London, U.K.-headquartered Marine Ingredients Organization (IFFO) has announced a strong start to global fishmeal and fish oil production in 2025.
On 18 March 2025, IFFO announced that January’s total fishmeal production had increased 75 percent year over year. The release attributed the bump to a 300 percent increase in Peruvian output, though it noted that Chile, the United States, Spain, and its African members had also reported year over year increases in January.
Fish oil production was up 71 percent year over year, due again to Peru. The IFFO stated that it had seen increases in fish oil production in other nations as well, with the exception of those in Northern Europe.
The IFFO drew its January production data from IFFO members Chile, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Norway, the UK, the USA, Peru, South Africa, and Spain, who account for 40 percent of global fishmeal production and 50 percent of fish oil production.
The release also offered an update on decreased 2024 aquafeed production and sales in China, stating that the China Feed Industry Association (CFIA) had reported a 3.5 percent year over year decrease in aquafeed production and a 10 percent year over year drop in sales.
The decline was attributable, the IFFO said, to bad weather, weak farm-gate prices, and cost cutting measures by farmers. Pig feed production, which also utilizes fishmeal, also fell by 3.9 percent year over year, the release noted.
The IFFO predicted that the Chinese industry would have to rely on frozen fish and imports like sardines for raw materials for fishmeal and fish oil production until September 2025, when the next Chinese fishing season would begin.
