By Atuna
The turmoil in North Africa, fights in Ivory Coast, the after effects of the Japanese tsunami and the fall-out of radioactivity from the destroyed nuclear energy plant in Fukushima, have caused an important impact on the market for tuna in the first quarter of 2011. With prices of yellowfin on a relative stable level, tuna prices for canning are increasing as a result of adversary developments in demand in different important consumer markets.
Demand in the North African area, more specifically in the important Libyan market, decreased sharply as a result of the political unrest; the armed conflict between the Libyan leader Gadaffi and rebels. This effect is more than compensated by the growing demand for canned tuna products for the Japanese market.
After the prices for main size skipjack dropped, tuna prices for canning at the Bangkok market rose again for April deliveries, due to the higher demand from Japan. This is expected to be an ongoing trend. The Tsunami eventually destroyed a part of the Japanese capacity for canning industry, as well as ships and harbor installations. But even in this recovery stage the Japanese consumers are believed to distrust their locally caught tuna, fresh, frozen as well as canned -from their own waters- due to the fear for radioactive contamination of the seas after the leakage of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
While this is expected to create a considerable new demand for imported canned tuna for the Japanese market, the Thai canning industry has to cope with an upcoming limited supply of raw material. The supply will be effected negatively by the three month closure for Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD’s) which will be applied in the Western and Central Pacific from the first of July. Purse seiner captures in the Indian Ocean continued to be low. Prices in Bangkok for skipjack over the last 2 weeks have started firming from about USD 1550 to just over USD 1650 CFR per M/T.
Prices at the Spanish market on the other hand fell due to a sudden rise in supply after the conflict in Ivory Coast made landings in the port of Abidjan impossible, and carriers were diverted to Spanish ports. The Spanish fleet that first fled for the pirates at the African East Coast, now had to cope with lack of alternative landing ports with processing centers at the Western African coasts.
Skipjack pricing was quoted around USD 1550 per ton, while yellowfin quoted USD 2550 per ton, with a firming trend being expected.