Market characteristics

The global catfish production is dominated by African catfish (Egyptian tilapia), Sutchi catfish (Mekong giant catfish), and Channel catfish (Spotted catfish). As the once main farmed catfish species globally, Channel catfish faces fierce market competition. Although its market share has declined, it still remains one of the primary farmed catfish species.

Since 2022, Vietnam's Sutchi catfish has attracted attention from the food, pharmaceutical, and dietary supplement industries due to its low price and high nutritional value, stimulating the development of Vietnam's fish processing capacity within two years and making this market seem supply-deficient. However, a bigger issue threatens the production of Sutchi catfish: the Mekong River is sinking.

African catfish is the most environmentally tolerant and reproductive among the three types of catfish, but its production is far behind that of Sutchi catfish (about one-tenth). One reason is that pond farming is currently the main method, resulting in insufficient farming density. Moreover, the survival rate at the fingerling stage is very low, mainly due to pathogens and poor water quality rather than cannibalism.