Markets for African Tilapia Products and Impacts on Local Supplies Kevin Fitzsimmons, Ph.D. Professor, University of Arizona PI – Aquaculture CRSP Vice President, American Tilapia Association President, World Aquaculture Society Washington D.C. April 28, 2004

Introduction F Quick review of tilapia F Explosion in tilapia trade F The US and International Markets F Value added products F Opportunities to expand markets

Tilapia production F Currently second in volume to carps F Prediction: Tilapia will become most important aquaculture crop in this century F Widest demand, no religious/cultural concerns, few environmental concerns F More genetic potential F Greatest variety of production systems

Farmed around the world. F Tilapia production in 100+ countries. F China is world’s largest producer. F Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Latin America, Egypt significant producers F Germany, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Korea, Japan, most states in US F Total production >1,500,000 mt in 2003

Global Tilapia Sales (farmgate) F For year 2000 F US $ 1,706,538,200 (FAO Fisheries Circular No. 886) F 2003 sales >$ 2,500,000,000

Tilapia - the aquatic chicken F Grows in all kinds of farms F Eats all kinds of food F Large eggs and easy to rear young F Lots of ways to prepare the fish

Ponds and cages

Intensive tank culture Tanks in Arizona Tanks in Eritrea

Raceway Systems Intensive raceways Extensive raceways

Intensive farms in buildings in cool climates

Intensive farms with recirculation in greenhouses

Integrated with crop irrigation

How did tilapia get so popular, so fast?

Tilapia - the Perfect “Aquaculture” Storm

Tilapia widely popular around the world and beyond. F Common names: Tilapia, chambo, boulti, lou fei, pla nil, St. Peters fish, mojara, freshwater and/or red snapper F Used in many cuisine, hundreds of recipes, often replaces over-fished local species F Eggs hatched and fry reared on International Space Station

Established market demand F Accepted in many national dishes F Popular in many forms (live, whole, fillets, fresh and frozen, smoked, sashimi, fried skins)

Environmentally correct F Primarily vegetarian F Most farm systems cause little pollution F Tilapia were long ago established as exotic species, common food fish F Grown mostly in developing countries F Few diseases, essentially no chemicals used

Research & Development ISTA 6 (Manila, Philippines, Sept , 2004) F International Symposia on Tilapia in Aquaculture

Genetic Improvements in Tilapia (From: Mair, G., 2002)

The YY male technology (GMT ® )

Major Tilapia Producers (for year 2002) F China - 706,000 metric tons / year F Philippines - 122,277 mt / year F Mexico - 110,000 mt / year F Thailand - 100,000 mt / year F Taiwan Province - 90,000 mt / year F Brasil - 75,000 mt / year F Indonesia - 50,000 mt / year

Major African Tilapia Producers (for year 2002) F Egypt - 55,000 metric tons / year F Zimbabwe - 5,000 mt / year F Kenya - 2,000 mt / year F Zambia - 1,000 mt / year F South Africa - 1,000 mt / year

Commercial tilapia farms in Africa Army Farm near Abassa, Egypt Dominion Group Rice/Tilapia farm near Kisumu, Kenya Lake Harvest on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe Farmers Co-op on Lake Kariba Zambia

Tilapia research centers in Africa Abassa, Egypt Sagana and Eldoret, Kenya Stellenbosch, South Africa Zomba, Malawi Massawa, Eritrea Boake, Cote D’ Ivoire

Cages in Egypt 10 m 2 cages near Alexandria

SeaWater Farms, Massawa, Eritrea

Lake Harvest, Zimbabwe

EU Tilapia Supply and Demand F Supply of fillets primarily from China, Southeast Asia, South and Central America. F Demand for live fish in immigrant Asian and African communities F With rapid increases in supply, demand must increase at least as fast to support price.

