Jul / Aug / Sep 2000 Archive

Canned matches Fresh/Frozen on taste & Nutrition USA, July 01, 00
Whoever said that fresh is best may have to eat those words. A recent study conducted by the University of Massachusetts (UMass) found that recipes using canned ingredients are similar in nutritional values and taste appeal to those made with fresh or frozen items. This is the first phase of a three-part nutrition study that tested 13 "family-friendly'' recipes that appeal to both parents and children. The research analyzed nutritional content of entire recipes comparing such nutrients as protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The study also conducted sensory analysis evaluating taste, appearance, color, aroma and texture of dishes prepared with canned, fresh and/or frozen ingredients.
"We analyzed 13 popular breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes that both children and parents might enjoy in their own kitchen. This allowed us to use a variety of ingredients -- fruits, vegetables, beans, meat, chicken and fish -- in canned, fresh and/or frozen forms,'' said Ken Samonds, Ph.D., nutrition study director and associate professor of human nutrition at the University of Massachusetts. ``For this study, we tested recipes that were selected from well-known cookbooks. The university analyzed a variety of dishes ranging from vegetable pizza and chicken tacos to fruit smoothies and vegetable soup.
This is the third and most complex nutrition study that tested canned foods versus their fresh and frozen counterparts. Previous studies conducted by the University of Illinois compared individual canned food items rather than entire recipes. In 1995, the University of Illinois compared the nutritional values of canned fruits and vegetables to fresh and frozen products. They expanded the research in 1997 by broadening the food categories and extending the nutrition study to compare additional nutrients.
"Our research found similar nutrient profiles of dishes made from canned, fresh and/or frozen ingredients,'' Samonds said. ``In fact, recipes made with canned ingredients are good sources of many nutrients, like their fresh and frozen counterparts. Our results also showed that recipes prepared with canned foods delivered favorably on taste, appearance, aroma and texture.'' Key findings from the nutrition study included:
-- The Tuna Salad Wrap recipe, prepared two ways with white tuna,pita bread, celery, chopped apples and mango -- one with canned ingredients and one with fresh ingredients -- proved to be an excellent source of protein, niacin, vitamin B-12 and riboflavin,regardless of the ingredient form.For more information check the site of the Canned Food Alliance online at www.mealtime.org http://www.mealtime.org.

                              Fourth Quarter Ended      Fiscal Year Ended
                             ---------------------    ---------------------
                               May 3,      April 28,       May 3,     April 28,
                               2000         1999          2000        1999
                            (14 weeks)   (13 weeks)  (53 weeks)  (52 weeks)
                            ----------  ----------   ----------  ----------
    
    Tuna                    287,717     284,235    1,059,317   1,084,847

Turtle ruling hurts Hawaii longliners  USA, July 03, 00
A federal judge's ruling severely limiting fishing time and locations to protect endangered sea turtles may wind up sinking Hawaii's longline fishing industry. The commercial fishing industry says the ruling will drive up prices for fish and lead to the loss of ``mom-and-pop'' family enterprises that employ up to 2,000 people and contribute $165 million to Hawaii's economy.
Environmental groups had sued to limit the amount of fishing by the 115-boat fleet of longliners, commercial boats that lay out miles of hook-laden lines to catch tuna and swordfish. The NMFS - National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that an average of 115 turtles die each year after getting caught in the nets. All species of sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened because of hunting for use as food and jewelry.
The June 23 ruling by U.S. District Judge David Ezra bans longliners from a 2.5 million-square-mile area north of Hawaii. It also limits each boat in the current fleet to about six days of fishing each year in a 4-million-square-mile area south of Hawaii, with no fishing allowed during April and May. Ezra originally gave longliners 30 days to comply, but this week extended the deadline to six months.
``These guys are like the mom-and-pop stores'' of fishing, said Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. ``What if you told a store owner he could only open six days a year? How could someone make a living?'' The ruling also mandates federally trained observers aboard each vessel, a practical impossibility with only four observers currently in place to monitor the fleet.
Earthjustice sued the National Marine Fisheries Service on behalf of the Center for Marine Conservation and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The groups accused the agency of violating the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws by allowing turtles to die as incidental catch and failing to accurately assess impact on turtle populations.
Longliners are asking Ezra to reconsider his ruling. If he doesn't, an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is likely, said Jim Cook, president of the Western Pacific Regional

Bangkok remains depressed Thailand, July 03, 00
The news coming from Bangkok is not going to cheer us up. There has been almost no upward movement in the past week in the raw material price for skipjack whole round abt 1.8kg. Quotes were made around US$ 400 CFR BKK, but still hardly any demand. The coldstorages in Thailand are almost all entirely full with tuna, mostly skipjack, from Bangkok to Hathay in the South. The bad news is that there is no single sign of improvement in sight. The supply of frozen fish has come down on one hand, but the demand from processors on the other hand has not increased at all. Several packers, and notably Thailand's largest hold a very high stock of finished product. These stocks being the result of continued production, even when there was no demand, hang over the market. Problems with exports to Saudi Arabia, the almost impossible competition in Europe with ACP countries, limited demand from the States, have forced packers in making occasionally very low offers in certain export markets in order to release inventory. Unfortunately for them, this has resorted to little success so far. Even recent 1-2 week shut downs of several canneries has not given the desired result. If no increase in demand from the export markets will come, the financial pressure on packers to sell their stocks very cheaply will only increase, and raw materials might still not be able to rise. It seems like a dramatic decrease in catching efforts and supply of frozen fish is the only way to get out of this dramatic situation. Unfortunately with the current struggle of especially smaller fishing companies trying to survive this depression, it seem unlikely there will be any grand reduction soon.

