SOUTH AMERICAN FISH MEAL PRODUCTION AT RECORD HIGH

  Production of fish meal by the three
  South American producers -- Chile, Peru and Equador -- last
  year reached 2.5 mln tonnes, equalling the record output of
  1970, the International Association of Fish Meal Manufacturers
  (IAFMM) said.
      However, IAFMM said in a statement that it expected Chilean
  and Peruvian fish meal production in the first quarter of 1987
  to be much lower than the 651,000 tonnes produced in the last
  quarter of 1986, due to a ban on sardine fishing in Chile for
  the month of February and to adverse fishing conditions in Peru
  in the same month.
      The statement added that, due to technical market promotion
  and energetic sales by Chile and Peru, the stock position at
  the end of the year remained reasonable.
      Fish meal production outside South America decreased
  slightly, falling from 114,400 to 111,100 tonnes.
      The IAFMM said fish meal consumption in 1986 rose in West
  Germany, Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe and the Far
  East, but fell in the U.S. And remained static in the U.K.
      It added that fish meal consumption had suffered from
  competition with feed grade tallow in the U.S. And with skimmed
  milk powder in the U.K.
      IAFMM figures for fish oil production in the main producing
  nations, in thousands of tonnes, were -
                      Oct/Dec            Jan/Dec
                   1986    1985       1986     1985
   CHILE             22       8        109       76
   PERU              56      28        238      104
   NORWAY            14      14         97      130
   ICELAND           44      52        102      118
   DENMARK           20      18         88       77
   U.S.              10       8        152      129
   JAPAN             67      91        213      249
  

