MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian fisheries export revenue increased 49% in nine months of 2022

Frozen tilapia fillets remain the most exported product from Brazilian fisheries, and this year the domestic market saw an increase in demand.

Brazilian fisheries exports experienced a 49% revenue increase during the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2021. However, according to the Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in the 3rd quarter, revenue actually dropped 17%.

The Empraba’s bulletin points out that the downward movement can be explained by the greater supply of tilapia fillets to the domestic market, reducing the availability of foreign sales volume. Frozen tilapia fillets remain the most exported product from Brazilian fisheries.

Let us not forget that 2022 was an electoral year and the Brazilian population received direct money handouts plus other forms of subsidies to help boost domestic demand, ...and hopefully ballots.

Furthermore, Brazil despite thousands of miles of coast line has a very incipient organized fisheries industry since most of it is artisanal and coastal supplying the domestic market. The only really organized branch is aquaculture and thus tilapia farms.

So Brazil's fisheries exports main market is the United States, which during the third quarter purchased US$ 3,8 million, representing 83% of total fish overseas sales. Taiwan and Japan followed. While the southern state of Paraná remained as the leading tilapia exporting region with 61% of production. The northern state of Bahía and Mato Grosso do Sul, an inland state but with several main waterways were also the main providers of tilapia exports.