An approval of an unrestricted volume of EU tuna exports has been granted to the Ivory Coast after a European Union veterinary felt that the West African country had made satisfactory efforts to meet the required conditions, and strongly pushed for the agreement. The proper security measures to ensure tuna products were safely brought to the market for consumers, were found to have been met.
Kobenan Adjoumani Kouassi, Ivory Coast Minister of Animal Resources
In 2012, the European Union imported 3,897,917 cartons (48x185g) of canned tuna from the Ivory Coast, putting it in sixth position of nations exporting to the region. The country has three EU approved tuna canning companies: SCODI, Thunnus Overseas Group (TOG) and Castelli.
According to the head of the fisheries sector, work had been developed by the Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries and a workshop had been held to train on the development of technology and quantity of products. It was said that this further displays the will of the Ivory Coast to boost its position in the EU market.
Ivory Coast Minister of Animal Resources, Kobenan Adjoumani Kouassi, said that the main challenge now for the Ivory Coast tuna industry is to increase domestic production in order to reduce imports of products. This will contribute to the food security of the country to maintain its share of the market.
He explained that the workshop is a response to the mission of veterinary inspectors of the European Union. Diomandé Lablan Jeremiah, workshop coordinator, said that the work would better seize opportunities for the appropriate tools and methodology to help the industry to increase its share in the EU market.
