The forces of Nature have caused the price of fishmeal to skyrocket more than 85 percent in a year.
A tonne of fishmeal had surged to 1,937 US dollars (€1,479) in late April. After the global financial crisis in 2008, prices went as low as $1,000 a tonne.
The increase was due to a sharp decline on the supply side, with Peru, the world’s largest fishmeal exporter, hit hard by the El Niño weather phenomenon, and then Chile, the world’s second largest exporter, hit by an earthquake last February that destroyed many fishmeal plants.
The industry is now monitoring Peru catches carefully. Normally, the deep, cold water Humboldt current off Peru’s Pacific coast creates nutrient-rich waters that are ideal for anchovies. But an El Niño brings warm waters, reducing fish stocks.
Fishmeal is used as a dominant raw feed material in salmon, pig and poultry farms. Since it is mainly consumed in Europe and China, far off from the Latin American production centres, it is one of the world’s most internationally traded – and wide-travelled – commodities. It has been estimated that each tonne of fishmeal travels an average of 5,000 kilometres to reach its end-user in the aquaculture industry.