Report on the Implementation of the derogation to ... - Trade Websites

Final <strong>Report</strong>
RoO Derogation under the PACP-IEPA
between 2006 (a record high) and 2010. MW Brands/Thai Union partly countered this supply
constraint by shifting production to its cannery in Ghana, which increased its exports to the
EU by 25% between 2006 and 2010. 300 The other processors based in Ghana are locallyowned
but are minor players in comparison.
• Mauritius has steadily increased its share of the EU market through production increases by
Princes Tuna Mauritius and Thon des Mascareignes. In the last five years (2006-10) Mauritius
has increased its canned tuna exports to the EU by 17%. Princes Tuna Mauritius is the largest
processor there and produces canned tuna in vegetable oil and in brine for Mitsubishi’s
Princes subsidiary, but it also supplies private label to EU clients. Thon de Mascareignes has
transformed from being primarily a producer of loins to a significant cannery. Mauritius also
emerged in 2010 as the second largest supplier of loins to the EU with 12% volume share
(Table 6.3). To ensure supply, these processing facilities often pay slightly higher raw
material prices than the cannery in Seychelles and were thereby able to increase production
rather than follow Seychelles’ recent decline.
• Ecuador is responsible for over half of tuna processing across the eastern Pacific and is the
major player in canned tuna processing in the Americas. There are approximately 18
processing plants located in Guayaquil, Posorja and Manta with a daily processing capacity
ranging from only 20 mt/day up to 300 mt/day. 301 Production in Ecuador can be split by a
minority of subsidiaries of Spanish branded-firms and a majority of domestically-owned,
specialised non-branded processors. The first major Spanish investment in Ecuador was by
Garavilla in 1976. The next Spanish firm to invest there – Albacora – came over two decades
later in 2000. With Thailand, Ecuador dominates the US market for tuna pouches. For
Ecuador this was the outcome of a US trade preference for this particular product type. 302
Ecuador is also the leader in the EU import market for loins (Table 6.3). 303 Processors in
Ecuador can also be further typified by those that are backward integrated into fishing
(which includes the Albacora and Garavilla) and those that are not. Given that Ecuador
needs to import around 100,000 mt of its raw material needs each year, vertical-integration
is a major strategy for ensuring supply of tuna. Between January and early August 2010, over
80,000 mt of tuna were imported into Eastern Pacific production sites. Of this, around
72,000 mt was delivered to Ecuador. In 2010, over 89% of raw material imports to the
Eastern Pacific region originated in the WCPO. 304
• Between 2005 and 2007, Thunnus Overseas Group (TOG) consolidated its operations across
two factories in Côte d'Ivoire and a single factory in Madagascar to increase production and
reduce costs (see Table 6.9). However, these two production locations each saw their share
of the EU market decline by around 50% between 2000 and 2009. Political crises in the
2000s in both countries may have contributed to production declines. All of these factories
specialise in the non-branded processing of basic canned tuna and thus compete in a similar
market segment to PNG (see Section 6.7.4).
300 This was a result of shifting exports to the EU away from this factory’s other market, the United States.
301 Hamilton et al. 2011.
302 For relevant details on the Andean Trade Preference Act and related US preferential arrangements, see
Campling et al. 2007.
303 It was also a major supplier of loins to the US in the early 2000s, but this had declined to insignificant
volumes by 2007.
304 Hamilton et al. 2011. See also Table 6.16 below.
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