Why Asian Arowana is expensive?

[hengky]

I have done this article long time ago for another forum I was actively in. Doing some "clean up" on my computer recently...I thought I take it out and share it here. It just a general description, as I am not looking into reading up hundreds of pages book.May it serves as food for thought for some. Perhaps some other will like to join in and put in more thoughts. Enjoy!
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The Asian Arowana Scleropages formosus is considered one of the most expensive freshwater fish in the world. With its brightly colored scales and barbells at the tip of its mouth, it is also known as the Dragon Fish, or sometimes referred as the Asian bonytongue. It is also believed by many as a recreation of the mysticism Dragon, a powerful protector against evil. It has a significance value especially in the Chinese culture. Not only that but they are considered to be “lucky” fish. I have also often heard belief that these magnificent fish could keep its owner from danger by sometimes dying itself. It is believed to be used as a fengshui fish too.

One reason why Asian Arowanas are expensive is because they are endangered. They are framed and sold under license in places where it is legal to sell them. Lots of Asian people, especially businesspeople believe these dragon fishes bring them good luck and fortune.

Another reason will be reproduction. Asian Arowanas are difficult to breed in captivity. They need large outdoor ponds, although successful spawning had been recorded in aquaria. Not to forget that they slow in maturity too.

The increasing scarcity of this fish is another factor in its price tag. Demand is higher than the supply rate. They are now less seen in the habitats of the Malay Peninsula, where they were once widely distributed. In Singapore, all Asian Arowanas for sale have to be electronically tagged and certified, since it is an endangered species. Arowana is most prized in the following order; red, gold, and then sliver color.

This popularity has led to extensive illicit trade. For example, captive-bred fish may be traded if specimens are tagged with a glass-covered microchip inserted under the skin that can be read by a scanner. Proper CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) permits and a certificate with the microchip number must also accompany each fish. Asian Arowanas is still banned in certain countries like the United States. It cannot be possessed in that country without a permit.

[rudinugraha]

It's indeed a nice source..!

Thanks for sharing Boss..!!

[hendri]

now supply is higher than demand

[ming@88]

Agree with Pak Hendry, Tx

[hengky]

Then can I assume Asian Aro price will be going down in the near future??

[Dragons]

Originally Posted by hengky

Then can I assume Asian Aro price will be going down in the near future??

For high quality I dont think so the price will be going down bozz, you can ask Munjul, Empang or N1wan for the high quality how much

[hengky]

Originally Posted by Dragons

For high quality I dont think so the price will be going down bozz, you can ask Munjul, Empang or N1wan for the high quality how much

So goes with the thread name dude

[solarcoaster]

untuk yang pembesaran masih boleh tuh... orang ponti cari induk yang diluar ponti sedangkan kita yang diluar ponti selalu mau cari anakan dari sono.....nah bingung kan....

[andhara]

Originally Posted by hengky

So goes with the thread name dude

I do believe someday SR's price will be going down...

[mr.ius]

Originally Posted by andhara

I do believe someday SR's price will be going down...

That too is also within my concern bro..
Knowing that there are no limit or special regulations watching over the threat of new entry breeding farms in Indonesia, there is a higher chance that people can easily breed them in their own back yard and sell them without the hastle of undergoing a check permit from CITES. As the same to what bro Hendri said, there are now more supply than that of which the demand, this shows that our domestic market for the arowana will undergo a decrease in retail value (I am asuming this).
When I was in Indonesia and haven't join this forum, you wont believe that how many people used their houses to breed super reds aro. And they are willing to give a hard nut bargain for people purchasing their aro at a small quantity.
However since Indonesia have, and already followed the regulation given by CITES and shown within the KEPUTUSAN MENTERI KEHUTANAN Nomor : 26/Kpts-II/94 that all Arowana, specifically the super red and the jardini sold, must be born within a captive farm and acquire a permit from them, there is still no threat for a decrease in price for potential international market compared toward the Indonesian market. Since of course any Arowana that will be exported must be protected and sold under CITES permit and the Indonesian "Trade and Commercial Department" (Trust me they suck ) and follow the destinated country's regulation to which accepts these trade regulation, where most of the Asian Region are also members of CITES.

