Asia Pacific Fish Farming Market

China farmed 63.26 million tonnes of aquatic products in 2025, more than half of the world’s aquaculture output, Xinhua reported from official data on 8 September 2026, as relayed by CCPIT; India’s fish output reached about 198 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, double its 2013-14 level, the government said on 12 January 2026, according to All India Radio. The Asia Pacific fish farming market covers the farm-gate value of finfish, crustaceans, molluscs and minor aquatic animals raised in ponds, cages, pens, raceways and tanks across China, India, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Japan, Korea and Oceania; seaweed is excluded. Douglas Insights sizes it at USD 295 billion in 2025, from 93.0 million tonnes of live-weight harvest at an average USD 3,170 a tonne, and at USD 419 billion in 2035, a revenue CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 3.58%. The study is the Asia Pacific cut of our global Fish Farming Market report, sits in our food and beverages coverage, and every figure follows the Douglas Insights research methodology.

Which farmed species earn Asia Pacific’s fish farmers the most: shrimp, carp or pangasius?

Crustaceans, mostly whiteleg shrimp, earn Asia Pacific fish farmers the most, 27.0% of 2025 farm-gate value, USD 79.6 billion. Tilapia grows fastest, 4.60% a year to USD 18.5 billion; carp holds the most tonnes.

Crustaceans lead Asia Pacific fish farming value because shrimp, prawns and crabs sell at three to four times the farm-gate price of carp. Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) reported a Thai white shrimp farm price of THB 157 a kilogram for 70-count shrimp in 2025, up 4% from THB 151, in its full-year 2025 results briefing of 2 March 2026, about USD 4,700 a tonne. China, India, Viet Nam, Indonesia and Thailand farm most of the region’s crustaceans, and they grow 4.40% a year to USD 122 billion as export demand and Chinese consumption rise. Carps and other cyprinids, USD 70.8 billion, hold the most tonnes, because grass, silver, bighead and common carp fill China’s and India’s freshwater ponds, but grow only 2.60% a year as Chinese pond area shrinks.

Other finfish, USD 59.0 billion, include Vietnamese pangasius, groupers, snakehead, milkfish and yellowtail, and grow 3.80% a year. Viet Nam’s pangasius exports passed USD 2.1 billion in 2025, its Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said on 11 December 2025. Molluscs, USD 36.9 billion, are mostly Chinese oysters, scallops and clams. Other aquatic animals, USD 26.5 billion, cover sea cucumbers, turtles and frogs. Tilapia, USD 11.8 billion, grows fastest as Chinese, Indonesian and Philippine farms supply processed fillets, and salmonids, USD 10.3 billion, are concentrated in Tasmania, New Zealand, Japan and Chinese trout farms. Species values for 2035 sum to USD 417 billion, 0.41% below the headline.

Why does Asia Pacific farmed fish tonnage still grow 1.30% a year as China slows?

Asia Pacific farmed fish tonnage grows 1.30% a year, from 93.0 million tonnes in 2025 to 105.8 million in 2035, because South and Southeast Asian ponds expand while Chinese output grows more slowly. Four drivers add 1.90 points before restraints.

Demand sets the floor. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) put Asia’s aquatic food availability at 26.3 kilograms a person in 2023, against a world average of 21.1 kilograms, and said farmed aquatic animals passed 100 million tonnes worldwide for the first time in 2024, at 103 million tonnes worth USD 371 billion at farm gate, in its SOFIA 2026 release of 16 June 2026. Asia Pacific supplies about 90% of that tonnage, a Douglas Insights estimate.

India’s pond expansion: 0.60 points

India adds 0.60 points. Fish production doubled from 95 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 to about 198 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, and the government has approved Rs 32,723 crore across fisheries schemes since 2014-15, All India Radio reported. Andhra Pradesh shrimp and carp ponds supply most of the gain.

Chinese output and mariculture: 0.60 points

China adds 0.60 points. Its aquaculture output rose 4.31% to 60.60 million tonnes in 2024, with marine farming area up 1.14% while freshwater area fell 1.51%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) bulletin of 7 July 2025, as Aquafeed reported. Offshore cages and deep-sea platforms take over from inland ponds.

