Growth In Canned Tuna Shipments To Chinaff

Local Philippine tuna exporters are increasing their shipments to China this year in a bid to capture the growing Chinese market for canned, fresh and frozen processed tuna.

Domingo Teng, president of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing Associations and Allied Industries Inc., cited that based on records of tuna exports last year, China posted the highest increase in terms of earnings.

Teng said canned and fresh-frozen tuna shipments from this city to China last year netted at least US$2.64 million, up from the US$1.97 million generated in 2003.

Canned tuna exports to China went up by 16 percent or US$ 2.2 million from last year’s US$ 1.9 million while fresh-frozen processed tuna exports amounted to US$ 443,127 or more than six times higher compared to the 2003 level of US$ 67,500, he said.

“This is a clear indication that China indeed, is becoming a great potential export market for Philippine processed tuna products,” he stressed.

Although the shipments to China are still considered minimal compared with their traditional markets such as the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), Teng said they expect (China) to catch up with these markets over the next few years.

Overall, Teng said, records from the Bureau of Customs here showed that canned tuna exports last year increased by 14 percent or about US$153 million versus the 2003 export performance of US$134 million.

Of the total estimated US$381 million worth of exports shipped from this city, canned tuna topped the list, accounting for at least 40 percent or US$153 million. Canned tuna shipments from at least seven local canneries reached 92,517.58 metric tons last year.

Completing the list of top five exports are frozen yellowfin tuna loins/round/chilled/steak/fillet with $22,338,639 million and fresh tuna chilled/loins/ round with $6,385,475 million. Number two of the list is crude coconut oil with $82,253,074 million followed by canned pineapple with $77,281,009 million.

The major canned tuna markets last year were Europe at 46 percent, US at 42 percent, Japan at 5.6 percent, Canada at 1.7 percent and China at 1.5 percent. Middle East contributed about 0.64 percent, Korea with 0.11 percent while Taiwan and Hongkong shared a minimal 0.05 percent.

For fresh and frozen processed tuna exports, the total value reached more than $30 million, at least 54 percent of which were shipped to the US while the balance were shared by Japan (24 percent) and Europe (7.2 percent). Middle East accounted for 2.2 percent and China 1.47 percent.