Anchovy processing plant for non-human consumption in Peru.
Photo: Produce.
Two-thirds of the 1.63 million tons quota set for the second anchovy fishing season of 2025 in north-central Peru has already been caught. "This is a positive sign which leads us at IFFO to project a production of 5.4 million tons for fishmeal and 1.2 million tons for fish oil in 2025," said Dr Enrico Bachis, IFFO's Market Research Director.
With this forecast, IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation, opened its monthly report on global trends in fishmeal and fish oil production for October, in which, in addition to advancing its prediction for the whole of 2025, it also highlighted the positive global trends in marine ingredients production recorded in the first three quarters of the year now coming to an end.
As WeAreAquaculture has explained previously, the importance that IFFO always gives to Peru in its reports is because, in an average year, the South American country accounts for around 20% of global production of both fishmeal and fish oil.
Nevertheless, the IFFO intelligence reports from which the data for these forecasts are drawn are based on statistics shared by the organization's members not only in Peru, but also in Chile, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Norway, the UK, the U.S., South Africa, and Spain, which together account for 40% of global fishmeal production and 50% of fish oil production.
Thus, based on these statistics, The Marine Ingredients Organisation reported that, by October 2025, total cumulative annual fishmeal production had increased by approximately 7% compared to the same period in 2024. This increase was driven by higher production in most regions, except in Iceland and the North Atlantic, which recorded a year-on-year decline.
Similarly, cumulative fish oil production through October 2025 also showed a year-on-year increase of around 5%. In this case, most countries recorded positive trends compared to January–October 2024, except for Peru, where lower oil yields in 2025 played a significant role in the decline.
As usual in its reports, IFFO—which recently presented its new Board of Directors for the period 2026-2027—also provided trends on China, although in the case of the Asian giant, the information does not come from the organization's members, but from its analysts in the country, who report on the situation.
In October, these analysts reported that Chinese domestic production of marine ingredients had been limited during the last quarter of 2025. Therefore, production for the year is not expected to exceed the 2024 level, which was estimated at 570,000 metric tons.
The Marine Ingredients Organisation said that, according to China's Ministry of Agriculture, the country's aquaculture production continued to grow through October in the main farming regions. Currently, active aquaculture is mainly concentrated in warmer provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan.
IFFO also said that white-leg shrimp cultivated in sheds and greenhouses remains one of the main species farmed, helping to sustain fishmeal consumption. In contrast, farmers in colder regions have largely suspended aquaculture activities, either by completely halting feed use or reducing it significantly.
Even so, and despite the fact that demand over the last two months has been lower in year-on-year terms, it is estimated that cumulative fishmeal consumption in aquaculture has so far exceeded last year's levels.
Meanwhile, in the livestock sector, where fishmeal is used to feed piglets, thanks to stronger demand for piglets in the first half of 2025, total fishmeal consumption for the year is expected to exceed 2024 levels.
However, with regard to October, the current oversupply of piglets, which would normally support stronger fishmeal consumption, is instead causing weak demand for newborn pigs, which in turn has led to lower commercial production of piglet feed, ultimately affecting fishmeal use.