Southeast Asian shrimp and pangasius: 0.50 points

Southeast Asia adds 0.50 points. Viet Nam’s seafood exports reached a record USD 11.2 billion to USD 11.3 billion in 2025, with shrimp above USD 4.6 billion, per the ministry, and Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has set a target of up to 2 million tonnes of shrimp a year, Tempo reported.

Bangladesh and the Philippines: 0.20 points

Smaller producers add 0.20 points, as Bangladeshi carp, pangasius and tilapia ponds and Philippine milkfish and tilapia farms feed fast-growing cities. The four contributions, 0.60 + 0.60 + 0.50 + 0.20, give 1.90 points.

The price leg adds 2.25 points a year. Douglas Insights projects the average farm-gate price to rise from USD 3,170 a tonne in 2025 to USD 3,241 in 2026 and about USD 3,960 by 2035, as shrimp, tilapia and marine finfish take a larger share of Asia Pacific tonnage and feed costs pass through.

What holds back Asia Pacific fish farming: disease, shrinking Chinese ponds or export tariffs?

Three restraints remove 0.60 points from Asia Pacific fish farming tonnage growth, leaving 1.30% a year. Shrimp disease takes 0.25 points, shrinking Chinese freshwater ponds 0.20 points and export tariff shocks 0.15 points.

Disease is the largest brake on Asia Pacific fish farming. Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease, white spot syndrome and Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei infections cut shrimp survival in India, Viet Nam, Thailand and Indonesia, so ponds stocked are not ponds harvested; Douglas Insights removes 0.25 points. CPF’s aquaculture sales fell to THB 23,206 million in Thailand and THB 37,734 million overseas in 2025, about 8% lower combined, its results briefing shows, even as the shrimp price rose.

Shrinking Chinese ponds remove 0.20 points. China’s freshwater aquaculture area fell 1.51% to 5.33 million hectares in 2024, the MARA bulletin shows, as environmental rules close ponds near lakes and rivers. Tariffs remove 0.15 points. The United States added a 25% penalty to its 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods from 27 August 2025, taking the total to 50%, and shrimp stocks such as Avanti Feeds, Apex Frozen Foods and Waterbase fell as much as 11.6% in a day, Business Standard reported.

Which Asia Pacific countries farm the most fish by value, and why does India grow fastest?

China farms the most Asia Pacific fish farming value, USD 183 billion or 62.0% of 2025, Douglas Insights estimates. India grows fastest among named countries, 5.20% a year to USD 44.0 billion by 2035, on shrimp and carp ponds.

China dominates Asia Pacific fish farming because it farms carp, crayfish, shrimp, molluscs and marine finfish at a scale no other country approaches: MARA put 2024 aquaculture output value at CNY 878.7 billion inland and CNY 503.4 billion marine, CNY 1.38 trillion in all, about USD 192 billion including seaweed. China grows 3.20% a year because offshore cages and higher-value species offset the loss of freshwater ponds. India, USD 26.5 billion, grows 5.20% a year as Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha add shrimp and carp ponds and domestic fish eating rises.

Viet Nam, USD 19.2 billion, grows 4.20% a year on Mekong Delta shrimp and pangasius. Indonesia, USD 17.7 billion, grows 4.60% a year on shrimp, tilapia and milkfish; Bangladesh, USD 10.3 billion, grows 4.80%. Japan, USD 8.84 billion, farms yellowtail, sea bream, bluefin tuna, oysters and scallops, but grows only 1.00% a year as farmers age. Thailand, USD 5.90 billion, and the Philippines, USD 4.42 billion, complete the named countries; the rest of Asia Pacific, USD 19.2 billion, covers South Korea, Myanmar, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. Country values for 2035 sum to USD 420 billion, 0.22% above the headline; in the data table the row labelled Global holds the Asia Pacific total, USD 295 billion in 2025.

