May 2020
In China, the world’s largest tilapia producer, the containment measures associated with the pandemic have translated into delayed tilapia production, feed shortages and limited processing activity.
In Brazil, where the tilapia sector has been expanding, industry representatives have requested that the Government immediately suspend some taxes on producers and extend credit access for farmers.
Chinese marketers, who have been struggling to make headway in a lukewarm US market for several years, were hit hard by a 25 percent tariff on Chinese-origin imports into the USA in 2019. Now the COVID-19 outbreak has meant that uncertainty is dominating market sentiment and prices are under downward pressure, but the tighter supply combined with strong retail sales of frozen products and the removal of the US tariffs in April 2020 may to some extent soften the impact on markets.