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Origins · O2

Chile

The producer that is also its own best customer.

Chile's industrial fisheries — jack mackerel and sardine among them — feed a domestic fishmeal industry on the same Pacific coast as Peru's. But the defining fact is downstream: Chile is the world's second-largest farmed-salmon producer after Norway, supplying roughly a quarter of world salmon.[1] Salmon feed carries fishmeal; salmon farming grows; the two lines pull against each other.

Anchor figure — Chile supplies around 25% of world farmed salmon, the demand engine that shapes its fishmeal balance.[1]
Supply and demand in one country

That double role makes Chile a swing state in the trade: in good catch years it exports meal alongside Peru; in thin years, domestic feed demand absorbs the difference and Chile can turn net importer. Its quality profile mirrors the raw material — mixed species, mixed seasons — and its grades price accordingly between Peruvian anchoveta meal and by-product meals further north.

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Sources
  1. USDA FAS GAIN report (Salmon Overview) — apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileNam (accessed 2026-10-24)
  2. FAIRR insight, 2026 — www.fairr.org/news-events/insights/deregulating-chilean-salmon-farming-w (accessed 2026-10-24)