Tilapia is a tropical fish native to Africa, after the tilapia was introduced to China, due to some fingerlings escaping from farms or being released, coupled with its strong reproductive ability, it has become a "ubiquitous" fish in the wild in China, and even in some areas has been flooded.
Due to the characteristics of tilapia such as miscellaneous food, large yield, fast production, strong fecundity and less disease, it is very suitable for aquaculture, so tilapia often appears in farms in high-temperature areas such as the south of China.
The large amount of tilapia culture has also made it one of the main aquaculture products in China, and according to the official data of the China Fishery Yearbook and FAO statistics, as of 2020, the total output of tilapia in China has reached 1.642 million tons, with an output value of about 28.48 billion yuan.
The cause of the flooding of tilapia in the southern region
First, because the temperature in the south is very suitable for the growth of tilapia, it is very suitable for the habit of tilapia to be afraid of cold and like heat;
Second, the water resources in the south are relatively abundant, and there are countless large and small rivers and lakes, giving tilapia a very large living space;
Third, the demand for tilapia in China is not strong, and few people choose to eat tilapia.
Although the huge number of tilapia is not very lethal and it is not a species that can endanger the living environment, it still has a greater negative impact on the growth of native fish.
Tilapia has the reputation of "white salmon" and "fish of the 21st century", with delicious meat, high protein, low fat and less spines.
But in China, tilapia is still not popular, because the farmed tilapia is not in line with the appetite of Chinese foodies, they all feel that there is a smell of earth, and tilapia can survive in harsh environments such as sewage and stinky ditches, and can also absorb parasites, heavy metal elements and other substances in the water, so that the Chinese people can not love it.
The small tilapia that floods the wild also occupies many fishing resorts, causing fishing enthusiasts a headache, and they call "hooligans" in freshwater.
Why is tilapia farmed in large quantities?
This is because in the eyes of Chinese foodies, the "worthless" tilapia is a "guest" on the table abroad, and the export of tilapia has brought a lot of positive economic effects to China.
Among the more than 100 countries and regions where tilapia is farmed, China has become the world's largest country in terms of tilapia culture, with a total global production of 6.5 million tonnes in 2019.
As the largest supplier, China's tilapia production accounts for 26% of total production, and in the past decade, China's tilapia production has been increasing rapidly at a rate of about 9%.
As a result, tilapia is the fifth largest farmed fish in China after the four largest indigenous fish.
After a small amount of tilapia is sold domestically, most of it is exported abroad.
Tilapia is very fond of eating tilapia in the United States, Japan and some European countries, and the United States is the largest importer of tilapia.
In 2019, the total import volume of tilapia in the United States has reached 172533 tons, and China is also the largest exporter of tilapia to the United States, with annual exports accounting for about half of the total import volume of the United States, and the total amount of tilapia arriving in the United States from home each year can be as high as 100,000 tons.
Mexico is also the second largest market for Chinese tilapia exports, with an export volume of about 3.4 tons, in addition to Russia, Israel, the European Union, etc. have made China's tilapia export market steaming up.
However, in recent years, China's tilapia export industry has also suffered many heavy blows.
In 2019, the 25% tariff made it difficult for Chinese tilapia to move forward in the US market, and although this measure was cancelled in 2020, the menacing NEW CROWN epidemic has brought great trouble to the supply of tilapia.
At the same time, Brazil is also investing heavily in the cultivation of tilapia, which has led to a rapid increase in tilapia production, which has also affected China's tilapia exports.
In 2020, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in China led to the suspension of the production supply chain of tilapia, the shortage of feed, the shortage of processing manpower, the restriction of production activities and other factors have made the export of tilapia in a weak state, "internal worries" at the same time there are many "external troubles", the global new crown epidemic swept, so that the global import demand for tilapia has been weakened repeatedly, tilapia prices have been showing a downward trend, tilapia farming in China "throne" is also not safe.
However, although these force majeure factors have reduced the economic benefits brought by tilapia, it still cannot change the foreign love for tilapia, especially in the eyes of Americans, the strong position of tilapia is still high.
Why is tilapia able to open up the U.S. market?
In fact, in the Dietary Habits of Americans, freshwater fish has always been unpopular.
In the National Healthy Diet Guidelines issued by the US Food and Drug Administration and the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency, tilapia has long been listed as one of the best choices for aquatic products.
According to relevant reports, Americans eat 1.25 kilograms of tilapia per capita every year, what is the reason why Americans have a "special love" for tilapia?
The first reason is that the nutritional value of tilapia is relatively high.
Tilapia contains a large number of proteins and amino acids, these two components are very beneficial to human growth and development and children's intellectual development, and a large amount of vitamin A in tilapia can also alleviate eye fatigue and effectively improve vision, its taurine component can also regulate blood pressure and improve liver function.
In the National Healthy Diet Guidelines, tilapia, known as "chicken in the water", is therefore listed as the most suitable fish for children and pregnant women, along with cod and salmon.
The second reason is that the price is relatively low.
Food processed from cod and salmon is more expensive, and tilapia is just the most perfect substitute, becoming a high-quality healthy fish that can be "competed" with salmon in the minds of Americans.
Due to the cost control of tilapia cultured in China, the retail price of tilapia in the United States is almost 5 US dollars per kilogram, which is more acceptable to the working class in the United States and can also meet the daily fish consumption needs of Americans.
The third reason is because of the eating habits of Americans.
In China, fish is cooked in a variety of ways, and the tolerance for fish bones is relatively large.
But Americans do not like the cumbersome way of eating fish, rarely eat river fresh, prefer to eat less thorny fish, just tilapia is a variety of meat with more thorns, naturally it has entered the List of Americans, and tilapia to head to tail processed fish steak is more sought after by the American people, in less than ten years, tilapia has become the fourth largest seafood in the United States.
Because of the American love for tilapia and the dependence of China's tilapia farming industry on exports, China and the United States in the import and export of tilapia is a hit, so although tilapia in the country "flooded", but the breeding of tilapia this pie will still exist as a strong force for the development of the domestic aquaculture industry.