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Dr. Chanintr
Chalisarapong
Advisory board member
FoodMarketExchange.com
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| Published
on December 15,2000 |
Balancing
fish supplies with demand in the canned tuna market
After
failing to boost the price of fish by limiting supplies
in the western Pacific since the middle of September,
the price of skipjack hit bottom at US$380-400 CNF Bangkok
for December delivery. Meanwhile, Yellowfin recently suddenly
fell from $900 to $800 CNF Bangkok, before steadying at
$850-900.
Boat owners have now decided to intensify their efforts
at reducing fish supplies. Boat owners from around the
world recently gathered at two major meetings (one in
Europe, and one in the Philippines), and the following
points emerged:
1. One by one, Taiwanese
vessels will stop fishing until the situation improves.
Our estimate is that about 20 of the 50 vessels will remain
in port at the end of this year. The remaining active
purseiners will cut their fishing capacity by 35 per cent
between now and January 2001, as well as reducing their
catch times.
2. Korean fleets will halt
around 50 per cent of their boats, while remaining active
purseiners will cut their capacity by 35 per cent between
now and January 2001, as well as reducing their catch
times.
3. American and Ecuadorian
fleets' operations represent a very limited amount of
their total fishing capacity.
4. Spanish and French vessels
have reached an agreement to limit their fishing activities
to around 50 per cent of their total capacity between
January 1, 2000 and March 1, 2001.
Boat owners operating in waters in the western and eastern
Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, all have a common
interest in limiting their tuna fishing activities. Having
failed on several occasions to take serious steps to limit
the amount of fishing they participate in, this time they
must really prove themselves able to control their fishing
activities in order to stop the upstream tuna industry
from completely collapsing.
We should not support a complete halt to fishing activities
because this would lead to a negative impact for the tuna
industry as a whole. A sudden shortage of raw materials,
or a sudden jump in the price of tuna, would neither help
the canneries to efficiently manage their production,
nor lead to the sustainable development of the canned
tuna market. In the worst-case scenario, it could lead
to a surge of speculative trading in tuna, which would
create panic and lead to negative sentiment that could
potentially damage most sectors of the industry. This
would benefit few parties, and would eventually cause
damage to the majority of the players in the industry.
We should favor a solution that ensures that fish supplies
are consistently limited in line with demand in the canned
tuna market. Instead of continuing their fishing activities
at recent levels, which would further depress the canned
tuna market, boat owners have agreed to take the appropriate
steps to reduce the supply of fish, the main objective
of which is hopefully to achieve a sustainable improvement
in raw and canned tuna prices.
We should not allow any party to speculate on the prices
of raw materials, or finished products. Remember, both
canneries and importers will need some time in order to
use up their current available stocks. Everyone involved
in the industry should make every effort to achieve an
improvement in prices of raw materials and finished products,
without leaving room for speculators to exploit the situation.
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