitors (Indonesia and Ecuador) are selling at US$ 5.00/kg. Only Viet Name can offer a product at a lower unit value, but this did not help the country to improve its exports in 2006.
Whole tilapia exports to the US market grew somewhat in 2006, by 7.5%, but not much growth is expected for the coming years. Whole frozen tilapia has a unit value of US$ 1.50/kg, one of the lowest values among whitefish raw material. This explains why tilapia has such a success in the US market: it is an excellent and cheap raw material for value added whitefish products. The South and Central American countries are getting out from the whole tilapia market, as their only relative advantage on the market is the possibility to ship quickly and inexpensively high value fresh fillets, rather then trying to compete with China on the frozen tilapia market.
US fresh tilapia imports grew only marginally, due to stable imports from the main supplier – Ecuador – and the Costa Rican crisis. Ecuador is unlikely to come back as a main player, as the aquaculturists there are targeting the shrimp market rather than the tilapia market. When Ecuador suffered from disease problems in its shrimp industry during the late 1990s, the country switched to tilapia farming. Since then, shrimp and tilapia farming have been carried out side by side, often in the same pond, in poly-culture. However, in 2006, shrimp has become for almost all producers the main species, while tilapia was considered as a by-product. Due to this development, it is unlikely that Ecuador will produce more tilapia in coming years, and thus its exports to the US market are likely to stay at the 10 900 tonnes reached in 2006. Costa Rica experienced a disaster in its tilapia industry in late 2005, when almost the whole production was destroyed. This impacted production and exports also in the beginning of 2006. This seems to be overcome now, with fresh tilapia fillet exports in the last five months of 2006 reaching 1 300 tonnes, a 14% increase over 2005. A further increase is likely in the coming months, also in light of interesting investments in the country. The good performance of Honduras is encouraging, a 10% increase when comparing 2006 with 2005, but more is to come in 2007. The ambitious forecast by the manager of the main farm in the country, that Honduras will become the main fresh tilapia fillet exporter in one or two years time seems to be realistic.
Why not in Europe? Tilapia is still a new product in Europe. In addition it is difficult for Latin American producers to ship fresh fillets to the EU market, as transport costs increase enormously. Therefore Latin American producers have to tackle the frozen fillet market, where already pangasius and Nile perch are having an important foot in the door. Europe is thus an interesting market for tilapia, but rather in the long term, and mainly for value-added products of high quality profile. Present imports are still in the range of 10 000 tonnes per annum.
More tilapia to come The US market is likely to continue to grow, at a two digit rate. Very soon the 200 000 tonnes import mark will be reached, and more is to come. China has no limitations to its tilapia industry. The only real problem for the Chinese tilapia exports could come from some domestic interest group, aiming at protecting its own industry. Prices of tilapia are likely to stay low and even decline further, as can been seen from trend indicated in the price graphs. By Helga Josupeit (GLOBEFISH) © FAO GLOBEFISH 2006 |
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