Peru's fish meal production in May rose 4.8% year on year

Lead: Lima (Reuters) - Peru's fish meal production rose 4.8% in May from a year earlier to 361700 tons in May, compared with 345000 tons in May, the Ministry of Fisheries reported on Monday Peru's Ministry of Fisheries said in a statement that the total fishery production, including canned fish, frozen fish and fish oil, reached 414400 tons Peru is the world's largest producer of fish meal, which is mainly extracted from mackerel and used as cattle feed Peru's fish meal production in May exceeded April's 254400 tons after the government of President Toledo announced the lifting of the fishing moratorium The government usually closed the fishery when the size of the sea fish is small and the quantity is rare Although the overall level is still low, fish meal production has started to pick up since the closure of mackerel on May 6 The Ministry of Fisheries said that may's fishery exports will bring 129.5 million US dollars in foreign exchange income to the poor Andean country, with a total value of 135 million US dollars in May last year Fishery is the second largest source of foreign exchange income in Peru after mining, and it is also the life-saving straw for Peru to get rid of three-year recession and resume economic growth However, in 2001, the industry suffered from adverse weather conditions, shrinking by 13% In the first five months of this year, Peru's fish meal production totaled 845200 tons, down 22% from 1.08 million tons in the same period last year Peru's Ministry of Fisheries said that in May, 1.7 million tons of fish were caught, of which 1.6 million were mackerel China is still the largest importer of Peruvian fish meal.