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Tilapia is increasingly popular in the USA, where its consumption has had a revolutionary development, far better than the most optimistic prospects. USA Trade Statistics also show that the US market has developed from "zero" to almost 70 000 MT (product weight) in 10 years.
In the period January-April 2003 the imports of tilapia to the US increased by 30% compared to the same period last year, from 20 000 MT to 26 000 MT. The imports of fresh and frozen fillets are increasing. In the period January-April 2003 the imports of frozen fillets increased by more than 100% compared to the same period in 2002. Fresh fillets increased by 40%, while whole frozen tilapia is slightly decreasing.

Ecuador and Costa Rica are the main suppliers of fresh tilapia fillets to the US market, while China and Taiwan Province of China supply the bulk of the frozen fillets and whole fish.

The US import statistics show that average price for tilapia fillets has been quite stable for the past three years.

Demand is also increasing in Europe

Europe has significantly increased its import of tilapia; however tilapia is not registered as a separate commodity item by the great part of the countries statistics, but registered together with several freshwater species, so the actual import to EU-countries is unknown.

Taiwan Province of China and USA are the only countries which register tilapia separately in the trade statistics, and Taiwan Province of China is the main supplier of tilapia to Europe. Taiwanese Province of China export statistics show that exports to Europe have grown from 889 MT in 1996 to almost 8 000 MT in 2002.

The total exports of whole frozen tilapia from Taiwan Province of China in 2002 was 39 000, of this 22 400 MT were exported to USA and 7 300 MT to Europe. Taiwan Province of China exports to Europe were for a value of approximately 7.8 million USD, with UK as the largest importing country.

In 2002 Taiwan Province of China exported 4 500 MT frozen tilapia fillets, of this 600 MT, to a value of approximately 2.6 million USD, came in to the European market, with Germany and Netherlands as the largest importers.

Other suppliers of tilapia to EU are Indonesia, Thailand, China, Viet Nam, Malaysia, USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Zimbabwe exports approximately 700 MT tilapia fillets to Europe, whereof 80% is fresh and 20% frozen. Prices for farmed fresh tilapia fillets have been stable over the last two years. Uganda supplies mainly fillets of wild tilapia and prices are lower than for the farmed tilapia. The price/kg for wild caught fresh tilapia fillets from Uganda is around €5.30 which is €1,75 cheaper than the farmed tilapia fillets from Zimbabwe.
Tilapia is sold both through retail and the hotel/restaurant segments. The value addition made to the fillets is usually in form of packaging, while there is also some production of prepared dishes.

Production increasing "everywhere"

On all continents tilapia production is increasing. Most of the tilapia produced is consumed domestically. In Brazil, which has one of the fastest growing tilapia industries in the Americas, the production of tilapia is rapidly expanding. So far, most of the production is consumed domestically, but production is growing faster than consumption, so Brazil needs to find export markets for tilapia, which are most likely to be other countries in the region as well as the USA. In June 2003 the Brazilian Ex-pond price for whole tilapia is $1/kg, while retail prices are $3/kg whole frozen, and $5/kg fillets frozen.

O U T L O O K :

The American Tilapia Association has estimated that this year the world tilapia aquaculture production will reach 1.5 million MT this year and 2 million MT by 2010.

The month of June has been "a strange month" according to an importer of tilapia, with low demand and prices going down every week. Unusually hot weather in many Europeean countries, is probably one of the reasons for lower demand this month, which also means lower prices. The strong € also creates pressure and competition as it makes an attractive market for frozen tilapia from China and Taiwan Provice of China.

© 2003 FAO

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