Catfish Production National Agricultural Statistics Service USDA Washington, D.C. Released October 29, 1998, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. For information on "Catfish Production" call John Lange at (202) 720-0585, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. Foodsize Inventory Up 4 Percent Commercial catfish operations in the four major producing States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) had 299 million foodsize fish on hand on October 1, 1998, up 4 percent from October 1, 1997. Live weight totaled 387 million pounds for all foodsize fish, 1 percent above October 1 a year ago. The breakout of foodsize fish on October 1, 1998 with percent changes from the previous year are: large foodsize, at 7.88 million, down 15 percent; medium foodsize, at 78.9 million, down 4 percent; and small foodsize, at 212 million, up 8 percent. The four major States also had 1.12 million broodfish on hand on October 1, 1998, up 6 percent from last year's 1.05 million. Live weight totaled 5.25 million pounds for broodfish, up slightly from October 1, 1997. The number of stockers on hand on October 1, 1998 totaled 651 million fish, up 2 percent from the 641 million fish on hand a year ago. Of the total number of stockers on hand, 351 million were small stockers, up 4 percent from the previous year. The remaining 301 million were large stockers, down 1 percent. Live weight totaled 161 million pounds for all stockers, up 2 percent from October 1 last year. Producers had 1.12 billion fingerlings and fry on hand on October 1, 1998, down 11 percent from the 1.26 billion fingerlings and fry on hand October 1, 1997. Live weight at 31.8 million pounds, decreased 5 percent from the 33.3 million pounds a year ago. Aq 2 (10-98) Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Broodfish by State, October 1, 1997-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : -------- 1,000 -------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ---- : AL : 151 107 780 546 AR : 180 173 790 772 LA : 28 42 168 202 MS : 694 794 3,489 3,726 : Total : 1,053 1,116 5,227 5,246 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Foodsize Fish by Size, State, and Total, October 1, 1997-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Large 1/ : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 1,100 1,084 3,583 3,753 AR : 1,190 1,300 4,040 4,570 LA : 2,520 1,400 9,660 4,830 MS : 4,480 4,093 14,633 14,096 : Total : 9,290 7,877 31,916 27,249 : : Medium 2/ : AL : 12,272 9,086 23,889 17,572 AR : 11,280 9,800 20,750 19,400 LA : 10,020 9,410 19,160 17,160 MS : 48,505 50,566 87,754 93,573 : Total : 82,077 78,862 151,553 147,705 : : Small 3/ : AL : 32,558 33,833 34,279 34,001 AR : 21,220 25,600 21,540 25,400 LA : 14,970 14,895 14,760 14,380 MS : 127,323 137,534 128,829 138,360 : Total : 196,071 211,862 199,408 212,141 : : Total : AL : 45,930 44,003 61,751 55,326 AR : 33,690 36,700 46,330 49,370 LA : 27,510 25,705 43,580 36,370 MS : 180,308 192,193 231,216 246,029 : Total : 287,438 298,601 382,877 387,095 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Over three lbs. 2/ Over one and one-half lbs. to three lbs. 3/ Over three-fourths lb. to one and one-half lbs. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Stockers by Size, State, and Total, October 1, 1997-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Large 1/ : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 21,838 26,158 9,130 12,273 AR : 38,310 30,200 11,080 12,600 LA : 18,700 12,980 9,650 5,815 MS : 225,898 231,225 95,905 96,763 : Total : 304,746 300,563 125,765 127,451 : : Small 2/ : AL : 19,846 18,061 1,929 1,988 AR : 52,500 71,300 4,820 6,700 LA : 20,230 16,795 1,910 1,760 MS : 243,563 244,526 24,057 23,492 : Total : 336,139 350,682 32,716 33,940 : : Total : AL : 41,684 44,219 11,059 14,261 AR : 90,810 101,500 15,900 19,300 LA : 38,930 29,775 11,560 7,575 MS : 469,461 475,751 119,962 120,255 : Total : 640,885 651,245 158,481 161,391 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Over 180 lbs./1,000 to 750 lbs./1,000. 2/ Over 60 lbs./1,000 to 180 lbs./1,000. