| Crow's Nest is the first monthly in-depth report on the status of the Tuna Industry. For a printed copy of the publication, please e-mail your name and address to: Casamar Group, Inc., and advise them that you would like to get a hard copy of the report. |
| If you would like to discuss this or other issues affecting the Tuna Industry, please visit our new Discussion Board by clicking here. |
| December 2000 |
| What are the efforts taken by tuna fishing nations in overcoming the crisis worldwide? |
| Most of the U.S. vessels have agreed to stop fishing for at least 60 days or until February 1, 2001. Thereafter, every boat coming to port will stay for a minimum of 21 days, |
| The Spanish OPAGAC vessels and foreign flag vessels belonging to OPAGAC member companies have also (approx. 36 vessels) agreed to a slowdown beginning January 1, 2001. In the Pacific, any vessel that calls into port to tranship whatever they have on board must remain in port for 21 days from the date of entry during the first 2 trips. In the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the vessels that will call port beginning January 1, 2001 must observe a total of 90 days of total interdiction of fishing and unloading of skipjack. |
| The French ORTHON vessels already limited their skipjack catches at 7.5MT/day since mid-November in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. |
| Ecuador and other ETP fleets have limited their activities with the ban on fishing on Fish Aggregating Devices, or FADs, since midSeptember. Franco-Spanish boats in the Atlantic are also under a similar moratorium for November 2000, December 2000, and January 2001. |
| The most significant effort at solidarity was the formation of the World Tuna Purse Seine Organization (WTPO) on December 1, 2000 in Manila. The WTPO is an organization of purse seine owners from 5 countries including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, and Ecuador. To date, this is the largest organization of tuna purse seiner owners and operators ever formed. The purse seine owners from the 5 nations agreed to stop fishing for tuna "entirely" for 30 days during the next 60 days or to realize a reduction in fishing efforts of 35%. The organization also agreed to meet on January 2930, 2001 to assess the results of their efforts and to implement more stringent measures if the results that they had hoped for were not achieved. |
| The WTPO plans to increase its membership to include France and Spain, bringing its total membership to 400 vessels or about 90% of the worldwide tuna catching capacity. Representatives from France and Spain attended the meetings in Paris and Manila. Among the issues to be tackled in future meetings are: moratorium in the building of new vessels except to replace old and existing units; a balance between supply and demand of tuna for canning; and conservation efforts of the world tuna resources, |
| The headquarters of the organization will be in Manila, Philippines. The tuna industry is a major industry in the Philippines contributing 4% of the country's gross national product (GNP). There are 12 canneries in the Philippines exporting to other parts of Asia, Europe, the United States, and the Middle.East. Seven of the country's 12 canneries are concentrated close to the fishing port in General Santos, Philippines where many U.S. tuna purse seiners go to unload. In 1999, Philippine exports totalling 65,000 MT accounted for 9% of the world's total canned tuna exports, second only to Bangkok's 230,000 tons which accounts for 32%. The crisis had a major effect on the tuna industry in General Santos. Canneries were operating at 30% their normal capacity and price of exports to Europe have declincd from $26/case in 1998 to as low as $10/case in 2000. |
| The canned tuna industry in the PhRippines remains promising. Minimum wage in the capital city is about US$5.00/day and less in the other provinces. Government efforts are also underway to convert the area in General Santos where most canneries are located to an export processing zone (free zone) so that materials for exports can come into the fish processing plants and canneries with little or no taniffs. If Philippine canneries continue to purchase from U.S. flag vessels, it is likely that in the future, canned tuna entering the United States with tuna of U.S. vessel origin may enter the United States at very low tarriffs. |
| General Santos, Philippines also exports a large volume of chilled and frozen sashimi tuna to Japan and other countries. Chartered flights regularly carry fresh tuna from the General Santos airport (within 10 miles of the fishing port) directly to Japan, There are approximately 2,500 pumpboats in General Santos that fish for tuna outside the waters of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia. A standard pumpboat is approx. 2030 mts, with a wooden hull, outriggers on each side, and run by a converted diesel truck engine. Tuna is caught by hand lines. It is estimated that an average of 300 metric tons of highgrade tuna is landed in General Santos daily. |
| The second largest tuna processor in the world, Thai Union Frozen Products of Bangkok recently made major efforts in conquering the U.S. market by announcing to purchase the other 50% of TriUnion Seafood LLC, owners of "Chicken of the Sea"' from its U.S. partners. After the acquisition, Thai Union will own 100% of the San Diego, California-based company. It is estimated that Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF) produces 1,100 tons of tuna products a day while l4einz, the owners of the StarKist brand produces 1,400 tons a day. Thai Union's president, Thiraphong Chansiri announced that, "The 5050 partnership hampered business moves and the American partners decided to pull out and go back to their traditional line of work, letting us take over the company". The "Chicken of the Sea" brand is one of the most valuable assets in the U.S. seafood industry. According to Mr. Dennis Mussel, president and chief executive officer of Chicken of the Sea International, "The brand dates back to the 1920s, and today is considered one of the most recognized consumer brands in the United Statcs." Annual sales of Chicken of the Sea International seafood is around $400 million dollars a year. Its canned seafood products include tuna, salmon, crab, shrimp, oysters, clams, mackerel, and sardines, "Chicken of the Sea" has a 17.6% share in the U.S. canned tuna market. It has 2 canneries within the U.S. and its territories. It owns the former Pan Pacific cannery in San Pedro, California and the former Vancamp cannery in American Samoa. |
| Thai Union was established in Thailand in 1997 to produce canned tuna for export. It is now the largest canner in Asia, exporting to Japan, United States, Europe, Hong Kong, Malaysia. Singapore, and the Middle East. Bangkok's aggressive marketing efforts, low labor costs, and weak currency against the U.S. dollar, makes it the largest canned tuna exporting country in the world. If Thai Union is able to operate the San Pedro and American Samoa canneries successfully, it could very well be the largest cannery operating within the United States and its territories. In 1997, it purchased "Chicken of the Sea Intemational" together with Mr. Edmund Gann, a successful U.S. tuna purse seine operator and TriMarine International, an integrated fishing, trading, processing, and marketing company based in San Pedro, California. It remains to be seen how Thai Union will perform against the two U.S. food giants, ConAgra (owners of Bumble Bee) and Heinz (owners of StarKist), |
| Crow's NEST is provided by CASAMAR to its customers for their information only. CASAMAR is not responsible for any errors or delay: in the content or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. |
| This publication is provided by CASAMAR to its customers for their information only. CASAMAR is not liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Trademarked names are used in an editorial content with no intent in trademark infringement. |
| If you would like to discuss issues affecting the Tuna Industry, please visit our new Discussion Board by clicking here. |
| For more information on the Tuna Fishing Industry visit the Casamar Home Page at www.casamarintl.com for the nearest full-service and sales facility in your part of the world or the latest product designed specifically for the Tuna Fishing Industry. |
| Also, please visit Tuna Port. |
| A Shaky Recovery |
| Skipjack prices in Bangkok have increased from $380/MT to $460/MT within the last 3045 days. With a global slowdown of tuna fishing since mid-September, the effect on price which has not even reached precrisis levels is a big disappointment. With production at its lowest since the beginning of the crisis, negotiated prices are way below expectations. Tuna purse seine operators worldwide, working together for the first time, vowed to continue to cut back fishing until the buyers improve their offers, |