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Small fish sustain a decisive industrial chain for Peru, connecting the Pacific coast to major international buyers and revealing how climate, fishing quotas, processing, and Asian demand determine the performance of one of the world’s most relevant marine markets.
Rarely present in the daily diet of Peruvians, anchoveta has become the center of an export chain that transforms large Pacific catches into fishmeal and fish oil, products traded internationally and important for Peru’s fishing economy.
The country has consolidated its leadership in this segment by combining the abundance of marine resources with an industrial structure focused on processing, controlled fishing seasons, and production that directly responds to ocean conditions and official capture authorizations.
During the second fishing season of 2024, held in the central-northern region of the Peruvian coast, vessels captured 2.42 million tons of anchoveta, equivalent to more than 95% of the quota of 2.51 million tons.
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Anchoveta sustains Peruvian industrial fishing
The numbers released by the Ministry of Production of Peru show that that season generated more than 680 thousand tons of fishmeal and fish oil, confirming the scale reached by the industrial activity based on the species.
The same harvest generated more than US$ 1.41 billion in exports, a value associated with the products obtained during the season, while the Peruvian government estimated the creation of approximately 49 thousand direct and indirect jobs linked to the activity.
The million-scale appears mainly in the volume of anchoveta removed from the sea, while the amount exported corresponds to the products resulting from processing, an important difference to understand the data presented on capture, industrial production, and foreign trade.
Although it is small in size, the fish exerts influence over factories, vessels, port workers, exporting companies, and coastal communities, forming a chain that transforms an abundant natural resource into one of the main fishing commodities offered by the country.
Fishmeal and fish oil concentrate the commercial value of anchoveta, as they allow large volumes captured in specific periods to be processed and directed abroad, expanding the economic reach of a species little consumed directly by the Peruvian population.
China concentrates fishmeal purchases
Peru’s presence in world trade became especially relevant after the recovery observed in 2024, when fishmeal exports reached 885 thousand tons in the first nine months, compared to 460 thousand tons recorded during the same period in 2023.
According to an analysis published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, China received 771 thousand tons of the Peruvian product in that period, a volume more than double the 360 thousand tons imported a year earlier.
With this advance, the Chinese market absorbed almost 90% of Peruvian fishmeal exports accounted for in the period, reinforcing a commercial relationship that usually represents approximately 80% of the external sales of the product made by Peru in regular years.
China also accounted for about 40% of the world’s fishmeal imports in 2024, a share that helps explain why the purchasing decisions of the Asian country have a direct impact on producers, exporters, and international prices.
This concentration offers a large-scale demand but also leaves the Peruvian chain strongly linked to the behavior of a dominant buyer, especially at times when the recovery of catches quickly increases the supply available for negotiation in the external market.
El Niño alters catches and global production
The economic strength of this activity coexists with a permanent vulnerability to environmental conditions, because changes in the temperature and circulation of Pacific waters can modify the distribution of anchoveta and limit the volume available for industrial seasons.
In 2023, weak catches of the species in Peru contributed to a reduction of 23% in global fishmeal production and 21% in oil production, according to the FAO survey on international trade of these products.
Unfavorable conditions continued at the beginning of 2024 but lost intensity as the El Niño phenomenon weakened, allowing a recovery of operations in the central-northern Peruvian region and a high utilization of the quotas established for the two seasons of that year.
With the return of Peru’s supply, the stocks available in the international market gained stability and the pressure on prices decreased, although fish oil production remained limited by reduced yields observed both in the country and in Chile.
The episode showed that fluctuations in Peruvian fishing go beyond national borders, as anchoveta is identified by the FAO as the main global source of raw material for fishmeal and fish oil, products traded by different economies.
Quotas define the pace of each season
To manage this resource, the government sets catch limits and specific operation periods, as occurred in the season that began on November 1, 2024, when the fleet was authorized to withdraw up to 2.51 million tons.
The effective catch of 2.42 million tons demonstrated the high utilization of the quota, while the Ministry of Production stated that decisions about the activity are based on scientific studies and permanent monitoring of marine stock conditions.
This model makes the performance of companies depend not only on foreign demand but also on assessments made before and during each season, capable of expanding, restricting, or interrupting operations according to the availability of anchoveta on the coast.
Thus, the small species connects oceanic phenomena, governmental decisions, and industrial needs in a chain that moves billions of dollars, sustains thousands of jobs, and places Peru at the center of changes observed in the global supply of marine ingredients.
To what extent will Peru be able to preserve the anchoveta while maintaining the economic strength of a chain that depends on climate, strict quotas, and international buyers concentrated mainly in the Chinese market?