Who farms Asia Pacific’s fish: CP Foods, Tassal, Vinh Hoan, Nissui or Minh Phu?

Charoen Pokphand Foods farms the most Asia Pacific fish farming value, about 0.35% of 2025, USD 1.03 billion, Douglas Insights estimates. The top five hold about 0.76%; millions of smallholders farm the rest.

The shares are Douglas Insights estimates because most farmers publish nothing, and the listed groups report farming together with feed and processing. CPF’s 2025 aquaculture sales of about THB 60.9 billion include feed and food, so its farm-gate share is far smaller than its revenue; it also runs a 74.99% shrimp broodstock joint venture in Andhra Pradesh, its results briefing lists. In Viet Nam, CPF’s 2025 sales fell 17% to THB 101,341 million across feed, farm and food.

Scale wins in feed, broodstock and salmon, where a few companies set genetics and feed conversion, not in grow-out ponds. Indian feed and shrimp groups such as Avanti Feeds sit upstream of thousands of pond owners. Animal health products that keep those ponds stocked are sized in our Animal Medicine Market report, and the water probes they use in our Water Quality Sensor in Agriculture Market report.

What does a tonne of farmed fish fetch at an Asia Pacific farm gate?

A tonne of Asia Pacific farmed fish fetched an average USD 3,170 at the farm gate in 2025, Douglas Insights estimates, from about USD 1,000 for pangasius to about USD 4,700 for Thai shrimp and over USD 8,000 for salmon.

The Asia Pacific average sits below the USD 3,641 world average in our global model because carp and pangasius, the cheapest farmed fish, make up a larger share of the region’s tonnage. Only shrimp has a published reference price: CPF’s THB 157 a kilogram for 70-count Thai white shrimp in 2025 converts to about USD 4,700 a tonne. Feed is 50% to 70% of grow-out cost for shrimp and finfish, a Douglas Insights estimate, so soybean meal and fishmeal prices pass into farm-gate prices within one or two crops. Plant-based seafood, a substitute still far smaller than farmed fish, is sized in our Plant-Based Fish Products Market report.

Which policies and trade rules shape Asia Pacific fish farming: India’s schemes, China’s pond rules and US tariffs?

Three levers shape Asia Pacific fish farming: India’s Rs 32,723 crore of fisheries schemes, China’s pond rules, and US tariffs on Indian shrimp, 50% from August 2025 until a February 2026 deal cut them to 18%.

India’s schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), fund hatcheries, ponds, cold chains and fishing harbours, and the government links them to the doubling of fish output to about 198 lakh tonnes and record seafood exports of Rs 62,408 crore in 2024-25, All India Radio reported. China’s MARA plans aquaculture water areas and tidal flats county by county; the 1.51% fall in freshwater farming area in 2024 and the 1.14% rise in marine area in its 2024 bulletin show the policy pushing farms offshore.

Trade rules move export species. India and the United States struck a deal on 2 February 2026 that cut the reciprocal tariff on Indian goods from 25% to 18% and removed the additional 25% penalty, Aqua Asia Pacific reported. Food safety rules in the European Union, Japan and the United States on antibiotic residues also decide which Asia Pacific farms can export, and certification under the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices now gates most supermarket shrimp contracts.

What if shrimp disease spreads or offshore cages scale up: where does Asia Pacific fish farming land in 2035?

The Asia Pacific fish farming market ends 2035 between USD 363 billion and USD 469 billion across our three cases, around a base of USD 419 billion. Shrimp survival and the speed of China’s offshore shift set the spread.

In the slower case shrimp disease spreads through Indian and Indonesian ponds, US tariffs return and Chinese pond closures outpace offshore cages. In the faster case Indonesia approaches its 2 million tonne shrimp target, Chinese offshore platforms scale up and Indian domestic fish eating rises faster. One extra point of yearly tonnage growth adds USD 43.3 billion to 2035 Asia Pacific fish farming value; one point less removes USD 39.6 billion.

