The price of tilapia in western Guangdong has risen rapidly in the past five years, the highest in the same period.

In the once-in-60-year flood, Hainan's tilapia farming industry was hit hard, a large number of ponds were flooded or destroyed, tilapia fled the pond, and the stock of the pond was greatly reduced. Due to the shortage of raw material fish, and many tilapia processing plants in Hainan still have a large number of urgently needed orders, in order to complete the contract to avoid paying high liquidated damages, the processing plant did not hesitate to go to Guangdong to buy tilapia, so as to alleviate the shortage of raw materials.

According to industry insiders, more than 200,000 kilograms of tilapia are shipped daily from Guangdong's Pearl River Delta and western Guangdong to Hainan, and the phenomenon of "Guangdong fish transporting Qiong" will continue until June next year. As a result, the price of tilapia in Guangdong has risen sharply, from 4.5 yuan per 500 grams in early October to 5 yuan per 500 grams, about 1.5 yuan higher than the same period last year.

Chen Yashou, a tilapia intermediary in Botou District, Zhanjiang City, said that the tilapia he bought for several businessmen in recent days were shipped to Hainan and delivered to the processing plant there. He said that the merchants have no requirements on the origin of tilapia, and after passing the test, they can be purchased as long as they meet the specifications and the price is suitable.

In recent days, he has been collecting fish back and forth in Wuchuan, Lianjiang, Maoming and Zhuhai, the main producing areas of tilapia in Guangdong, with a daily purchase of 50,000 kilograms. He stressed that at present, there are very few tilapia in Guangdong, and if the supply is sufficient and all of them can be purchased in accordance with the requirements of the merchants, the daily purchase volume will be even higher.

Liang Quan, a tilapia buyer, said that every August and September, local processing plants in Hainan would go to Guangdong and other places to buy tilapia, but after Hainan suffered floods this year, the shortage of tilapia led to higher purchases in Guangdong than in previous years. Liang Quan said that at present, more than 200,000 kilograms of tilapia are sent to Hainan every day in Guangdong, and the land is mainly acquired in western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. He said that tilapia returned to production after the disaster in Hainan will not be sold until July next year, so the Hainan processing plant will continue to collect fish in Guangdong until June next year.

Liang Quan said that due to comprehensive factors such as freight, purchasers generally purchased tilapia in western Guangdong, which is relatively close to Hainan. He said that it costs about 5000 yuan to transport a truckload of tilapia (10, 000 kilograms) from Zhanjiang to Hainan. Because it is close to Hainan and can be transported to the processing plant in Hainan on the same day, the survival rate of tilapia is relatively high during transportation. according to amortization, the transportation cost per 500 grams of fish is about 0.3 yuan. Its comprehensive acquisition cost (increased transportation cost + Tangtou purchase price) is roughly the same as the price of tilapia in Hainan.

Compared with Zhanjiang, the cost of collecting fish from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan is much higher. Liang Quan said that the cost of transporting a truckload of fish (10,000kg) from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan is about 8000 yuan, or 0.4 yuan per 500g of tilapia at a survival rate of 100 per cent. But in fact, the longer the transport distance, the lower the survival rate of tilapia.

People from the processing plant said that it takes a day to transport a truckload of tilapia (10,000 kg) from Zhuhai to Hainan, and at least more than 1000 kg of fish will be lost on the way. If the car is waiting for the ferry ship for too long or due to improper operation resulting in unstable water temperature and low dissolved oxygen, the mortality rate of fish is even higher. According to the comprehensive calculation, the transportation cost of tilapia shipped from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan is more than 0.57 yuan per 500 grams.

Although the price of tilapia in the Pearl River Delta is about 0.1 yuan ~ 0.2 yuan lower than that in western Guangdong, the comprehensive cost of shipping tilapia from the Pearl River Delta to Hainan is 0.1 yuan ~ 0.17 yuan higher than that in western Guangdong due to the high transportation cost. therefore, businessmen from Hainan generally choose western Guangdong to collect fish from Guangdong.

Although there are a large number of tilapia in Guangdong, eastern Guangdong and Fujian, it takes two days to transport tilapia to Hainan because they are far away from Hainan. In the course of transportation, the density of tilapia loaded is high, and the transportation time is more than 24 hours, the mortality rate of tilapia is extremely high, and the overall cost is even higher. therefore, few processing plants in Hainan go to eastern Guangdong and Fujian to buy tilapia.

Liang Quan said that due to the limitations of tilapia production and acquisition areas, the current supply of tilapia is still unable to meet the needs of Hainan processing plants, and the local tilapia processing plants in Guangdong are also unable to get sufficient supply for processing and production. Tong Jianhui, general manager of Guangzhou Hengfa Aquatic products Co., Ltd., said that the production capacity of local enterprises has dropped significantly. Chen Yashou said that under the imbalance between supply and demand, the price of tilapia in western Guangdong has risen rapidly, from 4.5 yuan per 500 grams in early October to 5 yuan, 1.5 yuan higher than the same period last year, and the price is also the highest in the past five years.