[SZI]

loh, ada yg khawatir harga turun dan aro kebanyakan dibreed nih, kok new breeder dibilang sebagai "threat" ? bukannya kalo supply bertambah malah bagus utk kite kite sebagai konsumen? berarti pilihan lebih banyak dong dan harga bisa lebih terjangkau. lama2 semuanya punya comm tank dong atau beberapa aquarium. asyik kan? dan kalo pada mulai peliara aronya banyak, jadi kembali bagus utk breeder juga dong? lagian aro gak bakal jadi kayak luohan lah. gimana juga ngebreednya jauh lebih susah dan % yg kualitas top tetap kecil. jadi gak pernah bakal banjir di pasaran kayak luohan gitu.

menurut pendapatku, bagus deh kalo makin banyak orang yg terpacu ngebreed aro. mudah2an harga makin terjangkau dan market jadi lebih luas. biarkan hukum ekonomi yg menentukan sendiri seluas apa hobby ini bisa berkembang.

liat aja koi. orang jepang bisa menjadikan koi sebagai ikan peliaraan yg populer di seluruh dunia. di sana tidak pernah ada batasan terhadap siapa yg boleh breed koi, siapa yg tidak, ataupun usaha2 utk menjaga harga tinggi. hukum ekonomi free market berlaku, dan hasilnya harga gak pernah anjlok dan Jepang tetap bisa jaga kualitas dan status sebagai #1 meskipun hampir semua negara sekarang ada breeder koi. koi jadi industri penghasil devisa yg cukup lumayan utk Jepang, bukan hanya dari ikannya saja tapi juga produk2 pendukungnya seperti makanan, filter mat, pompa air dan pompa udara, obat2an dll dll.
daripada konsen utk membatasai perkembangan supply aro supaya tidak mubajir, bukannya seharusnya indonesia malah berusaha utk mengembangkan aro seluas mungkin, berikan kemudahan utk breeder, dukung pemasyarakatan hobby aro di dalam maupun luar negri, misalnya coba dong pemerintah dukung dengan berusaha membuka market US/Eropa, kenapa aro di ban di sana apa gak ada jalan keluar, dll dll?

diatas cuma pendapat ogut ya, mudah2an tidak ada yg salah tafsir atau tersinggung.

[roythea]

Originally Posted by hengky

Then can I assume Asian Aro price will be going down in the near future??

the highest probability that asian aro's price will be going down only after local government coruption rate is going down also.

kenapa? sebagai contoh. jika seseorang akan memulai peternakan aro, si peternak harus mengeluarkan modal awal yang cukup besar. dengan rincian sebagai berikut:
1. lahan untuk peternakan
2. Indukan ikan arwana
3. izin dari instansi2 terkait

nah untuk yang point 3 itu, disitulah dana terbesar yang dikeluarkan. karena untuk perizinnannya saja kita harus melalui beberapa tingkatan. mulai dari kelurahan, kabupaten, kotamadya, nasional dan internasional.

untuk internasional (CITES), dana yang dikeluarkan hanya berdasarkan aturan umum saja, namun untuk tingkat lokal dan nasional, dana yang dikeluarkan berdasarkan aturan umum dan tambahan sebagai 'pelicin' bagi para pejabatnya.

untuk perizinan dari kepolisian aja misalnya, kita harus 'nyogok' mulai dari kapolsek, kapolres, kapolwil, kapolda, dan kapolri. berapa tingkatan tuh hanya untuk satu instansi saja. meskipun untuk yang terakhir, yaitu kapolri, kayakna nda usah sih ya, karena rumah pribadi KAPOLRI lebih kecil dari rumah pribadinya KAPOLDA METRO-JAYA koq. Orang KAPOLRI sekarang terkenal sebagai orang paling bersih di POLRI

dari ilustrasi di atas, karena modalnya gede, para peternak aro pun mengharapkan keuntungan yang sama gedenya, jadilah ikan arowana itu mahal. klo misalnya nanti udah nda usah nyogok lagi, saya yakin para peternak aro akan menurunkan harga arowana mereka juga. kecuali kalo maruk ya

it's my little opinion though... i don't know what's real in aro's breeding farm anyway, since i don't have one

[mr.ius]

(Maaf kawan seandai saya salah terjemahkan indonesia kalian )

I think this is going to be an intersting topic , lagi saya minta maaf bila membalas melalui ingris.

