Saving Seafood

While global tilapia production increases, US imports fall

February 4, 2019 — Tilapia production globally has steadily increased over the past decade – with 2018 production estimated at nearly 6.3 million metric tons (MT) – yet U.S. imports were forecast to likely be at their lowest level in several years.

The data, shared at the Value Finfish panel during the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California earlier this month, estimates that the U.S. imported around 300,000 MT of tilapia in 2018. That’s significantly lower than the 500,000 MT high in 2012.

“Through October, through 2014, things have been on a pretty steady decline,” Todd Clark of Endeavor Seafood said.

The declines are clear in U.S. broadline sales, with virtually every commercial category having a steady three-year decline in sales. Commercial medium chains, representing chains with between 100 and 249 units, fell the most with a 46 percent drop in sales. Non-commercial restaurants, which make up the largest share of tilapia purchasing at over 14 million pounds, dropped six percent.

“Each one of those categories has been on a steady decline,” Clark said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China chartering more flights carrying fresh salmon, live lobster in advance of New Year festivities

February 1, 2019 — As the Chinese New Year holiday draws near, fresh and live seafood is being flown into the country via jumbo jets with increasing frequency, according to a number of recent reports.

Earlier this month, Chinese firm Niannian Youyu (Fishforever) chartered a Boeing 747 carrying 50 metric tons of fresh Norwegian salmon from Oslo, Norway into Tianjin, China, Seafood Guide reported. Developed by the Fish Group, the “Norwegian-Tianjin Salmon Charter Intercontinental Regular Route” is expected to be used twice a week to fly Norwegian salmon to China, carrying from 50 to 100 metric tons per shift, the website said.

Avinor, Norway’s state-owned operator of civil airports, confirmed on 18 January that Slovakian air cargo company Air Cargo Global had begun flying Norwegian seafood to China in the first direct freighter flight between the two countries. The worldwide airfreight company said it aims to route Norwegian seafood from Oslo to Tianjin, a coastal metropolis in northern China, on Thursdays and Saturdays.

“We aim to step up to three weekly departures from March, if the market responds well to the increased capacity,” Peter Scholten, chief commercial officer of Air Cargo Global, said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

USDA confirms major US pollock purchase

January 25, 2019 — A USD 30 million (EUR 26.5 million) commitment from the United States government to buy Alaska Pollock will help mitigate the effects of the U.S.-China trade war on producers.

Due to the U.S. government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture notified the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) via phone that it will soon publish a solicitation so that Alaska pollock suppliers can bid on USD 30 million worth of deliveries to food banks across the country.

The USD 30 million solicitation is in addition to the USD 7.6 million (EUR 6.7 million) that USDA is already purchasing to support the National School Lunch Program, GAPP CEO Craig Morris said.

Morris said the purchase was a win for the U.S. pollock sector.

“We should be really proud that people who are in need are going to get a really nutritious product, and it is great for our industry, which has had challenging times,” Morris said. “There is a lot of demand for our product and this announcement … shows that we are going to have even more demand than a couple of days ago.”

Last fall Alaska legislators pushed for the USD 30 million (EUR 26.5 million) purchase to help offset losses from the U.S.- China trade war, and the news is finally official.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As pressure from WTO mounts, China faces decision on fishing subsidies

January 25, 2019 — Negotiations amongst World Trade Organization member nations over the elimination of fisheries subsidies have intensified, according to a WTO announcement made at the tail end of 2018. WTO member states face a mandate of achieving an agreement by the end of 2019, in time to announce the agreement at the 2020 Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan.

One of the linchpins of any deal will be China, the world’s biggest fishing country by volume. Thus far, China has shown a willingness to negotiate, even making concessions to limit the country’s international fishing fleet to its 2016 level and to reduce fuel subsidies for its trawlers by 40 percent on 2015 levels.

But China’s cut to trawler subsidies only applies only to those vessels engaged in fishing within China’s own waters – not abroad. And broadly, China’s general alignment with the agreement stands in stark contrast to its continued efforts to build giant processing and distribution hubs for its distant-water catches.

Chinese Vice Minister for Agriculture Qu Dong Yu, who was in Argentina for the last WTO Ministerial Conference in 2017, appears to be straddling both sides of the issue. While he negotiated the concessions on fishery subsidies (though a larger agreement was not reached due to objections from India and China over the scale and timing of subsidy cuts), he also appears to support China’s distant-water fishing efforts. While he was in Argentina, he showed support for the industry by touring vessels owned by Shanghai Fisheries Group, Dalian Hua Feng and the well-known fishing and seafood distribution conglomerate Zhejiang Da Yang Shi Jia (Ocean Family). The vessels included red shrimp catch-processors and squid liners.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China to trial offshore fish-wind farms integrated with aquaculture

January 23, 2019 — One of China’s leading seafood production regions is embarking on an ambitious project to test-run offshore aquaculture integrated with wind farms.