EPO catches increased  first half 2000   Ecuador, July 03, 00
Data from the IATTC  Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission) shows that reported catches in the EPO ( Eastern Pacific Ocean) have once again increased this year. Total catches up to June 26th 2000 amounted 334,209 M/T of all species combined. Skipjack was the specie that accounted exclusively for this rise. Skipjack catches continued to increase to 149.357 M/T compared to 136.768 M/t in 1999 (+10%). This is supported by the average daily caught skipjack volume per boat, which has jumped abt 18% compared to '99. Remarkable is that most of the increased catches seem to come from vessels over 900 M/T. These big boats increased there average daily catch by about 30% to 4.5 tons a day !  Smaller boats kept almost the same 2.4 tons daily.
Yellowfin catches in the EPO show quite the opposite picture. Total caught volume declined by about 10% from 158,379 m/t in '99 to 144.284 in 2000 over the same period. This is reflected in the average daily yellowfin catch for all purse seiners, which has dropped significantly from 9.7 M/T in 1999 to 5 M/T this year (almost 50% down!). Most of this decline is suffered by the smaller boats <900 tons, they went down from 6.2 M/T per day to as low as 2.6 M/T.  This indicates that significant extra fishing efforts, longer trips and costs, were needed to bring the same tonnage in.

new tuna boats under construction    Europe, July 03, 00
The renovation of the Spanish fleet continues with the construction of 3 new purseseiners in Spain. The Spanish shipyard "Barreras, Hijo" is building 3 new tuna boats. For the Spanish Tuna fishing company Albacora s.a.  they are constructing the Albacora Tres, which will have a length of 112 m. and a beam of 16.6 m., delivery is planned for July 2000. This boat will have a catching capacity of 3250 M/T. The same company also owns the Albacora Uno , one of the largest purse seiners in the world.
Atunaros Congeladores is building even a slightly smaller boat then the Albacora Tres. Their Artza will measure 112 m. but with a catching capacity of 2930 M/T will will also be one of the major players on the high seas. Next to the Artza "Barreras Hijo" is constructing a third boat for the boat owner Pebertu, the "Bermeotarrak". This boat of 85.7 m.  is like the other two, powered by a Wartsila engine with a total power of 3898 Kw. Delivery of the "Bermeotarrak is expected for next year June.
With the current market conditions with raw material prices at abt. US$ 400 p. M/T for skipjack, these new boats will not be able to break even for its first year. Obvious is that the technological advance will continue in the tuna fisheries, creating higher efficiencies and better quality of fish. However in order to make their operation profitable a dramatic increase in prices is badly needed. (source: Baird publications"ships & boats" on order database)

Muslim rebels demand fishing ban Philippines, July 03, 00
In the negotiation process with Philippine government officials the rebels that hold the hostages on the Island of Moro have demanded at least $1 million for each hostage but also an independent homeland and a ban on fishing in the seas of Southern Philippines. The government has said it will not pay any ransom or give more than limited autonomy to Muslim-majority areas in the south. But privately, many officials have admitted that some ransom would have to be paid. It is also very unlikely that a ban on fishing will be effected. The local waters of the Southern Philippines has been become of less importance to the total tuna catch by the Philippine fleet. Many vessels purse seiners target tuna on the high seas, due to the decrease in in catches in the South. However still the fresh "wet" trade sources all its fish from these waters. Autonomy for Mindanao and the demanded fishing ban would have a disastrous effect on the tuna canning business in General Santos, but it seems very unlikely that this situation will ever occur.

Skipjack offered attractively by Philippine fleet  Indonesia July 04, 00
As we previously reported are Philippine and Taiwanese fishing companies have been unloading fish in Indonesia, due to the stagnating market in Bangkok and also in an effort to save the high transportation charges for bringing fish by carrier to Thailand. At this moment Indonesian canned tuna processors have access to low priced skipjack whole round fish at US$ 360/Mt CIF Indo port. At the same time the catching of the local fleet    in Indonesian waters is also reported to be good . The recent further decline of the Rupiah (8950) versus US$ has provided some opportunities for local catchers to cash up some profit on a favorable exchange rate. The softening in raw material has also affected the prices for canned tuna, which again declined about 2-3% during the last.

Koreans obtain license for Tonga Philippines July 05, 00
Unlike most pacific islands Tonga does not rely on fishing license payments by foreign fleets, preferring to reserve its waters for local fishermen. However according to a recent report, a deal may have been reached with a limited number of South Korean tuna vessel owners in a move to develop the potential of the tuna industry. Tonga-based companies have increased exports of tuna from almost nothing in the early 90's to almost US$ 2.5 million in 1998.(source: Infofish Trade News).

Albacore catch still delayed Indonesia July 06, 00
The  Indonesian albacore season around Java seems to be delayed by a couple of months. The market has difficulty to cope with a steady and larger than expected demand from the U.S.A for white tuna, which has been  pushing up the price of the finished product foodservice  by US$ 1/cs. Yellowfin remains relatively firm due to the continued steady demand for fresh/chilled and frozen fish from Japan. Tongol catches are somewhat increasing indicating that the catching season is there again. The market for canned Tongol also shows some relative firmness in the pricing, with price rises expected between 4-8%.

Thai GMO problems in Saudi still unsolved Indonesia, July 07, 00
According to sources in Bangkok the ports of Saudi Arabia still hold abt. 200 containers of packed, labeled and cartonized canned tuna which are still awaiting entry into the country. The refusal of the Saudi authorities to grant access to the market of these containers with canned tuna, is the result of discussions regarding the GMO matter. Saudi officials barred the product from entry, because they were packed in vegetable / soybean oil, which was suspected to be made out of genetically modified soybeans. Since the problems arose earlier this year Thai packers have been heavily affected by this issue, and have lost access to this vital export market. It seems that so far, despite intensive lobbying, no solution has been provided yet for those containers lying in Saudi ports, which were shipped from Thailand prior to the ban. 

Stock exchange threatens to delist Bintuni Minaraya Indonesia, July 10, 00
The Jakarta stock exchange have issued some new regulation threatening to de-list companies who didn’t release their 1999 audited account by July 10 . It could affect PT Bintuni Minaraya (BMR), along with not less than 19 other listed companies . BMR, one of South-East Asia's largest fishing companies, and the #1 in Indonesia, has a total fleet of about 500 vessels. BMR coordinates its fishing activities through a network of five bases from its headquarter in Jakarta. BMR operates the former PT Biak factory (which was once owned by PT Mantrust), on the island of Biak, which is close to Irian Jaya. This plant has not been very active lately and production has been on and off.
BMR is part of the Djajanti group, which is active in a wide range of business activities, such as timber, palm oil, sago etc.

