30 DECEMBER 2015 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Production China is the largest producer of tilapia in the world, with total output reaching 1,657,717 t in 2013, accounting for 34 percent of global tilapia production (5,446,800 t). Tilapia production in China has steadily increased since 2000, with an average growth rate in the decade of 11.7 percent (Fig. 1). The production in 2013 was 2.63 times of that of 2000. Tilapia ranks sixth in species produced in freshwater aquaculture in China and tilapia production accounts for about 7 percent of the total output from freshwater aquaculture (Fig. 2). Tilapias are mainly farmed in the tropical and subtropical regions of southern coastal China, in the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi and Fujian (Fig. 3). Affected by temperature restrictions on growth, tilapias are thinly distributed in central and northern China and production from these regions only accounts for about 4 percent of national production. Marketing About half of the huge amount of tilapias produced in China is consumed by the domestic market and the other half is exported into the international market. In 2012, 362,000 t of tilapias were exported from mainland China, with an export value of US$1.16 billion (Figs. 4 and 5). About 50 percent of tilapia exports from mainland China were sent to the USA, 10 percent to Mexico and 5 percent to Russia. New tilapia markets are now emerging, with the volume of tilapia exported to Eastern European and African countries increasing every year. This has opened a broader international market space for Chinese tilapia. Despite being the top tilapia producer in the world, tilapia producers in mainland China have suffered from low prices for a long time. Statistics indicate that the price of frozen tilapia fillets and frozen whole tilapia — the featured export products — is about US$4.00-4.50/kg and US$2.00/kg, respectively (Table 1). In comparison with other leading tilapia exporters, these prices are quite low. For example, the price of frozen tilapia fillets from mainland China is about only two-thirds of the average global price and is much lower than the prices of the other four leading exporters (Ecuador, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan) (Fig. 4). In the six years from 2008 to 2013, the average annual growth rate of tilapia export volume was about 9.6 percent but the average annual growth rate of export value during the same period was only 4.9 percent (Figs. 5 and 6). In other words, the profit from exports of tilapia from China dropped during this period. The situation has become much worse in Why Tilapia from China Are the Cheapest? An Analysis Based on Statistical Data Jianzhen Lu and Xu Xiang FIGURE 1. Tilapia production in China from 2000 to 2013. FIGURE 2. Production of the leading freshwater aquaculture species in China in 2013. TABLE 1. Prices of processed tilapia of China from 2010-2012 (US$/kg). Data from the General Administration of Customs, China. Product 2010 2011 2012 Frozen tilapia fillets 4.59 4.41 4.12 Frozen tilapia 1.85 2.00 1.92 Other processed tilapia 3.69 3.80 3.61 Fresh tilapia 1.37 1.57 1.65
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