Byproducts From Tuna 



The production of oil and meal from tuna is distinctly a matter of 

 disposing of byproducts incidental to the processing of the chief product 

 of an industry. The variations in the market for byproducts are unlikely 

 to appreciably affect the sales volume of the tuna industry as a whole or 

 to be a principal factor in practices of the industry, because of the fact 

 that the value of the byproducts pro diced by this industry is anall ccan- 

 pared to the value df canned products producedo 



As to the fliture of markets for these products, it may be said briefly 

 that the market for fish meal is e^qsected to continue strong in 1953 and 

 for several years thereafter. Fish meal has a peculiar adaptability to 

 certain phases of the production of poultry and hatching eggs and to the 

 production of swine. At present a small percentage of fish meal in feeds 

 used in these industries is almost indispensable ^ The probability of the 

 development of a substitute for the presently unknown nutrition factor in 

 fish meal cannot be assessed accurately. This possibility, moreover, 

 poses the chief reservation as to the future price scale and absorptive 

 capacity of markets. It will probably be a matter of twD years at a mini- 

 mum before the factor can be identified and there exists the possibility 

 that this will never be accomplished. Sol\d.ng the problems of locating or 

 synthesizing a substitute and its development conmercially would consume 

 additional time. Moreover, if the factor is isolated, it m^y nevertheless 

 prove most efficient to obtain it by feeding fish meal. 



The importation of fish meal, vdiich in 1952 was at about the same 

 level as cur domestic productionp may also affect the market for fish meal. 

 At the moment, however, it is not thought that this volume will increase 

 rapidly enough to seriously affect the market for domestic fish meal. This 

 is not to say that the increases have not been phenomenal, from less than 

 10,000 tons in 1947 to nearly 130,000 in 1951, and over 200,000 tons in 

 1952.5a A continuation of this rate of increase seems unlikely, and prices 

 have so far not reacted unfavorably to supplies of this volume. 



On the demand side, it should be mentioned that there has recently 

 been a decline in the numbers of poultry and in the numbers of swine. 

 However, the year-to-year fluctuations in the numbers of the types of 

 animals that are oridinarily fed fish meal in their rations are not expected 

 to be wide enou^ to make for marked changes in demand. A factor which 

 should be mentioned is the increasing reliance on poultry meat derived from 

 specialized feeding operaticns rather than from enterprises devoted primarily 



5/ Imports of some fish solubles may be incLudsd in these figures, 



104 



