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Final <strong>Report</strong>
RoO Derogation under the PACP-IEPA
6.3 Major Suppliers of the EU Canned Tuna Market
There are two sets of suppliers of canned tuna to EU markets: EU-based producers (including intra-
EU trade) and third countries (i.e. extra-EU imports). Table 6.3 details the split between these two
sources over the period 2000-08. Domestic EU production data are only available via the FAO to
2008, 257 but note that in 2009 and 2010 the extra-EU import market declined in volume (see below).
Table 6.3
EU market volume – domestic production vs. extra-EU imports (in tonnes unless
otherwise specified)
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
Extra-EU import 289,421 350,691 376,998 422,590 424,148
EU production 345,974 394,756 360,689 324,500 370,471
Total EU market volume 635,395 745,447 737,687 747,090 794,619
Extra-EU import as % total 46% 47% 51% 57% 53%
EU production as % total 54% 53% 49% 43% 47%
Sources: Fish StatJ for EU production and EuroStat for Extra-EU imports 2011.
6.4 Intra-EU
The production of canned tuna and related ‘ambient’ 258 (or ‘shelf-stable’) tuna products within the
EU is dependent upon tariff protection against relatively low cost imports. The EU MFN tariff of 24%
on canned tuna has been very successful in supporting processors, especially in Spain, which
overtook Italy in 1993 onwards to be the leading EU-based producer of canned tuna (see Figure 6.4).
Over the last ten-year period for which data are available (1999-2008), Spain accounted for 65.1% of
total EU production, rising from a 60% share in 1999 to 72% in 2008. Italy declined from 22% to 15%
over the same period, as did France, from 13% to 10%. Portugal’s share remained relatively stable at
5% and 4%.
Spain hit a record high of canned tuna production in 2008 at 267,280 mt and has been the second
largest producer of canned tuna in the world since 2004 when it overtook the United States.
259 As
we have seen, the import of tuna loins is a major component in the production strategies of EUbased
firms due to relatively high labour costs. It would, however, be too simplistic to assume that
Spanish processors will necessarily follow the tendency in France and Italy where loins are the
dominant input into the production process. This is because, in Spain at least, the labour process is
competitive (albeit behind tariff and non-tariff barriers) when butchering large sized whole round
fish (e.g. yellowfin over 10kg). Labour productivity – as measured by high recovery rates – is higher
when butchering larger sized fish (the average recovery rate for a large yellowfin is 48.5%, but it can
reportedly go up to 51%, whereas for skipjack it ranges from 37-40%). 260 In short, for some Spanish
processors, an optimum production strategy (i.e. the balance between labour time/cost and fish
yield) is to fully process big yellowfin and import skipjack loins. This supply is supported by the
Spanish distant water tuna fleet being the main supplier of raw tuna to the Spanish canning industry.
257 ANFACO estimates that its members produce around 350,000 mt of canned seafood per annum. Around
70% (or 245,000 mt) of ANFACO members’ production is canned tuna. FIS 2011.
258 Such as tuna packed in glass jars or plastic pots.
259 Globefish 2010: 72-3. Thailand first emerged as the world’s largest producer in 1991 and has consistently
been the leader since 2001. On the Thailand and US industries, see Campling et al. 2007; Hamilton et al. 2011.
260 Hamilton et al. 2011.
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