Japan's squid stocks hit a record low

As the catch of most squid fishing areas continued to decline, Japan's squid stocks at the end of May had fallen below 40000 tons, down 7% from the previous month, a record low.

Compared with the same period last year, Argentina and South Korea, as Japan's major squid exporters, significantly reduced their exports to Japan in the first half of this year.

The shortage of raw materials may seriously affect the squid processing and production in Japan. This season is supposed to be the peak season for squid fishing, but the squid catch in the North Pacific Ocean and Japan waters is worrying. About 10 years ago, the benchmark stock of squid was 100000 tons. In recent years, this standard has been reduced to 70000-80000 tons. Even when the inventory standard tends to decline, the inventory of less than 40000 tons in summer is still considered abnormal.

As of the end of May, the inventory of common squid categories including Argentine squid was 17226 tons, a decrease of more than 10000 tons compared with 27919 tons in 2015. Generally speaking, the stocks in June and July will continue to decrease, and the low fishing volume will make the situation of low stocks more obvious.

Due to the shortage of raw materials, squid processing enterprises are faced with stagnant production and stagnant income. Japanese squid processing enterprises jointly planned to ask the government to expand import quotas to make up for the shortage of squid fishing in their country. This request has been orally communicated to the fishery department and will be formally applied to the government in the form of official documents in the short term.

On the surface, the consumption rate seems to be very low this year, but relevant information shows that procurement contracts have actually been increasing. According to insiders, if the fishing situation overseas improves, insiders will consider handling sudden demand orders by themselves.