Sourcing Farmed Tilapia and Shrimp from Brazil: A Buyer's Guide to Volumes, Export Flows and Checks

What Brazil farms, in official numbers

Brazil's statistics office IBGE publishes farmed production every year in its Municipal Livestock Survey (PPM). For 2024, released on 18 September 2025, it reports 724,900 tonnes of farmed fish, of which tilapia was 499,400 tonnes (68.9% of all farmed fish and 12.8% more than in 2023). Paraná alone produced 38.2% of national tilapia. Farmed shrimp reached 146,800 tonnes, with Aracati in Ceará the leading municipality.

These are farm-gate harvest volumes, not export volumes. Most of this fish and shrimp is sold inside Brazil. For a foreign buyer the useful reading is: tilapia supply exists at industrial scale and is concentrated in the South and South-East reservoir and pond regions; shrimp is concentrated in the North-East coastal states.

• Brazil aquaculture market page

Where Brazilian exports actually go

Brazil's own export declarations to UN Comtrade show how small the export trade still is compared with production. In 2024 Brazil exported USD 36.6 million (about 4,760 tonnes) of fresh or chilled tilapia fillets, up from USD 14.1 million in 2023, and USD 35.8 million of that went to the United States. Frozen whole tilapia exports were USD 14.7 million, frozen tilapia fillets only USD 0.4 million, and frozen warm-water shrimp USD 2.9 million.

Two practical consequences follow. First, a buyer outside North America is often asking a plant to qualify for a new destination, which takes time and documents. Second, fresh fillets made up most of the 2024 export value and almost all of it went to the United States, so a frozen-fillet programme for Europe, Asia or the Middle East may be a specification the plant does not yet run at scale — ask.

The registrations to check before you compare offers

Every Brazilian plant that exports animal products must be registered with the federal inspection service (SIF) of the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA). For many destinations it must also be enabled ('habilitado') for that country, and MAPA publishes the lists of enabled establishments by country and product area, including fishery products.

Ask for the SIF number of the plant that will pack your product, then check it yourself in MAPA's list for your destination. Do the same in the destination's own system where one exists, such as the EU's list of approved establishments. A trading company's SIF is not enough if a different plant processes the fish.

1. SIF registration number of the packing plant, and the plant name on the health certificate.
2. Whether the plant is enabled for your destination country in MAPA's list for fishery products.
3. Farmed or wild, species by scientific name (Nile tilapia is Oreochromis niloticus) and the farm or region of origin.
4. Residue testing for the lot, and the destination's own import rules for farmed fish and shrimp.
5. Any certification claim (for example BAP or ASC) checked with the certifier, not only on the supplier's website.

• Import readiness: certificates, cold chain and traceability
• Organic or sustainability claims from Brazil

Specifications that make Brazilian offers comparable

Because most plants were set up for the domestic market or for fresh fillets to the US, the specification you send decides whether offers can be compared at all. State every item below, and convert answers to one basis before ranking prices.

1. Form: whole gutted, fillet skin-on or skinless, trim level, portion size; fresh or frozen, IQF or interleaved.
2. Size: fillet weight band or fish weight band, and the tolerance you accept.
3. Freezing and glaze: glaze percentage and whether price is per kilogram of net weight.
4. Treatments and additives you will or will not accept.
5. Packing: inner pack, carton weight, labelling language, private label.
6. Volume per shipment, frequency and season; air or sea freight; Incoterms rule and named place.

• Seafood quotation comparison checklist

Shrimp from Brazil: what the numbers allow you to expect

Brazil farmed 146,800 tonnes of shrimp in 2024 but exported only USD 2.9 million of frozen warm-water shrimp. Treat a Brazilian shrimp export programme as a qualification project: confirm that the plant is enabled for your destination, that it can supply your count sizes and forms consistently, and that its residue testing meets your market's rules. Do not assume year-round export volume; ask each supplier for its harvest calendar and committed monthly quantities.

How a buyer-side request works

Send one structured seafood request with the specification above. FishMatch Group reviews it, approaches suitable Brazilian producers and exporters, asks for the same documents from each, and returns offers on one basis. Your company name is not shared with suppliers without your agreement, and suppliers answer through our team. The producer or exporter remains responsible for the product, its handling, certification and export compliance; the importer of record is responsible for import requirements.