Tilapia production and raw material prices to increase in China : June 28, 2018
Hainan is the top production area for Tilapia exports from China with 6 of the top 10 Chinese Tilapia exporters based on the Island. While Chinese exports of raw tilapia fillets to the US market have been declining shipments of Tilapia to other markets such as Africa have increased according to a recent FAO report.
For Hainan the harvest for Tilapia in 2018 is expected to be same as 2017. However, for China as a whole the total Tilapia harvest should be higher than 2017. This could be as much 5% higher.
Tilapia Exporters are expecting the raw material price to increase soon. The reason is that the farming cost is RMB 4.00 per 500g. This is the same as the current price for the Tilapia raw material. It is possible that the price could to rise to 4.5RMB per 500g. The increase is needed to get farmers to put new Tilapia fingerlings into their ponds.