Japanese Imports Of Frozen W/R Tuna Continue To Dropff
16 April 2008
The Netherlands Japanese imports of frozen whole round tuna took yet another large fall last year. Imports went down by 20%, an equivalent to 48.986 M/T, dropping from 245.446 M/T in 2006 to 197.460 M/T in 2007.
The major influencing factor in this equation was the volume decline of Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna. Frozen whole round Skipjack showed a dramatic 38% decrease. Japan landed 31.312 M/T in 2007, while it had imported 50.454 M/T the previous year. Despite this negative outcome, Skipjack stayed in third position as most important frozen tuna species in terms of volume.
Imports of Yellowfin, which is still the second major player, dropped by a sharp 25%; going from 90.265 M/T in 2006 to 58.695 M/T in 2007.
Bigeye, the primary tuna species landed in Japan, was the exception. It showed a slight 1% increase and reached 86.831 M/T maintaining its leading position.
Looking at the chart here above, Japanese imports of frozen whole round tuna have been gradually declining year after year.
