Off to a Good Start

World skipjack market prices continued to increase in January. Catches were poor in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. This took place during the time of year when many canners start to think about seasonal increases in consumption. Furthermore, many vessels in the US fleet continued to spend time in port making repairs and waiting to unload. The net result of these factors was a US$ 150 increase in Bangkok skipjack prices as they moved from about US$700 per metric ton in early January to as high as USS850 per metric ton by the end of the month. Sellers are now reported to be asking for prices as high US$900 per metric ton. The following chart shows the recent price trend.

The United Tuna Cooperative (UTC) made significant progress by selling 5 purse seiner loads of fish to canneries in the Philippines and Fiji. This eliminated the backlog of vessels waiting to unload at the StarKist cannery in Samoa. It appears that Starkist's inability to reach an agreement with the 5 vessels and the loss of that fish caused them to redeploy a carrier from Ecuador back to their cannery in Samoa in order to keep the plant operating. Vessels delivering to Chicken of the Sea® in Samoa continued to wait to unload.

The poor catch of skipjack by EU related seiners is also causing a tightening in their supply of this specie. It is interesting to note that this is happening while there is still somewhat of an oversupply of yellowfin in these markets. Expected increases in seasonal demand for yellowfin should start working down the excess yellowfin inventories.

Demand for imported canned skipjack into the US may remain somewhat weak for sometime because of the strong surge in imports that took place in January. 1999 U.S. imports for consumption of canned tuna in water totaled 40,201,972 kilos as of January 26, 1999. Imports are up 22.6 million kilos or 129 percent compared to the same period last year. Recent Bangkok offers for chunk light in water 6 ounce have been reported to be in the US$17.75 to US$18.25 range.

One significant factor has been reported that could cause a firming in some canned tuna prices. It has been reported that StarKist has made three major purchases of canned tuna from Bangkok packers in recent months and that they are opening office in Bangkok to manage their activities there. Tim Real, a former Trimarine manager, may head up that office. These purchases by Starkist have reduced the amount of product that Bangkok canners can now offer to other buyers. A continued shortage of skipjack raw materials could cause further significant firming in the canned skipjack market.

The Eastern Pacific tuna catch as reported by the IATTC is off to a good start vs. Last year. The following table compares catches (metric tons) through Feb. 1, 1999.

There are some good signs in the albacore market. Bangkok canners have recently increased their purchase prices by about US$150 per ton and have probably paid US$1550 per metric ton for sea frozen longliner albacore. Reduced supplies of albacore from sashimi longliners and increased Japanese consumption have reduced the supply to Bangkok. Longliner catch rates are also reported to be down from previous high levels. The big question in this market is how long it will take for StarKist to work down their high inventories of albacore. The US jig boat fleet operating in the South Pacific this season has reached an agreement with Chicken of the Sea (R) in Samoa to buy their fish. Recent albacore prices for Puerto Rico have been about US$ 1600 per short ton for sea frozen longliner caught fish. The following chart shows the tremendous decline that has taken place with albacore prices.

Other News...On Bigeye Tuna

A Bigeye tuna tagged by the National Marine Fisheries Service with an archival device was recaptured on July 2, 1998 off Kona, Hawaii. The fish had been "at liberty" with the tag for three months with the tag recording the position, swimming depth, internal temperature and external (water) temperature every 8.5 minutes during the three month period.

The bigeye data shows a very regular pattern of shallow swimming at night, remaining mainly between 30 and 150 feet and diving very deep during the day. Daytime behavior began at sunrise when the fish dove to depths of 1100 to 1600 feet, where it remained until sunset when it would resume the shallow swimming behavior. This is not news to longline fishermen who target bigeye with deep gear in the day and the shallow gear at night, but the depths and temperatures that the fish reached were a surprise to many fisher-men and researchers. During the deeper dives, the fish entered water that was as cold as 39 degrees F while maintaining an internal body temperature of 62 degrees. During the day, the fish made very regular and rapid trips to the surface waters about every 50 minutes only to plunge back into deep water. Scientists studying the biology of bigeye tuna suggest that these rapid trips to the surface are made to "warm up" which allows the fish to search for squid and other food at great depths during the day.

In the Mail

This map was sent by Michel Delrue. Mr. Delrue was chairman of Peche etFroid (France) from 1980 1993 and director of Cobrecaf (France) from 1988-1994. While Mr. Delrue was chairman, Peche et Froid built the Tuna complex of Antsiranana (Madagascar). Antsiranana with the 4 other plants in Africa and Europe produced a Tuna canning potential for the company of 70,000 Tons of tuna per year. Peche et Froid's own boats, with that of Cobrecaf's and the other French tuna boats operators (known as Sovetco) played a big role in the company's raw material procurement... Mr. Delrue is still actively involved as a consultant. He can be contacted Mich el.Delrue@wanadoo.fir.

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