Alliance Tuna Bullish On Export Prospects ff

Canned Tuna Exporter Alliance Tuna International Inc. is optimistic that its export revenues grew 30 percent last year and will increase by another 20 percent this year.

Company president Jonathan Dee said in an interview that Alliance Tuna thanks to the strong Euro was able to increase its exports to markets to the European Community, which helped it deal with the softening buying power of the American market with a weak dollar.

Dee also said that despite the dwindling supply of tuna, which caused prices to climb to their highest in 30 years, Alliance Tuna was able to increase its production of processed fish last year by 22 percent.

Dee said Alliance Tuna currently sells to 47 countries and wants to expand to high-growth areas such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

To finance expansion plans, Alliance Tuna said it might consider borrowing or selling additional shares “at the right time”.

Alliance Tuna’s net sales for the nine months ending Sept. 30 last year grew 33 percent to $31.1 million from $23.5 million in the same period in 2006.

Alliance Tuna shipped a total of 729 full container loads (FCLs) of canned tuna products for the period, 73 FCLs more than the previous year's volume of 656 FCLs.

The strong sales growth was attributed to the surge in orders from all the major markets, a wider client base and introduction of new products.

Export sales to the North American market comprised 21 percent of export revenues while sales to the European market accounted for 63 percent.

The company did not reveal yet what profit it made on its canned tuna activities, or which impact their increased sales had on their bottom line.