Fiji's Pacific Fishing Tuna cannery overrun by rebels Philippines July 12, 00
Fijian villagers supporting nationalist rebel leader George Speight took over the Levuka tuna cannery, The Pacific Fishing Company, burned down a Masonic lodge and tried to overrun a police station on a small island on Monday. The violence erupted hours after Fiji's military signed a deal allowing the rebels, who have overthrown the Pacific nation's elected government, a role in choosing a new administration in exchange for the release of 27 hostages on Thursday. It is all quite confusing since its are Speight his supporters starting the violence after they had successfully signed an agreement.
Speight and his group have held the hostages -- including deposed ethnic Indian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry -- since May 19, demanding that ethnic Fijians should dominate government. The military said the Levuka violence would be easily contained with the cooperation of Speight and his men.
A large crowd later took over Levuka's tuna cannery and took the general manager hostage. Levuka is a former whaling settlement which was set up already in the 1830s, and is about 70 km (45 miles) northeast of the capital Suva. The Pacific Fishing Company cannery, has been occupied by about 200 Speight supporters. They were holding general manager Miti Baleivanualala hostage but would not harm him. ``We will stay here until Thursday,'' occupants said, referring to the date set by rebels for the release of Chaudhry and the other hostages still held at the parliament in Suva.
Recently Starkist had signed an agreement of cooperation with the Levuka Pacific Fishing tuna operation, involving the supply of frozen cooked loins to its tuna canneries. Thus benefiting from attractive labor costs and limiting the transportation costs of fish from the fishing grounds, around Fiji,  to its canning operations.
Speight's rebellion has halted much of the economic activity on which Fiji depends. Tourists have stayed away and much of the sugar cane crop has been left rotting in the fields. The effect on the tuna industry has not been quite clear so far. But obviously this recent event will be quite a setback for this operation.
The recent agreement grants Speight and his gunmen amnesty, and empowers the influential tribal elders' group, the Great Council of Chiefs, to choose a president and vice-president and to have a say in naming a civilian government. Fiji's    multi-ethnic constitution will be abandoned. Part of Speights initiatives are aimed at the effective exclusion of ethnic Indians from power. Indians were first brought to Fiji in the 19th century by British colonizers to work in the sugar cane fields and now make up about 44 percent of Fiji's 800,000 population.

Netherlands Imports 1 jan '99 - 31 aug '99   Europe, July 14, 00

Philippine packers in dual position  Philippines July 14, 00
In General Santos the price for frozen skipjack has remained at the level of abt $370-$380 M/T for good size and quality fish. Demand is still very slow, and most tuna packers continue to run well below their capacity.  Catching has been said to be getting less the last few days, due to bad weather, increasing winds, typical for the monsoon season. So far this had no effect on the market price.
The Del Mar factory in General Santos City  has been shut down temporarily and RFM has been producing solely for the domestic market. In determining whether they should produce, packers are in a somewhat dual position. On one hand the incredibly low raw material ($30-40 below the level CF Bkk) should motivate them to produce full capacity and build up stocks of product they can ship out easily all around the year, speculating on increasing prices. On the other hand there is still no demand, limited financial resources, and no outlook on improvement, so packers do not feel even confident that they will benefit from building new stocks, it might just work against them. The lack of raw material demand is quite a problem for the fishing companies. Although there is limited involvement of some fishing companies into 2 canning operations,  it is known that catchers are considering which way to go in terms of assuring a continuos future outlet of their fish through canned tuna production.

Political situation Mindanao remains tense Philippines July 14, 00
The recent offensive of the Philippine army of several rebel camps, has led to threats from the MILF side that they would look for revenge by sowing more terror in General Santos. In the past these threats have been executed, so people are quite tense about what is to come. Business activity has reduced quite dramatically, which is observed for example through the extremely low occupancy rates in the two major business hotels in the city.

Ecuadorian skipjack catches plummet, prices  up Ecuador July 14, 00
In Ecuador there seems to have come an end to the almost continuously very good catches of skipjack during the last 1 1/2 year. Catches are reported to be quite disappointing and prices for frozen skipjack have been started to go up to about US$ 500 M/T CF Manta. With the threat of a possible ban in September on the fishing with FAD's (floating objects) some tuna processors have been getting slightly nervous about the future supply situation. With the export of pre-cooked frozen tuna loins to mainly Spain booming, the management of some factories are preparing themselves in assuring supply. Because a lot of immature big-eye tuna gets caught in fishing on skipjack with floating objects, the IATTC is expected to order a ban till December 2000 on this fishing method so Big-eye stocks can sustain. This creates a big problem for the smaller fishing boats who rely solely on the very effective FAD fishing method, and do not have enough facilities on board for school fishing on the high seas.
Last week several packers have contacted their colleagues to fill up gaps in their raw material supply, in order to meet contracts.  One major packer send out an inquiry to the Ecuadorian fishing community for the supply of 4000/5000 M/T monthly of whole round skipjack for the coming 5 months. These are possibly signs that a turnaround in the supply of skipjack is expected, and that packers are racing to secure raw material supply for production of tuna loins contracted for delivery later this year, when skipjack supply could stall.

Belgium Italy's #1 export market   Europe, July 19, 00
The import statistics over the first 8 months of 1999 show that Belgium seems to have become the most important export market of canned tuna from Italy. This is quite surprising considering that traditionally Greece has been the main export market for Italy during the last 10 years.  The Italian industry has been mainly concentrated on the export of solid pack yellowfin product mostly packed in high quality olive oil.  The Belgium consumer seems to have developed quite an appetite for the Italian product has been willing to pay a good price for the product. Belgium retailers have paid an average price of approx. EURO 38,83 per case,  based on units of 48 tins of each 185g net weight. This means double the price that Belgium retailers are paying for skipjack in brine 48x185g to French exporters. Main Italian exporters are Rio Mare and Palmera, of which Palmera has been marketing strongly their yellowfin solid olive oil in glass jars. Exports to other markets show that the Belgium consumer has proven once again it's image of being willing to pay for top quality product, which can hardly be said of consumers in the Netherlands and Germany.
The slump of Italian exports to Greece seems to find it's cause in the increased competition from Thailand, which looks to have strengthened its position in Greece quite significantly. When final data on Greek imports in all of 1999 are available we will hopefully get a clearer picture of these developments.

