February 18, 2008
US catfish industry struggles as processed volumes hit 10-year lows
Cheaper imported fish and high feed prices are driving US catfish production to 10-year lows, according to Arkansas online.
The amount of US catfish processed in 2007, just under 500 million pounds, was down nearly 25 percent from the industry's peak of more than 660 million pounds in 2003, the article said.
Catfish processors will "be lucky to process 300 million pounds" of fish this year, as many farmers will be getting out of the business, Dick Stevens, president of Consolidated Catfish Cos. LLC, catfish processor in Mississippi told the newspaper.
US catfish consumption has declined, ceding fifth place among the top 10 seafoods consumed per capita in 2006 to tilapia. Almost all tilapia served in the US is imported from Latin America and Asia.
Stevens said although imports were a factor causing the doldrums, it is other factors such as the fragmented industry and its failure to develop a unified marketing plan that is dragging down the market.
In the top three states Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, catfish farmers are leaving in droves in search of greener pastures, converting their ponds to soy fields which are much more profitable currently.
Catfish processors has had to offer lower prices to producers as imports have driven prices down whereas feed producers have driven feed prices up due to the rising costs of grain. This forces catfish producers to feel "squeezed" in the middle, the report said.
The article quoted Rob Mayo, president of Carolina Classics Catfish in Ayden, N.C., as saying that the catfish industry has lacked a unified industry vision.
Rather than trying to compete with Asia as a low-cost leader, the industry should differentiate its product, he said.
To do that, the industry would have to work to reach consumers, he said. The industry, which has so far fixated on protectionism, has sacrificed marketing efforts to pay off lawyers in return for a tarnished reputation among wholesalers, he added.
