By Atuna.com
Papua New Guinea is quickly becoming a tuna processing hub and one European country, in particular, is driving the Pacific island’s industry. Since 2008, tuna shipments from the island developing nation to Spain have sky-rocketed by almost 1500% and last year, the Spanish market accounted for 37% of PNG’s exports to the European Union (EU), according to data from the EU Commission.
Last year, the EU imported about 26,000 tons of tuna from PNG and about 9,600 tons was delivered to Spain (37%).
In the past four years, Spain has significantly increased its imports of pre-cooked loins and canned tuna, while the country has shown a decreasing interest for unprocessed, whole round tuna raw material. In 2011, Spanish tuna processors received 4,488 tons of pre-cooked loins – used for canning – a huge climb up from 2008’s import of 192 tons and a 157% increase from 2010’s 1,747 tons. The country’s import of tuna loins accounts for about 80% of the PNG’s export volume to the EU in this category.
Spain’s import of canned tuna also reached a record level last year, jumping 172% from 1,760 tons in 2010 to 4,789 tons in 2011. This latest volume accounts for about 18% of PNG’s total tuna exports to the EU.
Meanwhile, Spanish canneries are importing smaller volumes of whole round tuna, which suggests they are cutting production costs by favoring to have the fish already cooked and cleaned overseas at lower costs, cutting Spanish jobs. Last year, PNG shipped 326 tons of the unprocessed tuna material to Spain, which is 76% less than 2010’s export of 1,394 tons.
As the leading destination for PNG tuna in Europe – only Germany comes close in its canned tuna imports – Spain is a powerful contributor to PNG’s growth. This is surprising, given that Spanish tuna canners have been vocalizing concerns about the threat of the EU-PNG trade deal since it was first created in 2011. Under the Economic Partnership Agreement, PNG has duty free access to the EU and it is allowed to export fish sourced from outside its own territorial waters, which means foreign fleets can catch fish anywhere, process it in PNG and then gain free access to the European market.
ANFACO, the Spanish National Association of Manufacturers of Canned Fish and Seafood, which includes the buyers of the pre-cooked loins from PNG, called for a “level playing field†earlier this month so it can remain competitive. The group sees the special PNG treatment as unfair to local producers – who are required to meet higher standards – and damaging to the Spanish workforce.