Consumer evolution F Ethnic buyers (Asian - African) F Up-scale restaurants F Casual dining F Hyper and super markets F Local groceries

US Tilapia consumption ( 187,000 mt of live weight = 412,260,000 lbs)

Top Ten Seafoods (U.S.) per capita (lbs)

US. Tilapia imports

$ 174,215,165 (2002) $241,205,610 (2003)

17,952 mt fresh fillets, 23,249 mt frozen fillets, 49,045 mt whole frozen (2003)

F Imports in 2003 were $241,205,610 F US production of $30,000,000 at farm F 2003 sales were over $271,000,000 F US tilapia sales (imports and domestic) exceeded one billion $$$ US Consumption of tilapia

Major fresh fillet buyers (US) F Major restaurant chains (Darden: Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, Olive Garden, Landry’s: Joe’s CrabShack, Wille G’s, Rainforest Cafe), Ruby Tuesday, Applebees). F Major grocery chains (Safeway, Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Wegmans, Publix, Basha’s) F Food service (supply small restaurant & grocery chains) - SYSCO, Fleming Co., Shamrock F Brokers - most based in Miami, Tampa, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Seattle

Fresh tilapia fillet products F Size (under 3 oz, 195 g F Skin on, shallow skin or deep skin F Individual wrap, 2 or 5 kg package, master pack

Fresh tilapia fillet product prices FOB Miami F Size (under 3 oz, 195 g $ /lb F Variation in prices due to skinning, packaging, volumes and history with buyer F Additional variations with terms of payment

Expanding European markets F Quality control and assurance F Advertising F New recipes F Substitute for sea bream, sea bass, flounder, snapper F New value added product forms

Quality control and assurance F National standards F ISO and HACCP (Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Points) F Industry standards F Buyer standards F Other (NGO’s)

Advertising

Direct retail sales

New recipes

By-products F Leather goods from skin will become a significant contributor to profitability F Pharmaceuticals from skins F Formed fish products F Fertilizer F Fish meal

Major Tilapia Producers in International Trade F China - whole frozen, IQF fillets F Ecuador - fresh fillets F Taiwan - whole, IQF, sashimi F South & Central America - fresh fillets F Zimbabwe - Fresh fillets F Indonesia - IQF fillets F Thailand - IQF fillets

Current EU Market Trends F Increase in demand for all forms of tilapia F Demand increase will be greatest for fresh fillets F Prices have been constant for several years and will remain stable, will not increase with inflation

African Markets F Local production and consumption F Majority stays in producing household F Egypt has market development, but little processing capacity F Rest of Africa needs more processing

Impacts of “Industrial” Production of Tilapia F Spin-off some products into local markets F Availability of prepared feeds F Availability of domesticated stocks F Possibility of more production cooperatives

Changes and Predictions F Production will be 75% Oreochromis niloticus, 20% Red strains, O. aureus and O. mossambicus mostly for hybridization

Changes and Predictions F Production will be 50% intensive ponds, 30% cages, 10% intensive recirculating and tank systems, 10 % other

Predictions for Value-added products F Processing and "value-adding" will intensify in producing countries

Sashimi

IQF Fillets

Breaded tilapia products

Fried tilapia skins

Smoked products

Changes and Predictions F More “organic” forms F Reduction in MT for sex reversal

Changes and Predictions F World tilapia production (1,265,780 mt in 2000, FAO) reached 1,500,000 mt in 2003 and 2,000,000 mt by 2010 F 2003 sales over $2 billion F 2010 sales over $4 billion

Aquaculture Collaborative Research Support Program Thank you! Questions? The Aquaculture CRSP is funded in part by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. LAG-G and by participating institutions.

Tilapia production in the Americas

Strain evaluations F For saline waters - Hybrid red strains are preferred F For cage and pond culture Chitralada strain of O. niloticus originally from Thailand and further developed in Brasil. F The GIFT strain of O. niloticus, originally developed in Philippines is most common in Philippines and China F YY Super males - Genetically Male Tilapia

Estimated cost of production F China - $0.70/kg F Africa - $0.75/kg F Philippines, Indonesia, Brasil - $0.80/kg F Thailand, Peru - $0.85/kg F Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica - $0.90/kg F Mexico - $1.00/kg F Taiwan Province - $1.05/kg F US - $2.00/kg F Canada - $2.10/kg