January 11, 2007

Philippine aqua feed millers eyeing 300% hike in sales with lifting of ban in Pacific white shrimp

Philippine manufacturers of aquaculture feeds expect sales of their product to jump by more than 300 percent in two years with the decision of the government to lift the ban on the importation and culture of the controversial Pacific white shrimp (Peneaus vannamei), reports the Business Mirror Daily.

The Association of Philippine Aqua Feed Millers Inc. (Apafmi) said the lifting of the six-year ban on the importation and culture of the white shrimp variety is expected to significantly improve business prospects for aquaculture and aqua feed millers since it can be raised in sea, fresh and brackish water.

Apafmi president Napoleon Co said current production of aqua feeds at 20,000 metric tonnes (MT) can increase to 60,000 to 80,000 MT upon re-entry of white shrimps.

Co projects that demand for P. vannamei variety can increase considerably because it is cheaper compared to other shrimp. Vannamei prawns, he said, could go as low as P200 (US$4.07) per kilogramme, compared with the usual P600 (US$12.23) to P700 (US$14.27) per kilo of other prawn varieties.

Co said the aqua feeds industry were thriving during the early part of the 1990s, with the country's shrimp production hitting 94,000 MT in 1994, making the Philippines as the third largest shrimp producer in the world.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources stated that overall production of shrimp steadily declined starting in 1996 due to increasing environmental degradation and disease problems. The drop was aggravated in 1999 with the appearance of the white spot syndrome virus.

The Department of Agriculture on Monday announced that it has signed and issued Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 225 series of 2007 which called for the lifting of the six-year ban on Pacific white shrimp.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap earlier said the decision to lift the ban was made after the DA's attached agency, BFAR, has determined based on its experiments that the shrimp variety could safety be reintroduced into the Philippines.