Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feed and fish meal prices - heads-up

Anyone seen a recent price increase in fish food?

From UBS�s � Art Cashin

.... "Bob Hardy, had an intriguing observation yesterday on his blog
�THEGEOSTRAT.com�. For many years, Bob was a specialist on the NYSE floor. He tended to concentrate on foreign
companies which then gave him key contacts around the globe. Bob was often the �go to guy� on the floor when geopolitical
events popped up.
In his blog on Wednesday, he made the following observation:
The earthquake that recently devastated Chile destroyed all of its fishmeal plants driving prices for this
commodity to an all time high. Chile had been the world�s second largest exporter of fishmeal, which is used to
feed fish, pigs and poultry. China has been rapidly expanding aquaculture to respond to the rising protein
demand by its people. The FT reports that 40 percent of human fish consumption comes from aquaculture. Prices
for fishmeal are up 85 percent this year.
Herring, sardines, and anchovies are the primary ingredients in fishmeal. There is now concern that the current El
Ni�o weather pattern will reduce the catch in Peru, the world�s largest exporter of fishmeal. The rise in price has
supported the price for soybeans, the alternative animal feed. The U.S. is the largest producer of soybeans and
Brazil is the largest exporter of soy products. These two agricultural powerhouses will benefit from the large
increases in worldwide food prices we foresee. "

Eric, where does Aquamax source their fishmeal from? There has been a huge push by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and a large number of recreational fishing organizations in the Chesapeake Bay to shut done or severely limit the menhaden fishery in the Bay because of it's huge affect on the food chain there. They catch so much menhaden out of the Bay, the stripers and blues are hurting for food. If they shut that fishery down, that will be another huge source of fishmeal gone...

Our prices have not gone up yet. Placed my order today. If this is accurate we all may have to go to plant based CC food or pay a lot more.

My AM600 increased in price to $33/bag last month. I believe I was paying $25-28/bag last year.

Bought some GFC today - 50# bag for $18.50.

Why doesn't someone set up a fish food factory in the US using snakeheads, flying carp and bullheads?

I'm almost positive Aquamax is not made with any imported fish. Perhaps someone from Purina Mills can tell us?

Let's just hope none of the fish meal comes from the Gulf of Mexico! If so the price will go up!

They did say once that they didn't buy ingredients from China (bad dog and cat food and milk). I do think they get fish meal from South America. But it is really a global market. If SA can't deliver the usual amounts then the price of fish meal is going up no matter where it is made.

Just bought a bag of AM 600 today. $28 + Tax.

They make large runs from looking at dated bags January was one other is March. Once they have to make another production run and if they haven't purchased in advance or hedged thier cost in commidity market price will then jump IMHO!

Just bought a bag of AM 600 today. $28 + Tax.

That's the same price I pay. One thing we have going for us Scot is Purina Mills has a plant in Richmond, Indiana.

That's interesting as Richmond is just few miles a way. Anyone know if you have to be dealer for buying direct and pickup?

I find this topic intersting as I work in the fish industry, servicing dynamic scales for one of the leading fish meal suppliers in the States, Omega Protein.
This company has plants all the way from the northeast to La. I service the La. plants in Abbyville and sometimes Cameron.
I can say this, Katrina, Rita and Ike knocked the "you know what" off the the La. plants. Katrina totally wiped out two plants in La. and then Rita and Ike took it's toll.
The plants in La. fish for what is called a "Pogie" fish. I am not sure of the real name, but that's what it goes by. 8 to 10 boats go out on a Sunday night and fish for two to three days. 5 to 6 Cessna 172's direct the boats to the fish. Three days later these boats make shore with about 8 to 16 million fish each. As you can see, these boats are big, maybe 120 ft. or so. Would very much remind you of "Deadlest catch" type boats. The fish are then pumped off the boats into dewatering screens, pressed of their oils, ground up, then dried to a finished product.
When I go there, I do not eat prior to. To eat, would be to throw up, you can't keep it down (I learned one time on a Egg Mcmuffin). The smell is tremendous, the magets crawl the floors.
So, I can tell you this, last year production was bad, this year with the oil spill, probably worse. The season opens in April and closes, I think, in October. I believe a ton is being sold for $800, whereas several years ago it was $400. The $ numbers I could very well be off on.
I do bring home a 50 lb sack of pure fish meal each time I go, and do feed the fish with it. I figure it's got to be cocaine for the little guys.

