Ornamental Fish International

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The Volume of the Ornamental Fish Trade

By Alex Ploeg, Secretary General of OFI
Some key figures The ornamental aquatic industry is undoubtedly the industry which moves the largest numbers of animals globally. How many? Nobody really knows. The only data recorded for this industry are the weight of the boxes in which the live fish are moved and the value of these shipments in US$. The weight of the shipment is mainly determined by the water in which the fish are packed. The percentage occupied by fish is mostly dependent on the species and size of the fish transported. However, to get a very rough idea we calculated the average price per fish for a number of larger shipments and divided the total export value from 2004 by that amount. For this calculation we used the latest data available from the FAO from 2004. This resulted in a staggering 1.5 billion live ornamental fish exported every year. Limitation of available statistics Like every biology student in Holland, I also had to take a course in statistics. One of the most frequently quoted references was the probably never published book "How to lie with statistics." Statistical information can always be used selectively. If I want to present a positive impression of our trade, it is easy to just present figures for countries where the statistical information displays a healthy rate of growth. If I were to have the opposite intentions, I could use those countries where the statistical information has shown a decline over the last few years. With well over 100 export countries in the market in recent years, I am sure it will be possible to find whatever information I need to make a presentable case. In the overview below I have tried to present the information as neutrally as possible. Furthermore, trade statistics are only as reliable as the accuracy of registration. The statistics used as a basis for this chapter are provided by the FAO. These statistics are based on the information provided by the national statistical bureaus. With regard to the Dutch situation, I was able to demonstrate (November 2004) that none of the available trade statistics on ornamental fish are completely reliable. Not all importers are required to provide their import figures. Errors are made in the data provided and imports travelling via surrounding countries are often not registered. I am sure the Netherlands

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Number of export countries 1976-2004.

Source: FAO 2004

is not an island with respect to the rest of the world. I was also informed that most import countries provide the import values excluding freight, but there are some which include freight and I am sure there are even more of these types of inconsistencies. Available trade statistics are at best an estimate of the real situation. Unlike food, the registration of ornamental aquatic animals does not take priority, but at least we do have some statistics within the ornamental fish sector. With regard to most other pets, there are no official statistics available. The information available from the FAO statistics consists of export values per country, of re-export values per country and import values per country.

The values are in US$, a currency which has varied considerably against other currencies over the years. For statistical comparison purposes, it is also unfortunate that only total values of fish are registered, they are not broken down by species and quantities. Some very incomplete information has been provided on quantities of fish for 2004 only. However, as it is incomplete, it is not possible to put these figures to any significant use. Export countries The FAO statistical database provides information from1976 onwards. In that year, 28 countries reported exports of ornamental fish. Since that year the number of exporting countries

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Total export value in millions of US$.

Source: FAO 2004

(including re-exporting) has gradually grown to 146 in 2004. And the number is still increasing. Many countries, especially developing countries, see the production of ornamental fish as a very good opportunity to create jobs especially for the poor. Although this is basically a very good characteristic of the ornamental aquatic industry, it is also a weakness. The more countries which start producing the same type of ornamental fish, the more pressure will be created on the production prices for the fish and the more difficult it will be for producers to invest in better quality, biosecurity and animal welfare. A case in point: just think of the numerous countries producing guppies, for example.

Nevertheless, there are only a few countries which are responsible for the bulk of exports. The Top 10 exporting countries have a share of no less than 69% of the total worldwide exports; the top 25 account for 93% of total exports. According to the FAO data, the worldwide export volume in US$ during this period grew from US$ 21 million in 1976 to US$ 251 million in 2004. In the years just prior to 2004, growth increased again dramatically, so it is very likely that the total export value in 2006 has grown to well over US$ 300 million. The main trend in the growth is a

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steady increase, apart from a severe dip in the period from 1996-1998, a period during which the world economy was weak and the Japanese economy in particular had suffered a very serious setback. For a worldwide industry, the amount of US$ 251 million for 2004 may not sound very impressive. However, if we consider that on average some onethird of the value of the fish is spent on air freight to transport the fish to the importers, some US$ 83 million, this impression changes. And if we also take into consideration that the average mark-up for importers is assumed to be about 125% and the mark-up for the retailers is some 200%, this would make the total retail

value of the imports approximately US$ 2.2 billion. The total retail turnover in the ornamental aquatic industry consists of much more than the live fish alone. The fish are estimated to represent approximately 15% of the total turnover 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 hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps even millions of people, an income. Where do all the fish come from? As already indicated, a very large number of countries are involved in

Value of the imports into Japan in million US$.

