(IntraFish) Nordea Markets senior analyst Kolbjorn Giskeodegaard sees fishmeal prices rising due to soy bean prices having climbed 20 percent in recent weeks.
Giskeodegaard wrote in Nordea Markets’ weekly seafood report: “In just a few weeks soy prices have risen 20 percent. That should likely result in increased fishmeal prices in the time ahead. If gauged against soya then fishmeal is relatively cheap -- fishmeal prices are now 20 percent below the decade average.”
He also pointed out that stockpiles in China are much higher than they were a year ago, now that the entire fourth quarterly production from Peru has reached Chinese warehouses.
“We expect higher consumption of fishmeal for salmon feed as prices are now favorable compared with soy,” he wrote.
Fishmeal prices currently lie around $1,100 (€828.7) per metric ton. This is $500 (€376.7) to $600 (€452) below levels at the same time in 2010 and 2011. In both 2010 and 2011 prices for fishmeal sank after peaking in the second quarter, and more or less flattened out in the second half of the year, according to graphs prepared by Giskeodegaard.
In comparison, prices for soy bean meal are just under $420 (€316.4) per metric ton, which is on a par with prices at the same time last year, but above the level in 2010. Meanwhile prices so far this year have been significantly below the levels of the last two years.