Colombian tilapia producers expect to lose around 5 percent of their 120,000 metric tons annual production following an outbreak of Streptococcus aglactiae ST7 Ia bacterium in a number of farming areas earlier this year.
Precise numbers are not currently available while producers try to calculate the impact of reduced stocking densities introduced as a measure to combat the outbreak and lower temperatures in producing regions that have followed.
While the cost in volume and value terms of the outbreak remains unclear, the fact that it has been largely contained means the industry is breathing a sigh of relief, Cesar Pinzon, executive director of Colombia's aquaculture trade association Fedacua, told IntraFish.
