Nile perch fillet exporters headed for a tough year

This means that any variations in the market performance of either species impacts on the other.

Analysts at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) observed that the pending implementation of the Bill, this year would have major implications on Pangasius trade.

“In 2010 the US farming bill could change the situation dramatically for pangasius imports when it is released. This bill would identify pangasius as catfish and put it under the rather restrictive sanitary control of the US Department of Agriculture,” they said in a market report for March.

Interestingly the US greatly increased imports of pangasius in the first 10 months of 2009 compared with the same period of 2008 with imports from the world’s largest producer of Pangasius, Vietnam, reaching the 34,500 tonnes, an increase of 72 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year.

And in what is expected to hurt local Nile Perch exports, the analysts project that the expected restriction of Pangasius imports would have a spiral effect on other international fish markets such as the European one that are traditionally eyed by Kenya and other East African countries.

“It has still not been set in motion and the consequences remain uncertain at present. The Russian market is the other unknown entity, and should the major buyers decide not to purchase, as happened during 2009, these products will flood the Western European market, creating many problems for the industry,” FAO’s Helga Josupeit said.

Vietnamese Pangasius are already popular in Western European markets where its low price has been well accepted in the present economic situation.

Market statistics showed Spain and Germany have thus become the top two importers of the Vietnamese pangasius, expanding their imports by seven per cent and four per cent respectively in 2009.

Overall, EU imports of pangasius in 2009 were on a par with the 2008 imports.

In addition, the Vietnamese government is planning to invest heavily in pangasius farming.

Once the production from these investments comes on the market, the total annual production will be 1.6 million tonnes, which means some 600,000 tonnes of additional product could swamp the market and adversely affect the current strong price situation.

“The outlook is bleak, as it will take the resource quite some time to recover. Despite the weak supply, prices of Nile Perch are going down. This is mainly caused by the strong competition of pangasius fillets in the market,” FAO said in an outlook late last year.

Kenya and other East Africa countries mainly rely on Lake Victoria for fishing of Nile Perch even though the business has in the recent years come under pressure from dwindling supplies and weak prices in the international market.

“Business has been tough in that stocks are difficult to come by and prices have also not been encouraging. The end markets in Europe have been enticing in terms of price rewards and some people have even resorted to pushing sales locally instead of sending them abroad on basis of economies of scale,” James Owiti, a Kisumu-based Nile Perch dealer, said.

For instance in 2008, shipments to the main EU declined by 10,000 tonnes, and further reduction was witnessed over 2009 even though the figures are yet to be tallied.

Prices of Nile Perch in key international markets have also been on a free-fall as the competition of cheap pangasius is felt.

Bleak environment

In the wake of such bleak environment, experts recommend for enhanced value addition to products, through certification schemes, to make them more competitive.

Nile Perch dealers on Lake Victoria have already taken up aggressive certification through various schemes such as Naturland, a German eco-certifier.

The certification covers about eight landing sites in the western region of Lake Victoria and involves about 1,000 fishermen, in Bukoba, Tanzania.

Under the plan products will be both frozen and chilled fillets and initially in German-speaking countries.