Albacore on the rise Indonesia, July 20, 00
Indonesia reports diappointing catches around Bali for Albacore. Due to bad weather conditions, fisherman were not able to go out, which has caused the prices for whole round albacore to rise to $2700 M/T.

Prices tongol foodservice 20% up Indonesia, July 20, 00
During the last few weeks prices also in Thailand have been rising, and due to delayed catches of tongol in Indonesia supply has been very limited. The tongol season in Indonesia is from June/July till Nov/Dec.  As a result of the slow supply, prices for foodservice 66,5 oz food service tuna  fro export to the USA have increased by about 20%.

EPO fleet mostly unfilled, catches decline Ecuador July 21, 00
Most of the vessels fishing in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) are currently not filled. The IATTC reports that 74% of the total 156000 M/t of the total monitored tuna fishing capacity is unfilled. Considering that abt 70% of the fleet is on the ocean chasing skipjack and yellowfin, this is another indication that especially skipjack, but also yellowfin fishing is rapidly declining in the EPO. With good catches more boats would be unloading, and more capacity filled on its way to port. This is also supported by other data, which shows that last week EPO vessels totally only caught   1500 M/T of skipjack and 2500 M/T of yellowfin, which is very low. This decrease in catches is already having in impact on raw material prices in Ecuador which are on the rise from abt US$ 500 M/T landed for skipjack. When situation continues like this more increases could be expected.

Korean tie up expired Thailand, July 25, 00
Korean tuna boats have gone fishing tuna again after most of the fleet, has been tied up for almost two months. Korea has the second largest tuna fleet in the world. Most Korean purse seiners stopped fishing in Mid May in a move to reduce the fishing activity and volume being caught, hoping such a measure would have a positive up-ward effect on the skipjack prices, and the return on their fishing operations.. Is seems however that the Korean initiative did not lead to any significant price improvement. The skipjack price is still around US$ 400-410 CF Bangkok for 1.8kg, and no immediate change is expected. The re-entering on the Korean fleet into the market, will not create much optimism about an up-ward move in prices.

Catches in Western Pacific down Philippines, July 25, 00
Fishermen report very disappointing catches due to strong weather in the fishing waters between PNG and Indonesia. Most vessels are nowadays concentrating on FAD fishing, and most of them are anchored or positioned close to their own FAD's. The weather circumstances make scholl fishing unattractive, but also fuel- intensive and therefore costly. With raw material prices being so low, and oil prices still on the increase, fishing companies are trying to keep their fishing techniques as fuel efficient as possible. Most of the boats are still selling frozen skipjack at US$ 400 or just below. Sales to canneries are avoided as much as possible, because the fresh market provides better prices, but according to fishermen, also better payment !

W.P yellowfin price to US$970 Philippines, July 25, 00
The prices for yellowfin are still on the rise in Philippines, as a result of slow catches, and strong demand from Japan. For large size fish, which can be exported to Japan, prices go up to US$ 970 CF p. M/T, but prices for small size yellowfin tuna are quite some lower at US$ 800 landed.

Paris boat-owners meeting produces no solutions Europe, July 25, 00
Orthongel, the French boat-owners association, organized last July 12th a meeting in Paris at which it also invited colleague boat-owners from other fishing nations. The meeting was attended by the management of fishing companies from France, Spain, Korea and Taiwan. According to our source, one of the goals of the meeting was to analyze the current skipjack supply situation, find causes and to look for solutions. Those present concluded that the cause was to be found in too much fishing activity, which has led to current an oversupply situation in skipjack. Those present however could not agree on any move towards a in decrease capacity or time at sea.

Direct Call Service to Indonesia Indonesia, July 25, 00
A group of shipping lines namely Grand Alliance have signed an aggrement with Jakarta port (JICT) inviting the world’s largest container shipping alliance to run a direct call service between Indonesia’s premier container terminal and ports in North Europe. The partners cooperate throughout the world in sharing vessels, facilities and services on all major trade routes. The alliance intended to operate 8 vessels to serve the route, with ports of call Southampton of Britain, Rotterdam of the Netherlands, Hamburg of Germany, and La Spezia of Italy. Shippers can take the advantage of this route to other destinations through transshipment at these ports. The fact that Jakarta is included as a direct calling port now, is a positive indication of the business prospects from and to Indonesia.
Furthermore, Tanjung Priok (= Jakarta’s port) and JICT are supposed to be ready now to handle Grand Alliance vessels so that Jakarta can be promoted to be the hub to transship cargoes from and to other Indonesian ports. Hutchison (majority takeholder in the joint-owned JICT) has already invested US$20 million for new facilities procurement and workers training program and has plans to invest another US$200 million in JICT for a service expansion. With this investment Hutchison expect to enable JICT to double its container throughput capacity within the next four years to 4 million TEU’s. These will definitely gives a considerable impulse to the present throughput capacity of Tanjung Priok of 2.27 million TEU’s (recorded as 19th biggest container terminal in 1999). For your information Hong Kong, recorded as 1st, has a throughput capacity of 16.2 million TEU’s per year.

Carrefour buys GB Inno Belgium / becomes Europe's largest canned tuna buyer ! Europe, July 25, 00
Carrefour, the French food retailer, and Europe's largest food distributor has bought the remaining 72.5% stake in Belgian GB Inno for 670 million Euro. GB Inno is the leading Belgian supermarket chain, with expected pretax sales of about 3.7 billion Euro in 2000. Carrefour only buys the food stores, not the Quick fast food restaurants. Carrefour already owned 27.5 percent of GB. Negotiations have been going on for some time. According to insiders one of the reasons for the move is the fear of Carrefour of the expansion of Wal-Mart within Europe. It has been a public secret that GB Inno was continuously losing money. Carrefour is already the biggest food retailer in France, Spain and Greece and the second largest in Italy, and will also become market leader in Belgium now. GB Inno has also sold it's polish stores to Carrefour.By 2001, most GB supermarkets will take on the Carrefour name.
Through these transactions Carrefour has also become Europe's leading canned tuna buyer, taking almost all of its supply  from ACP countries, mostly Africa. For the time being both companies will have independent buying departments, and no major changes are expected until 2001.

