Jul / Aug / Sep 2000 Archive

Canned matches Fresh/Frozen on taste & Nutrition USA, July 01, 00
Whoever said that fresh is best may have to eat those words. A recent study conducted by the University of Massachusetts (UMass) found that recipes using canned ingredients are similar in nutritional values and taste appeal to those made with fresh or frozen items. This is the first phase of a three-part nutrition study that tested 13 "family-friendly'' recipes that appeal to both parents and children. The research analyzed nutritional content of entire recipes comparing such nutrients as protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The study also conducted sensory analysis evaluating taste, appearance, color, aroma and texture of dishes prepared with canned, fresh and/or frozen ingredients.
"We analyzed 13 popular breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes that both children and parents might enjoy in their own kitchen. This allowed us to use a variety of ingredients -- fruits, vegetables, beans, meat, chicken and fish -- in canned, fresh and/or frozen forms,'' said Ken Samonds, Ph.D., nutrition study director and associate professor of human nutrition at the University of Massachusetts. ``For this study, we tested recipes that were selected from well-known cookbooks. The university analyzed a variety of dishes ranging from vegetable pizza and chicken tacos to fruit smoothies and vegetable soup.
This is the third and most complex nutrition study that tested canned foods versus their fresh and frozen counterparts. Previous studies conducted by the University of Illinois compared individual canned food items rather than entire recipes. In 1995, the University of Illinois compared the nutritional values of canned fruits and vegetables to fresh and frozen products. They expanded the research in 1997 by broadening the food categories and extending the nutrition study to compare additional nutrients.
"Our research found similar nutrient profiles of dishes made from canned, fresh and/or frozen ingredients,'' Samonds said. ``In fact, recipes made with canned ingredients are good sources of many nutrients, like their fresh and frozen counterparts. Our results also showed that recipes prepared with canned foods delivered favorably on taste, appearance, aroma and texture.'' Key findings from the nutrition study included:
-- The Tuna Salad Wrap recipe, prepared two ways with white tuna,pita bread, celery, chopped apples and mango -- one with canned ingredients and one with fresh ingredients -- proved to be an excellent source of protein, niacin, vitamin B-12 and riboflavin,regardless of the ingredient form.For more information check the site of the Canned Food Alliance online at www.mealtime.org http://www.mealtime.org.

                              Fourth Quarter Ended      Fiscal Year Ended
                             ---------------------    ---------------------
                               May 3,      April 28,       May 3,     April 28,
                               2000         1999          2000        1999
                            (14 weeks)   (13 weeks)  (53 weeks)  (52 weeks)
                            ----------  ----------   ----------  ----------
    
    Tuna                    287,717     284,235    1,059,317   1,084,847

Turtle ruling hurts Hawaii longliners  USA, July 03, 00
A federal judge's ruling severely limiting fishing time and locations to protect endangered sea turtles may wind up sinking Hawaii's longline fishing industry. The commercial fishing industry says the ruling will drive up prices for fish and lead to the loss of ``mom-and-pop'' family enterprises that employ up to 2,000 people and contribute $165 million to Hawaii's economy.
Environmental groups had sued to limit the amount of fishing by the 115-boat fleet of longliners, commercial boats that lay out miles of hook-laden lines to catch tuna and swordfish. The NMFS - National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that an average of 115 turtles die each year after getting caught in the nets. All species of sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened because of hunting for use as food and jewelry.
The June 23 ruling by U.S. District Judge David Ezra bans longliners from a 2.5 million-square-mile area north of Hawaii. It also limits each boat in the current fleet to about six days of fishing each year in a 4-million-square-mile area south of Hawaii, with no fishing allowed during April and May. Ezra originally gave longliners 30 days to comply, but this week extended the deadline to six months.
``These guys are like the mom-and-pop stores'' of fishing, said Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. ``What if you told a store owner he could only open six days a year? How could someone make a living?'' The ruling also mandates federally trained observers aboard each vessel, a practical impossibility with only four observers currently in place to monitor the fleet.
Earthjustice sued the National Marine Fisheries Service on behalf of the Center for Marine Conservation and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The groups accused the agency of violating the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws by allowing turtles to die as incidental catch and failing to accurately assess impact on turtle populations.
Longliners are asking Ezra to reconsider his ruling. If he doesn't, an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is likely, said Jim Cook, president of the Western Pacific Regional

