June 15, 2010

 

Peruvian seafood exports rake in US$257.2 million in March

 

 

Peruvian seafood exports generated US$257.2 million in revenue in March, 22.5% more than in the US$210 million tallied in the same month of 2009, the Ministry of Production (Produce) revealed.

 

Nonetheless, export volume fell 30.7% to 180,200 tonnes against the 220,100 tonnes dispatched a year before. This loss was mainly due to fewer sales of seafood products for indirect human consumption.

 

According to the latest Statistics Bulletin authored by Produce, 116,400 tonnes of fishmeal were exported in March against 168,000 tonnes, or 30.7% less, in the same month a year before.

 

Regarding value, March saw fishmeal exported for US$170.4 million, that is, 20.2% more than in March 2009 when the figure for that month was US$141.7 million.

 

Of the exported volume, 39.9% was of traditional fishmeal, 48.1% of prime fishmeal and 11.9% of super prime fishmeal.

 

The main markets for Peruvian fishmeal were China, Germany, Japan, Chile, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia and Spain, which purchased nearly 95.1% of the commercialised total.

 

Meanwhile US$489.9 million worth of fishmeal was sold in the first quarter, that is, 40.3% more than in the same period of 2009, when US$349.2 million was generated.

 

Raw fish oil exports in March totalled 20,800 tonnes, with the majority going to Belgium, Canada, Japan, China, Norway, and the US, which represented 98.3% of the total.

 

In that month, fish oil shipments generated US$19.5 million, that is, 31.7% more than the US$14.8 million tallied in March 2009.

 

In the first quarter, fish oil worth US$56.3 million was sold overseas, that is, 11.9% more than in the same period of 2009, when US$50.3 million was generated.

 

Some 36,100 tonnes of frozen seafood products were also exported in March 2010. The majority of products were elaborated with giant squid, squid, shrimp, mahi mahi, scallops and hake.

 

China, Spain, the US, Thailand, Russia, Ecuador, Germany, France, and Italy made up 84.9% of the frozen-product exports market.

 

Some 1,500 tonnes of canned products were sold overseas in the third month of 2010, a volume reduced by 54.5% against the 3,300 tonnes exported a year before. Some 83.1% of these shipments corresponded to canned anchovy, tuna, jack mackerel and mackerel.

 

Colombia, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Spain, Germany, the US, Taiwan, Chile, Italy, to which 96.2% of the exported total were shipped, were the main market destinations of these products.