info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
Image from Hermes-Sojitz
The country annual fish potential is 94,541tons, which is distributed to lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. Therefore, the fish processing plant would collect from different parts of the country and produces processed fishes.The present fish supply is almost half of the demand 50034.1tons. The market is expected to reach to 111971 tons by the year 2020.
Ethiopia's endowment with natural resources places her as one of the fortune countries in Africa. Her possession of natural resources of inland lakes and other water body's fisheries is no exception. The numerous rivers and lakes provide the country a tremendous development opportunity. The main Ethiopia Rivers, the total distance these rivers cover and the species of fishes observed in each of them are shown below.
Export of fishery products to the international market is not yet developed. Some exports were carried out to North Africa & in the Middle East and to some other countries a few years ago. By now only a few companies are exporting 82 tons dried, and 707 tons wet salted fish product to Sudan from Lake Tana. A large amount of fresh and dried fish is exported to Kenya from Omo River illegally. Different fish products are imported from different countries amounted 200tons.
OPPORTUNITY RATIONALE
Ethiopia has favorable socioeconomic conditions and physical resources such as water, land and natural resources that support the development of aquaculture.
Ethiopia, one of the most populous nations standing 2nd in Africa and 17th in the world, has increasing unmet demand for fishery products. The growing demand for fish, especially during the fasting season cannot be met by production from capture fisheries alone.
Aquaculture is increasingly recognized as an alternative means of achieving food security and poverty reduction in the rural area and is now considered an integral part of rural and agricultural development policies and strategies of the Government of Ethiopia. The aquaculture policies and strategies of the country and the legal framework for fishery development are also very supportive. The Growth and Development Plan encourages the private sector to invest in aquaculture sub-sector.
Concerning local market, in recent years, the price of fish incised drastically. For instance, the tilapia fillet costs 10-13 Br/Kg: - catfish fillet 7-9Br/Kg before 2003 and now-a-days 80-90Br/Kg and 35-40Br/Kg respectively in Addis Ababa market.
In particular, export of fishery products from Ethiopia to the international market is not as such developed. For instance, some export were carried out to North Africa and the Middle East into some other countries a few years ago. By now only a few companies are exporting dried processed fish product to Sudan from Lake Tana only.
The main reason for this little amount of export is that Ethiopian fish processors and traders could not manage to penetrate the international market immensely due to lack of capacity to meet quality standards and fish trade requirements. In spite of huge available potential, the current export of fish is still very small. The existing hot international market is mainly Middle East countries.
There are a significant amount of fishery products exported from Kenya, Sudan, and Somalia to these countries.The Federal Ministry of Agriculture estimated fish exports to have incised from 5243tones in 2015 to 32,474 tons in 2020.
