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CATFISH
February 21, 2003

USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service   |  1222 Woodward Street   |  Orlando, Florida 32803   |  407 / 648-6013

FLORIDA

  There were 34 catfish operations in Florida on January 1, 2003. Total water surface area was 660 acres, a decrease of 220 acres from 2002. Most of the acreage was for foodsize fish (590 acres) and fingerlings (45 acres). Total sales in Florida in 2002 were $756,000. The majority of the sales were to processors.

UNITED STATES

  Catfish growers in the 13 selected States had sales of 410 million dollars during 2002, down 8 percent from the previous year. The top four States (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana) accounted for 96 percent of the U. S. total sales. Nationwide sales of all foodsize fish decreased 8 percent from 2001 to 378 million dollars. Fingerlings and fry sales totaled 17.3 million dollars, a decrease of 27 percent from 2001. Sales of stockers totaled 12.6 million dollars in 2002, up 50 percent from the previous year.
  By point of first sale, direct sales to processors accounted for 95 percent of the total sales of foodsize fish while 86 percent of the stocker sales were to other producers. Remaining sales were for recreational use, to live haulers, or for retail, government, or other uses.
  The water surface acres being used for catfish production as of January 1, 2003, totaled 187 thousand acres, down 5 percent from the 197 thousand acres used a year earlier. Of the total acres, 5.44 thousand are to be renovated during the period of January 1, 2003 to June 30, 2003. An additional 1.23 thousand acres are under construction or expected to be constructed and in use by July 1, 2003. During the period of July 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002, the area taken out of production totaled 7.95 thousand acres. As of January 1, 2003, foodfish were produced on 152 thousand acres, fingerling producing acres totaled 25.1 thousand, and 4.83 thousand acres were being used for broodfish.
  Catfish producers had 1.30 million broodfish on hand January 1, 2003, up 11 percent from January 1, 2002. Large foodsize fish (over 3 pounds per fish) on hand totaled 11.1 million on January 1, 2003, up 3 percent from a year ago. The number of medium foodsize (1.50 pounds to 3 pounds per fish) increased 20 percent to 128 million, while small foodsize fish (0.75 pound to 1.50 pounds per fish) numbers decreased 11 percent to 255 million. Large stockers (over 180 pounds to 750 pounds per 1000 fish) on hand January 1, 2003, at 319 million fish, were up 3 percent from the previous year. Small stocker (over 60 pounds to 180 pounds per 1000 fish) numbers increased 25 percent to 456 million. There were 990 million fingerlings on hand January 1, 2003, down 7 percent from January 1, 2002.
CATFISH: Water Surface Acres Utilization of Acres Jan 1, 2002 & 2003, and Acres Taken Out of Production
Jul 1-Dec 31, 2002, by State
State Water surface acres Utilization of acres, 2002 Taken
out of
pro-
duction in
2001
Reno- vated New
con-
struction 		Used for
brood- fish
Jan 1
2002 		Jan 1
2003
AL 25,900 25,500 460 180 630 830
AR 38,000 34,000 800 * 650 1,000
FL 880 660 * * 15 *
LA 12,100 9,900 530 35 170 1,350
MS 111,500 109,000 3,300 650 3,000 4,400
MO 1,800 1,400 90 65 55 55
Oth 1/ 6,580 6,285 263 295 310 315
Total 196,760 186,745 5,443 1,225 4,830 7,950
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX. * Included in other states to avoid disclosure.


CATFISH: Number of operations and annual sales
State Number of operations Annual sales
January 1
2002 		January 1
2003 		2001 2002
  Thousand dollars
AL 240 231 69,965 76,045
AR 195 155 65,306 56,380
FL 45 34 1,327 756
LA 70 57 26,207 15,812
MS 395 405 260,852 243,226
MO 40 31 2,840 1,070
Oth 1/ 251 242 17,184 16,539
Total 1,236 1,155 443,681 409,828
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Inventory and live weight of broodfish, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands
AL 70 380 360 1,280
AR 170 120 780 590
FL 5 3 33 21
LA * 26 * 160
MS 800 700 3,800 3,300
MO * 15 * 60
Oth 1/ 131 59 580 307
Total 1,171 1,303 5,553 5,718
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX. *Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

