Agua Azul – Lake Yojoa, Honduras — A common Bible story says Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, which scholars surmise were Tilapia. But at the Aquafinca fish farm here, a modern miracle takes place daily: Tens of thousands of beefy, flapping tilapia are hauled out of teeming cages on Lake Yojoa, converted to fillets in a cold slaughterhouse and rushed onto planes bound for the United States, where some will appear on plates within 12 hours.
Photo by Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
For three consecutive years Honduras has been the first producer and exporter of Tilapia in the world. The country exported 13 million pounds of Tilapia in 2013, and this year (2014) the goal is to raise that amount to more than 21 million pounds, according to the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG).
The United States is the main market for Honduran products. Last year it bought nearly all of the 18.4 million pounds of fresh Tilapia fillets exported, for approximately $65 million dollars.
The proximity with the U.S. has helped Honduras become the largest supplier of fresh Tilapia.
Historically, Ecuador and Costa Rica had occupied the first and second places as leading exporters of fresh Tilapia fillets to the U.S. market, respectively, with a split share.
Aquafinca’s CEO, Orlando Delgado projects a record goal of 21.6 million pounds of Tilapia for 2014, which would generate about $70 million dollars (an increase of more than $5 million dollars.) in revenue. International price averages for Tilapia fillets are currently between $3 and $3.5 US Dollars per pound.
One of the objectives of the aquaculture sector and the newly elected government of Honduras is to penetrate markets such as Europe and Asia, especially for non-traditional products that have great export potential.
For example, recently the Tilapia market was able to begin exporting the skin for use in cosmetics by the European market and has been opened a whole new revenue stream, according to data from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tegucigalpa (CCIT).
While the export figures are unknown, the product prospects of becoming one of the non-traditional goods to contribute in the future to improve the trade balance are very certain, says Desire Garcia, manager of CCIT’s Business Development.
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