Tilapia conference shows the way

380 industry representatives from 38 countries met in Kuala Lumpur in August 2007 for the second world tilapia trade conference. Tilapia production is likely to reach 4 million tonnes in the near future, thus exceeding the one of salmon production. The quantity of tilapia traded worldwide is still relatively small, at about 10%. The USA is the main world market, while EU imports are estimated at 10-15 000 tonnes only. Certification schemes will soon play an important role for tilapia trade. Many new players will soon enter the field, while India and Iran have just decided to allow tilapia culture in their countries.


US imports continue to grow

The tendency of the opening months of 2007 continued in the US market: total tilapia imports grow by leaps and bounds to exceed 100 000 tonnes in the first seven months of the year. In addition, the trend from whole to fillet trade continues strongly. Tilapia fillet imports grew by 34% in January-July 2007, while whole frozen declined by 10%. Frozen fillets are the main product form, accounting for 56% of total imports.

Chinese tilapia was excluded from the FDA checks on seafood products , as apparently the species is less subject to use of prohibited substances. As a result, exports of tilapia from China to the US market continued to grow in July, on the contrary of other seafood products. For instance, shrimp exports from China were about half from what they normally are in July. Likewise, catfish exports from China also slowed dramatically in July 2007.

China dominates the US frozen tilapia fillet imports, accounting for 90% of total supply. Exports of this product from China grew by almost 50% in the first seven months of 2007 when compared with the same period of last year. Indonesia is a distant second for this product form, it is mainly one company exporting this product from Indonesia to the US market.

Prices of frozen tilapia fillets have bottomed out, after continuous declines experienced in recent years. Shortages on the traditional groundfish market combined with fewer arrivals of catfish from China should create more demand for frozen tilapia and leading to higher prices in coming months.

China also dominates the frozen tilapia market in the USA, with an increasing share in total exports of this product to the US market (over 70%). However, the trend is clearly for a reduced presence of whole tilapia in the market.

Fresh tilapia fillets are in a different market segment all together. Their price is almost double the one of frozen fillets. Latin American countries dominate this market, taken advantage of the relatively proximity to the US market, which reduces shipments costs. In the first seven months of 2007, imports increased by 16% over the same period of 2006. This was mainly due to a recovery of Costa Rican tilapia production, after the disease problems of late 2005 and early 2006. Ecuador and Honduras also reported higher exports to the US market in 2007.

Thailand is a relatively small player in the tilapia business, with a mere 5 100 tonnes of frozen fillets exported in 2006. It is interesting to note, however, that Thailand is targeting the
EU market, with about 2 000 tonnes in 2006. Unfortunately, due to a revision in trade codes, no monthly statistics on tilapia trade are available for 2007.

No end to tilapia boom

The US market for tilapia is expected to grow even further in coming months and years. The EU market is also growing, with more products arriving from Asia, mainly China, Thailand and Indonesia. On the other hand, Brazilian tilapia exporters prefer to sell to their domestic market, rather than export to the USA, as with the re-valuation of the national currency against the US dollar, it is more convenient to sell in the Brazilian market. Something similar happens


By Helga Josupeit (GLOBEFISH)
© FAO GLOBEFISH 2007