Usisa invests in a new canned fish plant Europe, July 26, 00
Spanish canned fish producer Usisa (Union Salazonera Islena) has allocated Pta 1,000mn in order to build a 12,000 m2 factory.
The new plant, which would be operative at the beginning of 2001, will have a 100 tonnes production capacity per day. It will produce canned tuna, fish and mackerel. In 1999, Usisa registered Pta 53mn net profits and Pta 1,719mn sales. Exports represented 12% of total turnover. In this period, it marketed 5,700 tonnes of canned fish (COPYRIGHT BY FAO Globefish, Rome, Italy)

Humboldt stream sends skipjack west Ecuador July 26, 00
The low temperatures registered since the last two months, have influenced directly in the industrial and white fishing in Ecuador.Biologists explained that the temperature in the Guayaquil Gulf is 2° C below normal, and it is between 18° and 19° C. This does not represent major harm for the fishing volume in general. However it drives the smaller skipjack west, further away, creating longer trips. At the same time together with the cold Humboldt stream, arriving from the South of the continent, are pelagic species which are also useful for the canned fish exporting industry.The reason is that the fish search for warmer water than what they found in the south. Equatorial shores are currently populated with mackerel and herring. The president of the Ecuadorian Fisheries Chamber, César Rohón, explained that the presence of these species allows the recovery of the sardines and mackerel sector after the damage caused by "El Niño" two years ago.

In spite of this good signal, the cold waters make the ocean shrimp and small and medium tunas (skipjack and yellow fin)to emigrate towards the west. This way, they look for warmer waters such as the ones in Galápagos Islands and Asia. For the fishermen this is a headache because in Galápagos the limit for fishing is 40 nautic miles from the shore, which keeps them from fishing there. Another specie that arrives in this season is the whale, which consumes a lot of pelagics.

Although tuna and other fishes production is fairly good, international prices have dropped to 50% and have caused a reduction in exports. Canned tuna during the first five months of the year have dropped 33% in comparison with the same period in 1999. Although Ecuadorian Fisheries Chamber showed optimism and pointed that canned tuna exports will remain similar to those of last year.

Lower temperatures benefit white fishing, because larger fishes stay. Guillermo Morán, executive director of the Association of white fishing exporters of Ecuador (Asoexpebla), stated that now they have high catches and production of yellowfin and big-eye tuna. However mahi-mahi, marlin and swordfish emigrate to the warmer waters of the north. "The temperature and the production are normal, it will be a good summer for us", he added. White fishing exports rise to aprox 2 million pounds per month, out of that 60% is fresh tuna, 25% is mahi-mahi and 15% the rest.

Fresh fish exports between January and May reached USD 11'171.927, which means a reduction of 57% in comparison with the same period of 1999, when USD 17'636.385 were sold. In spite of the figures, Morán stated that the market to sell the national production is almost granted because of their high quality. 90% of it correspond to U.S.A.

Movement of species along the continent:
Moving South :Mackerel, Herring
Static: Yellowfin and Big-eye tuna (Big sizes)
Moving West:Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna (Small sizes)
Moving North: Swordfish, Mahi-Mahi

Japan: Hagaroma markets product with Tuna and chicken Philippines, July 26, 00
Hagoromo Foods (Hagoromo) of Japan has obtained a "Specific Health Food" status from the food authorities for its "Sea Chicken L Flakes (Kenko Echona)". The product was unveiled in Japan. It is priced at ¥ 175 for a 80-gram can. The "Kenko Echona Oil" used in the mixture of tuna and chicken is produced by Kao

"Kinkai" skipjack fish available at lower price Thailand, July 26, 00
In the last two weeks Japanese traders in Bangkok have offered low priced "Kinkai" skipjack tuna to canneries at prices around US$ 380 p. M/T. "Kinkai" is a skipjack with an high oil content and often softer meat, which is not fit for the Japanese markets. This "Kinkai" skipjack cannot be used for producing canned tuna in brine, but only for oil pack. This makes the product also unfit for export the U.S.A market, which is pre-dominantly a brine market. Most probably most of this lower priced raw material  tuna will be used for exports to Germany and Eastern Europe. In the past arrivals of  big quantities of "Kinkai" in the market let to a sharp drop in the market price for tuna. Since this concerns a limited qu7antity, the price for normal frozen round skipjack 1.8 kg remained at the level of US$ 400-410 CF Bangkok, and no immediate price movement is expected.

Thai canned tuna certified GMO free for Kuwait Thailand, July 26, 00
Kuwait has lifted a ban on imports of Thai canned tuna after receiving a letter of guarantee from the Thai Government that the products were free from genetically modified soy oil. Saudi Arabia is expected to lift a similar ban soon following tests by a British food company.

                        International Home Foods, Inc.
            (Dollars in millions except per share and share data)

                                  Three Months Ended         Six Months Ended
                                       June 30,                  June 30,
                                   2000         1999         2000        1999
    Net sales                    $530.6       $512.6     $1,092.0    $1,026.8
    Cost of sales                 270.4        272.1        563.6       552.5

    Gross profit                  260.2        240.5        528.4       474.3
    % of net sales                49.0%        46.9%        48.4%       46.2%

    Total operating expenses      188.9        173.5        389.0      344.2

    Income from operations         71.3         67.0        139.4       130.1
    % of net sales                13.4%        13.1%        12.8%       12.7%

    Interest expense               24.3         24.6         49.3        50.4
    Other (income) expense, net     0.3        (0.4)          0.6       (0.6)
    Gain on sale of business         --           --           --      (15.8)

    Income before provision
     for income taxes              46.7         42.8         89.5        96.1
    Provision for income taxes     17.7         16.7         34.0        37.5

    Net income                    $29.0        $26.1        $55.5       $58.6

    Basic earnings per share      $0.39        $0.36        $0.75       $0.80
    Weighted average basic
     shares outstanding      74,081,914   73,427,938   74,000,144  73,365,602

    Diluted earnings per share    $0.38        $0.34        $0.73       $0.77
    Weighted average diluted
     shares outstanding      76,170,434   75,781,554   76,099,571  75,792,114

