the volume of the ornamental fish trade

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Ornamental Fish International

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Some key figures

The ornamental aquatic industry isundoubtedly the industry which movesthe largest numbers of animalsglobally. How many? Nobody really

knows. The only data recorded for thisindustry are the weight of the boxes inwhich the live fish are moved and thevalue of these shipments in US$. Theweight of the shipment is mainlydetermined by the water in which thefish are packed. The percentageoccupied by fish is mostly dependenton the species and size of the fishtransported. However, to get a veryrough idea we calculated the averageprice per fish for a number of largershipments and divided the total exportvalue from 2004 by that amount. Forthis calculation we used the latest dataavailable from the FAO from 2004.This resulted in a staggering 1.5 billion

live ornamental fish exported everyyear.

Limitation of available statistics

Like every biology student in Holland, Ialso had to take a course in statistics.One of the most frequently quotedreferences was the probably neverpublished book "How to lie with

statistics."

Statistical information can always be

used selectively. If I want to present apositive impression of our trade, it iseasy to just present figures forcountries where the statisticalinformation displays a healthy rate of

growth. If I were to have the oppositeintentions, I could use those countrieswhere the statistical information hasshown a decline over the last fewyears. With well over 100 exportcountries in the market in recent years,I am sure it will be possible to findwhatever information I need to make apresentable case. In the overviewbelow I have tried to present theinformation as neutrally as possible.

Furthermore, trade statistics are onlyas reliable as the accuracy ofregistration. The statistics used as abasis for this chapter are provided bythe FAO. These statistics are based on

the information provided by thenational statistical bureaus. Withregard to the Dutch situation, I wasable to demonstrate (November 2004)that none of the available tradestatistics on ornamental fish arecompletely reliable. Not all importersare required to provide their importfigures. Errors are made in the data

provided and imports travelling viasurrounding countries are often notregistered. I am sure the Netherlands

The Volume of the Ornamental

Fish TradeBy Alex Ploeg, Secretary General of OFI


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Ornamental Fish InternationalVolume

is not an island with respect to the restof the world. I was also informed thatmost import countries provide theimport values excluding freight, butthere are some which include freightand I am sure there are even more ofthese types of inconsistencies.Available trade statistics are at best an

estimate of the real situation. Unlikefood, the registration of ornamentalaquatic animals does not take priority,but at least we do have some statisticswithin the ornamental fish sector. Withregard to most other pets, there are noofficial statistics available.

The information available from the

FAO statistics consists of export valuesper country, of re-export values percountry and import values per country.

The values are in US$, a currencywhich has varied considerably againstother currencies over the years. Forstatistical comparison purposes, it isalso unfortunate that only total valuesof fish are registered, they are notbroken down by species andquantities. Some very incomplete

information has been provided onquantities of fish for 2004 only.However, as it is incomplete, it is notpossible to put these figures to anysignificant use.

Export countries

The FAO statistical database providesinformation from1976 onwards. In that

year, 28 countries reported exports ofornamental fish. Since that year thenumber of exporting countries

Number of export countries 1976-2004. Source: FAO 2004


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(including re-exporting) has graduallygrown to 146 in 2004. And the numberis still increasing. Many countries,especially developing countries, seethe production of ornamental fish as avery good opportunity to create jobsespecially for the poor. Although this is

basically a very good characteristic ofthe ornamental aquatic industry, it isalso a weakness. The more countrieswhich start producing the same type ofornamental fish, the more pressure willbe created on the production prices forthe fish and the more difficult it will befor producers to invest in better quality,biosecurity and animal welfare. A case

in point: just think of the numerouscountries producing guppies, forexample.

Nevertheless, there are only a fewcountries which are responsible for thebulk of exports. The Top 10 exportingcountries have a share of no less than69% of the total worldwide exports; thetop 25 account for 93% of totalexports.

According to the FAO data, theworldwide export volume in US$during this period grew from US$ 21million in 1976 to US$ 251 million in2004. In the years just prior to 2004,growth increased again dramatically,so it is very likely that the total exportvalue in 2006 has grown to well over

US$ 300 million.

The main trend in the growth is a

Total export value in millions of US$. Source: FAO 2004


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steady increase, apart from a severedip in the period from 1996-1998, aperiod during which the worldeconomy was weak and the J apanese

economy in particular had suffered avery serious setback.

For a worldwide industry, the amountof US$ 251 million for 2004 may notsound very impressive. However, if weconsider that on average some one-third of the value of the fish is spent onair freight to transport the fish to the

importers, some US$ 83 million, thisimpression changes. And if we alsotake into consideration that theaverage mark-up for importers isassumed to be about 125% and themark-up for the retailers is some200%, this would make the total retail

value of the imports approximatelyUS$ 2.2 billion.

