The company Aquafinca announced that it plans to increase production of tilapia fillets by 40%, with an investment of between $10 and $15 million starting from 2019.
Fabricio López, manager of the company, assured the Honduran media that currently they produce about 28 thousand tons of tilapia fillet, and that with the planned investment they will increase total production by 40%, with the objective of serving new markets, such as the Caribbean.
New requirements that Mexican authorities intend to place on shrimp imports cultivated in Honduras do not indicate, at least in the short term, that there will be an eventual suspension of the blockade.
After the country registered sales for $282 million in 2017, the sector's union expects this year to surpass what was reported in the previous period by 2%.
Explained by the good performance in exports of cultivated shrimp, crab and live lobster, during the first three months of the year, the Nicaraguan Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Inpesca) expects the sector to register an increase compared to 2017.
In the first nine months of 2017, Honduras exported $185 million worth in shrimp and frozen shrimp, 30% more than in the same period in 2016.
Figures from the information system on the Shrimp and Frozen Shrimp Market in Honduras, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Between January and March, sales abroad totaled $16 million, which is equivalent to an 86% increase with respect to exports registered in the same period in 2017.
The increase registered during the first months of the year is explained by an increase in the volume sold coupled with an increase in the average price, which rose from $4.1 per kilogram recorded in the first quarter of 2017, to $6 per kg reported in the same 2018 period.
In 2017 exports totaled $4,564 million, 17% more than what was recorded in 2016, due to an increase in coffee and palm oil sales.
The Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) reported that the increase reported in 2017 is attributed to " ... increased sales of coffee, palm oil, shrimp, iron and its manufactures and paper and cardboard, products that together explain 89.9% of the observed annual increase."
Suppliers of raw materials and services for aquaculture are being called on to take part in a symposium to be held in Antigua from June 6 to 8, 2018.
The union of Guatemalan exporters is organizing the event, in which suppliers of the sector will be able to showcase their products and services to the more than 200 local and international participants that are expected to attend the activity.
In 2017, the value of Central American sales of fish, molluscs and crustaceans to companies in Mexico amounted to $69 million, 19% more than was exported in 2016.
Figures from the information system on the the Market for Fish, Molluscs and Crustaceans in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Manufacturing, fishery and aquaculture exports accounted for most of the 60% increase in sales from Chile to Panama between 2016 and 2017.
Exports in the fishing sector include salmon and trout, which grew by 46% in the period in question, going from $6.2 million in 2016 to $9 million in 2017, according to figures from a report by the country's South American trade promotion body, ProChile.
Between January and September of 2017, Central American countries exported $275 million worth of frozen shrimp and langoustine, 22% more than in the same period in 2016.
Figures from the information system on the Market for Shrimp and Frozen Langoustine in CentralAmerica compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graph"]
It has been four months since Mexican authorities blocked shrimp imports from Honduras, with no solution in sight in the short term.
Alleging the presence of the yellow head disease, a blockade has been in effect in the North American country since October 20.
As a result of a commercial dispute, sales of shrimp abroad declined in thelast year. According to the Honduran association of fish farmers, between 2016 and 2017 the export volume fell from 13.9 million pounds to 10.7 million pounds, which is equivalent to a reduction of 23%.
An increase in sales of coffee, palm oil and shrimp, explained part of the 18% increase in exports reported between January and November 2017, compared to the same period in 2016.
The Central Bank of Honduras reported that the growth in exports of the first 11 months of last year, is explained by an increase in sales of coffee, palm oil, shrimp, iron and its manufactures, bananas and paper and cardboard.
In 2017 sales to the Asian country totaled around $124 million, 50% more than that was sold in 2016, and were led by shrimp and sugar exports.
The products that registered the highest demand last year were shrimp, with $46 million, sugar, with $30 million, meat and bovine by-products, with $25 million, coffee with $8 million, lobster with $6 million, and sea cucumber, with $5 million.
Opening up new markets and resuming exports to Mexico are two of the goals that entrepreneurs in the aquaculture sector have set for 2018.
Authorities at the Ministry of Economic Development indicated that the aquaculture and fishing sector will have closed 2017 with exports of more than $300 million, led by sales of tilapia and shrimp.
The incorporation of products with high added value such as shrimp covered with coconut, breaded shrimp and scampi, contributed to the fishing and aquaculture sector of Guatemala closing 2017 with exports worth over $200 million.
For 2018, growth of 7% is expected with respect to 2017 in the export of products from the Aquaculture and Fisheries sector, and work is planned on opening up new markets such as China, Canada, South Korea and Russia.