Anchovy on a Peruvian fishing vessel.
Photo: Produce.
"While data still needs to be confirmed for the full year, we expect 2025 to have delivered slightly lower production of both fishmeal and fish oil compared with 2024." Dr Enrico Bachis, Market Research Director at IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation, summarized the organization's forecast for last year in this way. He did so when presenting his monthly report for November 2025, in which the organization talked about a "positive trend for global marine ingredients production."
Bachis made this assessment after it was announced that the second anchovy fishing season of 2025 in north-central Peru had ended with almost the entire quota of 1.63 million metric tons landed, which the IFFO's Director of Market Research described as "positive news."
As WeAreAquaculture has explained previously, the IFFO intelligence reports from which the data for these forecasts are drawn are based on statistics shared by the organization's members in Peru, 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.
Nevertheless, IFFO always gives Peru a prominent place in its reports because, in an average year, the South American country—where the first anchovy fishing season of 2026 has already begun in the south—accounts for around 20% of global production of both fishmeal and fish oil.
Precisely, the fact that at the close of the October report, two-thirds of the 1.63 million tons quota set for the second anchovy fishing season of 2025 in north-central Peru had already been caught, led the organization to forecast a production of 5.4 million tons of fishmeal and 1.2 million tons of fish oil in 2025.
With regard specifically to production results, according to data from The Marine Ingredients Organisation, by November 2025, total cumulative annual fishmeal production had increased by approximately 2% compared to the same period in 2024.
IFFO explained that this increase was driven by higher production in most regions, except Iceland and the North Atlantic area, and in African countries, which recorded a year-on-year decline.
For its part, cumulative fish oil production through November 2025 showed a similar trend, with a year-on-year increase that The Marine Ingredients Organisation estimated at around 7%.
In this case, most countries recorded positive trends compared to January–November 2024, except for Peru, where lower fish oil yields in 2025 played a significant role in the decline.
As it does every month, IFFO also provided trends for China. 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 based on trends in different sectors.
For the November 2025 report, the sectors analyzed were domestic production of marine ingredients, domestic aquaculture production, and soybean meal and corn prices.
According to information from IFFO, domestic production of marine ingredients in China remains limited by higher costs and lower profitability for local producers. Thus, with the peak fishing period now over, there are limited expectations for improvement during the rest of the season until April 2026.
"Fishmeal and fish oil production in 2025 is projected to fall by 20%–30% from 2024 levels. Through 2025, China's global fishmeal imports increased by about 5% compared to the previous year, with Peru, Vietnam and Chile as the top three suppliers," The Marine Ingredients Organisation explained.
Regarding China's domestic aquaculture production, the organization noted that it continues to expand and production in 2025 is expected to exceed 2024 levels. According to IFFO, demand for fishmeal from aquaculture—driven mainly by white shrimp farming in southern China, in the Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan regions—will gradually increase leading up to the March–April 2026 season.
Finally, the November report also analyzed soybean meal and corn prices. The Marine Ingredients Organization reported that these have increased in recent weeks, driven by higher demand from the feed sector.
