Ocean-Going Squid Market in Week 12 of 2026: Peruvian Squid Leads the Uptick, Specification Differentiation Emerges as a Core Trait

In Week 12 of 2026 (March 13 - March 19), the ocean-going squid market witnessed a divergent performance, with price trends in core producing areas showing a distinct differentiation pattern. The latest data from Zhejiang Agricultural Center indicates that the Southeast Pacific production area saw an oscillating price rise driven by the strong performance of Peruvian squid, while quotations in the Southwest Atlantic, Northwest Pacific and Indian Ocean production areas remained stable. The market as a whole presented a pattern of "one rising and three stable", and the intensified specification differentiation within each production area became the core feature of the squid market this week.

Southeast Pacific: Peruvian Squid Drives the Uptick, Stark Contrast in Prices of Large and Small Specifications

As the absolute focus of the ocean-going squid market this week, the Southeast Pacific production area posted a standout price performance, along with the most prominent internal structural differentiation. The online trading volume of squid in this production area reached 844 tons this week; despite the support from transactions, the actual shipment pace was slow, and prices exhibited a distinct "bipolar differentiation" trait: quotations for large-specification whole squid and the three key parts (mantle, tail fin, head) kept rising, while prices for small-specification whole squid edged down slightly.

Behind this trend lie the supply and demand changes and cost support in the Peruvian squid fishing sector. Data released by the Ministry of Production of Peru on March 17 showed that in the giant squid fishing season from January to April 2026, the cumulative catch had reached 156,497.2 tons, accounting for 87.34% of the seasonal fishing quota of 179,188 tons, with only 22,690.8 tons of the quota remaining. The recent slowdown in local fishing operations, coupled with rising production costs, has directly driven a continuous increase in the local transaction price of Peruvian squid, becoming the core driver for the price hike of large-specification products.

Fishing operations on the high seas maintained a high output level, with the average daily output per vessel standing at 5-8 tons last week. Since December 2025, the cumulative catch per vessel has been consistently in the range of 350-400 tons, providing a basic supply for the market. The price decline of small-specification products is mainly due to inventory pressure, a trend also evident at the Weihai International Marine Commodity Trading Center, where prices of small-specification squid fell while those of medium and large specifications rose in tandem, echoing the trend in the producing areas.

Southwest Atlantic: Doubled Total Output Meets a Short-Term Decline, Mixed Price Movements Across Specifications

The squid market in the offshore Southwest Atlantic remained stable overall this week, with quotations for all specifications basically the same as the previous week and market transactions lackluster. Despite the outstanding annual output performance, a short-term drop in catches has become a key constraint on the market.

Official data from Argentina showed that as of March 3, the country's cumulative squid unload volume had reached 123,679 tons, doubling the figure from the same period last year and providing a sufficient raw material base for the seasonal market. However, catches in some sea areas have declined recently, and the industry has applied for an assessment on whether to open the sea areas north of 44 degrees south latitude to boost output. Nevertheless, scientific research institutions have put forward opposing suggestions, as squid resources in this area are still dominated by juveniles, and opening it for fishing may affect the subsequent resource reserves.

For high-sea operations, the average daily output per vessel was 3-6 tons this week, with the cumulative output per vessel in the current fishing season standing at about 100-150 tons, a mediocre performance. The Southwest Atlantic squid market in Weihai saw partial specification differentiation: prices of the 150/200g small specification rose sharply, those of the 200/300g and 300/400g medium specifications edged up slightly, while prices of the 400/600g large specification declined, forming a reverse contrast with the specification differentiation trend in the Southeast Pacific.

Northwest Pacific & Indian Ocean: Stable Quotations with No Fluctuations, Sluggish Transaction Pace

The squid markets in the Northwest Pacific and Indian Ocean production areas had a lackluster performance this week, with quotations from Zhejiang Agricultural Center remaining at the previous week's level without obvious fluctuations and the overall market transaction pace being sluggish, making them the "stable sectors" of the ocean-going squid market. There were no obvious positive or negative supply and demand factors in the two production areas, both buyers and sellers held a strong wait-and-see attitude, and market transactions mainly focused on digesting existing inventories, with no driving force for price changes in the short term.

Overall Market: Rising Import Volume + Weakened Supply Constraints, Specification Differentiation to Become a Long-Term Trend

From the perspective of the national market, the ocean-going squid market presented two prominent features this week. First, the import volume rose sharply: the import volume of self-caught ocean-going squid at the Zhoushan port increased significantly from March 13 to March 19, as the concentrated release of restocking demand from processing enterprises and traders after the holiday became an important driver of market transactions. Second, supply constraints were weaker than expected: the global quota system for ocean-going squid has not been officially implemented yet, and the quota set by international fishery organizations for Chinese squid fishing vessels is higher than the actual operational quantity, resulting in no substantive tightening on the market supply side, which laid a foundation for price stability.

Overall, the price differentiation in the ocean-going squid market this week is essentially the multi-faceted game of costs, supply, inventory and demand: supported by rising fishing costs and the impending exhaustion of quotas in core producing areas, prices of medium and large-specification products remained high or even rose; in contrast, prices of small-specification products came under pressure and declined due to high inventory and relatively weak terminal demand. This trend of specification differentiation has also become the core operating logic of the current ocean-going squid market.

For market players, attention should be paid to the consumption pace of Peru's remaining fishing quotas, the assessment result of the opening of Southwest Atlantic sea areas, and the recovery of orders from terminal processing enterprises in the follow-up. Meanwhile, they need to adjust their inventory and procurement strategies in accordance with the specification differentiation trend to cope with the periodic fluctuations in the market.