Peru's squid quota is 98.8% filled as China's imports jump 54%
Peru has effectively used up its giant squid allowance for 2026. Landings of Dosidicus gigas reached 700,966.69 tonnes by 29 October, or 98.78% of the full-year quota, according to figures from the Peruvian inspection and sanction authority cited in the Zhejiang distant-water squid weekly published on 2 November. Unloadings inside the Peruvian EEZ have thinned sharply, and cold-store holdings have fallen with them.
The effect travels. Dosidicus is the raw material behind much of the giant squid tube, wing and tentacle that moves through China into Europe and Southeast Asia. When the Peruvian season tightens, Chinese platform prices move first and offers to importers follow a quarter later.
The Numbers
Cumulative Dosidicus landings reached 700,966.69 tonnes as of 29 October, equal to 98.78% of the 2026 quota.
The Zhoushan-based Zhejiang agricultural trade platform booked 856 tonnes of southeast Pacific squid in week 44 (26 to 30 October). Volumes concentrated in extra-small and small whole tubes, which points to processors buying for existing orders rather than building stock.
High-seas vessels averaged 3 to 6 tonnes a day last week. Since December 2025 the average vessel has landed roughly 950 to 1,000 tonnes.
China imported 592,900 tonnes of cuttlefish and squid worth USD 1.778 billion in January to September, up 53.69% in volume and 33.79% in value year on year, per China Customs data in the same report. Exports moved the other way: USD 1.632 billion, down 22.64%, on 318,300 tonnes, down 15.62%.
The southwest Atlantic Illex season has closed.
Peru has not reopened the fishery for commercial volume. Ministerial Resolution 00382-2026-PRODUCE authorises a second exploratory trip from 1 to 30 November to collect biological and distribution data under El Nino conditions expected to run into 2027. Exploratory permits generate science, not tonnage.
On the other side of the Atlantic, an Argentine lower house committee approved on 27 October the majority opinion on a sovereignty protection bill that would extend sanctions to anyone exploiting resources around the Falkland Islands without Argentine authorisation. The draft sets fines scaled between 4,000 and 500,000 barrels of WTI crude, adds licence suspension or cancellation and operating bans of 5 to 20 years, and reaches service providers as well as vessel owners. It still needs both chambers and was not in force as of 29 October. Marine insurer NorthStandard has tracked an earlier draft carrying penalties of up to 3 million barrels of oil equivalent.
What It Means for Buyers
Near-term supply is already spoken for. A fishery sitting at 98.78% of quota, with daily landings falling and cold stores thin, does not produce a loose first quarter. Sellers of Peruvian tube and wing have little reason to chase volume, and quote validity periods are likely to shorten before prices move.
Second, China is the marginal buyer and it is buying more while selling less. Imports up 53.69% in volume against exports down 15.62% means Chinese processors are taking in raw material for later re-export rather than clearing inventory now. That supports origin prices, and it means the re-export offers reaching European and North American buyers in the first quarter will carry a higher cost base than the ones on the table in October.
Third, Argentina is a compliance question this quarter, not a volume one. If the bill passes in its current shape, Illex and loligo caught under Falkland-issued licences becomes a documentation problem for owners, traders and the freight and agency firms serving them. Buyers holding southwest Atlantic coverage should ask suppliers now which licences sit behind their lots.
This is not a signal to buy forward blindly. Quota exhaustion has been priced since September, and the November exploratory season could still surprise. But the risk has shifted to the sell side.
What to Watch
Whether PRODUCE converts the November exploratory season into a commercial allocation, and at what tonnage.
China's October import volumes, due mid-November, as the first test of whether the buying pace holds.
Argentine chamber and senate scheduling on the sovereignty bill, plus any insurer or P&I circulars that follow.
Peruvian auction quotes in the first half of December, the cleanest early read on first-quarter pricing.
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This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and is published for general information only. It does not constitute trading, pricing, or investment advice, and readers should verify all figures against the original sources linked above before making commercial decisions. Content on this page is partly AI-generated. Easy Seafood makes no warranty as to its accuracy or completeness.
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