Fish Meal at $2,950 a Tonne: How Aquafeed Buyers Can Rework the Protein Budget

The IMF's global fish meal benchmark averaged $2,950.79 per tonne in September 2026, up 89% from a year earlier. Supply is the main cause: Peru's first 2026 anchovy season landed about a quarter of its quota. Aquafeed buyers can respond by repricing every protein by the point and qualifying a second source before 2027 contracts.

This note is for formulators, procurement teams and ingredient importers working in aquafeed in the US, EU, UK and Australia.

How far have fish meal prices moved?

The IMF series published through FRED is monthly and public, which makes it a handy reference point in a supplier discussion. It shows fish meal at $1,414 per tonne in March 2025 and $2,950.79 in September 2026, a little more than double. The climb has been steady: the series rose in every month from March to September 2026.

Why is fish meal supply so tight in 2026?

Peru usually accounts for around 20% of global fish meal production, so one poor season reaches every buyer. The quota for the first 2026 North-Central season was 1.91 million tonnes. Fishing was suspended on June 10 with about 25% of it landed, according to IFFO's August update, with El Niño weighing on catches. Chile also reported weaker catches in the first half of the year.

IFFO expects global fish meal supply to fall below 4.6 million tonnes in 2026, the lowest since 2016. Demand has held up over the same period. Chinese aquafeed output reached 11.1 million tonnes in the first six months of 2026, up 17.4% on the year.

Trimmings and other by-products already supply about a third of the market: IFFO's reading of FAO's SOFIA 2026 puts them at 34% of global fish meal production in 2024. That tonnage comes from processing plants, and it does not rise when an anchovy season fails.

How should buyers compare proteins at these prices?

A price per tonne says little until you divide it by protein content. Take the delivered price, divide by the crude protein percentage, and you have a cost per protein point that works across any ingredient on your list. The table assumes fish meal at 65% crude protein, a grade commonly quoted from Peru. The last column shows the price at which a 40% protein ingredient would match fish meal on crude protein alone.

Treat these as screening numbers. Digestibility, amino acid balance and inclusion limits all change what an ingredient is worth in a formula, and freight and moisture belong in the delivered price. The table tells you which ingredients have earned a tank trial this quarter.

Which fish meal alternatives can buyers get today?

Single-cell protein draws much of the attention, and its volume is still small. The Centre for Feed Innovation, cited by International Aquafeed, estimates output for aquafeed at 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes in 2025, less than 1% of fish meal, with 150,000 to 500,000 tonnes expected by 2030.

Dried brewer's yeast is an established ingredient with recognized trade names: brewers dried yeast in the US and yeasts [brewers' yeast], entry 12.1.5 of the EU Catalogue of feed materials. Our feed regulations guide sets out both definitions. Because it is a co-product of brewing, its supply does not depend on fishing seasons or quotas.

Protein is lower than fish meal, as the table allows for. A review in Reviews in Aquaculture puts yeast crude protein at about 40 to 55%, and TBESBY's published range is 40 to 46%.

Where does brewer's yeast fit in an aquafeed formula?

Use it for part of the protein and as a feed-intake aid, and set the level by species. We have published the trial data for shrimp, tilapia, catfish and pangasius and sea bass and barramundi, so start from the guide closest to your species.

Formulate on digestible amino acids at every replacement step. Methionine is the first limiting amino acid in most yeasts, the same review notes, so check it first and adjust as you would for any non-marine protein.

What should a procurement team do this quarter?

• Recalculate your protein cost per point for every approved ingredient, using delivered prices.
• Ask each candidate supplier for protein, moisture and a full amino acid profile on the product you would actually buy.
• Run a stepped tank trial against your current diet, with at least three replacement levels and everything else held equal.
• Check pellet durability and water stability on your own line before scaling up.
• Record feed cost per kilogram of gain along with growth, so the trial answers the commercial question.
• Finish qualification, including documents for your import market, before 2027 volumes are contracted.

Where does TBESBY fit?

TBESBY is whole-cell dried brewer's yeast, drum-dried at our own facilities in Vietnam from fresh brewer's yeast from leading international breweries in Vietnam, then milled, sieved and packed. The published specification is 40 to 46% crude protein, moisture below 10%, ash below 6%, fat 0.5% maximum, fiber 1.5% maximum and lysine 30.5 g/kg, with a 12-month shelf life, in 25 kg bags or 600 to 1,200 kg jumbo bags. TBESBY is U.S. FDA registered, ISO 22000:2018 certified and non-GMO.

See the full product specification, read more about brewer's yeast for aquafeed, or contact us for the spec sheet and a quote.

Sources

International Monetary Fund. Global price of Fish Meal (PFISHUSDM), Primary Commodity Prices, via FRED, updated October 22, 2026.

SalmonBusiness (August 20, 2026). IFFO: El Niño weighs on fishmeal and fish oil output as Peru catches fall.

International Aquafeed (November 4, 2026). Single-cell protein struggles to scale despite soaring fishmeal prices.

IFFO. State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026: analysis through a marine ingredients lens.

Agboola JO, Øverland M, Skrede A, Hansen JØ (2021). Yeast as major protein-rich ingredient in aquafeeds: a review of the implications for aquaculture production. Reviews in Aquaculture 13: 949-970.