Our 3.58% sits below the 3.76% global rate and well below the 6.28% Middle East and Africa rate in the Douglas Insights global model, because Asia Pacific starts from 76.8% of world fish farming value and China, the largest producer, is maturing. Asia Pacific keeps adding more absolute value than every other region combined, USD 124 billion over the decade.

Douglas Exclusive: the Asia Pacific Shrimp Tariff Diversion Ledger

The Asia Pacific Shrimp Tariff Diversion Ledger is a Douglas Insights model built from 11 sourced inputs: 5 tariff rates and dates, 4 Indian export changes, 1 Vietnamese export record and 1 Thai farm price.

The export changes come from Society of Aquaculture Professionals figures quoted by Aqua Asia Pacific. The finding, a Douglas Insights estimate: the 58.26% effective duty implies about 8.26 points of existing US duties on Indian shrimp, so the February 2026 deal cut the effective rate to about 26.26%, less than half the August peak. Because Indian packers moved volume to China and the EU within one to two months, and the Thai farm price still rose 4%, Douglas Insights treats the episode as a five-month trade shock rather than a farm-gate price collapse: Asia Pacific crustacean value grows 4.40% a year from USD 79.6 billion with no lasting tariff discount, and India’s 2026 value of USD 27.9 billion assumes US orders return in the 2026 crop.

How does the methodology turn 93.0 million tonnes into USD 295 billion of Asia Pacific fish farming?

Our methodology multiplies 93.0 million tonnes of Asia Pacific farmed live-weight harvest in 2025 by an average farm-gate price of USD 3,170 a tonne to reach USD 295 billion. Tonnes come from nine country builds; prices from species bands.

The model covers 9 countries or sub-regions, 7 species groups and 4 production systems, and uses 88 data points, 23 sourced and 65 modelled. Arithmetic: 93.0 million x USD 3,170 = USD 294,810 million; 294,810 x (1.0130 x 1.0225)^10 = USD 419,054 million, or USD 419 billion. Tonnage reaches 94.2 million in 2026 and 105.8 million in 2035; the price reaches USD 3,241 in 2026.

Two cross-checks agree. First, USD 295 billion matches the USD 294,788 million Asia Pacific row of our global fish farming model within 0.01%, and 93.0 million tonnes is about 90% of the 103 million tonnes FAO counted worldwide for 2024. Second, our China value, USD 183 billion for aquatic animals, sits below MARA’s CNY 1.38 trillion, about USD 192 billion, for all 2024 aquaculture including seaweed. AI tools help draft the text and automated checks test the arithmetic and links; the Douglas Insights research desk chooses the sources, builds the model and approves publication, as our editorial standards explain.

Sources

1. FAO SOFIA 2026: global fisheries and aquaculture production reaches new highs (2026)
2. CCPIT China's aquatic product output, 2025 (Xinhua) (2026)
3. Aquafeed (MARA data) China releases 2024 national fishery economic statistics bulletin (2025)
4. All India Radio News Fish production increased to 198 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 (2026)
5. Viet Nam Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Viet Nam's seafood exports projected to reach USD 11.2-11.3 billion in 2025 (2025)
6. Charoen Pokphand Foods CPF FY2025 results briefing (2026)
7. Aqua Asia Pacific US tariffs for Indian shrimp revised to 18% (2026)
8. Business Standard Shrimp stocks fall on US tariff (2025)
9. Tempo Indonesia aims to produce 2 million tons of shrimp annually (2023)

What counts in the Asia Pacific fish farming market, and what is excluded?

The Asia Pacific fish farming market counts the farm-gate value of farmed finfish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals at live weight across the region. Seaweed, wild capture, feed, processing and retail value are excluded.

The by-species split covers the seven groups above; the by-system split covers earthen ponds, lake and reservoir cages, coastal net pens, offshore cages and land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS); the by-country split covers China, India, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and the rest of Asia Pacific. Hatchery fry sold between farmers are counted once, at harvest. Subsea inspection drones used on offshore cages are sized in our Underwater Robotics Market report.