Source FAO 2004

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Market shares for the export of ornamental fish for different regions in the world. Source: FAO 2004

this industry. But there are a few distinct export areas: Asia is by far the largest export area. Not only is it the fish farm of the world, it is also where fish originating from all regions of the world are commercially bred. The tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia are also an important source of wild ornamental fish. In southern China, the farming of ornamental fish is an enormous industry, yet this will not show up in export figures as its production is mainly destined for the internal market. The second largest area is Europe. The only large producer of ornamental fish in the European countries is the Czech Republic which accounts for 31% of total European exports. It is unlikely that these exports consist of re-exports of previously imported

fishes, as this would be reflected in the import statistics. Strangely enough, Spain accounts for 29%, and this is a country where there is only minimal breeding being done and which has no collection of wild ornamental fish. Since Spain's ornamental aquatic industry is not known to have exploded in recent years, this figure may most likely be attributed to the fact that fish imported from Africa and South America go through the airport of Madrid as the first European border inspection post. If this is the case, then this is a clear example of the incorrect collection of statistical information. Another oneRight page: Fisher family in Peru, earning their income by collecting ornamental fish. Photo: Svein Foss

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third of European exports are accounted for by almost all of the other European countries together. Almost all of the other European countries collectively represent another one-third of the European export figures. Very well-known sources of wild ornamental fish such as the Amazon rainforests of South America and the rainforests and lakes of Africa do not contribute much to the total world export of ornamental fish. With respectively 5.3 and 4.4 %, including marine fish, both continents have only a one-tenth share of the world market. Most profits made on Brazilian fish are probably actually earned in Asia due to increasingly stringent export restrictions imposed by Brazil and the

high capacity for breeding these fish in Asia. According to Krishen Rana in his presentation at Indaqua 2007, over 63% of the exported fish originated from developing countries in 2004. As such, the ornamental aquatic industry plays a promising role in the alleviation of poverty (as mentioned previously, this is done through the creation of jobs and as a source of direct income) and the support for this industry from many governments in developing countries is quite understandable. Where do all these fish go? Number of importing countries The number of countries which are importing ornamental fish has

Number of export countries 1976-2004.

Source: FAO 2004

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Market shares for the import of ornamental fish for different regions in the world. Source: FAO 2004

gradually increased from 32 in 1976 to 132 in 2001 and since then has decreased slightly to 120 in 2004. So we currently have more countries exporting ornamental fish than those importing ornamental fish. Nevertheless, in fact there are only a very few countries which are really heavily involved in this industry. The top 10 countries import more than 77% of the total import value, and the top 25 import over 95% of the total. The top 25 are mainly represented by wealthy western countries. Although there are a large number of importing countries, the distribution of these countries is quite uniform. With 51% of the total import value, Europe is by far the largest importer in the world. Within Europe, the United

Kingdom accounts for 19% of the total imports, with Germany coming in a close second (18%). France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy also have considerable imports. The countries in Eastern Europe have relatively low import figures. The second largest import area is the North American continent, the USA being by far the largest player with 87% of the total imports. We must however take into consideration that many exports from South America find their way into the rest of the world through the airports of Miami and Los Angeles. On the other hand, we must also realise that the majority of the huge ornamental fish production industry in Florida is distributed (mostly by air

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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 countries Source: FAO 2004

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Total import value in millions of US$.

