US & International Trade in Tilapia products: 2003 and Beyond Kevin Fitzsimmons University of Arizona American Tilapia Association International West Coast Seafood Show Los Angeles, CA November 4, 2002

Introduction F Review worldwide tilapia production F Examine production costs F Examine current tilapia markets F Discuss problems of supply and demand F Opportunities to expand production F Opportunities to expand markets

Production widely distributed around the world. F Tilapia production in 100+ countries. F China is world’s largest producer. F Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Latin America, Middle East significant producers F Germany, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Korea, Japan, most states in US F Total production of 1,344,000 mt in 2001

Tilapia widely popular around the world. F Used in many cuisine, hundreds of recipes F Tilapia, boulti, lou fei, pla nil, mojara, St. Peters fish, freshwater and/or red snapper

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

Problem areas in tilapia production F Low fillet recovery rate F Slow growing females F Off-flavors

Advances and Solutions: Low fillet recovery rate F Selective breeding programs F Transgenics - Growth hormones F Growth enhancers - Bovine Somatotropins F Better processing equipment

Advances and Solutions: Slow growing females F Methyltestosterone for sex-reversal F Genetically male tilapia F All male hybrids F High density culture F O. niloticus with larger females

Advances and Solutions: Off-flavors F Depuration systems F Control of blue-green algae F Production in systems with limited access to benthic algae

Major Tilapia Producers (for year 2000) F China - 629,182 metric tons / year F Mexico - 102,000 mt / year F Thailand - 100,000 mt / year F Philippines - 92,284 mt / year F Taiwan Province - 85,000 mt / year F Indonesia - 50,000 mt / year F Brazil - 55,000 mt / year

Basic Chinese model F Government organized or approved hatcheries F Small to medium size farms, extension support from state hatcheries F Tilapia fed pelleted feeds F Many fish sold live to local restaurants F Large scale processing plants F International trade is mostly frozen products (fillets and whole)

Typical Chinese Farms F 0.2 to 1.0 hectare ponds F Often polyculture with other fish F Sometimes have single aerator F Family operated F Sell to harvester

Carbon monoxide F Most plants appear to use carbon monoxide F Some gas in chambers others infuse in bags before freezing

Bagging individual fillets

IQF Fillets

Boxed with retailer labels F US and European markets F Boxed with frozen fillets or whole fish

Many different labels F Tilapia from China is arriving in US and EU with many different labels and packages

Marketing in China F Most fish sold locally to restaurants F Just beginning advertising F Suggest product placement, inclusion in government food programs, value added for domestic markets

Chinese markets and recipes F Market in China is still limited - less than 2 kg per capita F Need to develop additional recipes F Improve overall recognition of tilapia as premium fish F More red strains, seawater culture

Thailand - 100,000 mt F Many small producers F Mostly pond production F Fertilized and pellet fed F Some vertically integrated growers developing F C.P. Group developing contract grower network F C.P. pushing “Top Tim” brand of red tilapia

Philippines - 95,000 mt

Cages in Irrigation Reservoirs 100 m 2 cages in Philippines

Tilapia - shrimp polyculture

Direct retail sales

Philippines - Strong domestic demand F Early introduction of tilapia F Center of research and development F Developed tilapia-shrimp polyculture system

Mexico - 102,000 mt Tilapia-shrimp farm in Sonora Pond Tilapia farm in Tamaulipas

Tilapia production in Mexico F Production in most states of Mexico F Most production in southern states F Intensive in north, lake ranching in south F Repopulation of reservoirs F Problem with FAO definition of aquaculture F Tilapia-shrimp polyculture in seawater

Markets in Mexico F Strong domestic markets; on ice, fillets in grocery stores F All domestic consumption - Will eventually develop export markets. Raceway system

Brazil - 65,000 mt

Tilapia production & Markets in Brasil F Production in Southeast and Northeast F Red tilapia in Southeast for fee-fishing and food F Cage farms allowed in NE reservoirs. F Tilapia leather industry F Jump in interest with ISTA 5 in Rio. F Developing export markets.