The total retail turnover in the

ornamental aquatic industry consists ofmuch more than the live fish alone.The fish are estimated to representapproximately 15% of the totalturnover in aquarium-related products.The rest consists of fish food,aquariums, plants, lighting, filters, etc.This leads to an estimate of some US$15 billion and this is a substantial

amount! The sector provides hundredsof thousands of people, perhaps evenmillions of people, an income.

Where do all the fish come from?

As already indicated, a very largenumber of countries are involved in

Value of the imports into Japan in million US$. Source FAO 2004


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this industry. But there are a fewdistinct export areas: Asia is by far thelargest export area. Not only is it thefish farm of the world, it is also wherefish originating from all regions of theworld are commercially bred. Thetropical rainforests of Southeast Asiaare also an important source of wildornamental fish. In southern China, thefarming of ornamental fish is an

enormous industry, yet this will notshow up in export figures as itsproduction is mainly destined for theinternal market.

The second largest area is Europe.The only large producer of ornamentalfish in the European countries is theCzech Republic which accounts for

31% of total European exports. It isunlikely that these exports consist ofre-exports of previously imported

fishes, as this would be reflected in theimport statistics.

Strangely enough, Spain accounts for29%, and this is a country where thereis only minimal breeding being doneand which has no collection of wildornamental fish. Since Spain'sornamental aquatic industry is notknown to have exploded in recent

years, this figure may most likely beattributed to the fact that fish importedfrom Africa and South America gothrough the airport of Madrid as thefirst European border inspection post.If this is the case, then this is a clearexample of the incorrect collection ofstatistical information. Another one-

Market shares for the export of ornamental fish for different regions in the world.

Source: FAO 2004

Right page: Fisher family in Peru, earningtheir income by collecting ornamental fish.

Photo: Svein Foss


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third of European exports areaccounted for by almost all of the otherEuropean countries together. Almostall of the other European countries

collectively represent another one-thirdof the European export figures.

Very well-known sources of wildornamental fish such as the Amazonrainforests of South America and therainforests and lakes of Africa do notcontribute much to the total worldexport of ornamental fish. With

respectively 5.3 and 4.4 %, includingmarine fish, both continents have onlya one-tenth share of the world market.Most profits made on Brazilian fish areprobably actually earned in Asia due toincreasingly stringent exportrestrictions imposed by Brazil and the

high capacity for breeding these fish inAsia.

According to Krishen Rana in his

presentation at Indaqua 2007, over63% of the exported fish originatedfrom developing countries in 2004. Assuch, the ornamental aquatic industryplays a promising role in the alleviationof poverty (as mentioned previously,this is done through the creation ofjobs and as a source of direct income)and the support for this industry from

many governments in developingcountries is quite understandable.

Where do all these fish go?

Number of importing countriesThe number of countries which areimporting ornamental fish has

Number of export countries 1976-2004. Source: FAO 2004


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gradually increased from 32 in 1976 to132 in 2001 and since then hasdecreased slightly to 120 in 2004. Sowe currently have more countriesexporting ornamental fish than thoseimporting ornamental fish.

Nevertheless, in fact there are only avery few countries which are reallyheavily involved in this industry. The

top 10 countries import more than 77%of the total import value, and the top25 import over 95% of the total. Thetop 25 are mainly represented bywealthy western countries.

Although there are a large number ofimporting countries, the distribution ofthese countries is quite uniform. With

51% of the total import value, Europeis by far the largest importer in theworld. Within Europe, the United

Kingdom accounts for 19% of the totalimports, with Germany coming in aclose second (18%). France, theNetherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italyalso have considerable imports. Thecountries in Eastern Europe haverelatively low import figures.

The second largest import area is theNorth American continent, the USA

being by far the largest player with87% of the total imports. We musthowever take into consideration thatmany exports from South America findtheir way into the rest of the worldthrough the airports of Miami and LosAngeles.

On the other hand, we must also

realise that the majority of the hugeornamental fish production industry inFlorida is distributed (mostly by air

Market shares for the import of ornamental fish for different regions in the world.

Source: FAO 2004


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Market shares for the import of ornamental fish for European countries

Source: FAO 2004

Market shares for the import of ornamental fish for Asian countriesSource: FAO 2004


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freight) within the USA and is notexported.

J apan is the major player with 45% ofthe total imports in the third majorimporting Area, Asia. In fact, onlySingapore, as an import-export hub,

plays an important role with 23% of theimports, putting it far behind J apan,and China with 17%, again lagging farbehind Singapore, although it hasenormous potential. After J apan, onlyimport-export centre Singapore with23% and China with 17% aresignificant importers. China has a hugepotential for growth though.

How much do they import?

