THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) under the Department of Agriculture (DA) has decided to forgo construction of a P10-million tilapia fillet processing plant in Cagayan de Oro.

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento said the decision was reached following the failure of suppliers in the area to guarantee the steady supply of tilapia.

“We decided to cancel it because they [suppliers] could not guarantee us that they could supply our requirements,” said Sarmiento in an interview.

Earlier, the BFAR said the plant would require as much as 200 metric tons (MT) or 2,000 kilograms of fresh tilapia every month to meet the demand of importers.

Currently, the United States is considered as the major importer of tilapia fillet. The product fetches a price of $3 per kilo.

“Brunei is another viable market for our tilapia fillet. Buyers there have expressed interest to buy from us,” said Sarmiento earlier.

The Philippines is considered the second-largest producer of tilapia in the world. But in terms of export, the BFAR noted that the Philippines has been shipping out a “very minimal volume” of tilapia products.

Instead of a tilapia processing plant, Sarmiento said the BFAR has decided to just undertake the construction of a multispecie processing plant in Balicasag, Misamis Oriental.

“The plant was constructed near the mariculture parks so it will be easier to source the fish requirements. It will not just process tilapia, it will also process other fish species,” said Sarmiento.

The construction of the P10-million plant in Misamis Oriental is ongoing and the BFAR expects it to be up and running by the second quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, Sarmiento has expressed confidence that fisheries production for the second quarter will recover and grow between 8 percent to 10 percent.

For January to March of this year, the fisheries subsector posted a growth of only 4.41 percent.

Sarmiento attributed this to the cold spell which affected municipal fisheries in Regions 4-A and 4-B.

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THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) under the Department of Agriculture (DA) has decided to forgo construction of a P10-million tilapia fillet processing plant in Cagayan de Oro.

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