1. TILAPIA AQUACULTURE 2016
AND WHERE WILL WE BE IN 2026
Kevin Fitzsimmons, Ph.D.
University of Arizona, Professor of Environmental Science
World Aquaculture Society, Past-President
Aquaculture without Frontiers, Past-Chairman
American Tilapia Alliance, Sec. Tres.
ISTA 11
WAS-APC 2016
Surabaya
April 28, 2016

2. Farmed around the world
diversifying supply
Tilapia production in 140+ countries.
China is world’s largest producer,
consumer and exporter.
 Egypt, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia,
Latin America, Ghana are significant
producers
Germany, Belgium, Spain, Canada,
Korea, Japan, most states in US

3. 0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1,800,000
2,000,000
World Tilapia Productionof 5,576,800 mt in 2015

4. Nile Tilapia

5. Mossambique Tilapia and Red
Tilapia

6. Selective breeding and genetic improvements
• Excellent breeding programs
- G.I.F.T. - Malaysia
- Acuaplan - Mexico
- Genomar - Brasil and Norway
- Chitralada – Thailand
- TabTim – Thailand (CP Group)
- GIFT Excell – Philippines
- Molobicus - Philippines
- GIFT Bangladesh
• Several in Israel
• YY Supermale - Philippines and
Swansea, Egypt and Indonesia

7. Market Stability: Why Tilapia Supply and
Demand have Avoided the Boom and Bust
of other Commodities
 Diversified source of supply
 Several closely related species
 Variety of production systems
 Several feeding methods used
 Variety of polyculture systems
 Minimal disease disruption
 Largest number of value added products
 Many by-products

8. Regions of rapid production growth
• Vietnam – conversion of catfish cages to tilapia in
Mekong, polyculture with shrimp,
• Indonesia – cage culture, polycultures, rice culture
• Malaysia – government support and private sector
investment
• Bangladesh – government support and private sector
investment
• Brasil – lots of available water, labor, land, feed
• Thailand – better reporting, shrimp polyculture
• Mexico – continued intensification, some govt support,
large and small private investments
• Sub-Saharan Africa - commercialization

9. Mexico
 4,623 licensed tilapia
farms out of 9,230 total
aquaculture licenses in
all of Mexico
 20,000 ton Dos Lagos
farm in Chiapas
 Second farm now
started, also by Regal
Springs
 2013 sales of
1,343,000,000 pesos
($103,000,000 US)

10. Nepal
 Live tilapia
sales
 Farmed in
south near
Indian
border, sold
in
Kathmandu
and Pokhara

11. Myanamar
(Burma)
Worlds biggest
aquaponic
system
• Inle Lake, Burma
(Myanmar)
• Floating islands
constructed of reeds
and aquatic weeds
and tilapia

12. Inle Lake, Myanmar

14. Pakistan

15. Tilapia Genome Project
• March 2011 - First assembly of the tilapia genome
• Oreochromis niloticus – Nile Tilapia
• http://www.broadinstitute.org/ftp/pub/assemblies/fi
sh/tilapia/Orenil1/
• Matching many segments to those known from
other fish
• Publically available and freely accessible
• Next frontier of genetic program for tilapia

17. Tilapia the “Green” farmed fish
 Herbivore / omnivore, low trophic level feeder
 Algae, bacteria, and detritus (bioflocs) are
important food sources
 Prepared feeds are mostly grains and ag by-
products
 Promoted by aid agencies and NGO’s
 Dr. M. Gupta awarded World Food Prize for
promotion of tilapia aquaculture, June 10, 2005
 Disease resistant and tolerant of poor water
quality. Anti-biotics and chemicals are not
needed for commercial farming.

18. 2015 Tilapia exports from China
US
56%
Mexico
10%
SubSahara
Africa
2%
Russia
6%
EU
6%
Others
20%
Sales

19. 9.1 RMB =
$1.53 /kg
0
2
4
6
8
10
12 May-11
Jun
Jan-12
Sep-12
Jan-13
Jun-13
Jan-14
Jul-14
Nov-14
Farm gate price for 700 g tilapia in China

20. Ex-farm prices for whole, live tilapia, China,
500-800 grams
Mar 2015 -- Sep 2015

21. Percentage of US finfish grocery sales: weekly sales averaged $608 per store

22. US Tilapia consumption (imports and domestic)
465,953 mt of live weight (equivalent – 2009)
579,443 mt of live weight (equivalent – 2010)
513,361 mt of live weight (equivalent – 2011)
613,406 mt of live weight (equivalent – 2012)
660,762 mt of live weight (equivalent – 2013)
633,759 mt of live weight equivalent – 2014)
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Metrictons

