The allocated quota for this season stands at 2.475 million tons. This announcement has been met with positivity from the industry, indicating a rebound from last year's reduced quotas because of the El Niño event, according to Dr Enrico Bachis, IFFO's market research director.
He highlighted the significance of Peru's quota setting, as the country typically contributes 20% of global fishmeal production. The previous year saw severe shortages of fishmeal and fish oil, with quotas at 1.09 million tons and 1.68 million tons for the first and second seasons respectively, and the first season being cancelled due to El Niño repercussions.
Gorjan Nikolik, a senior analyst in seafood at Rabobank, also commenting on the announcement, told this publication:
“This quota is what had been anticipated. The expectations were for 2-3 million metric tons (MT). A typically good season would be in the range of 2.5 million MT.
“Clearly this demonstrates that the El Niño effect is no longer impacting the biomass and a normal fishing season should take place.
“Of course, we would still need to see good catch rate, which is the final variable.”
Dip in fishmeal output
Meanwhile, IFFO data shows a decline in cumulative fishmeal production by around 26% in the first two months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, mainly influenced by Peru's decreased output.
However, countries such as Chile, Denmark, and Norway exhibited positive trends in production of the feed raw material, reported Dr Bachis.
Fish oil production saw a 13% decrease year over year through February 2024, with Chile being the only country showing a positive trend in this aspect compared to the previous year, as per the IFFO report.