Bangkok remains depressed Thailand, July 03, 00
The news coming from Bangkok is not going to cheer us up. There has been almost no upward movement in the past week in the raw material price for skipjack whole round abt 1.8kg. Quotes were made around US$ 400 CFR BKK, but still hardly any demand. The coldstorages in Thailand are almost all entirely full with tuna, mostly skipjack, from Bangkok to Hathay in the South. The bad news is that there is no single sign of improvement in sight. The supply of frozen fish has come down on one hand, but the demand from processors on the other hand has not increased at all. Several packers, and notably Thailand's largest hold a very high stock of finished product. These stocks being the result of continued production, even when there was no demand, hang over the market. Problems with exports to Saudi Arabia, the almost impossible competition in Europe with ACP countries, limited demand from the States, have forced packers in making occasionally very low offers in certain export markets in order to release inventory. Unfortunately for them, this has resorted to little success so far. Even recent 1-2 week shut downs of several canneries has not given the desired result. If no increase in demand from the export markets will come, the financial pressure on packers to sell their stocks very cheaply will only increase, and raw materials might still not be able to rise. It seems like a dramatic decrease in catching efforts and supply of frozen fish is the only way to get out of this dramatic situation. Unfortunately with the current struggle of especially smaller fishing companies trying to survive this depression, it seem unlikely there will be any grand reduction soon.

EPO catches increased  first half 2000   Ecuador, July 03, 00
Data from the IATTC  Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission) shows that reported catches in the EPO ( Eastern Pacific Ocean) have once again increased this year. Total catches up to June 26th 2000 amounted 334,209 M/T of all species combined. Skipjack was the specie that accounted exclusively for this rise. Skipjack catches continued to increase to 149.357 M/T compared to 136.768 M/t in 1999 (+10%). This is supported by the average daily caught skipjack volume per boat, which has jumped abt 18% compared to '99. Remarkable is that most of the increased catches seem to come from vessels over 900 M/T. These big boats increased there average daily catch by about 30% to 4.5 tons a day !  Smaller boats kept almost the same 2.4 tons daily.
Yellowfin catches in the EPO show quite the opposite picture. Total caught volume declined by about 10% from 158,379 m/t in '99 to 144.284 in 2000 over the same period. This is reflected in the average daily yellowfin catch for all purse seiners, which has dropped significantly from 9.7 M/T in 1999 to 5 M/T this year (almost 50% down!). Most of this decline is suffered by the smaller boats <900 tons, they went down from 6.2 M/T per day to as low as 2.6 M/T.  This indicates that significant extra fishing efforts, longer trips and costs, were needed to bring the same tonnage in.

new tuna boats under construction    Europe, July 03, 00
The renovation of the Spanish fleet continues with the construction of 3 new purseseiners in Spain. The Spanish shipyard "Barreras, Hijo" is building 3 new tuna boats. For the Spanish Tuna fishing company Albacora s.a.  they are constructing the Albacora Tres, which will have a length of 112 m. and a beam of 16.6 m., delivery is planned for July 2000. This boat will have a catching capacity of 3250 M/T. The same company also owns the Albacora Uno , one of the largest purse seiners in the world.
Atunaros Congeladores is building even a slightly smaller boat then the Albacora Tres. Their Artza will measure 112 m. but with a catching capacity of 2930 M/T will will also be one of the major players on the high seas. Next to the Artza "Barreras Hijo" is constructing a third boat for the boat owner Pebertu, the "Bermeotarrak". This boat of 85.7 m.  is like the other two, powered by a Wartsila engine with a total power of 3898 Kw. Delivery of the "Bermeotarrak is expected for next year June.
With the current market conditions with raw material prices at abt. US$ 400 p. M/T for skipjack, these new boats will not be able to break even for its first year. Obvious is that the technological advance will continue in the tuna fisheries, creating higher efficiencies and better quality of fish. However in order to make their operation profitable a dramatic increase in prices is badly needed. (source: Baird publications"ships & boats" on order database)

