(IntraFish) The rising volume of imports from China and other Aisan nations, coupled with increasing production costs, is putting pressure on US catfish farmers.
“The industry has been contracting,” David Harvey, agricultural economist for the US Food and Drug Administration told IntraFish. Statistics show that catfish feed purchases have been consistently declining for the past five years, he said.
The high cost of feed and imports of cheaper catfish and similar species from Asia are making it difficult for catfish farmers to stay competitive, Lowery Aquafarms owner Joey Lowery told IntraFish.
Imports of catfish have grown dramatically in the last eight or nine years, he said.
Over the past year, the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of International Trade reports that Catfish varieties shipped from China to the United States have increased dramatically as well.
As of January, imports of the catfish species ictalurus from China had risen from 585,536 kilograms last year to 857,877 kilograms this year, while imports of pangasius had increased from 968,769 kilograms to 1,499,765 kilograms.
Feed is largely soybean-based, and that helps explain why prices for feed are higher, said Lowrey.
At $13.80 a bushel as of April 30, prices for soybeans were up $0.70 over the previous year. That is more than double the $5.61 price per bushel between 1990 and 1992, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
“Some of these guys got into catfish as a way to make money years ago, and now they’re looking at it as ‘I could just grow soybeans on my land,” Garvey said.
The high cost of feed is compounded by the consistently lower labor costs in China, Lowery said.
“I’ve been in the business 26 years, and I would say feed costs have doubled,” Lowery said.
Lower standards in China make it easier for Chinese producers to keep costs down, which gives them an unfair advantage over US producers, Lowery said.
“From a trade standpoint and from a production standpoint, just about any way you look at it, we’re not on a level playing field. Only two percent of seafood is inspected coming into the country. Less than 1 percent is inspected for chemicals,” Lowery said.
If the price of feed starts to decrease, US farmers will have a better chance to compete, Herarvey said.