Peru''s fishing exports grew 26% in 2008 to some 2.44 billion dollars, the Peruvian deputy minister of fishing, Alfonso Miranda, has said.
This has contributed to a seven year boom in the economy which has seen the South American nation become a stellar performer in the emerging markets sector.
“We have not completed yet the last figures of December, but we can see an important growth of fishing exports of 26% totalling more than 2.4 billion dollars, even though at the beginning we only estimated 2.2 billion dollars”, he told the Andina news agency.
Fish oil was the most in demand product largely because of its high Omega 3 content, he added.
“The Peruvian fish oil stands out because the anchovy has a high concentration of fatty acids as the Omega 3, and this has made to increase its value”, he said.
Frozen and fresh grew 3%, exports of canned fish products increased 26% and fishmeal by 20%.
In another sign of the industry's health, investments in the Peruvian fishing sector looks set to total 100 million dollars in 2009, largely focused on new plants of canned or frozen fish, the Ministry of Production has said.
"We forecast that investments in this activity would reach a similar number to last year's since there's a strong interest in this sector, despite the global financial crisis”, Mr Miranda told Andina.
Fishing investments will also be boosted by the implementation of the Law N° 1084, which establishes the Maximum Fish Catch Levels per Ship (LMCE, in Spanish), aimed to safeguard the anchovy biomass and organise the sector.
"The implementation of the LMCE will mean that a great part of the resources invested in ships and fish flour plants is earmarked to direct human consumption. Here we will find a great source of maintaining investments despite the difficult current situation", Mr Miranda said.
Miranda stated this law creates the conditions for Peru to take better advantages of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States and with Asian countries, mainly China.