The total import value of this industry

in 2004 was considerably higher thanthe export value in the same year, US$303 million versus US$ 251 million.Over the years, the value of importswas on average 45% higher than theexport value. The variation in thisfigure is high, from -5% (1981) to

100% (1994). It is unclear what thismeans. Rana (2007) explains thispartially as resulting from incorrectinvoicing for tax purposes. I alsoassume that costs related to shippingare included in the import values inmany countries. These costs haveincreased in the last decades.

The dip in the import value from 1995coincides with the strong drop in theimports into J apan due to the

Total import value in millions of US$. Source: FAO 2004


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economic recession.

Developments in exportsJ apan's export consists for a very largepart of koi. For these colourful carp,J apanese breeders have a specialreputation which makes their position

unique. The world' second exporter,the Czech Republic, has a specialposition. It mainly exports tropical fish,despite its location in a non-tropicalregion. As early as the Communistperiod, Czech breeders had a goodreputation. Numerous small breederswere able to satisfy the demand withinthe country. After the opening of the

borders to the west, the potential ofthese small breeders seemed endlessand within a few years the Czech

Republic climbed in the rankings ofexport countries. Now that the CzechRepublic has joined the EuropeanUnion, the economy will change and itis uncertain whether these changeswill benefit the country's exportopportunities.

Since 1990, Malaysia hasdemonstrated steady growth. A largepart of the fish exported throughSingapore was already being producedin Malaysia and since the Malaysiangovernment now strongly supports theindustry, we will most probably seeeven stronger growth in the statistics

after 2004.

The strong position of Spain cannot be

Developments in top-5 exportcountries 1976-2004. Source: FAO 2004


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Successful export countries and their history 1976-2004. Source: FAO 2004

Market share of Singapore in the total world exports during 1976-2004.

Source: FAO 2004.


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explained in any other way than asbeing accounted for by importsdestined for other countries within theEU which were listed for Spain as thefirst Border Inspection Post within theEuropean Union. If the same were tohappen with general cargo in theEuropean Union, the Netherlands

would probably be the largest importcountry of the EU since Europe'slargest harbour is located inRotterdam.

Singapore's market share

Singapore's export is more thandouble that of the other countries inthe top 5 from 2004. In total, the

market share of Singapore exports in2004 was about 19.8 % of the worldvolume, which was slightly higher than

the year before with 19.6%. This wasthe lowest market share in the periodcovered by the FAO statistics. In fact,this was less than half that of the topyears of 1984/1985. Since the industryis growing on a global scale, thedecline in market share is of coursecompletely logical. It may be seen as a

tremendous achievement thatSingapore is still by far the largestexporter.

Rapid growers

The Czech Republic and Spain are notonly in the top 5 of the exportcountries, they also show the largestexport growth. Israel was a very rapid

growth country until the outbreaks ofKoi Herpes Virus in 1998, whichresulted in a serious drop in exports of

Countres with a declining market share during the last years. Source: FAO 2004


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koi. After a severe dip, growthresumed after 2002.

Thailand has also experienced healthy

rates of growth during the last decade.I do not have an explanation for thefast growth in exports from Morocco.

Declining exports

After a strong peak in 1995, the USAhas seen its exports drop considerablystarting in 1996, which is also the yearthe J apanese imports nearly collapsed.

A very similar thing happened to theexports from Germany and HongKong. For both of these countries,J apan was a very important businesspartner.

Development in imports

If we see the development of the top 5import countries, it seems as if thesefigures are much closer to one anotherthan in the export graph. This is anerroneous conclusion, as we will seebelow. As we have already seen, theUnited Kingdom, Germany and Franceare close to each other. J apan hasbeen a giant which collapsed in thesecond half of the nineties due to an

economic recession.

Market share of the USA

The total market share for imports ofornamental fish into the USA droppedfrom its peak in the first year of theavailable statistics at almost 47% toonly 17% in 2002 and recovered to22% in the last year of the available

statistics. Since the aquarium hobbyhas also grown strongly outside of theUSA, for example, in Europe and Asia,

it is again quite logical that the marketshare has dropped over the years.

Emerging markets

The largest import countries in theworld are of course not the countrieswith the largest growth of imports. Aslong as the total imports are low, theentrance in the market by one or twomajor importers can result in highgrowth figures, such as the importfigures for Greece, Poland, Ireland,Indonesia and Iran as shown in this

overview. In this list, Indonesia is theunexpected country, since it is knownprimarily as being an exportingcountry.

Declining markets?

In fact, it is only in J apan that importshave really dropped over the lastdecade, as we have seen in the figureabove. Almost all of the other importcountries have seen a steady growthor at least a stable situation.

the volume of the ornamental fish trade

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