Source: FAO 2004

freight) within the USA and is not exported. Japan is the major player with 45% of the total imports in the third major importing Area, Asia. In fact, only Singapore, as an import-export hub, plays an important role with 23% of the imports, putting it far behind Japan, and China with 17%, again lagging far behind Singapore, although it has enormous potential. After Japan, only import-export centre Singapore with 23% and China with 17% are significant importers. China has a huge potential for growth though. How much do they import? The total import value of this industry

in 2004 was considerably higher than the export value in the same year, US$ 303 million versus US$ 251 million. Over the years, the value of imports was on average 45% higher than the export value. The variation in this figure is high, from -5% (1981) to 100% (1994). It is unclear what this means. Rana (2007) explains this partially as resulting from incorrect invoicing for tax purposes. I also assume that costs related to shipping are included in the import values in many countries. These costs have increased in the last decades. The dip in the import value from 1995 coincides with the strong drop in the imports into Japan due to the

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Developments in top-5 exportcountries 1976-2004.

Source: FAO 2004

economic recession. Developments in exports Japan's export consists for a very large part of koi. For these colourful carp, Japanese breeders have a special reputation which makes their position unique. The world' second exporter, the Czech Republic, has a special position. It mainly exports tropical fish, despite its location in a non-tropical region. As early as the Communist period, Czech breeders had a good reputation. Numerous small breeders were able to satisfy the demand within the country. After the opening of the borders to the west, the potential of these small breeders seemed endless and within a few years the Czech

Republic climbed in the rankings of export countries. Now that the Czech Republic has joined the European Union, the economy will change and it is uncertain whether these changes will benefit the country's export opportunities. Since 1990, Malaysia has demonstrated steady growth. A large part of the fish exported through Singapore was already being produced in Malaysia and since the Malaysian government now strongly supports the industry, we will most probably see even stronger growth in the statistics after 2004. The strong position of Spain cannot be

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

Successful export countries and their history 1976-2004.

Source: FAO 2004

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

explained in any other way than as being accounted for by imports destined for other countries within the EU which were listed for Spain as the first Border Inspection Post within the European Union. If the same were to happen with general cargo in the European Union, the Netherlands would probably be the largest import country of the EU since Europe's largest harbour is located in Rotterdam. Singapore's market share Singapore's export is more than double that of the other countries in the top 5 from 2004. In total, the market share of Singapore exports in 2004 was about 19.8 % of the world volume, which was slightly higher than

the year before with 19.6%. This was the lowest market share in the period covered by the FAO statistics. In fact, this was less than half that of the top years of 1984/1985. Since the industry is growing on a global scale, the decline in market share is of course completely logical. It may be seen as a tremendous achievement that Singapore is still by far the largest exporter. Rapid growers The Czech Republic and Spain are not only in the top 5 of the export countries, they also show the largest export growth. Israel was a very rapid growth country until the outbreaks of Koi Herpes Virus in 1998, which resulted in a serious drop in exports of

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koi. After a severe dip, growth resumed after 2002. Thailand has also experienced healthy rates of growth during the last decade. I do not have an explanation for the fast growth in exports from Morocco. Declining exports After a strong peak in 1995, the USA has seen its exports drop considerably starting in 1996, which is also the year the Japanese imports nearly collapsed. A very similar thing happened to the exports from Germany and Hong Kong. For both of these countries, Japan was a very important business partner. Development in imports If we see the development of the top 5 import countries, it seems as if these figures are much closer to one another than in the export graph. This is an erroneous conclusion, as we will see below. As we have already seen, the United Kingdom, Germany and France are close to each other. Japan has been a giant which collapsed in the second half of the nineties due to an economic recession. Market share of the USA The total market share for imports of ornamental fish into the USA dropped from its peak in the first year of the available statistics at almost 47% to only 17% in 2002 and recovered to 22% in the last year of the available statistics. Since the aquarium hobby has also grown strongly outside of the USA, for example, in Europe and Asia,

it is again quite logical that the market share has dropped over the years. Emerging markets The largest import countries in the world are of course not the countries with the largest growth of imports. As long as the total imports are low, the entrance in the market by one or two major importers can result in high growth figures, such as the import figures for Greece, Poland, Ireland, Indonesia and Iran as shown in this overview. In this list, Indonesia is the unexpected country, since it is known primarily as being an exporting country. Declining markets? In fact, it is only in Japan that imports have really dropped over the last decade, as we have seen in the figure above. Almost all of the other import countries have seen a steady growth or at least a stable situation.

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