Aq 2 (7-98) Catfish Production National Agricultural Statistics Service USDA Washington, D.C. Released July 30, 1998, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. For information on "Catfish Production" call Jim Brewster at (202) 720-8784, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. Foodsize Inventory Numbers Up 13 Percent Commercial catfish operations in the four major producing States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) had 262 million foodsize fish on hand on July 1, 1998, up 13 percent from the July 1, 1997 total of 232 million. Live weight totaled 311 million pounds for all foodsize fish, 11 percent above July 1 a year ago. The breakout of foodsize fish inventory numbers, on July 1, 1998, with percent change from the previous year are: large foodsize, 4.75 million, up 9 percent; medium foodsize, 57.4 million, up 13 percent; and small foodsize, 199 million, up 13 percent. The four major States also had 1.12 million broodfish on hand on July 1, 1998, up 4 percent from last year's 1.07 million. Live weight totaled 5.54 million pounds for broodfish, up 12 percent from July 1, 1997. The number of stockers on hand on July 1, 1998 totaled 623 million fish, down 10 percent from the 695 million fish on hand a year ago. Of the total number of stockers on hand, 292 million were large stockers, down 14 percent from the previous year. The remaining 331 million were small stockers, down 7 percent. Live weight totaled 158 million pounds for all stockers, 3 percent below July 1 last year. Producers had 1.63 billion fingerlings and fry on hand on July 1, 1998, up 3 percent from the 1.58 billion fingerlings and fry on hand July 1, 1997. Live weight, at 20.8 million pounds, was up 7 percent from the 19.5 million pounds a year ago. Water Acres Up 1 Percent The water surface area to be used for catfish production during July 1 through December 31, 1998 totaled 164,600 acres, up 1 percent from a year ago total of 163,700 acres. Of the total acres, 3,620 acres are to be renovated during the period from July 1, 1998 to December 31, 1998. Acres used for broodfish amounted to 5,530, foodsize amounted to 136,600 and fingerlings amounted to 21,200. An additional 2,930 acres are under construction or expected to be constructed and in use by January 1, 1999. During January 1, 1998 through June 30, 1998 period, 3,440 acres were taken out of production. The total number of operations on July 1, 1998 in the four major states was 838 down 2 percent from a year ago total of 853. Catfish: Number of Operations by State July 1 and Water Surface Area by State Jul 1 - Dec 31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number of Operations : Total Water Surface Area State :------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 1 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : ------ Number ------ --------- Acres --------- : AL : 245 225 21,100 21,400 AR : 170 155 28,000 27,000 LA : 101 98 13,900 13,200 MS : 337 360 100,700 103,000 : Total : 853 838 163,700 164,600 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Water Surface Area Being Renovated, Under Construction, Used for Broodfish, Foodsize, and Fingerling Production by State, Jul 1-Dec 31, 1997, Taken Out of Production by State, Jan 1-Jun 30, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : July 1-December 31 :Jan 1-Jun 30 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- State : : : Used : Used : Used : Taken Out : Being : Under : For : For : For : of : Renovated :Construction :Broodfish: Foodsize :Fingerlings: Production -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Acres : AL : 600 860 550 17,200 1,900 710 AR : 1,000 750 910 19,700 4,000 960 LA : 200 150 280 11,800 1,700 200 MS : 3,800 2,700 3,100 82,600 12,800 850 : Total : 5,600 4,460 4,840 131,300 20,400 2,720 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Water Surface Area Being Renovated, Under Construction, Used for Broodfish, Foodsize, and Fingerling Production by State, Jul 1-Dec 31, 1998, Taken Out of Production by State, Jan 1-Jun 30, 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : July 1-December 31 :Jan 1-Jun 30 :----------------------------------------------------------------------- State : : : Used : Used : Used : Taken Out : Being : Under : For : For : For : of : Renovated :Construction :Broodfish: Foodsize :Fingerlings: Production -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Acres : AL : 510 350 560 18,300 1,900 290 AR : 950 500 680 22,800 4,000 350 LA : 160 80 290 11,500 1,300 800 MS : 2,000 2,000 4,000 84,000 14,000 2,000 : Total : 3,620 2,930 5,530 136,600 21,200 3,440 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Broodfish by State, July 1, 1997-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : -------- 1,000 -------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ---- : AL : 129 110 653 566 AR : 188 141 785 615 LA : 52 31 260 185 MS : 703 836 3,253 4,172 : Total : 1,072 1,118 4,951 5,538 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Foodsize Fish by Size, State, and Total, July 1, 1997-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Large 1/ : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 923 886 3,044 2,988 AR : 850 970 3,025 3,310 LA : 600 550 2,200 1,860 MS : 1,982 2,348 6,322 7,616 : Total : 4,355 4,754 14,591 15,774 : : Medium 2/ : AL : 10,521 9,403 19,334 18,714 AR : 9,045 9,525 15,935 18,020 LA : 5,800 4,095 11,200 8,070 MS : 25,314 34,377 45,453 59,789 : Total : 50,680 57,400 91,922 104,593 : : Small 3/ : AL : 29,999 26,720 31,895 25,655 AR : 19,350 31,400 18,655 30,600 LA : 17,450 11,330 17,400 11,050 MS : 109,879 130,042 105,408 123,410 : Total : 176,678 199,492 173,358 190,715 : : Total : AL : 41,443 37,009 54,273 47,357 AR : 29,245 41,895 37,615 51,930 LA : 23,850 15,975 30,800 20,980 MS : 137,175 166,767 157,183 190,815 : Total : 231,713 261,646 279,871 311,082 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Over three lbs. 2/ Over one and one-half lbs. to three lbs. 3/ Over three-fourths lb. to one and one-half lb. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Stockers by Size, State, and Total, July 1, 1997-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Large 1/ : --------- 1,000 --------- ------ 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 29,393 27,245 12,455 11,943 AR : 26,130 38,300 10,535 16,000 LA : 13,550 16,230 5,900 6,280 MS : 271,660 210,035 100,520 92,187 : Total : 340,733 291,810 129,410 126,410 : : Small 2/ : AL : 21,835 23,488 2,339 2,503 AR : 77,850 76,750 6,560 6,600 LA : 32,900 23,135 3,300 2,265 MS : 222,064 207,913 21,351 20,021 : Total : 354,649 331,286 33,550 31,389 : : Total : AL : 51,228 50,733 14,794 14,446 AR : 103,980 115,050 17,095 22,600 LA : 46,450 39,365 9,200 8,545 MS : 493,724 417,948 121,871 112,208 : Total : 695,382 623,096 162,960 157,799 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Over 180 lbs/1000 to 750 lbs/1,000. 2/ Over 60 lbs/1000 to 180 lbs/1,000. Catfish: Number and Live Weight of Fingerlings and Fry by State, July 1, 1997-98 1/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Number : Live Weight State :----------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1997 : 1998 : 1997 : 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : ---------- 1,000 ---------- ----- 1,000 Pounds ----- : AL : 67,442 78,158 1,128 1,118 AR : 235,680 258,500 4,225 3,560 LA : 124,000 99,160 1,150 830 MS : 1,151,477 1,193,366 12,988 15,251 : Total : 1,578,599 1,629,184 19,491 20,759 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ 60 lbs/1,000 or less. Catfish: Round Weight Processed by Month, United States, 1991-Current -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catfish: Prices Paid To Producers by Month, United States, 1991-Current 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 970 operators were contacted during the first half of July by mail, telephone, and personal face-to-face interview, and 86 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. The next "Catfish Production" report will be released at 3 p.m. ET on October 29, 1998. 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