Fishmeal reaches its highest price in ten years retail stock Anchovy

The price of fish meal in Peru, the world's largest producer, have risen to their highest level in more than a decade amid lower stocks of anchovy in the country's coastline, raising feed costs for farmers Salmon and shrimps.

Spot prices of prime fish meal were US $ 2.370 per tonne last week, up 66% from US $ 1.430 per ton earlier this year, according to Peru Broker SA.

The fall in production of oil and fish meal in Peru could create a situation of price “explosiva”, said last month analyst Oil World industry.

Peru is the largest producer of fishmeal, anchovy extracting banks that feed on plankton in the Humboldt rich in nutrients that flows northward along the west coast of South America.

The Oceanographic Institute of Peru, Imarpe said on October 27 that the biomass in the southern fishing zone was insufficient to recommend a fishing quota, and is conducting a study until November 20 to reassess the situation Anchovy population.

"The higher prices of oil and fish meal will add to the costs of aquaculture producers for some carnivorous species such as salmon and shrimp"Audun Lem, Assistant Director for Fisheries and Aquaculture in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, wrote in an e-mail.

The fish meal is the most expensive since at least late 2000, when spot prices were $ 475 a ton, according to data from Peru Broker covering the period.

Fish oil
"The prices of oil and fishmeal in Peru continued to strengthen as well as in China and elsewhere in the week to November 14 in response to the deteriorating outlook for the Peruvian production, cutting export supplies," Oil World wrote in a comment on their website last week.

Imarpe wrote in a report on October 4 that adverse conditions in the northern fishing zone affected the anchovy population and recommended that fishing activities continue suspended.

The Bureau of Meteorology of Australia said today that there is at least a probability of 70% of the climate phenomenon El Niño, as sea temperatures warm the tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño conditions can reduce the cold coastal currents off the west coast of South America and reduce catches of anchovy from Peru.

The Peruvian anchoveta is the largest fish caught in the world, with an extraction of 4.69 million tonnes in 2012 from 8.32 million tonnes in the previous year, according to FAO data.

Fishmeal
The increase in prices of fish meal have led farmers to find cheaper substitutes, and the percentage of the flour used in aquaculture feed has fallen in recent years, the FAO said in a semiannual report. About a third of the fish meal and oil is now made of byproducts and waste instead of whole fish, he said.

“Prices of flour and oil are already high, and as a result, farmers are increasing the content of other oils and meals, " Lem said. "The production of farmed fish has become more efficient feed conversion, and is not a big problem as it is presented”.

The main reason for the high price of salmon is a combination of stable supply and strong demand, according to Lem.

SOURCE: Gestion.pe