World production of fishmeal and fish oil decreases by 7%
Marine ingredients organisation IFFO has provided an analysis of trends in the marine ingredients market. The total accumulated production of fishmeal and fish oil during the first half of 2020 showed drops of 7.5% and 7% respectively.
While all sectors of the economy are experiencing seismic changes after the coronavirus outbreak, IFFO continues to monitor major trends within the marine ingredients industry.
Regarding fishmeal and fish oil production, IFFO establishes that June 2020 performance was well above the 2011-2019 average for the same month.
IFFO detailed that the higher-than-average landings in Peru in the month of June 2020 were the main driver of the improvement, although the Northern European countries and India also showed a historically higher availability of raw material for the month of June. Year on year, the total raw material in June was almost 60% higher, again thanks to the positive performances of Peru, Northern Europe and India.
Continued recovery
“Total cumulative fishmeal production throughout June (including salmon-based meal) continued to recover with respect to the previous year, and was estimated to be below last year’s output by only 7.5%”, IFFO added.
In June 2020 fish oil production was down by 7% year on year, with significant drops in Peru, India, Iceland and the United States. Significant improvement is being reported in the African countries, mainly thanks to a better performance by South Africa, but also thanks to the additional production of tuna oil in Ivory Coast, whose production started in 2020.
China: Covid-19
As China is by far the main market for marine ingredients, a special focus is dedicated to this country with an ad hoc report. China‘s economy rebounded in the second quarter with a stronger-than-expected GDP growth of 3.2% from a year earlier.
Following the episodes that linked imported seafood to Covid-19, Chinese authorities enhanced inspections on both imported and domestic aqua-products, dealing a further blow to the industry’s plans of regaining the trust of consumers.
China fishing grounds are still under a fishing ban, with fishmeal plants still at a low operative rate. Fishmeal imports are starting to increase while stocks of fishmeal imports in ports have declined as consumption remains stable. The new crops of Peruvian fishmeal are expected to be available in China in August.
