Between 2014 and 2022, fish farming leaped in Brazil. In the period, the amount produced went from just under 580,000 tonnes to 860,000 tonnes.
That is: the sector grew practically 50%, about 280,000 tonnes.
The results appear in the 2023 yearbook of the Brazilian Association of Fish Farming (PeixeBR), an organ representing Brazil’s main companies linked to fish farming, published on Monday (27).
Francisco Medeiros, president of PeixeBR, explained that the professionalization of the sector is recent.
“It is just beginning in Brazil,” he said. “And we have three straight decades of growth.”
According to the body, the sector’s expectations are fueled by the space fish produced in Brazil can occupy in the international market.
“This presence is still small, but it can grow faster,” the PeixeBR document informs.
According to Medeiros, opening the market for frozen products, such as filleted or whole tilapia, has made a difference.
FISH FARMING IN BRAZIL
Paraná is the leader, with almost 195,000 tonnes produced last year.
São Paulo is in the second position, with around 83,000 tonnes.
In sequence follow Rondônia (57,000 tonnes), Minas Gerais (43,000 tonnes), Santa Catarina (54,000 tonnes), Maranhão (50,000 tonnes), Mato Grosso (32,000 tonnes) and Mato Grosso do Sul (35,000 tonnes), Bahia (34,000 tonnes), and Pernambuco (32,000 tonnes).
Thus, the ten states are responsible for 75% of the national volume.
The country’s flagship product is tilapia, which represents around 65% of the fish farming in Brazil.
In addition, it accounted for almost 90% of the sector’s exports.
The main buyers were the North Americans, absorbing almost 85% of the shipments.
EXPORTS AND DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION
The domestic market continues to be the major client of national production.
However, exports grow annually.
In 2018, almost 5,000 tonnes were exported, earning the country about US$8.7 million.
Last year, Brazil’s revenue with international trade generated by fish farming reached nearly US$25 million, with 8.5 million tonnes sent to the foreign market.
With information from Revista Oeste
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