59% of tuna sold in us isn't tuna!, page-20

Fish farmers globally have a very large problem looming - unaffordable fishmeal, the only real source of the 2 non plant based omega 3 FAs. Pretty soon fish are going to become unaffordable to the average punter on the street, even if they are farmed.


Fishmeal prices up 285% since 2001

January 30, 2013, 3:15 pm
Eva Tallaksen

Fishmeal prices out of Peru have more than trebled over the past decade.

Historical prices provided by an analyst show weekly fishmeal were at $480 per metric ton at the start of 2001, and at $609 at the start of 2003.

Since then, prices have more than trebled, reaching $1,850 at the start of this year, shows the data.

The data shows a historical peak was reached last November – December, at $1,900 from week 47 through to the end of the year.

Copeinca’s CEO Pablo Trapunsky recently told Undercurrent News prices were at $2,100/t for super-dry prime grade fishmeal – a level he doesn’t expect to go up later this year.

Monthly figures from the World Bank – available on our prices portal — give a similar picture to the weekly data provided by the analyst, albeit with slightly higher prices.

The World Bank data shows CIF prices for fishmeal pellets out of Peru, with 65% protein, hit a historical peak of $2,190 per metric ton last December.

That’s a 244% increase from $635.42 a decade ago (December 2002).

The figures show fishmeal prices were at less than $750 all the way from June 1984 to July 2005. (See chart below)

In August 2005, they then climbed by 20%, and have since remained above $750, climbing to today’s levels with peaks and troughs in between.

The analyst’s figures shows that, on an annual average, prices over the past decade rose the strongest in 2006, by 63% to an average of $1,163. 2010 also witnessed a significant spike in price, by 43%, followed by a drop of 17% in 2011 and an increase of 11% in 2012, to an average of $1,259.