Good prospects for the Peruvian fishing sector, which expects annual growth of 18.5% for the full year.
Photo: Produce.
With a 55.2% growth compared to the previous year, June marked the third consecutive month of growth for Peru's fishing sector value. As in April and May, in June this increase is also the result of higher landings of marine species, especially anchovy for fishmeal and fish oil.
Although the figure is far from the 158.40% increase recorded in April or the rocketed 329.2% in May, it does mark a growth trend that seems likely to continue if we take into account other indicators such as the fact that, just a few days ago, Peru closed the first anchovy and white anchovy fishing season of 2024 in the North-Central zone with more than 98% of quota caught.
As pointed out by Sergio Gonzalez, head of the Peruvian Ministry of Production (Produce), the good results in June were mainly due to the increase in anchovy catches destined for fishmeal and fish oil processing, which rose 482% in June compared to 2023.
However, as Minister Gonzalez explained, although the main one, anchovy was not the only species responsible for the growth in landings in June. The increase in unloads of species for direct human consumption, mainly those for the canning and freezing industry, such as jack mackerel, anchovy, bonito, fan shell, and hake, also contributed to June's growth in landings.
All species together, in June 2023 fishery landings reached 363,000 tons, a growth of 133% over June 2023, when they reached 155,000 tons. All of them contributed to boosting fishery exports to Peru and, with them, increasing the country's foreign exchange earnings.
According to the data provided by Produce, in June 2024, the total contribution of the fisheries sector to the national GDP would be around 0.28%, PEN 135.6 million (EUR 33.2 million / USD 36.1 million) at constant prices. Thus, the Peruvian fishing sector closed the first half of the year with a 44.8% growth compared to 2023, showing encouraging prospects for 2024.
Prospects that, in addition, are supported by the scientific research conducted by the Peruvian Institute of the Sea (Imarpe) whose optimistic results have led Produce to increase the maximum catch limit quota for some of these species destined for direct human consumption, such as bonito or jack mackerel, which, as mentioned, have also contributed greatly to the growth achieved in June.
Produce figures indicate that, adding the extractive and processing activities of the Peruvian seafood industry, an annual growth of 18.5% is expected, which is more than PEN 4.7 billion (EUR 1.1 billion / USD 1.2 billion) of contribution to the Peruvian economy, resulting in a contribution of almost 1% to the country's GDP.