Fish meal, Soy or Additives?

Fish meal prices are going through the roof, driven by a fear of reduction in the global supply of this important animal feed ingredient. As a result, poultry, hog and aquaculture producers around the world may find it difficult this year to find economical sources of protein for their feed, as the price of this protein-rich ingredient hit historic heights.

At the start of 2009, one metric ton of fish meal was around US$ 1,000. By the end of April 2010, it was already at US$ 1,937 with little chance of coming back down.

The source of the problem is the El Niño weather phenomenon affecting ocean temperatures in South America, the main production center for fish meal. For example, Peru, the largest exporter of fishmeal in that region, depends largely on the inventory of anchovy, but in the past El Niño has caused up to an 80% reduction in Peruvian fish stocks. Additionally, Chile suffered a major earthquake in February 2010 which impacted major processing plants.

Some feed producers are pushing for soybean meal as a substitute, which has been also rising heavily in recent years. Some others recommend corn.

Not to sound too self-serving, but this could be a good opportunity for animal producers to try protease feed enzymes such as Versazyme to increase protein availability of existing feed ingredients or use Valkerase to produce higher digestibility feather meal as a substitute for fish meal.