Muslim rebels demand fishing ban Philippines, July 03, 00
In the negotiation process with Philippine government officials the rebels that hold the hostages on the Island of Moro have demanded at least $1 million for each hostage but also an independent homeland and a ban on fishing in the seas of Southern Philippines. The government has said it will not pay any ransom or give more than limited autonomy to Muslim-majority areas in the south. But privately, many officials have admitted that some ransom would have to be paid. It is also very unlikely that a ban on fishing will be effected. The local waters of the Southern Philippines has been become of less importance to the total tuna catch by the Philippine fleet. Many vessels purse seiners target tuna on the high seas, due to the decrease in in catches in the South. However still the fresh "wet" trade sources all its fish from these waters. Autonomy for Mindanao and the demanded fishing ban would have a disastrous effect on the tuna canning business in General Santos, but it seems very unlikely that this situation will ever occur.

Skipjack offered attractively by Philippine fleet  Indonesia July 04, 00
As we previously reported are Philippine and Taiwanese fishing companies have been unloading fish in Indonesia, due to the stagnating market in Bangkok and also in an effort to save the high transportation charges for bringing fish by carrier to Thailand. At this moment Indonesian canned tuna processors have access to low priced skipjack whole round fish at US$ 360/Mt CIF Indo port. At the same time the catching of the local fleet    in Indonesian waters is also reported to be good . The recent further decline of the Rupiah (8950) versus US$ has provided some opportunities for local catchers to cash up some profit on a favorable exchange rate. The softening in raw material has also affected the prices for canned tuna, which again declined about 2-3% during the last.

Koreans obtain license for Tonga Philippines July 05, 00
Unlike most pacific islands Tonga does not rely on fishing license payments by foreign fleets, preferring to reserve its waters for local fishermen. However according to a recent report, a deal may have been reached with a limited number of South Korean tuna vessel owners in a move to develop the potential of the tuna industry. Tonga-based companies have increased exports of tuna from almost nothing in the early 90's to almost US$ 2.5 million in 1998.(source: Infofish Trade News).

Albacore catch still delayed Indonesia July 06, 00
The  Indonesian albacore season around Java seems to be delayed by a couple of months. The market has difficulty to cope with a steady and larger than expected demand from the U.S.A for white tuna, which has been  pushing up the price of the finished product foodservice  by US$ 1/cs. Yellowfin remains relatively firm due to the continued steady demand for fresh/chilled and frozen fish from Japan. Tongol catches are somewhat increasing indicating that the catching season is there again. The market for canned Tongol also shows some relative firmness in the pricing, with price rises expected between 4-8%.

Thai GMO problems in Saudi still unsolved Indonesia, July 07, 00
According to sources in Bangkok the ports of Saudi Arabia still hold abt. 200 containers of packed, labeled and cartonized canned tuna which are still awaiting entry into the country. The refusal of the Saudi authorities to grant access to the market of these containers with canned tuna, is the result of discussions regarding the GMO matter. Saudi officials barred the product from entry, because they were packed in vegetable / soybean oil, which was suspected to be made out of genetically modified soybeans. Since the problems arose earlier this year Thai packers have been heavily affected by this issue, and have lost access to this vital export market. It seems that so far, despite intensive lobbying, no solution has been provided yet for those containers lying in Saudi ports, which were shipped from Thailand prior to the ban. 

Stock exchange threatens to delist Bintuni Minaraya Indonesia, July 10, 00
The Jakarta stock exchange have issued some new regulation threatening to de-list companies who didn’t release their 1999 audited account by July 10 . It could affect PT Bintuni Minaraya (BMR), along with not less than 19 other listed companies . BMR, one of South-East Asia's largest fishing companies, and the #1 in Indonesia, has a total fleet of about 500 vessels. BMR coordinates its fishing activities through a network of five bases from its headquarter in Jakarta. BMR operates the former PT Biak factory (which was once owned by PT Mantrust), on the island of Biak, which is close to Irian Jaya. This plant has not been very active lately and production has been on and off.
BMR is part of the Djajanti group, which is active in a wide range of business activities, such as timber, palm oil, sago etc.

