Among the many aquaculture species, eels appear to have a strong potential for further development in Asia. Eels are highly valued cultured species because of their high market price, high yield, high survival rate, and well-studied pathology. Of the 19anguilla species, the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) and the European eel (Anguillaanguilla) are the most important in East Asia (mainly Japan, Taiwan, and China) and Europe (mainly Italy and the Netherlands). Total eel production in 1998 was 222,547 metric tons and valued at US$1.3 billion (FAO, 2000). The Japanese eel accounts for about 80% of the total eel production and about 60% of the total consumption in Japan.
Eel production in Japan has decreased by almost 40% in the last decade from 38,885metric tons in 1990 to 22,836 metric tons in 1999. In contrast, the eel consumption in Japan has steadily increased from 104,460 metric tons in 1990 to 129,794 metric tons in 1999 (Satoh et al., 2001). The difference between the consumption and the production of eel in Japan is filled by imports.
In Taiwan, eel aquaculture is one of the most important aquaculture industries. The species cultured are mainly the Japanese eel. Taiwan used to be the major supplier of eels to the Japanese market. Before 1987, Taiwan supplied more than 90% of the Japanese annual import. In 1993, Taiwan exported 49,547 metric tons to Japan, then decreased annually since that time. In 1999, eels exported to Japan dropped to 8765 metric tons, which was only 6.80% of the total consumption in the Japanese market. Taiwanese eel aquaculture, like its Japanese counterpart, has reached its peak of growth and has entered a period of decline (Liao, 1999, 2001).
The decline of the eel production in Taiwan has been mainly caused by the rise of eel aquaculture in China and the concomitant increase in glass eel price. The eel aquaculture in China has grown because of relatively cheap labor and the technical and financial assistance from Taiwanese and Japanese investors. The eel aquaculture area in China has spread from the coast of Fu-Chien province to Kuang-Tung and other northern provinces (Shi et al., 1999). China’s eel export has increased considerably from 3.55% in 1985 to 73.39% in 1999 of the total eel imports in Japan (Table 1). Its total production is much higher than the combined production from all other Asian countries.
Taiwan, Japan, and China contribute to more than 85.00% of the total world production as well as consumption. Moreover, the eel aquaculture in these countries is competingfiercely in the Japanese market. The shift in the competitiveness of the eel aquaculture in Taiwan, Japan, and China not only influences the profits of eel production but also affects the economic development of the countries involved (Chou and Lee, 1993). Therefore, the government and the industry must be prepared for such shift in competitiveness.
Although the domestic resource cost (DRC) approach has been widely used in the analysis of the competitiveness of agricultural commodities, only a few studies have been conducted on fishery products because of difficulties in collecting reliable data (Ling et al., 1999). The purpose of this research is to use the concepts of opportunity cost and comparative advantage theory to investigate the competitiveness of the eel aquaculture in Taiwan, Japan, and China.
The results of using NPP and DRC in assessing competitiveness show that the Chinese eel aquaculture possesses competitive advantage over its counterparts in Taiwan and Japan. According to the findings from Lee et al. (in press), once successful larval rearing is achieved, the value of DRC indices will be altered as the seed prices will change. Using the average production cost during the period 1995 – 1999 as a basis, the DRC indices will become 0.35 –0.77, 0.52– 1.15, and 0.29– 0.50 in Taiwan, Japan, and China, respectively, which would be lower than their current DRC indices. Since seed expense contributes to a large portion of the total production cost in eel aquaculture, if Japan and Taiwan seek to regain competitiveness in eel aquaculture, they will need to develop technological advances in artificial propagation.
