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Final <strong>Report</strong>
RoO Derogation under the PACP-IEPA
6.4.1 Extra-EU
Table 6.6 details extra-EU canned tuna import data for the last ten years (2001-10). 263 The extra-EU
canned tuna import market must be understood in the context of a combination of low-cost sites of
production and tariff preferences. Duty free access to the EU under Cotonou (and subsequent IEPAs)
or the GSP+ scheme is not by itself enough to:
1. boost exports – other factors such as availability of (EU compliant) raw material supply and
domestic political and/ or economic dynamics and crises are also important considerations,
as the declines of Guatemala, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar and Senegal illustrate (Table 6.6); or
2. block low-cost, high-volume operations – as the continued importance of Thailand and the
Philippines shows.
The extra-EU canned tuna import market has become slightly more concentrated among the top-five
supplying countries over the last decade. In 2001, the Top-five 264 provided 65% in volume; in 2010
the Top-five 265 share had increased to 70%. Combined, the six African IEPA countries had a 53%
market share in 2001 which had dropped to 39% in 2010 – a 14% relative decline (albeit of a growing
absolute market) despite continued duty-free access. This relative decline can largely be accounted
for by a 15% increase in share over the same period by only three countries: Ecuador (from 8% to
17%), Thailand (from 15% to 18%), and the Philippines (from 9% to 12%).
Excluding PNG and the Solomon Islands, the five Asia-Pacific countries in Table 6.6 exported a total
volume of 127,933 mt of canned tuna in 2010, accounting for a 34% share of the EU market. This
indicates that these countries are competitive despite the standard GSP import tariff of 20.5% on
canned tuna. Thailand has consistently been a lead supplier since the 1980s and over the last ten
year period has emerged as the extra-EU import market leader. In a similar upward trend, the
Philippines has gone from 5 th to 3 rd position. The main emerging player in Southeast Asia is Vietnam,
which has grown without a substantial domestic supply of tuna. However, raw material supply
appears to be an increasingly important dynamic in limiting production in some Asian countries. The
drop off in Philippines exports in 2010 from a high point in 2008/9 was due primarily to insufficient
supply of tuna.
The decline in Ecuador’s exports in 2009 and 2010 after its rapid rise since 2001 is also explained by
266
factories cutting production due to reduced supply of fish at a commercially competitive price.
The origin of this issue is low catches/supply (i.e. processors based in Ecuador are producing below
maximum capacity because of low supply and its associated upward impact on price).
263 For more detail on extra-EU suppliers see Section 6.6.
264 Seychelles, Thailand, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Philippines.
265 Thailand, Ecuador, Philippines, Mauritius and Seychelles.
266 Hamilton et al. 2011.
Linpico s.a.r.l. Page 132