Fiji's Pacific Fishing Tuna cannery overrun by rebels Philippines July 12, 00
Fijian villagers supporting nationalist rebel leader George Speight took over the Levuka tuna cannery, The Pacific Fishing Company, burned down a Masonic lodge and tried to overrun a police station on a small island on Monday. The violence erupted hours after Fiji's military signed a deal allowing the rebels, who have overthrown the Pacific nation's elected government, a role in choosing a new administration in exchange for the release of 27 hostages on Thursday. It is all quite confusing since its are Speight his supporters starting the violence after they had successfully signed an agreement.
Speight and his group have held the hostages -- including deposed ethnic Indian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry -- since May 19, demanding that ethnic Fijians should dominate government. The military said the Levuka violence would be easily contained with the cooperation of Speight and his men.
A large crowd later took over Levuka's tuna cannery and took the general manager hostage. Levuka is a former whaling settlement which was set up already in the 1830s, and is about 70 km (45 miles) northeast of the capital Suva. The Pacific Fishing Company cannery, has been occupied by about 200 Speight supporters. They were holding general manager Miti Baleivanualala hostage but would not harm him. ``We will stay here until Thursday,'' occupants said, referring to the date set by rebels for the release of Chaudhry and the other hostages still held at the parliament in Suva.
Recently Starkist had signed an agreement of cooperation with the Levuka Pacific Fishing tuna operation, involving the supply of frozen cooked loins to its tuna canneries. Thus benefiting from attractive labor costs and limiting the transportation costs of fish from the fishing grounds, around Fiji,  to its canning operations.
Speight's rebellion has halted much of the economic activity on which Fiji depends. Tourists have stayed away and much of the sugar cane crop has been left rotting in the fields. The effect on the tuna industry has not been quite clear so far. But obviously this recent event will be quite a setback for this operation.
The recent agreement grants Speight and his gunmen amnesty, and empowers the influential tribal elders' group, the Great Council of Chiefs, to choose a president and vice-president and to have a say in naming a civilian government. Fiji's    multi-ethnic constitution will be abandoned. Part of Speights initiatives are aimed at the effective exclusion of ethnic Indians from power. Indians were first brought to Fiji in the 19th century by British colonizers to work in the sugar cane fields and now make up about 44 percent of Fiji's 800,000 population.

Netherlands Imports 1 jan '99 - 31 aug '99   Europe, July 14, 00

Philippine packers in dual position  Philippines July 14, 00
In General Santos the price for frozen skipjack has remained at the level of abt $370-$380 M/T for good size and quality fish. Demand is still very slow, and most tuna packers continue to run well below their capacity.  Catching has been said to be getting less the last few days, due to bad weather, increasing winds, typical for the monsoon season. So far this had no effect on the market price.
The Del Mar factory in General Santos City  has been shut down temporarily and RFM has been producing solely for the domestic market. In determining whether they should produce, packers are in a somewhat dual position. On one hand the incredibly low raw material ($30-40 below the level CF Bkk) should motivate them to produce full capacity and build up stocks of product they can ship out easily all around the year, speculating on increasing prices. On the other hand there is still no demand, limited financial resources, and no outlook on improvement, so packers do not feel even confident that they will benefit from building new stocks, it might just work against them. The lack of raw material demand is quite a problem for the fishing companies. Although there is limited involvement of some fishing companies into 2 canning operations,  it is known that catchers are considering which way to go in terms of assuring a continuos future outlet of their fish through canned tuna production.

Political situation Mindanao remains tense Philippines July 14, 00
The recent offensive of the Philippine army of several rebel camps, has led to threats from the MILF side that they would look for revenge by sowing more terror in General Santos. In the past these threats have been executed, so people are quite tense about what is to come. Business activity has reduced quite dramatically, which is observed for example through the extremely low occupancy rates in the two major business hotels in the city.

Ecuadorian skipjack catches plummet, prices  up Ecuador July 14, 00
In Ecuador there seems to have come an end to the almost continuously very good catches of skipjack during the last 1 1/2 year. Catches are reported to be quite disappointing and prices for frozen skipjack have been started to go up to about US$ 500 M/T CF Manta. With the threat of a possible ban in September on the fishing with FAD's (floating objects) some tuna processors have been getting slightly nervous about the future supply situation. With the export of pre-cooked frozen tuna loins to mainly Spain booming, the management of some factories are preparing themselves in assuring supply. Because a lot of immature big-eye tuna gets caught in fishing on skipjack with floating objects, the IATTC is expected to order a ban till December 2000 on this fishing method so Big-eye stocks can sustain. This creates a big problem for the smaller fishing boats who rely solely on the very effective FAD fishing method, and do not have enough facilities on board for school fishing on the high seas.
Last week several packers have contacted their colleagues to fill up gaps in their raw material supply, in order to meet contracts.  One major packer send out an inquiry to the Ecuadorian fishing community for the supply of 4000/5000 M/T monthly of whole round skipjack for the coming 5 months. These are possibly signs that a turnaround in the supply of skipjack is expected, and that packers are racing to secure raw material supply for production of tuna loins contracted for delivery later this year, when skipjack supply could stall.