CATFISH: Inventory and live weight of all foodsizes, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands
AL 66,450 82,300 88,600 110,740
AR 74,440 74,830 101,250 105,750
LA 20,740 19,800 29,080 29,700
MS 228,350 204,250 273,300 265,400
MO 2,125 3,500 2,860 *
Oth 1/ 12,349 8,652 18,924 19,513
Total 404,454 393,332 514,014 531,103
1/ Includes CA, FL, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX. *Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

CATFISH: Inventory and live weight of total
stockers, January 1 1/
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands
AL 72,800 142,100 19,000 22,500
AR 115,300 120,200 20,450 24,850
LA 29,200 32,410 5,350 4,900
MS 447,400 464,000 105,400 109,300
MO 3,850 * 720 *
Oth 2/ 7,828 16,516 1,718 3,219
Total 676,378 775,226 152,638 164,769
1/ Total stockers: Over 60 lbs to 750 lbs/ 1,000 fish. 2/ Includes CA, FL, GA, IL, KY, NC, SC, and TX. *Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

CATFISH: Inventory and live weight of fingerling, January 11/
State Total number of fish Total liveweight of fish
2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands
AL 53,000 50,800 2,400 1,720
AR 197,000 131,000 3,850 3,880
FL 5,000 3,300 47 26
LA 55,800 30,800 1,980 1,120
MS 727,000 753,000 24,500 26,200
MO * 4,040 * 90
Oth 2/ 28,600 17,223 955 639
Total 1,066,400 990,163 33,732 33,675
1/ Fingerling: Over 2 lbs to 60 lbs/1,000 fish. 2/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX. *Included in other states to avoid disclosure of individual operations.

CATFISH: Foodsize percent sold by outlet type, 2002
State Livehaul Fee/Rec
fishing 		Process Retail rest. &
Fd. Stor 		Other
outlets
AL 0 1 96 1 2
AR 1 0 92 6 1
FL * 0 97 * *
LA 0 1 97 * *
MS 0 0 99 * 1
MO 63 19 * * 16
Wt.avg. 1/ 0.7 0.8 94.5 2.4 1.6
1/ Includes AL, CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX. *Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

CATFISH: Number sold, weight, and value of sales of all stockers
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total sales Average value per pound
2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AR 18,300 12,000 2,900 1,500 2,726 1,200 0.94 0.80
MS 42,400 78,600 3,530 9,680 4,059 9,196 1.15 0.95
Oth 1/ 4,773 6,494 2,159 1,918 1,633 2,197 0.70 1.15
Total 65,473 97,094 8,589 13,098 8,418 12,593 0.98 0.96
1/ Includes AL, CA, FL, GA, KS, KY, LA, MO, NC, OK, TN, SC, and TX.

CATFISH: Number sold, weight, and value of sales of all foodsize
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total sales Average value per pound
2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 60,000 75,000 115,000 142,000 67,850 73,840 0.59 0.52
AR 51,600 59,400 94,000 97,000 59,220 53,350 0.63 0.55
LA 29,000 18,200 40,000 26,600 24,800 15,428 0.62 0.58
MS 255,600 244,000 381,000 392,000 240,030 219,520 0.63 0.56
MO 1,010 350 2,180 765 1,984 635 0.91 0.83
Oth 1/ 9,690 8,845 15,279 15,378 16,803 15,688 --      --     
Total 406,900 405,795 647,459 673,743 410,687 378,461 0.63 0.56
1/ Includes CA, FL, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

CATFISH: Number sold, weight, and value of sales of fingerlings and fry
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total sales Average value per pound
2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 36,200 18,200 1,600 370 1,920 670 1.20 1.81
AR 123,800 64,000 1,900 900 3,249 1,440 1.71 1.60
FL 3,500 1,750 110 73 220 110 2.00 2.20
MS 805,700 417,600 10,200 10,350 16,320 13,559 1.60 1.31
Oth 1/ 38,145 16,482 796 535 2,108 1,560 2.74 2.98
Total 1,007,345 518,032 14,606 12,228 23,817 17,339 1.63 1.42
1/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, LA, MO, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

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