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| Sunday, 21 August 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Fish prices to soar as demand outstrips supply The price of edible fish is likely to go up as the demand for edible fish from the developing and developed world exceeds supply. This might make aquaculture viable for those species that are not viable today. For example cod. According to statistics in the past the unsatisfied demand of developed countries was bridged by exports from developing countries because they always had a surplus of edible fish and they managed to export and this trend will continue till 2010 but by 2015 there is a negative supply gap, states the report Info Fish released by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. According to statistics the demand for edible fish in all countries is expected to increase to 137 million MT in the year 2015 while it was 100 million MT in 2000.Per capita fish consumption will increase from 13.5 kg to 19.1 kg in 2015. According to FAO projections the captured production of edible fish will increase from 61 million MT in 2000 to 70 million MT in 2015. Aquaculture production will grow much more from 35.5 million MT to 63 million MT in the year 2015. According to statistics the demand in developing countries is forecast to grow faster than developed countries. Demand for edible fish is projected to increase from 40 million MT in 1990 to over 100 million MT by the year 2015. This would result in a per capita demand of 17.8 kg in compared to 10 kg in 1990. China is the driving force behind this increase in demand for fish. China is also behind the increase in aquaculture production expected in the developing countries while captured edible fish production is expected to be static. In the event the fisheries are not well managed the price increase might also lead to even more pressure on the captured fisheries. Some Pelagic fish might be converted from fish meal to edible fish but to do this technological problems must be overcome to keep the quality of the fish at human consumption standards. (SG) |
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