While all sectors of the economy are undergoing seismic changes following the coronavirus outbreak, IFFO - The Marine Ingredients Organisation continues to monitor the main trends within the marine ingredient industry. IFFO members are provided on a regular basis with market intelligence related to fishmeal and fish oil production, trade and consumption. This implies the analysis of both the supply and demand sides of the market, with research focusing also on the global trends of animal farming and fish catches, agri-commodities, commodities’ prices and general macro-economic conditions.
A taste of the many statistics and analyses that can be found in the IFFO reports is reported below.
Marine ingredient output: June 2020 performance well over the 2011- 2019 average for the same month
The higher-than-average landings in Peru in the month of June 2020 were the main drive of such 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.
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%.
In June 2020 cumulative fish oil production was also down by 7%, year on year, with significant drops in Peru, India, Iceland and the USA. 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: impacts on demand following new COVID-19 cases and consequences of China’s flood season
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, China authorities enhanced inspections on both imported and domestic aqua-products, dealing a further blow to the industry 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.
Provinces along the Yangtze basin braced for flooding, which adversely affected aquaculture and caused damage to farmers. Both hog stocks and imports of pork rose despite of flooding and pandemic as the domestic supply could not meet the local demand.