Fishmeal is the product that is obtained after completely removing the water content and partially its fat and oil content from the fish, since the rest remains the protein part of the fish that is dried and ground to obtain the fishmeal.

Fishmeal has a high protein value that represents between 60% and 72%, other elements of its composition are fats that are between 5% and 12%, and between 10 and 20% ashes.

The animal feed industry is the main market for the use of fishmeal, being a highly valued ingredient for the preparation of feed for aquaculture (mainly), poultry farming, livestock, among others (Figure 1). This means that fishmeal competes with other proteins of animal and vegetable origin, such as meals from the meat industry and soybeans.

Currently, Peru is the world’s leading producer of fishmeal, followed by Thailand, China, Chile and the United States, according to the latest IFFO Statistical Yearbook (Figure 2). Fishmeal in Peru is made from anchovy, which is the only species allowed by the Peruvian state. In other latitudes such as the United States, fishmeal is made from menhaden, in Norway capelin is used and in Denmark it is produced from herring.

Peru fishmeal production

In 2021, the export of fishmeal generated income of more than 2,300 million dollars, registering an increase of 60% compared to 2020, it is expected that by 2022 the export of this product will exceed 2,000 million dollars.

The price of fishmeal in 2019 was $1,434.6 per metric ton (mt), in 2020 it was $1,368.7 and in 2021 it was $1,493.6. Likewise, according to the National Fisheries Society, anchovy fishing (fishmeal input in Peru) in 2021 registered 5 million 100,000 mt and in the first season of 2022 it was 2 million 47,000 mt. Always noticing an increase in the production and export of fishmeal in recent years (Figure 3).

To maintain the high production of fishmeal in Peru, it is necessary to conserve the main input, the anchovy. For the year 2022, anchovy fishing in the southern region of the Peruvian sea was authorized for the period January – June 2022, from January 6 to June 30, 2022. For this period, the figure of four hundred eighty-six thousand five hundred (486,500) tons was established as the total maximum allowable catch limit for the southern zone. However, the landing of anchovy in the southern region of the Peruvian coast as of June 26, 2022 reached 197 thousand tons, which represents 40.5% of the goal. It is expected that by the second half of 2022 the goal of 973,000 tons of landed anchovy will be reached, but it seems like a difficult task, and for this reason, fishing companies have been given financial incentives so that they can meet the established objective and thus maintain world leadership in the production of fishmeal.