Tilapia prices in western Guangdong rise rapidly to the highest for the same period in 5 years

In the flood disaster that occurs once in 60 years, Hainan's tilapia farming industry suffered heavy losses, with large numbers of ponds flooded or destroyed, the tilapia in the ponds escaping, and the stock in ponds greatly reduced. Because raw fish are in short supply, while many tilapia processing plants in Hainan still have large numbers of orders that urgently need to be completed, in order to fulfill contracts and avoid paying high breach-of-contract penalties, the processing plants did not hesitate to travel far to Guangdong to purchase tilapia, thereby easing the shortage of raw fish.
According to industry insiders, recently about more than 200,000 kg of tilapia are transported from the Pearl River Delta and western Guangdong to Hainan every day, and the phenomenon of "Guangdong fish shipped to Hainan" will continue until June next year. Affected by this, local tilapia prices in Guangdong have risen sharply, from 4.5 yuan per 500 grams in early October to 5 yuan per 500 grams, about 1.5 yuan higher than the same period last year.
Chen Yashou, a tilapia broker in Potou District, Zhanjiang City, said that in recent days the tilapia he helped several buyers purchase was all shipped to Hainan to be delivered to processing plants there. He said buyers have no requirement about the place of origin of the tilapia; after passing inspection, as long as it meets specifications and the price is suitable, it can be purchased.
In recent days, he has been constantly traveling among Wuchuan, Lianjiang, Maoming, Zhuhai and other main tilapia-producing areas in Guangdong to buy fish, with daily purchases reaching as high as 50,000 kg. He stressed that at present there is very little commercial tilapia left in ponds in Guangdong, and if supply were sufficient and all of it could be purchased according to buyers' requirements, then the daily purchase volume would be even higher.
Tilapia buyer Liang Quan said that every year in August and September, local processing plants in Hainan go to Guangdong and other places to purchase tilapia, except that after Hainan suffered flooding this year, the shortage of tilapia led to a higher purchase volume in Guangdong than in previous years. Liang Quan said that at present about more than 200,000 kg of tilapia are sent from Guangdong to Hainan every day, with purchases mainly in western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. He said that tilapia farmed in Hainan after post-disaster resumption of production will not be available for sale until July next year, so Hainan processing plants will continue buying fish in Guangdong until June next year.
Liang Quan said that, considering freight and other comprehensive factors, buyers in previous years generally purchased tilapia mainly in western Guangdong, which is relatively close to Hainan. He said that shipping one truckload of tilapia (10,000 kg) from the Zhanjiang area to Hainan costs about 5,000 yuan. Because it is close to Hainan, it can be transported to processing plants in Hainan the same day, and the survival rate of tilapia during transport is relatively high. Calculated on this basis, the transport cost per 500 grams of fish is about 0.3 yuan, and its comprehensive purchase cost (added transport cost + pond-side purchase price) is roughly equal to the tilapia price in Hainan.
Compared with the Zhanjiang area, buying fish from the Pearl River Delta and shipping them to Hainan costs much more. Liang Quan said that one truckload of fish (10,000 kg) costs about 8,000 yuan to transport from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan. Calculated at a 100% survival rate, the freight per 500 grams of tilapia is 0.4 yuan. But in reality, the longer the transport distance, the lower the survival rate of tilapia.
A person from a processing plant said that transporting one truckload (10,000 kg) of tilapia from Zhuhai to Hainan takes a whole day, and during the journey at least more than 1,000 kg of fish will be lost and die. If the truck waits too long to cross the sea for the ferry to depart, or if improper handling causes unstable water temperature and low dissolved oxygen, the fish mortality rate is even higher. On a comprehensive calculation, for tilapia sent from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan, the added transport cost per 500 grams exceeds 0.57 yuan.
Although tilapia prices in the Pearl River Delta are about 0.1 yuan to 0.2 yuan lower per 500 grams than in western Guangdong, because of the high transport costs, the comprehensive cost of tilapia shipped from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan is 0.1 yuan to 0.17 yuan higher per 500 grams than from western Guangdong. Therefore, when buyers from Hainan come to Guangdong to buy fish, they generally choose western Guangdong first.
Although eastern Guangdong and Fujian also have large amounts of tilapia, because they are farther from Hainan, transporting tilapia by truck takes two days to reach Hainan. During transport, the loaded tilapia are at high density, and the transport time exceeds 24 hours, so the tilapia mortality rate is extremely high and the comprehensive cost is even higher. Therefore, few Hainan processing plants go to eastern Guangdong and Fujian to purchase tilapia.
Liang Quan said that, limited by tilapia output and purchasing areas, the current tilapia supply still cannot meet the demand of Hainan processing plants, while local tilapia processing plants in Guangdong also cannot obtain sufficient supply for processing and production. Tong Jianhui, general manager of Guangzhou Hengfa Aquatic Products Co., Ltd., said that the production capacity of local enterprises has clearly declined now. Chen Yashou said that under the imbalanced supply-demand relationship, tilapia prices in western Guangdong have risen rapidly, from 4.5 yuan per 500 grams in early October to 5 yuan, 1.5 yuan higher than the same period last year, and this price is also the highest for the same period in the past 5 years.