July 21, 2009
Peru seafood exports down 13.4 percent in May
Peruvian seafood export sales dipped 13.4 percent in May to US$183 million from a value of US$211.2 million generated the same month last year, the Ministry of Production (Produce) reports.
The exported volume fell 4.6 percent to 190,900 tonnes against 200,100 tonnes dispatched a year ago. This loss is largely due to fewer sales of canned products, crude oil and fishmeal, which declined 54.3 percent, 29.1 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively.
According to the latest Statistics Bulletin drafted by Produce, 146,800 tonnes of fishmeal were exported in May, a volume slightly inferior to the same month last year, when 149,100 tonnes were sold abroad.
Of the total volume exported, 40.4 percent consisted of traditional fishmeal, 47.4 percent of prime fishmeal, and 12.2 percent of super prime fishmeal.
The main markets for Peruvian fishmeal were China, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, the UK, Turkey, Spain, Australia and France, which together purchased 93.8 percent of total export sales.
Frozen seafood products equalling 27,400 tonnes were also shipped in May, just 100 tonnes less than the same month last year.
Giant squid, mackerel, hake, shrimp, and jack mackerel constituted 79.3 percent of this exported product.
China, Spain, Japan, South Korea, the US, Japan, Italy, Germany, Russia, France, Uruguay, Thailand, Ecuador and Taiwan made up 86.2 percent of frozen product sales.
Also in May, 1,600 tonnes of canned products were sold abroad, a 54.3 percent fall from the 3,500 tonnes exported in the fifth month of 2008.
Of this, 90.8 percent corresponded to canned anchovy, mackerel and jack mackerel varieties. These products were primarily exported to Haiti, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia, markets which received 77.1 percent of the total.
Peruvian fish exports amounted to a volume of 894,800 tonnes in the first five months of this year, which implies a 12.9 percent drop over the same period in 2008 when 792,700 tonnes were sold.
The total value of exports through May totalled US$862.8 million, 13.9 percent less than the US$1 billion generated over the same five months last year.
