Fishmeal & shrimp: Extraction
How El Niño scatters the anchovy that feeds fish farms
What this tab covers How it is mined, drilled or grown, and processed into a tradeable form: the main methods compared, their unit economics, by-products, and the companies that do this work globally and in India.Fishmeal is made by cooking, pressing and drying small oily fish, above all Peruvian anchovy, plus trimmings from fish processing. Fish oil is the by-product. The anchovy fishery swings hard because El Niño warms Peru's coastal waters and scatters the shoals. Morgan notes Peruvian plants once rigged equipment to report inflated fishmeal yields (pdf p. 306). Much fishmeal returns to the water as feed for farmed shrimp and salmon. Shrimp are farmed in coastal ponds in Ecuador, India and Southeast Asia; salmon in sea pens in Norway and Chile.
Seafood comes from wild capture and from farming. Capture ranges from small boats to industrial trawlers and purse seiners, including the Peruvian anchoveta fishery that feeds most of the world's fishmeal plants. Aquaculture now supplies just over half of aquatic animals. It includes pond farming of shrimp and freshwater fish in Asia and Latin America and sea-cage salmon farming in cold waters. Processing turns catch and harvest into frozen, chilled, canned or reduced products. Feed, disease and climate events such as El Niño drive costs and supply.
Methods compared
| Method | Share of supply | Typical scale | Recovery / efficiency | By-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild capture fisheries (industrial and artisanal) | 49% of aquatic animal production in 2022 (91.0 of 185.4 Mt, FAO SOFIA 2024) | Peru's anchoveta fishery supplied 1.03 Mt of fishmeal in 2025 (USDA PSD) | fishmeal yield below 23% of raw fish: Peruvian plants claiming 23% in 1974, above Norway's yields, were found to have tampered with gauges (Morgan) | fish oil, trimmings for fishmeal | n/a |
| Pond shrimp aquaculture (vannamei and black tiger) | Ecuador 38.3% and India 26.5% of world frozen shrimp export value in 2024 (UN Comtrade) | India exported 741,529 t of frozen shrimp worth $5.18 billion in FY2025, 69.5% of seafood export earnings (MPEDA) | n/a | shells and heads for chitin and meal | n/a |
| Sea-cage salmon farming (Norway, Chile, Scotland) | Norway 48.4% of world fresh salmon export value in 2024 (UN Comtrade) | Mowi harvested 559,000 t in 2025 and guides 605,000 t for 2026 | n/a | trimmings and heads for fish oil and meal | indicative (basis: Mowi 2025 operational EBIT of €727 million over 559,000 t harvested): about €1.30/kg margin |
| Inland freshwater aquaculture (carps, tilapia, pangasius) | aquaculture as a whole 51% of aquatic animal production in 2022 (FAO SOFIA 2024) | India's total fish output, capture and farmed, was 175.45 lakh t (17.5 Mt) in FY2023 (Ministry of Fisheries) | n/a | none significant | n/a |
How each method works
Wild capture fisheries (industrial and artisanal)Trawlers, purse seiners, longliners and small boats catch fish and shellfish under national quotas or open access. Catch has been roughly flat for decades.
No feed cost, but catches are capped by stock health and swing with El Niño.
FAO SOFIA 2024; USDA PSD; Morgan (1979) Pond shrimp aquaculture (vannamei and black tiger)Farmers stock post-larvae from hatcheries into ponds, feed pellets and harvest after a few months; processors peel, grade and freeze for export. Andhra Pradesh is India's centre, with Visakhapatnam a top export port.
High value and fast cycles, but vulnerable to disease outbreaks and to US tariffs and anti-dumping duties.
MPEDA FY2025; UN Comtrade 2024; FAO GLOBEFISH Sea-cage salmon farming (Norway, Chile, Scotland)Smolts raised in freshwater hatcheries are moved to sea cages and fed pellets for more than a year before harvest and processing.
Efficient and premium-priced, but licences are scarce and sea lice, disease and resource taxes are recurring problems.
Salmon Business, Feb 2026 (Mowi 2025 results); UN Comtrade 2024 Inland freshwater aquaculture (carps, tilapia, pangasius)Ponds, tanks and reservoirs produce carp and other freshwater fish, mainly for domestic markets in China, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Cheap protein close to consumers, but low value per kilo and water and feed constraints.
FAO SOFIA 2024; India Department of Fisheries, Handbook on Fisheries Statistics 2023 Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs vary widely by deposit, region and year.Who does it: global
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mowi | Norway | salmon farming, feed and consumer products | 559,000 t salmon harvested (revenue €5.73 billion) | 2025 | Salmon Business, Feb 2026 (Mowi Q4 and 2025 results) |
| Thai Union Group volume not published in a source found | Thailand | tuna canning, shrimp and pet food | not published | n/a | |
| Maruha Nichiro volume not published in a source found | Japan | fishing, aquaculture, processing and trading | not published | n/a | |
| Nissui volume not published in a source found | Japan | fishing, aquaculture and processed seafood | not published | n/a | |
| Charoen Pokphand Foods volume not published in a source found | Thailand | shrimp feed, farming and processing | not published | n/a |
Who does it: India
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Authority) | India | export promotion agency; registers exporters and publishes export data | 1.698 Mt seafood exports (US$7.45 billion), of which frozen shrimp 0.742 Mt | FY2025 | MPEDA press note on 2024-25 exports |
| Avanti Feeds feed and processing volumes not published in a source found | India | shrimp feed maker and shrimp processor-exporter (Andhra Pradesh) | not published | n/a | |
| Apex Frozen Foods volume not published in a source found | India | shrimp farming, processing and export | not published | n/a |
India is the second-largest exporter of frozen shrimp (26.5% of world value in 2024, UN Comtrade). Its seafood exports reached 1.70 Mt and $7.45 billion in FY2025, with shrimp 69.5% of earnings; the US (346,868 t), China (396,424 t by volume), the EU and Japan are the main buyers (MPEDA). India also exports fishmeal (5.0% of world export value in 2024).