Tuna Market Report - Europe
- January 2009
Tuna prices slowly recovering
The price of tuna reached new lows in December. Buyers disappeared as they
waited for signs that the market has stabilized. Other buyers reneged on
confirmed purchase contracts sighting inability to open letters of credit or
simply lack of funds. Cargoes diverted from confirmed sales artificially
increased the available supply in an already oversupplied market. The price
of yellowfin round thus reached EUR 1 300/tonne in Spain and
skipjack seemed to bottom at EUR 850/tonnes in that important market. Loin
prices were also lower. By the beginning of January the price of skipjack in
the benchmark Bangkok
market had bottomed out at below USD 800/tonnes and then rebounded to USD
900/tonnes. The price of skipjack in Ecuador declined reaching USD 1
100/tonne at the end of December 2008.
Meanwhile the catch of tuna in all major oceans continued below average. Tuna
purse seiner owners are discussing a possible 30
day stop of fishing sometime during the first quarter of 2009 in order to reduce
supply and to help the market to recover. This would be in addition to the
restrictions on fishing being imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Tuna
Commission commencing July 2009.
New IUU regulations for EU
On 29 September the EU Council of Ministers passed the new regulation to
control illegal, unregulated and unrecorded fishing, and to prevent IUU
products from being sold on the EU market. From 1 January 2010, imports of
fishery products from outside the EC (except freshwater and aquaculture
products, and some bivalves) should be accompanied by a catch document which
certifies that the consignment was caught in compliance with the laws of the
flag state of the catching vessel.
Flag states will be obliged to make arrangements for verification of catch
certificates, and ensure that consignments are traceable to the vessel of
origin through transhipment and processing. The impact of this measure on
tuna trade will be significant, and still a lot of administrative problems
have to be sorted out before the beginning of 2010.
Tuna is considered a staple food in EU countries, and an item to buy in
moments of financial turmoil. Prices of canned tuna have gone up strongly in
recent months, but consumer interest seems not to have influenced by these price
hikes. As consumers look more carefully at their food bill in general, more
supermarkets’ labels will be bought
at the expense of traditional trade brands.
Canned tuna imports into the EU were more or less stable in 2008, with some
ups and downs experienced by single countries. Thailand experienced a
significant decline in the export of its canned tuna products to the EU. Imports
of Thai canned tuna declined by 42% on the German market, 22% on the UK market and
12% on the French market. This decline was caused by high prices of the Thai
product compared to countries which are able to sell under zero tariffs to
the EU market. In fact, countries such as Ecuador,
Ghana, and Seychelles performed
positively during the 2008 period. In addition to the duty advantage, these
countries had access to lower priced raw material than Thailand in
the course of 2008.
UK
is by far the main canned tuna importing country in the EU, with over 130 000
tonnes imported every year. In 2008, imports continued to grow and reached
103 000 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, some 5% ahead of the
corresponding 2007 figure. While Mauritius
was able to maintain its top position, Ghana
and the Philippines
showed impressive growth in the period under review. Total imports in 2008 are likely to exceed 135 000
tonnes.
French canned tuna imports continued to decline. In the first nine months of
2008, some 10% less canned tuna was imported than in the same period of 2007.
While Côte d'Ivoire
managed to keep its canned tuna exports stable, helped by relatively low raw
material prices, other main exporters reported substantial cuts in their
shipments.
Outlook bleak
Landings have been less than average in all major fishing areas. Therefore
the rapid decline in the market price has been attributed to lack of
confidence on the part of the buyers. At the moment, there seems to prevail the idea of higher prices in view of extremely low
landings. However, the present financial crisis does not leave much margins for upward price adjustments.
Canned tuna prices which had soared during the first half of 2008, moved
downwards in the second half of 2008. However, they are still quite high on
the ten years average as the price graph shows.
Report prepared by Helga Josupeit (GLOBEFISH)
© FAO GLOBEFISH
2009