23. Fillet Fresh
Fillet Frozen
Whole Frozen
$0
$20,000,000
$40,000,000
$60,000,000
$80,000,000
$100,000,000
$120,000,000
$140,000,000
$160,000,000
$180,000,000
$200,000,000
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
$US
Value of Tilapia product forms imported to theU.S.
2002
WholeFrozen Fillet Frozen
Fillet Fresh
$0
$200,000,000
$400,000,000
$600,000,000
$800,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$1,200,000,000
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
$US
Value of Tilapia product forms imported tothe U.S.
WholeFrozen Fillet Frozen
Fillet Fresh
$838,349,634(2011), $986,127,852 (2012), $1,034,501,000 (2013), $1,114,646,000 (2014)
$980,809,565 (2015)

24. • Imports to US in 2015 were $980,809,565
• US production of about 30,000,000 lbs at
farm
• 2015 US tilapia farm-gate sales were about
$90,000,000
• 2015 US Tilapia Sales estimate –
• $980,809,565 + $90,000,000 =
$ 1,070,809,565
US Sales of tilapia

25. Tilapia - shrimp polyculture

26. Pathways in the use of tilapia as
biomanipulator (and disease control?) in
shrimp farms for Vibrios and EMS
Promotion of
Chlorella
dominance
Bioturbation
of sediment
Production of
natural
antimicrobials
Feeding on
organic
waste
IMPROVED
SEDIMENT
QUALITY
IMPROVED
WATER
QUALITY
SUPRESSION OF
GROWTH OF V. harveyi
and V. parahaemolyticus ?

27. Stocking and harvest schedule

28. Tilapia production in Ecuador
and shrimp viral infections
TILAPIAPRODUCTION IN ECUADOR
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Year
Production(mt)
IHHN Taura
White Spot

29. Improvements in packaging

33. Traditional product forms
Yangon BBQ tilapia

34. Restaurants trying
many recipes

35. Byproducts - Tilapia Leather

36. Tilapia skin furniture from Brazil

37. Tilapia scales for flowers and
skins for shoes

39. Pet treats

40. Tilapia pedicures
and manicures

41. Health and
Beauty
Products

42. Global Tilapia Market Trends
Prices have been constant, only fresh fillets have increased
significantly, will not see increases beyond inflation
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Fresh fillet
Frozen fillet
Whole Frozen
Live
$/kg

43. 43
Tilapia Global Aquaculture Production
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013E
2014E
2015F
REAL PRICE
(USD/KG)
1000 METRIC TONNES
Sources: 1990-2012: FAO and Kevin Fitzsimmons; 2010-2014: Average of Helga Josupeit and Kevin Fitzsimmons estimates;
2014: Kevin Fitzsimmons; Prices US import frozen tilapia Jan- Nov: NMFS

44. Global Aquaculture Tilapia Sales
• For year 2000 =US $ 1,615,321,000
(FAO FishStat 2007)
• 2005 sales = $ 2,457,312,000
(FAO FishStat 2007)
• 2010 sales = $ 5,680,410,000
(FAO FishStat 2012)
• 2012 sales = $ 7,656,257,000
(FAO FishStat 2014)
• 2015 sales > $ 10,000,000,000

45. Bangladesh tilapia aquaculture
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014(est)
Metrictons

46. Future global tilapia aquaculture
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014(est)
2015(est)
2016(est)
Metrictons(000)

47. Conclusions
• Global tilapia production was 4,507,002
metric tons in 2012 (FAO, 2014), should
exceed 5,433,800 MT in 2014 and
5,600,000 in 2015.
• Constantly improving farming, processing
and packaging for food safety, quality
assurance, traceability, and environmental
safeguards (with little, if any, increase in
price).
• Other aquaculture species will follow the
tilapia model.

48. Conclusions
• More value adding processing in producing
countries as they have many of the side
ingredients and desire to capture more profit
from value addition.
• Tilapia consumption is still only two fish
per capita per year. Lots of opportunity to
replace one burger or one chicken dish per
year.

49. Current Global Market Trends
Increase in demand for all forms of
tilapia
Demand increase will be greatest for
frozen fillets
Demand increase will be significant for
fresh fillets
High profit margin for prepared meals
assembled and packaged in developing
countries

50. Buy TILAPIA
Thank you
Questions?