Peru fishmeal giant sees '08 prices up
LIMA (Reuters) - The world's No. 1 fishmeal producer, Tecnologica de Alimentos (TASA), said on Thursday fishmeal prices should rise slightly this year on demand from China and the growth of biofuels.
Biofuel growth is pressuring prices for commodities like soy, which can be used to create energy and is a partial substitute for fishmeal, said Humberto Speziani, a senior officer at the Peruvian company TASA. Fishmeal is an important livestock feed.
Changes in demand "have started to lift (the price of) fishmeal to reasonable levels, between $900 and $1,000 per tonne," said Speziani, speaking at the Reuters Latin American Summit in Lima, Peru.
"China continues to demand (fishmeal) for its agriculture and pigs and has started to use it for chickens," he said.
Prices for Peruvian fishmeal on Thursday were around $1,060 per tonne, higher than where they ended 2007, at $990 a tonne.
In 2007, TASA's exports fell to $340 million, below an expected $400 million. Speziani blamed the result on the lower price of fishmeal and a strike that hit the main port of Lima last year.
But Speziani was optimistic about 2008, in part because of a rise in the demand for fish oil for direct human consumption. Fish oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acid, which is thought to help guard against diabetes and high blood pressure.
"Now, people are using fish oil to treat cardiovascular and cerebral problems," Speziani said. "You can no longer see the fishmeal industry as just for animals."
Peru is the world's largest producer of fishmeal, accounting for about 30 percent of global production.
(For the summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)
(Reporting by Ricardo Serra; Writing by Dana Ford; Editing by Carol Bishopric, Gary Hill)