At a government press conference to launch the “Shandong Province Modern Ocean Farming Comprehensive Pilot Scheme Construction Project,” several officials from the Agriculture Department and provincial Ocean Affairs Bureau announced they will build 83 ocean pastures over 60,000 hectares – 32 of which will be “national-level” and make Shandong the national leader in such facilities.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

US, China are drivers of push for more salmon production

January 18, 2019 — Demand for salmon continues to be strong globally, but the dual markets of the United States and China have salmon sellers licking their lips at the massive opportunity they represent.

Salmon’s position as a healthy staple is driving interest in the species worldwide, but the low rates of per capita consumption in the U.S. and China show that there’s still plenty of room to grow the markets in both countries, a panel of salmon experts speaking on Wednesday, 16 January at the Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California, U.S.A., agreed.

Natural limits in production from wild-catch salmon fisheries, and more complicated set of restrictions on farmed salmon production, means much of that demand likely won’t be met anytime soon. As a result, prices for salmon are rising. The average price of a pound of salmon in September 2015 was USD 4.12 (EUR 3.62) in 2015 and three years later, in September 2018, the price had risen to USD 5.80. (EUR 5.09).

“That’s the outcome of that gap between supply and demand,” Andy Wink, the executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, said.

Wink is especially bullish on the potential for the United States to become a bigger consumer of salmon, even though it already represents the largest salmon market in the world.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Chinese processing still dominant, but cracks starting to show

January 17, 2019 — A recurring theme at the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference, taking place from 15 to 17 January in Coronado, California, U.S.A., has been China’s dominance in the skilled processing sector, and whether rising labor costs would push that processing elsewhere.

A burgeoning middle class in China has steadily driven up the labor costs for skilled processing, particularly in the large groundfish processing sector. The trade for groundfish has historically been dominated by Russian exports to China, and Chinese re-exports to the European Union after processing.

Yet despite the rising labor costs, Chinese importing for processing show no signs of slowing, according to statistics from Rabobank International.

“They’ve had huge wage increases already,” Gorjan Nikolik, a senior industry analyst for Rabobank International, said. “They should not be this competitive, and yet they are.”

Between 2012 and 2017, Russian exports of groundfish to China decreased by more than 50,000 tons. Even with the decrease, the trade between Russia and China was still by-far the largest in the world in terms of volume, and the amount of groundfish exported from China to the E.U. barely slowed.

Those numbers tell the story of Chinese processing still representing a huge portion of the market, given Chinese exports of groundfish to the E.U. are almost exclusively processed.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US tilapia demand falls

January 15, 2019 — Americans’ consumption of tilapia has fallen in recent years, while demand from Russia has surged, according to a new report.

While the United States is still the largest importer of tilapia, imports slid an estimated 10 KT in 2017, according to a Fact.MR report.

The U.S. trends mimic the global tilapia market, which declined 6 percent in the first two quarters of 2017, thanks to weakening consumer demand, Fact.MR found.

Consumers globally are buying other specialty fish and are more interested in pangasius, analysts said.

“A special palate for pangasius has been witnessed among seafood consumers worldwide,” Fact.MR said in the report. “The U.S. and China continue to remain the largest consumers of pangasius. Following the increasing domestic demand and lower prices of pangasius, Chinese tilapia farmers are adopting farming of other fish varieties including pangasius.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Federation imported 4 KT more tilapia in 2017 versus 2016.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishmeal market turns bearish on good production, ASF, high China stocks

January 11, 2019 — The fishmeal market is described as bearish as good production in Peru weighs on market prices while stocks mount in China, as demand there takes a bigger hit than expected from an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak.

“It’s all bearish news,” James Frank, director of Peruvian fishmeal trading company MSICeres, told Undercurrent News Tuesday (Jan. 8). “The market is dropping in China as local fishmeal is competing with imported and port stocks are still high.”

“The [ASF] outbreak is taking a larger toll on Chinese hog herds than expected initially,” Jean-Francois Mittaine, an industry expert with 30 years experience, told Undercurrent. “I heard the situation has led to significantly lower usage of fishmeal.”

Stocks of fishmeal held in Chinese ports have hit a 10-year high for the time of year, at 186,000 metric tons, according to Chinese government figures. According to Undercurrent’s price portal, in Shanghai port, Peruvian superprime fishmeal offer prices, ex-warehouse, have fallen to CNY 10,700 per metric ton ($1,566/t), down CNY 1,200/t since mid-October.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News