Fish production advances and revenue exceeds R$1 billion

In 2020, Paraná’s fish farming grew 11.5% and resulted in 172,000 tons of slaughtered fish and revenue exceeding R$ 1 billion. The data are from the Brazilian Association of Pisciculture (Peixe BR), which establishes Paraná as the national leader in protein, with 21.4% of production. The two largest fish-producing groups in the country are from the state and plan to expand their activities and explore the international market.

Consolata Agroindustrial Cooperative (COPACOL) brings together 250 associated fish farmers who produced 14,000 tons of tilapia in 2020, accounting for 6% of national production. Tilapia is the main crop species in the country, representing 60.6% of national production and 90% of Paraná’s production.

COPACOL slaughters 160,000 tilapia a day in two slaughterhouses located in Nova Aurora and Toledo, in the west of the state. It has recently started an expansion cycle to process 250,000 tilapia per day in 2025. The total investment is expected to reach R$ 140 million. The Toledo slaughterhouse, which currently slaughters 25,000 tilapia a day, should reach 40,000 tilapia by the end of the year and 80,000 tilapia by 2025, working in two shifts.

Brazilian Fish Exports | Jan 2018 to May 2021 | WTMT

Graph source: DataLiner  (To request a DataLiner demo click here)

In total, COPACOL brings together 6,200 producers whose main activity is actually chicken farming. “Fish farming arose from a demand from some cooperative members for extra income, and the success aroused the interest of new producers,” says Valter Pitol, CEO of COPACOL.

The expectation is to have 400 members working with fish farming in the coming years. Each interested party will invest R$ 350 thousand per hectare of water reservoir to create the farm. The cooperative provides fingerlings (young fish) and technical support. Each hectare generates an annual net income of around R$ 30,000.

In 2020, the cooperative’s sales reached BRL 5.6 billion, 7% of which originated in fish production. São Paulo, Brasília, Campo Grande, and the three southern states are the markets where tilapia are distributed. Since September, the cooperative has been exporting three tons a month to Miami, USA, where the fresh fish arrive within 48 hours after slaughter. “It is a learning experience; we are already mapping new opportunities in the foreign market, where we will soon be working with frozen fish.”

In 2020, Brazil exported 6,680 tons of fish valued at US$ 11.7 million.

Source: Valor Econômico

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Fish production advances and revenue exceeds R$ 1 billion | Supplements | Economic Value (globo.com)

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