Egypt - 53,000 mt 10 m 2 cages near Alexandria

Egypt and other Middle East F Egypt - Production in cages, polyculture ponds and rice paddies. F Israel - Intensive, center of research and technology transfer F Saudi Arabia - Intensive with crop irrigation F Jordan - Intensive

Ecuador - 25,000 mt

Tilapia production in Ecuador F Replacing shrimp because of white spot and other shrimp diseases F Using shrimp infrastructure F Exporting to US and EU F Benefits to shrimp culture with polyculture

Costa Rica - 15,000 mt Acuacorporacion ponds in Cañas, Costa Rica

Jamaica - 5,200 mt Tilapia production

Aquaculture Jamaica Limited - Barton Isle Farm

USA - 9,200 mt F Production in many states F Mostly intensive systems, many recirculating F Sales to ethnic markets as live fish, high value

Tilapia Production in the US = Live Sales

USA - Ponds and cages

Raceway Systems Intensive raceways Extensive raceways

Intensive tanks Tanks in Arizona Tanks in California

Intensive farms in New York and Iowa, USA

Intensive farm in Iowa, USA

US Tilapia consumption (104,626 mt of live weight)

US. Tilapia imports

$127,796,540

Typical prices for Tilapia products sold in the U.S. (Sept )

International Supply and Demand F Supply primarily from China, Southeast Asia, Ecuador and Central America. F Demand is in producer countries and US, and increasingly EU F With rapid increases in supply, demand must increase at least as fast to support price.

Major Tilapia Producers in International Trade F China - whole frozen, IQF fillets F Ecuador - fresh fillets F Taiwan Prov. - whole, IQF, sashimi F Central America - fresh fillets F Indonesia - IQF fillets F Thailand - IQF fillets

Estimated cost of production F China - $0.70/kg F Philippines, Indonesia - $0.80/kg F Brazil, Ecuador, Thailand - $0.85/kg F 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

Current International 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.

Current International Market Trends F China will remain the world’s largest producer and consumer. F US and EU growers will focus on live sales and highly processed forms F Asia and Latin America and will be primary US suppliers F Latin America, Caribbean and Africa will supply EU

International marketing F World market is huge F Need to invest in market development (as we are doing today) F Pay for generic marketing

Packaging and Delivery

Red strains of tilapia

New recipes

Sashimi

Fried tilapia skins

F Dear Kevin, F I recently began using Tilapia fillets farm raised by Sea Best and distributed by Beaver Street Fisheries, Inc. I buy these in individual vacuum sealed packages in one pound bags at Wal-Mart in San Marcos, Texas. My husband has diabetes and we both are very weight conscious. This fish is the perfect food item for us, I love the way it is packaged, just use what I need for one meal, it is reasonably priced, always available in the market and consistently high quality. I trust you will forward these comments to the producer. F I LOVE THE PRODUCT!!!! F Marian Birnie Aug. 12, 2001

Changes and Predictions F Further intensification in virtually every country F Production will be 75% Oreochromis niloticus, 20% Red strains, O. aureus and O. mossambicus mostly for hybridization F Production will be 50% intensive ponds, 25% cages, 10% intensive recirculating systems

Changes and Predictions F Further intensification in virtually every country F Production will be 75% Oreochromis niloticus, 20% Red strains, O. aureus and O. mossambicus mostly for hybridization F Production will be 50% intensive ponds, 25% cages, 10% intensive recirculating systems

Changes and Predictions F Further intensification in virtually every country F Production will be 75% Oreochromis niloticus, 20% Red strains, O. aureus and O. mossambicus mostly for hybridization F Production will be 50% intensive ponds, 25% cages, 10% intensive recirculating systems

Changes and Predictions F Leather goods from skin will become a significant contributor to profitability F Processing and "value-adding" will intensify in producing countries F Polyculture with shrimp will become common in most shrimp farming areas

Changes and Predictions F Leather goods from skin will become a significant contributor to profitability F Processing and "value-adding" will intensify in producing countries F Polyculture with shrimp will become common in most shrimp farming areas

Changes and Predictions F Leather goods from skin will become a significant contributor to profitability F Processing and "value-adding" will intensify in producing countries F Polyculture with shrimp will become common in most shrimp farming areas (already practiced in Thailand, Philippines, Mexico, US, Ecuador, Peru, Eritrea)

Changes and Predictions F US production will increase slowly, intensifying current production methods

Changes and Predictions F US production will increase slowly, intensifying current production methods F World tilapia production will reach 1,400,000 mt in 2002 and 2,000,000 mt by 2010

Conclusions - Marketing tilapia F Increasing demand / markets should begin in producing country F Opening new markets will be required in China, Philippines, Japan, Korea and US F Many techniques can be used to build markets F Many are free or low cost (product placement, samples, live tanks, Web sites) F Most effective forms require investment

Thanks to: F Mr. Howard Johnson F West Coast Seafood Show F Questions ???