A quota has been set for one of the world’s largest fisheries, which has pivotal importance for the global fishmeal market.
The Peruvian authorities have announced that the first season of anchovy and white anchovy in the north-central region of national waters for this year will start on 16th April. The quota for this region has been fixed at 2.475 million tonnes. Peru’s quota setting is of critical importance to the fishmeal sector, considering that the country accounts for 20% of global fishmeal in an average year.
‘The industry is positive about this quota, which signals a rebound after last year’s quotas at respectively 1.09 million tonnes – first season, cancelled due to the repercussions of the El Nino event – and 1.68 million tonnes in the second season,’ said Dr Enrico Bachis, IFFO’s Market Research Director.
Based on IFFO’s membership, which accounts for 55% of global marine ingredients production, IFFO reports that the raw material used by a selection of countries showed an increase of approximately 20% in February 2024 compared with the same month in 2023, driven by the increased available raw material in Chile and North European countries.
In the first 2 months of the year 2024, cumulative fishmeal production dropped by approximately 26% compared to the same period in 2023.
‘Such a decline was primarily influenced by a significant decrease of around 80% in Peru, where January 2023 still saw significant landings due to the second fishing season of the year 2022. On the contrary, the early commencement of the second fishing season in Peru’s north-central region in 2023 left less catch available for the start of 2024. Typically starting in November, the season commenced in October 2023, concluding on January 13th 2024,’ Enrico Bachis said.
Among the countries upon which the IFFO report is based, Chile, Denmark and Norway have been showing a positive trend in fishmeal production compared to 2023. Cumulative output for fishmeal through February 2024 was 13% down year over year. Chile is the only country that has registered a positive trend compared to January-February 2023.
