Samut Prakan dried fish vendor offers to buy blackchin tilapia

A vendor of dried, salted fish has offered to purchase 500 kilograms of blackchin tilapia daily to offer consumers a cheaper but just as tasty alternative.

Siprai Thappan, 57, from Samut Prakan’s Bang Bo district, said on Wednesday that several of her regular patrons had asked if she had a cheaper alternative to her regular dried snakeskin gourami. She added that many also asked if she had dried blackchin tilapia after this alien species from Africa began making the headlines over the past two weeks.

The blackchin tilapia is a predatory fish and has infested most of Thailand’s waterways.

Siprai said she can purchase 500kg of blackchin tilapia daily to make dried, salted fish to sell at 80 to 90 baht per kilo. She said she was willing to pay 10 to 15 baht per kilo for the fish.

She added that due to the economic slowdown, many people are not able to afford the expensive dried snakeskin gourami, which goes for between 180 baht and 260 baht per kilo based on the size of fish. She added that this drop in consumers’ purchasing power has brought her daily sales down from 30 to 50kg to just 15 to 30kg.
“I believe dried blackchin tilapia would sell well as people are now looking for cheaper alternatives,” Siprai said.