Last Year, Both Fish Farming Businesses and Workers Decreased... "Due to Weakened Sales Prices and Profitability"

Statistics Korea, 2019 Fish Aquaculture Trend Survey

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The number of fish farming businesses and workers both decreased last year. This is due to the recent continuous decline in sales prices by fish species and weakened profitability caused by low and high water temperatures.

On the 26th, Statistics Korea announced the results of the "2019 Fish Farming Trend Survey" containing this information.

According to the report, the number of businesses decreased by 2 (-0.2%) from 1,646 in 2018 to 1,654 in 2019. The number of workers also decreased by 111 (-2.0%) from 5,635 to 5,524 during the same period.

By fish species, the number of businesses operating are as follows: Jopibollak 725 (24.7%), Flatfish 525 (17.9%), Chamdome 432 (14.7%), Gamseongdome 233 (7.9%), Doldom 201 (6.8%), Sung-eoryu 183 (6.2%), and Nong-eoryu 162 (5.5%). Among these, Jeonnam had the most businesses raising Jopibollak with 355 (49.0%). Jeju had 261 (49.7%) for Flatfish, and Gyeongnam had 242 (56.0%) for Chamdome. Jeonnam also led in Gamseongdome and Nong-eoryu with 132 (56.7%) and 100 (61.7%) respectively, while Gyeongnam had the highest numbers for Doldom and Sung-eoryu with 112 (55.7%) and 78 (42.6%) respectively.

Despite the recent continuous decline in farm gate prices, production volume increased by 5.8% from 80,500 tons in 2018 to 85,200 tons due to concentrated shipment of stockpiled quantities of some fish species to secure operating funds. On the other hand, production value decreased by 12.0% from 929.2 billion KRW to 817.8 billion KRW as the farm gate prices of major species with high production shares fell compared to the previous year.

The number of stocked fish and the number of fish being raised both decreased by 18.6% and 6.0% respectively compared to the previous year. Statistics Korea analyzed that both stocking and rearing numbers decreased as focus shifted from stocking fingerlings to selling stockpiled quantities to alleviate management cost burdens caused by ongoing profitability weakening.

The amount of feed given decreased by 1.4% compared to the previous year as some stockpiled quantities of large-sized fish with relatively high feed per individual were partially resolved and fingerling stocking declined. Specifically, live feed decreased by 1.9%, while compound feed increased by 1.5%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.