Fishmeal and fish oil study is now online

The study aims to provide an overview of the fishmeal and fish oil sectors derived from forage fisheries in the European Union. This report is an update of the 2021 Edition.

Each year, the EU produces from 370.000 tonnes to above 520.000 tonnes of fishmeal and from 120.000 tonnes to 190.000 tonnes of fish oil: this constitutes around 10-15% of the global production. Denmark is by far the largest producer in the EU, accounting for 40% to 50% of the total production, which is mainly based on landings of small pelagic species such as sprat, sand-eels, blue whiting and herring. Whereas, EU consumption of fishmeal has decreased by around 40% from 2009 to 2022 to around 450.000 tonnes. With regards to imports, EU remains a net importer of fishmeal even though there has been a decrease of imports from non-EU27 suppliers by 42% from 2012 to 2022: in the same period especially from Peru, which is the world’s largest producer contributing on average around 20% of global production, imports have decreased by 79%; also EU27 exports have encountered in the same period a decrease by 31%, which compensates for the decrease in imports from Peru.

The study is available in English.