Belgium Italy's #1 export market   Europe, July 19, 00
The import statistics over the first 8 months of 1999 show that Belgium seems to have become the most important export market of canned tuna from Italy. This is quite surprising considering that traditionally Greece has been the main export market for Italy during the last 10 years.  The Italian industry has been mainly concentrated on the export of solid pack yellowfin product mostly packed in high quality olive oil.  The Belgium consumer seems to have developed quite an appetite for the Italian product has been willing to pay a good price for the product. Belgium retailers have paid an average price of approx. EURO 38,83 per case,  based on units of 48 tins of each 185g net weight. This means double the price that Belgium retailers are paying for skipjack in brine 48x185g to French exporters. Main Italian exporters are Rio Mare and Palmera, of which Palmera has been marketing strongly their yellowfin solid olive oil in glass jars. Exports to other markets show that the Belgium consumer has proven once again it's image of being willing to pay for top quality product, which can hardly be said of consumers in the Netherlands and Germany.
The slump of Italian exports to Greece seems to find it's cause in the increased competition from Thailand, which looks to have strengthened its position in Greece quite significantly. When final data on Greek imports in all of 1999 are available we will hopefully get a clearer picture of these developments.

Albacore on the rise Indonesia, July 20, 00
Indonesia reports diappointing catches around Bali for Albacore. Due to bad weather conditions, fisherman were not able to go out, which has caused the prices for whole round albacore to rise to $2700 M/T.

Prices tongol foodservice 20% up Indonesia, July 20, 00
During the last few weeks prices also in Thailand have been rising, and due to delayed catches of tongol in Indonesia supply has been very limited. The tongol season in Indonesia is from June/July till Nov/Dec.  As a result of the slow supply, prices for foodservice 66,5 oz food service tuna  fro export to the USA have increased by about 20%.

EPO fleet mostly unfilled, catches decline Ecuador July 21, 00
Most of the vessels fishing in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) are currently not filled. The IATTC reports that 74% of the total 156000 M/t of the total monitored tuna fishing capacity is unfilled. Considering that abt 70% of the fleet is on the ocean chasing skipjack and yellowfin, this is another indication that especially skipjack, but also yellowfin fishing is rapidly declining in the EPO. With good catches more boats would be unloading, and more capacity filled on its way to port. This is also supported by other data, which shows that last week EPO vessels totally only caught   1500 M/T of skipjack and 2500 M/T of yellowfin, which is very low. This decrease in catches is already having in impact on raw material prices in Ecuador which are on the rise from abt US$ 500 M/T landed for skipjack. When situation continues like this more increases could be expected.

Korean tie up expired Thailand, July 25, 00
Korean tuna boats have gone fishing tuna again after most of the fleet, has been tied up for almost two months. Korea has the second largest tuna fleet in the world. Most Korean purse seiners stopped fishing in Mid May in a move to reduce the fishing activity and volume being caught, hoping such a measure would have a positive up-ward effect on the skipjack prices, and the return on their fishing operations.. Is seems however that the Korean initiative did not lead to any significant price improvement. The skipjack price is still around US$ 400-410 CF Bangkok for 1.8kg, and no immediate change is expected. The re-entering on the Korean fleet into the market, will not create much optimism about an up-ward move in prices.

Catches in Western Pacific down Philippines, July 25, 00
Fishermen report very disappointing catches due to strong weather in the fishing waters between PNG and Indonesia. Most vessels are nowadays concentrating on FAD fishing, and most of them are anchored or positioned close to their own FAD's. The weather circumstances make scholl fishing unattractive, but also fuel- intensive and therefore costly. With raw material prices being so low, and oil prices still on the increase, fishing companies are trying to keep their fishing techniques as fuel efficient as possible. Most of the boats are still selling frozen skipjack at US$ 400 or just below. Sales to canneries are avoided as much as possible, because the fresh market provides better prices, but according to fishermen, also better payment !

