US frozen tilapia fillet imports rise in July

US frozen tilapia fillet imports rise in July
Matt Whittaker
The United States imported more than 16% of its year-to-date frozen tilapia fillets in July, the same month Chinese live tilapia prices dipped to their lowest point of the year.
It brought in 14,327,136 metric tons of frozen fillets during the month, boosting the total imports of frozen fillets to 86,765,898t in the January-July period, according to National Marine Fisheries Service figures.The total is up more than 11% from the 77,830,748t during the first seven months of 2013.
China was once again the largest country of origin for frozen fillet imported by the United States, sending 77,704,203t, or nearly 90% of the total.
In July, the ex-farm price for whole, live tilapia between 500-800 grams in China dropped to its lowest point of the year at RMB 9.45, down 10% from RMB 10.5 in January, according to the Undercurrent News price portal.As was the case in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2013, the jump in frozen fillets in July countered declines in the other three main categories of tilapia imports.
Fresh fillet imports dipped nearly 4% y-o-y to 15,565,899t, from 16,188,823t, while imports in the frozen tilapia category dropped more than 1%, to 11,754,641t from 11,928,194t. Nonspecified frozen tilapia product imports fell nearly 20% to 8,729,360t from 10,864,057t.In August, whole, live tilapia prices in China began to climb again, hitting RMB 9.9. And there are indications prices have remained higher after that.At a trade show in Hong Kong earlier this month, Ammon International marketing assistant manager Rita Zeng told Undercurrent that US tilapia buyers to which the Chinese supplier sells are holding off on purchases as they wait for the price to come down.
At the time of the show, prices were at $1.70/lb. for frozen fillets, cost and freight sold to New York, a $0.20 increase over last year’s $1.50/lb and $0.30 over the year before, she said.
The culprit in the price increases is continued low production in the wake of bad weather and a broken dam, she said.
Beihai, China-based Beihai Yutian Frozen Food Co. has had to raise its prices because of a shortage of raw material, Linda Lin, foreign trade second department manager for Beihai, told Undercurrent at the trade show.The company’s prices have risen 4.7% in the past two months, from $2.15/lb. to $2.25/lb., for individually quick frozen, skinless, boneless, 100% natural weight product sold to the US. The main size to the US is 600-800 grams, Lin said.