Fishmeal & shrimp: Overview
How ocean protein feeds both fish farms and pig barns
What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.Key uses
| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct human consumption (fresh, chilled, frozen, canned, cured fish and shellfish) | 89% | about 165 Mt a yearbasis | Fish and shellfish supply high-quality protein, omega-3 fats and micronutrients, and in many coastal and riverine countries they are the cheapest animal protein. Freezing and container shipping let farmed shrimp and salmon reach distant markets. FAO, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 | Poultry Pork Pulses and dairy (protein) Algal omega-3 supplements |
| Farmed shrimp and prawns for export (a high-value subset of food use) | n/a | India alone exported 0.74 Mt of frozen shrimp in FY2025basis | Shrimp is the most valuable traded seafood. Tropical pond farming of whiteleg (vannamei) shrimp in Ecuador, India and Indonesia supplies supermarkets and restaurants in the US, China, Japan and the EU at prices wild catch cannot match. MPEDA FY2025 export note; UN Comtrade 2024 | Wild-caught shrimp Other shellfish and whitefish Plant-based shrimp analogues |
| Farmed salmon (fresh and chilled, smoked, fillets) | n/a | Mowi alone harvested 559,000 t in 2025basis | Atlantic salmon farmed in cold, sheltered waters of Norway, Chile, Scotland and the Faroes gives a uniform, year-round fatty fish that air freight and trucks deliver fresh to Europe, the US and Asia. Salmon Business, Feb 2026 (Mowi 2025 results); UN Comtrade 2024 | Trout Wild Pacific salmon Other whitefish |
| Fishmeal and fish oil for aquaculture and livestock feed | 11% | about 20 Mt of whole fish and trimmingsbasis | Fishmeal has an ideal amino acid profile and high digestibility, so it is used in starter feeds for shrimp, salmon and piglets. China takes over half of world imports by value for its fish and shrimp farms. FAO SOFIA 2024; USDA PSD; UN Comtrade HS 230120, 2024 | Soybean meal Insect meal Poultry by-product meal Algal oil (for omega-3) |
From field to user
- Catch or farm In 2022 capture fisheries landed 91.0 Mt and aquaculture produced 94.4 Mt of aquatic animals, the first year farming overtook catch (FAO SOFIA 2024).
- Hatchery and feed (farmed species) Shrimp and salmon farms buy juveniles from hatcheries and pelleted feed containing fishmeal, soybean meal and grains.
- Harvest and landing Farmed fish are harvested to order; wild fish are landed at ports and auctioned.
- Processing and freezing Plants grade, peel, devein, fillet and freeze products; export plants need importer approvals such as EU listing and US FDA registration.
- Cold-chain export Frozen products travel in reefer containers; India's seafood exports were 1.70 Mt worth $7.45 billion in FY2025, mainly through Visakhapatnam and JNPT (MPEDA).
- Import, distribution and retail Importers sell to supermarkets, restaurants and secondary processors; the US took 36% of India's seafood export value in FY2025 by calculation from MPEDA figures.
Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
Fish meal (World Bank monthly) 2,916 $/mt Month 2026-09 1 week no daily price 6 months +58.7%Three things to know
- The World Bank fishmeal price reached $2,916 per tonne in September 2026, its highest since 2000.
- In 1975 Peruvian newspapers attacked a US attaché for forecasting a six-million-ton anchovy catch (Morgan, pdf p. 306).
- Salmon fishing contributed nearly $310 million to Alaska's economy in 2019 (Scheyder, pdf p. 172).
Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days
- Latest IFFO report shows August uptick in fishmeal, but near-decade lows for year overallSeafoodSource · 2026-10-07
- Outlaw Ocean Project releases sweeping new reporting on problems in global fishmeal productionSeafoodSource · 2026-10-09
- European fishmeal stakeholders working on new certification program after Northeast Atlantic FIPs dissolveSeafoodSource · 2026-10-15
- Norwegian salmon prices tick back up in Week 42, while volumes drop slightlySeafoodSource · 2026-10-22
- Minh Phu shrimp exports rise 17 percent over first nine months of 2026SeafoodSource · 2026-10-15