At present, most tilapia exports are directed to US. (Photo: Terrapez/FIS)

Tilapia producer seeking to boost sales to the EU

Given the increased consumption of tilapia in the European Union (EU) and the recent approval of the waste management plan, the company Aquacorporación Internacional (ACI Group) assesses the potential to strengthen the resource export to that market.

At present, this company owns Aquacorporación and Terrapez firms, and is the largest exporter of tilapia from Costa Rica.

In the past three years, ACI Group exported between 17,500 and 18,500 tonnes of tilapia annually from its processing plant located in Cañas, Guanacoste.

According to the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer) in Costa Rica there are only two exporters: one is ACI Group and the name of the other one has not been revealed.

Previously, another company that exported tilapia was Tilapias del Sol, also located in Cañas, but it closed three or four years ago, El Financiero de Costa Rica reported.

Hacienda La Pacifica is also engaged in tilapia production but for several years it has rented its farming ponds to ACI Group.

Alvaro Otárola, head of the Aquiculture Department of the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Incopesca), said that there are two farming systems:

• An industrial one, large volumes for export and concentrate in Cañas as it is an irrigation district;
• Small farmers (about 900), whose annual production ranges from 500 kilos to 80 tonnes.

According to information from Incopesca, this species farming has covered 680 hectares and a total production of 5,000 tonnes of fresh fillets over the past year.

According to the financial-administrative manager of the Group, Walter Cruz, the company is considering the EU market to encourage the export of tilapia because only 5 per cent of the total production is directed there, given that 95 per cent is sold to US.

Europe "is a market we have been focusing on more recently," he explained.

According to statistics from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in the first quarter of 2011 imports into the European Union rose by 3.2 per cent over the same period in 2010.

And the FAO predicts that overall, the consumption will increase significantly in the next five years: about 56 per cent, implying between 4.5 and 5 million additional tonnes.

By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
 

Address:	3 Km Oeste del Cementerio de Cañas - POBox 88-5700
City:	Cañas
State/ZIP:	Guanacaste (785700)
Country:	Costa Rica
Phone:	+506 2338-4000
Fax:	+506 2669-0594
E-Mail:	[email protected]
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