Mexico & EU Talking Again On Export Mexican Tunaff
6 April 2005
Mexico
Mexico is maintaining conversation with the European Union (EU) in order to open its market for its exports of tuna and sugar, indicate Mexican sources.
According to Mr. Jose Guadalupe Saenz, General Director of Trade Policy for the Mexican Secretariat of Economy, “Mexico is trying to enter into a process of negotiation with the EU for the incorporation of new agricultural productsâ€.
The objective is to obtain a preferential access to the European market for the products that were left behind after the initial negotiation, as well as to increase the quotas and accelerate the tax reduction for those products that obtained a limited access.
Mexico and the EU have an Association Agreement for Political, Financial and Cooperation Issues since 2000. However this agreement is not utilized since the United States monopolizes 90% of the Mexican exports. USA is the biggest investor in this Central American country with 67.9% against 22.1% of the European Union.
Mr. Saenz explained that the reason for this situation is the problems some products are facing due to international market conditions. For example, in the case of orange juice, the quotas have not been filled because the prices have been higher in the United States of America and Japan than in EU, therefore the Mexican businessmen have preferred not to send their production to the European markets.
Mr. Saenz also noted that “Mexico has not yet fixed anything with the European Union, but as a private sector’s request the negotiations have startedâ€.
The tuna issue has been a problem between Mexico and the EU for many years. Since the Association Agreement came into force, the tax for the import of Mexican tuna in the EU increased to 24% duty, and also it got affected by the US tuna embargo due to the dolphin deaths during captures, which had an indirect repercussion on EU purchasers.
The Spanish region of Galicia is the main tuna producer in Europe and the third one in the world after Thailand and the US. At the same time, its canning industries occupy second place. After the ten new member states joined the EU in 2004, Mexico obtained access for its tuna loins.
However, on the other hand Mexico domestic tuna industry has been expanding so successfully that currently the country’s tuna canning industry has turned into an importing sector of pre-cooked tuna loins. Mexico tuna canners are now importing pre-cooked loins from Ecuador and Colombia. Even though Mexico has the Eastern Pacific’s largest tuna fleet, current catches are not sufficient to support the domestic industry.
Despite the current situation Mr. Saenz is optimistic and said “Mexico is now aiming at obtaining the entry of its canned tuna into the EU as well as the possibility of increasing the quotas for its tuna loinsâ€.
Mexico and the EU held a meeting during the end of February. Mexico is currently waiting for the EU’s list of requirements. “As soon as the EU has provided us with their requests, we will revise these and arrange a new meeting for the month of May, in order to finalize the negotiations soonestâ€, concluded the Director of Mexican Trade Policy.
