The price trend of Tilapia, on the rise

As an aquaculture product, Tilapia is available all year round. For this reason, the price is usually quite regular, and the trends are often repetitive. Even so, like other goods, many variables can influence the cost: climate, production, demand, etc.

If we focus on our historical data, it shows that it is during summer season when the price of Tilapia is usually lower; for this reason it is usually the best time to buy. In addition, during July and August monsoons are more common, something that affects negatively fish production. Therefore, from September on, the cost usually rises due to the lack of raw material. In addition, from this month until Chinese New Year there is also a strong demand from the US and Mexico, something that also influences the price increase during the autumn months.

However, this year’s trend is a bit different. Contrary to the predictions, the value of Tilapia has been rising since the beginning of the year. The strong demand from the US before the Chinese New Year –as we predicted– together with the stoppage of the productive activity during the holiday, caused a certain shortage of material since January. This has had an impact on the evolution of prices over the months. In addition, and on the other hand, the USD / RMB exchange rate has been falling, something that has also influenced this increase. Finally, the cost of ocean freight has been the most decisive variable. This mainly concerns importers, and it has not stopped rising so far this year. Moreover, all forecasts indicate that they will continue to do so until the end of 2021.

Currently, there is a certain shortage of raw materials while demand remains high. In addition, from now on the demands of the US and Mexico will probably cause the price to rise even more, as we have pointed out.

Here we have several graphs with the price trend of Tilapia throughout this year:

As it can be seen, prices have risen since the beginning of the year and, although they fell during July, the forecast is that, from now on, they will begin to rise again at least until the end of the Chinese New Year.

From EASYFISH we recommend reviewing your needs and planning the shipment schedule in order to buy what is needed as soon as possible. Don’t forget that Tilapia prices will keep going up!

Easyfish Group