China Tilapia Market Update : Mar 20, 2018
Current China raw material price from tilapia suppliers is RMB 9.00/KG compared with RMB 8.20-8.30/KG in December 2017. The main reason for the increase is farmers in Guangdong sold most of their fish in January prior to Chinese New Year. At this moment, tilapia suppliers are mainly harvesting from Hainan. In Guangong raw material prices are high and that is pushing Hainan raw material prices up and effecting existing orders of tilapia exporters. Currency has also appreciated a lot, exacerbating the situation. Feb 2017, 1 USD = 6.85 RMB, in December 2017, 1 USD = 6.60 RMB and today 1 USD = 6.33 RMB.
Tilapia exporters expect the new harvest in Hainan will start in April and expect raw material price to come down slightly to RMB 8.60/KG ( from current level of RMB 9.00/KG ) in 2nd half of April. As for Guangdong Province, fish suppliers will see their new harvest start in End June 2018.
July – September supply and raw material prices are very dependent on weather conditions and therefore difficult to predict. Typhoons can have a huge impact on production as can unseasonably high temperature.
For China currency, RMB, expecting 1 USD = 6.40-6.60 RMB ( as US is increasing their interest, so, US Dollar might strengthen in the coming months ) , last year, 1 USD = 6.60-6.90 RMB.