W.P yellowfin price to US$970 Philippines, July 25, 00
The prices for yellowfin are still on the rise in Philippines, as a result of slow catches, and strong demand from Japan. For large size fish, which can be exported to Japan, prices go up to US$ 970 CF p. M/T, but prices for small size yellowfin tuna are quite some lower at US$ 800 landed.

Paris boat-owners meeting produces no solutions Europe, July 25, 00
Orthongel, the French boat-owners association, organized last July 12th a meeting in Paris at which it also invited colleague boat-owners from other fishing nations. The meeting was attended by the management of fishing companies from France, Spain, Korea and Taiwan. According to our source, one of the goals of the meeting was to analyze the current skipjack supply situation, find causes and to look for solutions. Those present concluded that the cause was to be found in too much fishing activity, which has led to current an oversupply situation in skipjack. Those present however could not agree on any move towards a in decrease capacity or time at sea.

Direct Call Service to Indonesia Indonesia, July 25, 00
A group of shipping lines namely Grand Alliance have signed an aggrement with Jakarta port (JICT) inviting the world’s largest container shipping alliance to run a direct call service between Indonesia’s premier container terminal and ports in North Europe. The partners cooperate throughout the world in sharing vessels, facilities and services on all major trade routes. The alliance intended to operate 8 vessels to serve the route, with ports of call Southampton of Britain, Rotterdam of the Netherlands, Hamburg of Germany, and La Spezia of Italy. Shippers can take the advantage of this route to other destinations through transshipment at these ports. The fact that Jakarta is included as a direct calling port now, is a positive indication of the business prospects from and to Indonesia.
Furthermore, Tanjung Priok (= Jakarta’s port) and JICT are supposed to be ready now to handle Grand Alliance vessels so that Jakarta can be promoted to be the hub to transship cargoes from and to other Indonesian ports. Hutchison (majority takeholder in the joint-owned JICT) has already invested US$20 million for new facilities procurement and workers training program and has plans to invest another US$200 million in JICT for a service expansion. With this investment Hutchison expect to enable JICT to double its container throughput capacity within the next four years to 4 million TEU’s. These will definitely gives a considerable impulse to the present throughput capacity of Tanjung Priok of 2.27 million TEU’s (recorded as 19th biggest container terminal in 1999). For your information Hong Kong, recorded as 1st, has a throughput capacity of 16.2 million TEU’s per year.

Carrefour buys GB Inno Belgium / becomes Europe's largest canned tuna buyer ! Europe, July 25, 00
Carrefour, the French food retailer, and Europe's largest food distributor has bought the remaining 72.5% stake in Belgian GB Inno for 670 million Euro. GB Inno is the leading Belgian supermarket chain, with expected pretax sales of about 3.7 billion Euro in 2000. Carrefour only buys the food stores, not the Quick fast food restaurants. Carrefour already owned 27.5 percent of GB. Negotiations have been going on for some time. According to insiders one of the reasons for the move is the fear of Carrefour of the expansion of Wal-Mart within Europe. It has been a public secret that GB Inno was continuously losing money. Carrefour is already the biggest food retailer in France, Spain and Greece and the second largest in Italy, and will also become market leader in Belgium now. GB Inno has also sold it's polish stores to Carrefour.By 2001, most GB supermarkets will take on the Carrefour name.
Through these transactions Carrefour has also become Europe's leading canned tuna buyer, taking almost all of its supply  from ACP countries, mostly Africa. For the time being both companies will have independent buying departments, and no major changes are expected until 2001.

