November 26, 2025

 

Chinese aquaculture sector's fishmeal use this year more than volume in 2024

 

 

Fishmeal use by the Chinese aquaculture sector in 2025 exceeded last year's levels despite a slowdown in domestic production, according to a report by marine ingredients organisation, the IFFO.

 

The increase in consumption was due to favourable performance-to-price ratios and continued growth in farmed output across major regions in September, the November 13 report said.

 

With rising production costs, China's fishmeal and fish oil output in 2025 was expected to decline compared with the previous year with no meaningful increase in the country's wild fish raw material supply anticipated for the remainder of 2025, the report said.

 

According to IFFO projections, global production estimates for fishmeal and fish oil in 2025 remain unchanged at 5.6 million tonnes and 1.2M-1.3 million tonnes respectively.

 

By September, cumulative fishmeal output was up around 8% year-on-year, with most regions reporting growth except Iceland and the wider North Atlantic.

 

Fish oil production was up about 6% over the same period, with Spain and Peru the main outliers due to lower oil yields in Peru's recent season.

 

In Peru – a leading consumer – authorities announced on 12 November 2025 that the quota for the second fishing season in the North-Centre of Peru, which started on November 7, 2025 - would be 1.63 million tonnes.

 

"This quota is well above the provisional quota set on November 1 and signals a science-based approach for the world's largest single species fishery, which produces 20% of global fishmeal in an average year," said Dr. Enrico Bachis, IFFO's market research director.

 

"The biological survey … places the quota in line with the one granted for the last quarter in 2023 but below the one authorised in the fourth quarter 2024."

 

IFFO data is based on statistics shared by its members in Chile, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, Peru, South Africa, and Spain, accounting for 40% of global fishmeal production and 50% of fish oil output.

 

- Oils & Fats International