In 2014, tilapia supplier faced a problem of limited production so that a large amount of tilapia was consumed by local market of the major origin countries. In the first half of 2015, about 0.2 million metric tonnes of tilapia(whole fish, fillet and bread crumbs product) entered into global market, decreasing a little compared with that of the same period in 2014.
China
Compared with the first half in 2014, Chinese tilapia export jumped 3% in the same period in 2015, among which, however, frozen fillet and frozen whole piece, the main two export categories, export shares dropped 2.27% and 1.97% respectively.
Meantime, tilapia-related bread crumbs products export increased 23.8%. The export amount was outstandingly much higher than that in Cameroon and other African markets, such as Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. America was Chinese largest tilapia bread crumbs export market with a 36% increase in the first half in 2015 compared with that in the same period in 2014. The tilapia export into America retained the highest amount which reached 71, 878 metric tonnes, 6.45% more than the export in 2014. Following America, Africa became the second largest market of Chinese tilapia, which imported as many as 45, 352 tonnes. Zambia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Democratic Republic of Congo are the largest markets in whole Africa.
In the first half of 2015, Latin America took up 12.4% of Chinese tilapia export, and the main market was Mexico. Recently, Iran imported more and more tilapia, which was up to 5, 112 tonnes, 17% more than that in the same period of last year.
U.S.A
America imported a total of 111, 509 tonnes of tilapia in first half of 2015, 9% more than that in the same period of 2014. Fresh fillet import stayed stable while frozen fillet and frozen whole fish import increased 7.6% and 23.1% respectively. The high growing rate showed the market popularity of tilapia. China accounted for more than 80% market share of frozen tilapia, followed by Taiwan and Indonesia. The price of high-quality tilapia fillet from Indonesia and Taiwan was normally 50-70% higher than that from other countries. As a result, the price of fillet from China was cut 12.4%.
With regard to the fresh tilapia, the import amount and price were stable in the first half of 2015, compared with in the same period of 2014. The supply of fresh tilapia from Honduras, once the main supply country of America, dropped while the import from Columbia increased as high as 32%.
The frozen tilapia (whole piece and fillet) import increased 10.4%(3, 700 metric tonne) in the first half of 2015. Opposite to the import drop trend in 2014, the tilapia imported from China grew 29% at the same time.
Frozen fillet was the lead among the frozen products. China kept its leading role in supply and its import amount increased 7.6%. And The import in Honduras, Mexico, Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia all saw growth.
EU
According to Eurostat, the tilapia market was bearish in 28 EU member states in the first half of 2015 and the import decreased 22% compared with that in the same period of 2014, among which the frozen fillet import was nearly 7500 metric tonnes, and the froze whole fish was nearly 5812 tonnes which nearly all came from Asian countries. The main supply country was China(68％), followed by Vietnam(17%), Indonesia(6.7%), Thailand(5.8%) and a new supplier, Myanmar.
Latin America
In the second quarter of 2015, American imports of fresh fillet from Guatemala and Costa Rica dropped 60% and 30% respectively. But the export value stayed stable in Guatemala in the second quarter while that in Costa Rica decreased only 1.2%. The two main supply countries also provided tilapia for local markets and the demand was continuously increasing.
The fresh fillet and frozen fillet from Honduras were mainly imported to Central America and U.S.A, whose export amount and value were no big differences from that in the same period of last year. The whole market trend in Honduras was same as that in its neighbor countries.
Asia
Statistics showed that, more than 79, 000 tonnes of frozen tilapia fillet was exported from Asia in the first half of 2015. And China was the main exporters. While Chinese domestic market demand increased, the sales to foreign countries dropped a little. Beside, Asia supplied more than 75, 000 tonnes of frozen whole tilapia to international market.
Following China mainland, Taiwan province was the second largest tilapia exporter, but its export dropped 19.5% because of weak productive force and low supply. Apart from the main market, America, Middle East was also the market of Taiwanese tilapia, which also met the Japanese standards.
Outlook
According to the information from the largest supply country, China, the price would kept a low level because of abundant supply. And there would still be a strong demand of tilapia for other supply countries.
