May 20, 2014
Mexico''s tilapia production outstrips that of shrimp
Tilapia production in Mexico surpassed shrimp output by 30,000 tonnes last year, as shrimp harvests were decimated by early mortality syndrome (EMS), Undercurrent News reports.
Mexico''s shrimp harvest fell 50% year-on-year last year, to just 50,000 tonnes, largely due to EMS. In contrast, tilapia production rose 6.6% to 80,000 tonnes.
"Until last year, shrimp was the most important Mexico''s aquaculture species in volume and value, but due to EMS, tilapia exceeded shrimp," Alfredo Aranda, general coordinator of operations and institutional strategy at the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Sagarpa), said during the Aquamar expo in Veracruz last week.
The growth means the government is now pinning hopes on tilapia as the most promising species for the country''s aquaculture.
Tilapia production next year is expected to reach 87,000 tonnes and, with a growth rate of 53.3%, tilapia could total 100,000 tonnes by 2016, Aranda said.
Shrimp harvest, on the other hand, is forecast to remain flat at 60,000 tonnes in 2014, before increasing to 80,000 tonnes in 2016 with a growth rate of only 9.6%. By 2018, harvests are expected to surpass pre-EMS production levels with volume projected at 110,000 tonnes.
"We aim to recover shrimp volumes but, at the same time, we are betting on tilapia due to its trend in the market," Aranda said. Tilapia is underpinned by strong domestic demand, he said.
Mexicans consume about 130,000 tonnes of tilapia per year. Apart from increasing domestic demand, tilapia has good growth potential due to the country''s tropical climate. Its geographic location also makes it ideally suited to export to the United States. Last year, US import volumes of tilapia fillets reached a record high at 26,761 tonnes.
"Mexico produces around 70,000 tonnes of tilapia annually, and it consumes 130,000 tonnes, so the potential is there," Miguel A. Flores from Regal Springs Mexico said during the Aquamar conference.
The rest of the tilapia that Mexico consumes- 60,000 tonnes- is currently imported from China.
To attract domestic customers, Mexican growers will have to find ways to compete with the much cheaper imports from China.
Competition with China could be a challenge for Mexican growers as tilapia prices from China are about 30% below Mexican prices, which are normally at about US$2.50 per kilogramme of whole fish, Gonzalo Martinez, administration manager at the tilapia farm Tupez, based in Veracruz, said.
"If you export considerable volumes of fillets to the US the business will be profitable, but producing tilapia for Mexico is challenging, as retailers and consumers from the central area of the country would prefer to spend less money on tilapia," Martinez said.
"However, locals from coastal areas will spend extra money to consume tilapia of quality," he added.