fish of the day

CNA reports:

Tilapia farmers face stiff competition

Tilapia growers in Liuchia, in southern Taiwan's Tainan County, threw a banquet Sunday to promote their product in the domestic market amid falling exports and strong competition from China.
With more and more Taiwan's tilapia farmers relocating their investments to China, the island's tilapia business has seen a steep decline in exports, while China's exports of the fish have jumped.
According to the United Evening News, China's frozen tilapia exports to the U.S. totaled 29,672 metric tons in 2009, while Taiwan's were 13,180 metric tons. China's frozen tilapia fillet sales to the U.S. last year hit 10,691 metric tons, far in excess of Taiwan's 2,333 metric tons.
China is now the largest tilapia exporter to the U.S., the newspaper said.
In an effort to mitigate the effects of weakening exports, local tilapia farmers are giving more attention to the domestic market. However, an increase in local supply has dragged down domestic prices by 29 percent to 34 percent.
About 90 percent of Taiwan's tilapia species are being grown in China as the industry is moving more and more of its capital there. In addition, Taiwan investors have taken Taiwan's advanced breeding technologies to China, which is now producing a better quality product than Taiwan. ...

... Su said he is worried that Taiwan's tilapia growers will suffer even more once an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China is signed as it will require Taiwan to eventually open its market wider to Chinese products. ...

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