Bro SZI, I think the matter of this competition entry was considered as a threat is basically a point a view from current aro breeder who are well established and have their own distribution agents well at hand, though i won't say that I am speaking on their behalf. Especially knowing that these new entry are the ones who tried to exclude themselves to acquiring a legal permit and paying the required fees for breeding an endagered species, whereas larger farms to be precise may have acquired these legal documentation knowing that they are distributing their aro internationally or to the fact that they were the pioneers who first started the industry. I agree within the free market beliefs, but every businessmen should keep in mind of their responsibilities to keep an ethically fair market.
To be perfectly honest, I too wish to purchase more aro with a more reachable price. And as an aro owner myself, I too love to see all my acquintances own their own aro so that we have could share many of our aro expriences as we are now in NAC. Thats probably from me as buyer's point of view, demanding for a better and cheaper bargain. So I think there are two sided coins here, which is something we probably see everyday between buyers and sellers.
Yep, bro Roythea, I deiffinitely agree with your example of "nyogok." I still curse that police officer until now for pulling me over and directly asking for duit under the accusation of not looking over the traffic sign where I am sure they cover it to catch some defenselless flies. Corruption should be banned and sinned.

Again I apologize if any of my opinion had offended anyone, maaf.

Mahalo

[SZI]

Originally Posted by mr.ius

(Maaf kawan seandai saya salah terjemahkan indonesia kalian )

I think this is going to be an intersting topic , lagi saya minta maaf bila membalas melalui ingris.

Bro SZI, I think the matter of this competition entry was considered as a threat is basically a point a view from current aro breeder who are well established and have their own distribution agents well at hand, though i won't say that I am speaking on their behalf. Especially knowing that these new entry are the ones who tried to exclude themselves to acquiring a legal permit and paying the required fees for breeding an endagered species, whereas larger farms to be precise may have acquired these legal documentation knowing that they are distributing their aro internationally or to the fact that they were the pioneers who first started the industry. I agree within the free market beliefs, but every businessmen should keep in mind of their responsibilities to keep an ethically fair market.
To be perfectly honest, I too wish to purchase more aro with a more reachable price. And as an aro owner myself, I too love to see all my acquintances own their own aro so that we have could share many of our aro expriences as we are now in NAC. Thats probably from me as buyer's point of view, demanding for a better and cheaper bargain. So I think there are two sided coins here, which is something we probably see everyday between buyers and sellers.
Yep, bro Roythea, I deiffinitely agree with your example of "nyogok." I still curse that police officer until now for pulling me over and directly asking for duit under the accusation of not looking over the traffic sign where I am sure they cover it to catch some defenselless flies. Corruption should be banned and sinned.

Again I apologize if any of my opinion had offended anyone, maaf.

Mahalo

no apologies necessary.
personally i'm in no position to comment specifically about the permit or license fees as i have no idea how big a factor they are in total cost of breeding aro. all i can say is, if they are a significant cost factor then the authorities ought to be ashamed of themselves as they would be holding down an industry which potentially could be an even more promising one for average indonesians, and instead making it an exclusive one for rich folks with capital to burn. the koi farmers in Japan, most of them were "little people" who were previously rice farmers not rich people who had made their money elsewhere before pumping it into koi (with the exception of Momotaro, who is the only one i know of who was already rich before he went into koi). yes arowana may be (or had been, depending how you look at it) an endangered species but for me it's sad if that is used as a way by corrupt officials to milk money out of breeders.

having brushed that point, personally i'd still advocate home breeding of aros as a starting way for new breeders. though the legality may be questionable but perhaps if this continues it may force the authorities to rethink their rules and regulations and make it easier for breeders even small ones to obtain rights to breed. existing breeders who have paid their dues may feel hard done by but i'd imagine they'd have made a large enough profit by now to have covered whatever fees they'd paid (be they official fees or bribes), besides it's unavoidable for the greater good, if we are to allow people with smaller capital to start their aro business too.

if we don't wake up to this, and if the govt persist to make it costly for indos to produce aros, it's a matter of time before other countries overtake indonesia as exporter of arowana. i am a firm believer that it requires people with a passion for the aro to develop this industry forward, as opposed to people with no passion for the fish but in it solely for the profit. it is the passionate aro breeder who would seek ways to improve the quality of his fish, to invent methods and products to bring out the potential of a fish, such efforts are the ones that would develop the local aro industry and sustain it in the long run. i wish the govt would ask itself which type of aro breeder they are currently encouraging.

sorry to have gone on a long rant. i blame it on the morning coffee. too much caffein in me at the mo.

[Joehendry]

What I am worried, if arowana is easy to breed will become lohan phenomena. The price will go down and down until dont have value money and prestige anymore