Strengthening US Dollar Starts Showing Effect On Skipjack Prices ff

By Atuna

The recently strengthening of US Dollars against the Euro is weakening the buying power of the European tuna processors and retailers in the global tuna market. If this trend continues, it could have a more prominent downward effect on the world’s frozen skipjack prices.

The weakening of the Euro means that, in the coming months, European consumers will also start to feel the pinch and will likely see even steeper price rises for canned tuna on the shelves.

The graph below shows a mirror trend between whole round frozen skipjack prices CFR Bangkok (1.8kg and up) and EUR/USD rates. With Europe being the world’s largest tuna market for canned tuna now, its loss of buying-power could result in importers and processors demanding lower prices from fishermen. The only way for retailers and European tuna processors to keep their price acceptable to the consumer will be to demand lower fish prices.

Other recent arguments for buyers to start pushing prices down are the upcoming economy crisis both in the USA and Europe, with expected weaker consumer demand, as well as the falling prices of crude oil. The latter is a direct factor affecting the tuna fishing costs.   

At this moment we can see that the US Dollar’s rise is going a lot faster than the speed with which tuna prices are decreasing. This means that skipjack prices in Euros have increased 20% since the beginning of the year.

If the strengthening of the American currency continues, it is not unlikely that a downtrend for tuna prices can set in, turning the mirror trend in the graph in the graph upside down.