EU importers abandon higher priced Asian canned tuna products in favor of zero-duty ACP imports The latest Globefish report on canned tuna shows that prices have increased last year, as the supply of raw material has been lower than current demand. It underlines that the rising canned tuna price has pushed EU importers to look for cheaper alternatives, including zero duty products from ACP countries: there have been major increases of canned tuna imports from ACP countries such as Côte d’Ivoire (+31%) and Papua New Guinea (PNG) (+38.5%), while imports from Asia dropped sharply, particularly from Thailand (−44.3%) and the Philippines (−7.8%). Paying particular attention to the main EU canned tuna markets, Globefish highlights that both the Seychelles and Côte d’Ivoire increased their shipments to France by almost 50%, with Côte d’Ivoire overtaking Spain as the main supplier, while supply from Thailand on the French market was reduced by half. The Italian market also saw a rise in imports from Côte d’Ivoire (+35%) and the Seychelles (+14.5%). Germany bought more products from PNG (+40.2%). This, however, did not compensate for the drop in canned tuna imports from Ecuador (−39%), Indonesia (−27.3%) and the Philippines (−9.7%). There was also a decline of canned tuna imports in the UK, largely as a result of reduced supply from Thailand (−46.6%), although it increased its supplies from Mauritius (+2.6%) and Ghana (+2.0%). However, Globefish warns that supplies from Africa “could be disrupted as the EU authorities have recently tightened up on shipments from West African countries that are suspected of engaging in IUU fishing. These measures could cause delays and rejections, driving buyers to seek other sources, unless a speedy solution is found.”
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 02:36:59 +0000