Tilapia: Market
Tilapia are currently grown around the world, but particularly in the tropics where wage labor rates are low. Tilapia fillets are being imported from culture facilities located in Central and South America and Southeast Asia. It is not possible to compete in the fillet market. Mississippi tilapia farmers must seek out local or niche markets for live whole fish. Much of the tilapia produced in the United States is transported live to ethnic markets in major metropolitan areas of the east and west coast, the upper midwest, and Canada. Markets for live tilapia have not been fully developed in the Southeast (e.g. New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville)