Some packers start buying aggressively   Philippines, August 03, 00
As we reported recently on the dual position that some Philippine packers are in; towards speculating on a rising raw material market, or sitting  back and wait-n-see, it seems that there are  NOW signs that several canned tuna packers in the Philippines have taken their position. Last week we saw one packer in Manila, and at least one in G.S, trying to get as much raw materials as they could at the current level of US$ 400 landed. This buying activity is most probably to support some small forward booked orders to as far as even January 2001, but more a speculative move to secure raw material at a low level, when further price rises are expected for the next 3-4 months.
Other processors are shying away and prefer not to make any offers at the moment. When pushed for prices they are clearly quoting levels 3-4% higher then last week for very limited quantities for prompt to September shipments.
The increased demand due to speculative buying might give catchers more confidence, certainly when considerable deals have been closed and they have been able to release their still extensive stock positions, and improve their cash-flow. Some people in the market expect prices to soar very soon.
In order to push prices up, some fishing companies are now trying to avoid sales to the tuna processors as much as possible for the time being, and increase their focus and activity towards the fresh consumer market, which offers better prices but much lower volumes. Catches remain slow in the meantime, and no deals are being made below the US$ 400 level anymore. Fresh fish is no alternative for processors because due to heavy monsoon weather small vessels have refrained from sailing.

Rebels trying to elicit hatred Moslems - Christians Philippines, August 04, 00
Despite the continued political instability in Mindanao, and regular threats towards the tuna plants in General Santos City, the canned tuna production in most facilities is still running, with a very high level of alert and security still in force.
On the national scene not much has improved on the hostage taking situation by the Abu Sayaf, although some Malaysians have been released. The Philippine government doesn't want to admit it, but it is believed that a huge amount of ransom was paid for the release of some hostages already. Even reporters are not spared,  as not only foreign journalists but also Filipino journalists have been taken hostage (for P10 million). As for the other Muslim  group MILF, they're rumored to be gathering their forces to launch more terrorist attacks in major cities, and not only in Mindanao. As we informed you before, they have declared "Jihad" and one of the indications is the recent massacre of about 30 Christians in Mindanao. The focus of the MILF seems to be to elicit hatred between Moslems and Christians to create more instability and problems in Mindanao. It does not look as if there is a solution for these problems on the short term, and this might on a longer term have a negative effect on the further development of also the tuna business in General Santos.

Philippine oil prices increased again  Philippines, August 07, 00
Oil prices have increased again. This has prompted transport sectors to increase their fares (this will have a domino effect on prices of basic commodities). Taxis have increased their fares to about 50%, while other modes of transport would increase by 35-50%. It is still unknown how much prices of basic commodities will be affected. This recent price-hike is certainly not welcomed by fishermen whom are fiercely trying to reduce their fuel costs in order to have their costs meet the very low market price of skipjack today.

Trading increased but skipjack price stable  Philippines, August 07, 00
Despite increased trading between fishing companies, traders and canned tuna packers in the Philippines, prices for frozen whole skipjack have remained stable around US$ 400 landed or slightly below. Efforts of trying to push the price up have not have had the desirable effect. tthe reason can be found in the fact that, although bad weather has been reported, still sufficient landings of skipjack have been taken place. Confidence in further improvement of skipjack prices in the Philippines is fading, and some are even preparing for not any price-improvement at all for the rest of this year.

WPO fish arrives in Ecuador Ecuador August 14, 00
Shipments from the Western Pacific - likely from Samoa- begin to arrive in Ecuador, in order to supply skipjack to an American owned cannery, which is already experiencing shortage in skipjack supply. With Eastern Pacific tuna catches declining as a result of a strong (cold water) Humboldt current, the need for imported skipjack is growing. Our sources report that Venezuelan and Spanish owned boats returned to port only half full, after having been almost 100 days at sea. The demand for skipjack, mostly for loining is still strong in Ecuador. Recently released statistics show that canned tuna exports to the E.U. have suffered a heavy decline over the first 6 months of this year.

Taiwanese interested in Honduran tuna fishing Thailand, August 14, 00
U.S. and Taiwanese businessmen are interested in tuna processing in Honduras, since the country has been assigned a 1,200-ton tuna fishing quota. According to Deputy Agriculture and Livestock Minister Julian Suazo U.S. and Taiwanese companies will set up tuna processing plants in Puerto Cortes, on the Honduran Caribbean.  Also other foreign companies are interested in establishing a plant on the Honduran Pacific Coast to process 2,000 tons, exceeding the fishing quota assigned to Honduras, Suazo said. However it could be that the interest of these companies lies more in obtaining fishing licenses then actual active tuna processing in the country.
The establishment of the tuna industry, which already employs 250 people, would generate around 400 million dollars a year, according to Suazo, and its product would be mainly destined for the U.S. market.  It is to be noted that at an August 2 meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, Honduras was almost expelled for illegal fishing in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans by 103 Honduran-flagged vessels. Seventeen of the 103 fishing vessels were not listed on any Honduran registry, 21 had their licenses canceled, two bore the same registry number and 61 were given two months to legalize their situation. Honduras expressed its firm intention to uphold international tuna fishing treaties and has been accepted to actively participate in the industry, Suazo stressed.

Mexican government urges USA on dolphin issue USA, August 14, 00
The Government of Mexico has conveyed to the United States an urgent call for political consultations, in order to ensure the compliance of the commitments signed by the United States in the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program and regarding the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. As the U.S. Government has recognized, Mexico has undertaken great efforts to eliminate the death of dolphins in the fishing of tropical tuna. With these steps, Mexico has fully complied with its national and international obligations. However, the U.S. commitment to lift the ban and change the "Dolphin-Free" definition has yet to be conducted. In the case heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the parties have agreed to the calendar of the appeals process and, according to these terms, a ruling by the Court will not be issued until the middle of next year. This serious problem, which has dragged on for over 12 years, will continue to be a pending matter, despite Mexico's full compliance.
The consequences are very negative for the protection of dolphins and many other species. The lack of a full U.S. compliance with the Panama Declaration, and even with the U.S.'s own law for the International Dolphin Conservation Program and the ban in the U.S. market on Mexican tuna as well as tuna from other agreed regions, is fostering the proliferation of the use of unsustainable fishing methods and practices by the fleets of the countries.
This implies the incidental capture of juvenile tuna placing the future of this specie at risk and of other species such as turtles, skipjack, mahi-mahi, marlin and swordfish. In this regard, species which have been a center piece of protection, through so much effort over the last decade, will be negatively impacted. Additionally, while the Mexican tuna fishing industry has exercised great ecological responsibility, the lack of access to the U.S. market represents millions of dollars in lost revenue and a great discouragement to what has already been accomplished. The Mexican Government reserves its rights to use the dispute resolution mechanisms, established by the World Trade Organization. Mexico's policy has seek multilateral solutions to the conservation and management of migratory fishing resources, to prevent protectionist commercial interests disguised as ecological measures, and to promote a long-term vision which takes into consideration the development, sustainability and maintenance of tuna fishing."

