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CATFISH
February 9, 2005

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


FLORIDA

  There were 46 catfish operations in Florida on January 1, 2005. Total water surface area was 650 acres, a decrease of 60 acres from 2004. Most of the acreage was for foodsize fish (630 acres) and fingerlings (35 acres). Total sales in Florida in 2004 were $1,139,000. The majority of the sales were to processors.

UNITED STATES

  Catfish growers in the 11 selected States had sales of 480 million dollars during 2004, up 13 percent from the previous year. The top four States (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana) accounted for 95 percent of the U. S. total sales. Nationwide sales of all foodsize fish increased 14 percent from 2003 to 451 million dollars. Fingerlings and fry sales totaled 22.2 million dollars, an increase of 4 percent from 2003. Sales of stockers totaled 6.26 million dollars in 2004, a 1 percent decrease from the previous year.

  By point of first sale, direct sales to processors accounted for 94 percent of the total sales of foodsize fish while 93 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, 2005, totaled 174 thousand acres, down 2 percent from the 178 thousand acres used a year earlier. Of the total acres, 5.50 thousand are to be renovated during the period of January 1 to June 30, 2005. An additional 796 acres are under construction or expected to be constructed and in use by July 1, 2005. During the period of July 1 through December 31, 2004, the area taken out of production totaled 9.55 thousand acres. As of January 1, 2005, foodfish were produced on 145 thousand acres, fingerling producing acres totaled 21.5 thousand, and 3.93 thousand acres were being used for broodfish.

  Catfish producers had 1.03 million broodfish on hand January 1, 2005, down 6 percent from January 1, 2004. Large foodsize fish (over 3 pounds per fish) on hand totaled 10.4 million on January 1, 2005, down just slightly from a year ago. The number of medium foodsize (1.50 to 3 pounds per fish) decreased 11 percent to 93.7 million, while small foodsize fish (0.75 pound to 1.50 pounds per fish) numbers decreased 1 percent to 240 million. Large stockers (over 180 to 750 pounds per 1000 fish) on hand January 1, 2005, at 269 million fish, were down 6 percent from the previous year. Small stocker (over 60 to 180 pounds per 1000 fish) numbers decreased 32 percent to 387 million. There were 704 million fingerlings on hand January 1, 2005, down 3 percent from January 1, 2004.


Catfish: Inventory and live weight of broodfish, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2004 2005 2004 2005
  Thousands
AL 80 100 440 500
AR 125 110 600 540
FL 15 16 80 85
LA 22 * 138 *
MS 750 680 3,600 3,300
Oth 1/ 106 128 509 650
Total 1,098 1,034 5,367 5,075
1/ Includes CA, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, SC, 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
2004 2005 2004 2005
  Thousands
AL 71,640 66,000 96,450 89,300
AR 73,440 61,930 97,600 83,730
FL 1,230 745 2,040 1,310
LA 14,780 15,910 24,950 22,100
MS 181,800 185,000 251,000 245,400
Oth 1/ 13,949 14,500 21,928 21,325
Total 356,839 344,085 493,968 463,165
1/ Includes CA, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, SC, and TX.

Catfish: Inventory and live weight of total
stockers, January 1 1/
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2004 2005 2004 2005
  Thousands
AL 258,100 155,400 38,100 31,100
AR 132,600 95,400 32,550 21,550
LA 21,340 10,040 4,510 2,337
MS 428,000 382,000 89,600 91,400
Oth 2/ 15,482 12,240 3,335 2,281
Total 855,522 655,080 168,095 148,668
1/ Total stockers: Over 60 lbs to 750 lbs/ 1,000 fish.
2/ Includes CA, FL, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, SC, and TX.


Catfish: Water Surface Acres Utilization of Acres January 1, 2004 and 2005 and acres taken out of production
July 1-December 31, 2004, and number of operations and annual sales, by State
State Water surface acres Utilization of acres, 2005 Taken out of Produc- tion in 2004 Number January 1 operations Annual sales
January 1
2004
January 1
2005
Renovated New construction Used for
broodfish
2004 2005 2003 2004
  Thousand dollars
AL 25,400 25,100 450 250 430 290 230 230 85,159 101,198
AR 34,000 31,500 980 * 550 4,800 161 153 59,047 66,618
FL 710 650 70 * 25 60 35 46 1,208 1,139
LA 8,800 7,600 400 * 100 730 48 38 14,505 14,316
MS 101,000 101,000 3,300 400 2,500 3,500 410 410 243,176 274,971
MO 1,370 1,320 15 * 25 * 21 24 1,954 1,358
Oth 1/ 6,510 6,420 285 146 295 165 242 257 19,975 20,575
Total 177,790 173,590 5,500 796 3,925 9,545 1,147 1,158 425,024 480,175
1/ Includes CA, 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
2004 2005 2004 2005
  Thousands
AL 52,800 101,000 1,890 2,200
AR 121,000 131,000 3,100 3,500
FL 1,120 720 12 25
LA 18,900 6,870 557 230
MS 508,000 439,000 17,800 14,300
MO 4,460 1,780 75 50
Oth 2/ 20,791 23,790 607 900
Total 727,071 704,160 24,041 21,205
1/ Fingerling: Over 2 lbs to 60 lbs/1,000 fish.
2/ Includes CA, GA, IL, KY, NC, SC, and TX.


Catfish: Foodsize percent sold by outlet type, 2004
State Live-
haul
Fee/Rec
fishing
Process Retail
rest. &
Fd. Store
Other
outlets
AL 1 1 96 1 1
AR 16   83   1
CA 10 * * 75 *
FL 25 2 70   3
GA 3 27 56   14
KY 8 22 45 * 25
LA   * 97   *
MS     99   *
MO 63 21 * * 10
NC     99   1
TX 7 7 65 14 7
Oth Sts   60 3 1 36
Wt.avg.  3.0 0.6 93.7 1.5 1.2
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

Catfish: Number sold, weight, and value of sales of all foodsize
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total sales Average value per pound
2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 80,000 82,000 158,000 145,000 82,160 95,700 0 .52 0 .66
AR 59,400 158,000 99,700 103,000 55,832 63,860 0 .56 0 .62
FL 1,000 1,100 1,700 1,900 1,173 1,102 0 .69 0 .58
LA 19,700 15,800 26,100 23,000 14,094 14,260 0 .54 0 .62
MS 210,000 220,000 393,000 388,000 224,010 256,080 0 .57 0 .66
MO 905 650 1,700 1,130 1,462 904 0 .86 0 .80
Oth 1/ 10,657 11,770 19,110 20,120 18,341 18,967 0 .96 0 .94
Total 381,662 389,320 699,310 682,150 397,072 450,873 0 .57 0 .66
1/ Includes CA, GA, IL, KY, NC, SC, 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
2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 83,700 87,000 3,400 2,500 2,482 3,800 0 .73 1 .52
AR 60,400 60,700 1,050 1,000 1,680 1,840 1 .60 1 .84
FL 500 * 24 * 35 * 1 .45 *
LA 4,380 * 83 * 100 * 1 .20 *
MS 552,000 400,000 12,300 10,200 15,621 14,892 1 .27 1 .46
Oth 1/ 13,910 19,960 446 657 1,307 1,102 3 .07 2 .52
Total 714,890 567,660 17,303 14,357 21,225 22,175 1 .23 1 .54
1/ Includes CA, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, SC, and TX.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.


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