In a normal year global supply of fishmeal is in the region of 5 million tonnes, with an additional 1 million tonnes of fish oil. Annual variation occurs due to the fluctuations of supply around the main fisheries which provide the raw material for the fishmeal production process, the most important of which is that of the Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens).

Environmental fluctuations can have an impact on stock levels, where changes in current speed, direction and water temperature may affect primary production and the timing and matching of larval fish with prey items, consequently affecting recruitment into the fishery. It has been widely accepted for years that El Niňo events have an impact on the productivity of the South Pacific Ocean, and these can markedly affect the biomass of the Peruvian anchovy, a stock which contributes somewhere between 15–20% of raw material supply for fishmeal and fish oil manufacture.

The world’s global supply of fishmeal is not produced solely from fisheries though, and there is another segment that contributes a smaller but important volume. A significant, and increasing proportion of annual supply now comes from the processing of seafood byproduct, where frames, heads, viscera and other trimmings are used to produce marine ingredients.

With the growth in aquaculture having the potential to supply even more byproduct material, this could actually increase through to 2030, to a volume of 45 million tonnes available raw material from the current total of 35 million tonnes potential (in fact, something like 20–22 million tonnes is processed into fishmeal and fish oil every year).