Mahachai buys new canning plant Thailand, August 16, 00
Mahachai marine products Co., Ltd of Thailand recently announced that it has completed the purchase and financing of a new tuna canning facility the same Mahachai area as its current cannery is located. The new facility is larger and more diverse than the facility it operates today. This new purchase will allow a continued growth and diversification for the company. Renovations are underway and a scheduled operational opening date is planned for mid 2001.

UN to crack down on pirate tuna-fishing  Europe, August 16, 00
A quarter of the world's fish catch now comes from pirate boats, flying flags of convenience and flouting international law to hunt down valuable but endangered species such as tuna.
Pirate fishing has doubled in the last 10 years, threatening to drive some fish to extinction. Fearing the collapse of world fisheries, the United Nations will pledge to crack down on the illegal business at a meeting in Rome in October to agree international controls.
The UN refers to the practice as IUU fishing - illegal, unregulated and unreported. Draft rules due to be agreed by 180 countries would close all ports to IUU fishermen to prevent them refuelling, taking on fresh crews or landing catches. The rules would also demand the closure of companies that own and control the illegal ships.
Pirate ships are regularly registered in countries such as Panama, Honduras, Belize and Cyprus to avoid fishing regulations but are owned by companies in Europe, the United States and Japan.
These boats, often large factory-style trawlers roam the Atlantic and Southern Ocean catching tuna and the Patagonian toothfish.
One boat suspected of carrying illegally-caught bigeye tuna worth up to US$1.5 million is being held in the Japanese port of Shimizu while officials investigate the origins of the catch. Greenpeace tracked the Japanese owned and crewed freezer vessel flying the Panamanian flag from the Atlantic where it was filmed loading the tuna from two other vessels, one flying the Belize flag and the second a Cambodia flag.
All three were acting illegally under international law, because in the Atlantic only countries that are members of the international commission for the conservation of Atlantic tunas can legally fish.
In 1999, the governments of Japan and the US tabled evidence identifying 345 flag-of-convenience vessels fishing for tuna in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. They flew flags from 17 countries, notably Honduras (103), Belize (83), Equatorial Guinea (51) and St Vincent and the Grenadines (50). Most are owned and managed by Taiwanese enterprises.
Simon Reddy of Greenpeace said: "Ultimately, it is the lure of big money paid for high-quality tuna, especially on the Japanese market, that provides the incentive for the activities of the pirate fleet.
"In recent years, the wholesale price paid at landing for top sashimi-quality tuna has reached more than US$105 a pound, with some of the largest, high quality individual tuna fetching up to US$45,000 each."

EU establishes framework for collection tuna catch data  Europe, August 17, 00
Through acceptance of EU Council Regulation 1543/2000 the European Community has initiated a program which will collect fisheries data in the future. Recently on his visit to the German harbor of Bremerhaven, Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, underlined the importance of controls in the Common Fisheries Policy: "Monitoring of fishing activities is crucial to effective fisheries management.", he said, "Hence we have to encourage compliance and deter fraud. In addition, control plays a central role in ensuring sustainable fisheries". Mr. Fischler announced that the European Commission will be organizing an international conference on control on October 24 to 27 in Brussels. The aim of the conference will be to compare the various monitoring systems applied in Europe and in third countries, and to identify best practices.
In line with the U.N / F.A.O Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries the E.U has designed a framework which will monitor and evaluate the resources and economic situation of the fishing sector, through the collection of data of all catches, including by-catch and discards. Catch capacity and fishing efforts will registered, and also information will be gathered on the economic situation of fishing enterprises, their costs, investments, fish-prices, and the situation within the processing industry.
In order to collect this data two programs will be launched, a minimum and a extended program. The minimum program monitors the number of vessels, tonnage, engine power, age, gear used, and time spent at sea. Also landings and discards and other biological parameters such as size, growth, size, maturity of the stock. The extended program , focuses in addition to the minimum program, on the situation of specific stocks, species, and the gear and fishing methods used. The monitoring and sampling activities will be more intensive.
The tuna species : yellowfin, skipjack, big-eye, albacore, and blue-fin will be covered in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Pacific and the Mediterranean. All data will be fed in computerized databases enabling easy access and information exchange with other organizations and states.
In cooperation with scientists, those working in the industry and other groups the rules and exact systems on data collection and management will be developed. This process could be taken quite some time, and it remains to be seen when a proper monitoring system on highly migratory species can be effectively in place. (EU Council regulation 1543/2000).

Thailand still U.K largest tuna importer  Europe, August 23, 00
The latest statistics released by the E.U. show that Thailand has been able to do the almost unbelievable. Despite their enormous disadvantage of 24% duty, compared with the duty free access of the ACP countries, the Thai have been able to keep their poll position in terms of volume. They are clearly threatened by the strong expansion of the Seychelles. It is impressive to see that the Thai canned tuna processors have been able to cut their costs, and increase their efficiency to the maximum, and at the same time were able to meet the quality demands of their U.K customers. Almost all Thai imports are retail packs, part of which is tuna in special sauces. Philippines dominate the business in food-service size. This explains the even lower CIF import price from the Philippines. The same goes partly for Indonesia, which also imported quite some low priced flakes product in retail pack.