Ken:

From what I'm hearing about that oil spill, it will decimate many industries down there for a long while.

I'm hearing months to shut it off? I'm curious as to why someone didn't throw a match into it to keep it contained...

I used to have warehouse that was leased to company that stored fish meal. They were 80 lbs bags. Later they moved to another building where is was stored in bulk straight on floor and up walls. Any kind of condensation or water on the pile would cause meal to heat and it supposeably didn't take much moisture to cause a fire. At the later place the rats were giants. This company supplied
mainly plant for pet food. They often would buy in large qualities and sit on it for months.

The fish oil is also interesting in it's history. Seems that fish oil is like liquid gold. Until recently, the FDA didn't allow the fish industry in the States to process the oil into food products. So, it headed to France, where it was processed and sent back to the States for additive ingredients to food.
Today, Omega has intalled some VERY expensive purifiers (99.9% pure) to be able to cut out the middle man (France). Seems that they have been able to pump up their profits and not completely rely on the meal as their only source of income.
My information of this history comes from the plant people who may or may be embelishing, so take what I say with some question.
When you walk into the warehouse of the finished product (meal), you have to walk through a series of liquids that prevent bacteria...etc from transfering into the warehouse. Seems they take this very seriously.
During Katrina, this warehouse had 15 ft of water in it. My equipment is 20 ft high and I had saltwater in all my electrical boxes.
Every year, prior to start up, the warehouse is hosed down and totally cleaned up.
When I get over there on my next trip, I am going to take some pictures, so all can see the process of what keeps their children fed. Dang, starting to call my fish "children", Oh boy, gotta make that appointment with the shrink.

Thanks Ken. Info is good to have.

Ken A,

Thanks for the great posts. Good reading!

quote from kenAbbott: "The plants in La. fish for what is called a "Pogie" fish. I am not sure of the real name, but that's what it goes by."

In the mid-Atlantic and in the Chesapeake Bay, these same basic fish are known as "menhaden."

quote from kenAbbott: When I go there, I do not eat prior to. To eat, would be to throw up, you can't keep it down (I learned one time on a Egg Mcmuffin). The smell is tremendous, the magets crawl the floors.

And the smell --- oooh, gaggg!

A number of years ago we owned an ocean-front home at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, near Wilmington, NC. One day, for some reason, one of the menhaden boats had to dump their load about a mile out from our beach. Millions of the dead menhaden made about a 2-ft wide pile at the high tide line along the beach for several miles. It was mid-August. By the end of the first day, the stench was bad. The second day it was really bad. The third day was almost unbearable. On the fourth day they brought in a couple of road graders to bury the stench.


Time to go cook some fish for dinner . . .

Catmandoo Ken

I got a call from the operations manager at the fish plant on a problem, which we solved pretty fast. I then asked him how's the fishing with the dang oil slick hampering things. He stated that all moss point boats and cameron boats have moved over to Abbyville and that the fishing is the best it has been in years.
So, the boats are obviously over here on the Texas coast and doing well. Go figure. He said, so far a great year.

I remember years ago the state of florida tried to make the oil companies put in "sonar valves". The valve would close when a boat drifted over sending sonar pings down to the valve. The companies refused on the basis that each valve would cost a half a million for each valve. I bet they wish they had done it now. Hell, i wish they had done it. Im not a tree hugger but they sure are making a mess that could have been avoided. Its gonna affect so many lives, human and otherwise. Damn shame.

$32.50 for AM 500 at Bowie Texas

So is there a shortage of fish food? My local ag store usually stocks Purina but they are having trouble getting it. I need some and they say two weeks to get it because the warehouse they order from is out. I'm going to run out. BTW, I think I paid $38 for a bag of AM500 last year. We'll see what it costs this year.