Euro Traded At USD 1,60 For First Time, Shifts Tuna Balancesff
22 April 2008
United States The euro extended gains on Tuesday and traded above $1.60 for the first time since its 1999 inception amid growing expectations that the European Central Bank's next move may be a hike in benchmark interest rates.
In midmorning trading in New York, the euro rose as high as $1.6002, a record, according to Reuters data. It last traded 0.5 percent higher at $1.5981 <EUR=>.
The declining dollar keeps strengthening the buyer power of European buyers of whole round tuna and processed tuna products in the pacific region. Canners in Thailand are complaining that Europe is buying their raw material away, while at the same time labor costs in a dollar country like Ecuador keep getting more attractive for Spanish owned tuna operations in Ecuador. US tuna brands have a hard time coping with their weaker dollar and higher tuna prices.
