Mexico: Tilapia eclipsing shrimp

 At the show, Undercurrent reported tilapia production in Mexico outstripped shrimp output by 30,000t last year, as shrimp harvestswere decimated by early mortality syndrome (EMS).

The growth means the government is now pinning hopes on tilapia, which is growing at a fast pace, as the most promising species for the country’s aquaculture.

Tilapia is also buoyed by a strong domestic demand, Alfredo Aranda, general coordinator of operations and institutional strategy at the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Sagarpa) said during the event.

Mexicans consume some 130,000t of tilapia a year. Mexico’s shrimp harvest fell by 50% year-on-year last year, to just 50,000t, due in a large part to EMS. In contrast, tilapia production rose 6.6% to 80,000t.

To lure domestic customers, however, Mexican growers will have to find ways to compete with much cheaper imports from China.

“Until last year, shrimp was the most important Mexico’s aquaculture species in volumes and value, but due to EMS, tilapia already exceeded shrimp production,” Aranda said.

For next year, tilapia production is expected to reach 87,000t and, with a growth rate of 53.3%, tilapia could total 100,000t by 2016, Aranda said.

Shrimp harvest, on the other hand, is forecast to remain flat at 60,000t in 2014, before increasing to 80,000t in 2016 with a growth rate of just 9.6%. By 2018, harvests are expected to exceed pre-EMS production with volumes projected at 110,000t.

“We aim to recover shrimp volumes but, at the same time, we are betting on tilapia due to its trend in the market,” Aranda said.

Big domestic market

Tilapia has good growth potential in Mexico thanks to the country’s tropical climate, and increase domestic demand.

Its geographic location also makes it ideally poised to export to US. Last year, the US imported record high volumes of tilapia fillets, bringing in 59m pounds (26,761t).

“Mexico produces around 70,000t metric tons of tilapia annually, and it consumes 130,000t, so the potential is there,” Miguel A. Flores from Regal Springs Mexico said during the Aquamar conference.

The rest of the tilapia that Mexico consumes — 60,000t — is currently imported from China.

Competition with China could be a challenge for Mexican growers as tilapia prices from China are about 30% below Mexican prices, which are usually at around $2.5 per kilo of whole fish, Gonzalo Martinez, administration manager at the tilapia farm Tupez, based in Veracruz, told Undercurrent.

“If you export considerable volumes of fillets to the US the business will be profitable, but producing tilapia for Mexico is challenging, as retailers and consumers from the central area of the country would prefer to spend less money on tilapia,” Martinez said.

“However, locals from coastal areas will spend extra money to consume tilapia of quality,” he added.

Another Mexican tilapia player said the fodservice sector and retailers would prefer to buy big volumes from China over local tilapia, due to the price.