Strong prices are driving Chinese tilapia farmers to harvest their fish early, causing a short supply of the larger sizes and a higher proportion of 300-500 gram fish, said industry players. Farmers are harvesting their fish as soon as possible, in part as they fear a drop in price ahead, said Landy Chow, the China representative for the exporter Siam Canadian Group.
Prices for the smaller sizes are also strong enough to make this profitable, Chow told Undercurrent News.
A farmer today can fetch RMB 9.60 per kilo for 300/500 sizes, which is the same price they would get for 500/800 in May last year.
“The farmers can harvest the fish quickly at a very good price,” said Chow. “They worry that the price might drop if they keep fish to 500 - 800 grams, which takes one and a half to two months.” “Also fish can die if temperatures get high,” he said.
Liang Chaorong, managing assistant at the Chinese processor Evergreen (Zhanjiang Evegreen Aquatic Product), told a similar story. “The raw material is a problem, because there’s no supply of big sizes,” Chaorong told Undercurrentduring the Seafood Expo Global trade show in Brussels last week.
Uncertainty over the weather means farmers are preferring to harvest when the fish is at 300-500 grams, instead of the 700-900g preferred by processors, said Chaorong.
He said ex-farm tilapia prices in Guangdong are at around RMB 11.90 per kilo for 500/800, RMB 10.40 for 300/500 and RMB 12 for above 800 grams.
Chow quoted lower prices, of RMB 11.60/kg for 500/800, and RMB 9.60 for 300/500. These are still comfortably above levels of May last year (RMB 9.60 and RMB 7.60) and November 2013 (RMB 9.80 and RMB 7.80).
Both Chaorong and Jason Carter, who co-founded the tilapia supplier Elite Seafood, said supply was currently short.
“Supply is still very short and we don’t expect this to change until August,” Carter told Undercurrent.
“Demand seems to be quite strong, with packers still buying raw material and I haven’t heard of anyone stopping production due to high raw material pricing,” said Carter, who’s company Elite is expanding its farming areas. “We will see some price relief but I don’t think that this will be until August when we see more supply.”
Higher proportion of 300/500
For the market, the result for now is a short supply of 500/800 and 800+ sizes.
The 3/5oz packs preferred by US foodservice buyers and some retailers are now made with more 300/500 and fewer 500/800, said Chow.
Normally, a 3/5oz pack would consist of 60% 500/800, and maybe 20% 800/1,200 and 20% 300/500. But today, Chow said the breakdown is likely to be closer to 40-55% of 300/500, just 10% of 800/1,200 and the 500/800 making up the rest. “It does not say that there is no 500/800, just that there is more 300/500.”
300/500 sizes are usually used for filleting 2-3oz, whilst 500/800 are used to process 3-5oz fillets.
As long as the bags are bigger than 500g, it is easy to do 3/5oz, said Chow.