End To Growth Of Italian Canned Tuna Imports ff

The expansion of the import of canned tuna into Italy from countries outside the European Union seems to have stalled in 2006. For this first time in the last 7 years imports of both canned tuna in oil and in brine did not show any sign of continued growth.  

Last year the country received 356,611 cartons (on the basis of 48x185g) of tuna natural and this was a remarkable 58% less in comparison to 2004 when the volume in brine was at its highest at the level of 854,644 units.  After the peak in 2004 the imports of tuna in brine have started declining.

Italian imports of canned tuna in oil remained almost flat and just dropped only 1% to 2.318,067 cases. The last seven years the country purchased more of this product every year increasing from 1.185,122 boxes in 2000 to more than 2.300,000.

Ivory Coast has remained the main supplier to Italy taking shares of 9% for canned tuna in oil and 29% for brine pack in 2006.

Spain remains overall the most important foreign supplier to the Italian tuna consumers, with a 53% share of imports.  The Iberian canners shipped in total 4.1 million cases in 2006, which was just 1% less compared to the previous year.

 

The import statistics available on the first quarter of 2007 showed no significant chances- which might indicate that imports might remain flat also over the entire 2007.