January 4, 2010

Disease hinders China's tilapia production

According to a new US Department of Agriculture report, a bacterial outbreak delayed tilapia production in China in 2009.

As part of its annual outlook on China's seafood industry, released late last week, the USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) reported that a streptococcus outbreak between July and September impacted tilapia production in parts of the country's four major tilapia-producing provinces - Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian - which represent about 90% of the country's total tilapia output.

But the agency pointed out that the situation is improving, as a vaccine has been developed to prevent future outbreaks.

"The disease resulted in tight supplies of raw fish and increased prices for export-processing facilities in late 2009. Some processors complained that if the export price does not increase, facilities may have to suspend operations because their profit margin will be negative," explained FAS.

"Some industry insiders, however, believe that the impact of the disease is limited only to the short term, and the disease can be prevented if the culture environment can be properly controlled with the assistance of vaccines," added FAS.

China's tilapia production held steady at 1.11 million tonnes in 2008, compared to 1.13 million tonnes in 2007. Despite the bacterial outbreak, it is expected to increase to 1.15 million tonnes in 2009, said FAS, citing industry sources.

The global economy slowdown, which has curbed demand for seafood, is primarily to blame for China's tilapia output levelling off over the past three years.

The US is by far China's top tilapia export market. In the first ten months of 2009, China shipped more than 100,000 tonnes of tilapia to the US, up 13% from the same period in 2008 and representing slightly more than half of China's total tilapia exports.