Raw material prices for tilapia out of China have dropped faster than some expected. Prices this week for 500-800 gram live tilapia have fallen to RMB 9.80 per kilo, said Landy Chow of Siam Canadian China.
That is down from RMB 10.80 at the end of May, and RMB 11.60 in early and mid May.
Liang Chaorong, sales manager at the Chinese tilapia processor Evergreen (Zhanjiang Evegreen Aquatic Product), quoted even lower prices, of RMB 8.60 per kilo, for the region of Zhanjiang.
Both Chow and Chaorong had expected prices of tilapia to come down from the heights seen this year, but the expectations were that prices would start falling later, in mid to late June.
“Also, I was shocked for such sudden drop, the price dropped from RMB 10.80/KG to RMB 9.80/KG in 10 days,” said Chow.
Talk is that the drop is due to factories scaling down production due to soft demand, said Chow. By doing so, factories have reduced their orders to the farmers, which have dropped their prices accordingly to get their fish out.
Looking ahead, prices could drop further to RMB 9.20, before bouncing back to a range of RMB 9.20 – 10, he said. That level is profitable for the farmers, and makes for an acceptable price for the end consumers.
Making accurate predictions, however, is near impossible, said Chow, as “typhoon / flooding / diseases could cause heavy loss on tilapia farming”, adding Zhanjiang has been subjected to heavy rains in the past four days.