SOUTH AMERICAN FISH MEAL PRODUCTION AT RECORD HIGH Production of fish meal by the three South American producers -- Chile, Peru and Equador -- last year reached 2.5 mln tonnes, equalling the record output of 1970, the International Association of Fish Meal Manufacturers (IAFMM) said. However, IAFMM said in a statement that it expected Chilean and Peruvian fish meal production in the first quarter of 1987 to be much lower than the 651,000 tonnes produced in the last quarter of 1986, due to a ban on sardine fishing in Chile for the month of February and to adverse fishing conditions in Peru in the same month. The statement added that, due to technical market promotion and energetic sales by Chile and Peru, the stock position at the end of the year remained reasonable. Fish meal production outside South America decreased slightly, falling from 114,400 to 111,100 tonnes. The IAFMM said fish meal consumption in 1986 rose in West Germany, Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe and the Far East, but fell in the U.S. And remained static in the U.K. It added that fish meal consumption had suffered from competition with feed grade tallow in the U.S. And with skimmed milk powder in the U.K. IAFMM figures for fish oil production in the main producing nations, in thousands of tonnes, were - Oct/Dec Jan/Dec 1986 1985 1986 1985 CHILE 22 8 109 76 PERU 56 28 238 104 NORWAY 14 14 97 130 ICELAND 44 52 102 118 DENMARK 20 18 88 77 U.S. 10 8 152 129 JAPAN 67 91 213 249