Usisa invests in a new canned fish plant Europe, July 26, 00
Spanish canned fish producer Usisa (Union Salazonera Islena) has allocated Pta 1,000mn in order to build a 12,000 m2 factory.
The new plant, which would be operative at the beginning of 2001, will have a 100 tonnes production capacity per day. It will produce canned tuna, fish and mackerel. In 1999, Usisa registered Pta 53mn net profits and Pta 1,719mn sales. Exports represented 12% of total turnover. In this period, it marketed 5,700 tonnes of canned fish (COPYRIGHT BY FAO Globefish, Rome, Italy)

Humboldt stream sends skipjack west Ecuador July 26, 00
The low temperatures registered since the last two months, have influenced directly in the industrial and white fishing in Ecuador.Biologists explained that the temperature in the Guayaquil Gulf is 2° C below normal, and it is between 18° and 19° C. This does not represent major harm for the fishing volume in general. However it drives the smaller skipjack west, further away, creating longer trips. At the same time together with the cold Humboldt stream, arriving from the South of the continent, are pelagic species which are also useful for the canned fish exporting industry.The reason is that the fish search for warmer water than what they found in the south. Equatorial shores are currently populated with mackerel and herring. The president of the Ecuadorian Fisheries Chamber, César Rohón, explained that the presence of these species allows the recovery of the sardines and mackerel sector after the damage caused by "El Niño" two years ago.

In spite of this good signal, the cold waters make the ocean shrimp and small and medium tunas (skipjack and yellow fin)to emigrate towards the west. This way, they look for warmer waters such as the ones in Galápagos Islands and Asia. For the fishermen this is a headache because in Galápagos the limit for fishing is 40 nautic miles from the shore, which keeps them from fishing there. Another specie that arrives in this season is the whale, which consumes a lot of pelagics.

Although tuna and other fishes production is fairly good, international prices have dropped to 50% and have caused a reduction in exports. Canned tuna during the first five months of the year have dropped 33% in comparison with the same period in 1999. Although Ecuadorian Fisheries Chamber showed optimism and pointed that canned tuna exports will remain similar to those of last year.

Lower temperatures benefit white fishing, because larger fishes stay. Guillermo Morán, executive director of the Association of white fishing exporters of Ecuador (Asoexpebla), stated that now they have high catches and production of yellowfin and big-eye tuna. However mahi-mahi, marlin and swordfish emigrate to the warmer waters of the north. "The temperature and the production are normal, it will be a good summer for us", he added. White fishing exports rise to aprox 2 million pounds per month, out of that 60% is fresh tuna, 25% is mahi-mahi and 15% the rest.

Fresh fish exports between January and May reached USD 11'171.927, which means a reduction of 57% in comparison with the same period of 1999, when USD 17'636.385 were sold. In spite of the figures, Morán stated that the market to sell the national production is almost granted because of their high quality. 90% of it correspond to U.S.A.

Movement of species along the continent:
Moving South :Mackerel, Herring
Static: Yellowfin and Big-eye tuna (Big sizes)
Moving West:Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna (Small sizes)
Moving North: Swordfish, Mahi-Mahi

Japan: Hagaroma markets product with Tuna and chicken Philippines, July 26, 00
Hagoromo Foods (Hagoromo) of Japan has obtained a "Specific Health Food" status from the food authorities for its "Sea Chicken L Flakes (Kenko Echona)". The product was unveiled in Japan. It is priced at ¥ 175 for a 80-gram can. The "Kenko Echona Oil" used in the mixture of tuna and chicken is produced by Kao

"Kinkai" skipjack fish available at lower price Thailand, July 26, 00
In the last two weeks Japanese traders in Bangkok have offered low priced "Kinkai" skipjack tuna to canneries at prices around US$ 380 p. M/T. "Kinkai" is a skipjack with an high oil content and often softer meat, which is not fit for the Japanese markets. This "Kinkai" skipjack cannot be used for producing canned tuna in brine, but only for oil pack. This makes the product also unfit for export the U.S.A market, which is pre-dominantly a brine market. Most probably most of this lower priced raw material  tuna will be used for exports to Germany and Eastern Europe. In the past arrivals of  big quantities of "Kinkai" in the market let to a sharp drop in the market price for tuna. Since this concerns a limited qu7antity, the price for normal frozen round skipjack 1.8 kg remained at the level of US$ 400-410 CF Bangkok, and no immediate price movement is expected.

Thai canned tuna certified GMO free for Kuwait Thailand, July 26, 00
Kuwait has lifted a ban on imports of Thai canned tuna after receiving a letter of guarantee from the Thai Government that the products were free from genetically modified soy oil. Saudi Arabia is expected to lift a similar ban soon following tests by a British food company.