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Fingerlings and Fry by State, October 1, 1997-98 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : ---------- 1,000 ---------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 50,662 57,933 1,476 1,542 AR : 322,710 249,000 8,290 6,100 LA : 84,420 94,510 2,820 1,875 MS : 805,404 718,950 20,723 22,264 : Total : 1,263,196 1,120,393 33,309 31,781 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ 60 lbs./1,000 fish or less. Catfish: Round Weight Processed by Month, United States, 1991-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year : Jan : Feb : Mar : Apr : May : Jun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 Pounds : 1991 : 32,206 33,036 35,951 31,205 31,322 31,588 1992 : 36,200 39,228 45,048 41,177 39,111 36,813 1993 : 40,327 40,277 43,521 39,920 37,030 35,496 1994 : 36,714 35,035 40,446 34,494 34,163 34,595 1995 : 38,807 38,515 42,200 36,588 37,030 36,047 1996 : 38,475 38,004 46,376 38,557 39,517 36,752 1997 : 42,409 45,067 48,431 45,721 43,409 42,282 1998 : 46,723 47,606 53,761 49,393 45,218 46,244 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct : Nov : Dec : Total :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 Pounds : 1991 : 32,720 32,912 33,244 35,400 31,114 30,172 390,870 1992 : 36,128 37,958 37,857 39,212 35,073 33,562 457,367 1993 : 37,086 37,706 37,072 39,472 36,557 34,549 459,013 1994 : 35,901 39,813 38,716 39,072 36,054 34,266 439,269 1995 : 35,800 38,827 37,634 39,456 34,119 31,863 446,886 1996 : 39,025 40,463 38,807 42,070 37,203 36,874 472,123 1997 : 43,376 44,154 43,472 46,275 40,137 40,216 524,949 1998 : 46,383 47,739 46,579 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Prices Paid To Producers by Month, United States, 1991-98 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year : Jan : Feb : Mar : Apr : May : Jun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Dollars per Pound : 1991 : 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.66 0.65 1992 : 0.53 0.56 0.60 0.63 0.63 0.61 1993 : 0.63 0.67 0.70 0.71 0.72 0.72 1994 : 0.74 0.77 0.79 0.80 0.80 0.80 1995 : 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 1996 : 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.79 0.79 1997 : 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.72 1998 : 0.69 0.73 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.78 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct : Nov : Dec :Ann. Avg. :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : Dollars per Pound : 1991 : 0.63 0.60 0.59 0.58 0.57 0.53 0.631 1992 : 0.59 0.58 0.59 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.598 1993 : 0.72 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.709 1994 : 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.784 1995 : 0.79 0.79 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.786 1996 : 0.79 0.78 0.77 0.76 0.75 0.73 0.773 1997 : 0.71 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.712 1998 : 0.76 0.74 0.73 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Price of fish delivered to processing plant door. Price includes charges for any services provided by the processing plant, but does not include any adjustments based on year-end settlements. Catfish Production Estimates Survey Procedures: About 900 operators in the four major States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) were contacted during the first half of October by mail, telephone, and personal face-to-face interview, and 87 percent provided a usable report. An attempt was made to contact all known catfish producers during this time. States use every available source of producer names to make their list as complete as possible. Great care is exercised to ensure that all operations are accounted for in the estimates. Estimation Procedures: Sound statistical methodology is employed to derive the estimates from reported data. All data are analyzed for unusual values. Data from each operation are compared to their own past operating profile and to trends from similar operations. Data for missing operations are estimated based on similar operations or historical data. Reliability: Catfish production estimates are based on a census of all known active producers and, therefore, have no sampling variability. However, estimates may be subject to errors such as omissions, duplication, and mistakes in reporting, recording, and processing of the data. These errors are minimized through strict quality controls in the edit and summarization process and a careful review of all reported data for consistency and reasonableness. Revision policy: Estimates for the previous year are subject to revision when current estimates are made. Revisions are the result of late or corrected data. Definitions Used for Catfish Production: Broodfish - Fish kept for egg production, including males. Broodfish produce the fertilized eggs which go to hatcheries. The most desirable size is 3 to 10 pounds or 4 to 6 years of age. Large Foodsize - Fish weighing over 3 pounds. Medium Foodsize - Fish weighing over one and one-half pounds to 3 pounds. Small Foodsize - Fish weighing over three-fourths pound to one and one-half pounds. Large Stockers - Fish weighing over 180 pounds to 750 pounds per 1,000 fish. Small Stockers - Fish weighing over 60 pounds to 180 pounds per 1,000 fish. Fingerlings/Fry - Fish weighing 60 pounds per 1,000 fish and less. 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