14000 tons of  skipjack for loining in Ecuador Ecuador August 23, 00
As we reported in August 14, large shipmenst of whole round skipjack tuna are on their way to Ecuador. The two major U.S brand leaders who both own loining and canning plants in Manta and Guayaguil, have totally bought abt 14000 tons of raw skipajck from Korean and Taiwanse origin for loining in Ecuador. This huge quantity will be loined, and frozen, and then shipped to Puerto Rico and Santa Fee Springs for canning. This way the Americans are making use of the cheap labor in Ecuador, in combination with an extremely low skipjack price. Due to the fact that this fish does have Korean or Taiwanese origin it can obvioulsy not be used by the Ecuadorian processors for export to the Spanish processors. If fish has been caught by Ecuadorian or Spanish vessels which apply for ACP status then the frozen loins have duty free antry into the community. This also counts for canned tuna to the E.U.

EPO states sign 200 miles zone agreement Ecuador August 30, 00
Last August 14th the chancellors of Chili, Colombia and Ecuador have signed an agreement which expands their territorial fishing zone to 200 miles. Reason for this agreement is the protection of the shores of these countries against what is called "indiscriminate fishing" on tuna, and other commercial species by distant fishing fleets. The governments want control the exploitation within the 200 miles zone of their resources of migratory species such as tuna, by vessels flying another flag than those of the signing EPO states. An exception was made for the Galapagos Islands around which a zone of 40 miles was agreed.

Spanish vessel registration opposed by IATTC States Europe, August 30, 00
A proposal launched by the Central American Sates during the last meeting of the IATTC, to increase their tuna fishing efforts by registering Spanish vessels was rejected by all countries of the Eastern Pacific bloc. The fear of these fishing nations is that the coming of Spanish purse seiners equipped with highly advanced fishing technology, and their tonnage's of 2000 to 2500 tons would be an unfair competition to the smaller tuna fishing boats of countries like Ecuador of which 40% of the vessels holds a capacity of 400 to 600 tons, and the rest a maximum of 1500 tons. The general fear is that with the acceptance of these Spanish vessels into the IATTC waters the catching quota for skipjack, yellowfin and big-eye would be filled much faster. This could result to a restriction of fishing on these species already by the eight month of the year, creating a big problem for the tuna industry in Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico. According to some officials the admission of the Spanish vessels could endanger the jobs of 150.000 workers in the EPO shores tuna industry.

Investment capital flees Philippines Philippines, August 30, 00
The unstable political situation in the Philippines in combination with a lack of trust in the policy of sitting President Estrada has resulted in an increasing outflow of capital from the nation. According to the Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP or Cenral Bank) hot money continues to flow out. The BSP accounted in July 2000 a net portfolio of $26 million, this was based on a inflow of $ 91.1 million and a staggering outflow of $117.1 million to foreign markets. A recent article in Newsweek worsened investors confidence, describing the Philippines as "a country slipping behind" , "saddled with cronyism and poverty", and "cronyism has crept back, poisoning the business culture". The mood and investment climate described in this article has resulted in a historical low in foreign investments. This is also specifically hurting the development of the highly potential tuna industry in the South, and comes at a very bad time for the weakened First Dominion Group which is looking for new investors in its tuna canning operations.

P.I. catches further down, buyers not impressed Philippines, August 31, 00
Although catches by the Philippine fleet have been decreasing steadily during the last month, the buyers of frozen whole round skipjack were not impressed, and prices have remained at their level of just around US$ 400 landed for good size skipjack, with hardly any volume being traded. Coldstorage holdings are still considerable especially with lower quality skipjack which is not fit for export of canned tuna to the U.S market. With time going by, and no buyers, the quality of the fish in storage in deteriorating and storage costs are increasing. The lack of orders from both the USA and Europe at workable levels, have resulted at a continued reduced production activity in General Santos. In General Santos City at least 2 factories are at this moment not producing any tuna for export at all, 1 is shut down till at least end September, others are running below 50% of their capacity. There is no outlook on an immediate change in this situation.

Indonesia Exports to EU Indonesia, September 06, 00

Indonesia
Exports to E.U.	period :	1-Jan-99		to	31-Dec-99
import code :	160414	all canned tuna and frozen cooked loins
State	in 48x185g	x 1000 Kgs	x	1000 EURO		Average	Average
	Cartons	Weight		Value		Price p. M/T.		Price p. crt
U.K.	619.205	5.449		€       8.947		€       1.642		€     14,45
Germany	248.182	2.184		€       3.960		€       1.813		€     15,96
Netherlands	205.795	1.811		€       3.031		€       1.674		€     14,73
Denmark	52.386	461		€         969		€       2.102		€     18,50
Sweden	42.273	372		€         687		€       1.847		€     16,25
Greece	25.114	221		€         539		€       2.439		€     21,46
Finland	22.727	200		€         366		€       1.830		€     16,10
Belgium	15.682	138		€         235		€       1.703		€     14,99
Ireland	13.068	115		€         224		€       1.948		€     17,14
Spain	3.523	31		€           72		€       2.323		€     20,44
Total Imports	1.247.955	10.982		€     19.030		€       1.733		€     15,25

Chart 1 -1 " Indonesian Tuna Exports to E.U Jan-Dec 1999 " Verdana 8.25 None None -946.57346191406248 327.91500000000002 480.04796997070315 30.24 FullPage Verdana 8.5 0 0 9014.9853515625 3780 1 1 1679.0410217285157 1132.11 3644.3078283691407 1996.7850000000001 None None Verdana 8.5 Pie Standard 3D 150 0 0 Series 1 0 Indo!$A$8:$A$17 0 Indo!$B$8:$B$17 Horizontal Right 7520.7515295410158 -25.515000000000001 1460 3340 Verdana 8.75
	France	Belg.-Lux.	Netherlands	Germany	Italy	U.K.	Ireland	Denmark	Greece	Portugal	Spain	Belgium	Luxembourg	Sweden	Finland	Austria
Value	0	0	#	3960	0	8947	#	969	539	0	72	235	0	687	366	0
Volume	0	0	#	2184	0	5449	#	461	221	0	31	138	0	372	200	0

UK top's Indonesia EU Exports Indonesia, September 06, 00
The U.K market remained the leading export market in 1999 for the Indonesian canned tuna industry. When analyzing the statistics the very low average price per carton draws the attention. This is caused by various elements. First of all the  U.K market takes a considerable quantity of 66,5oz catering tuna  in brine from Indonesia, and secondly also the amount of low priced flaked tuna in brine is quite high. Germany imported from Indonesia quite some quantities of canned tuna in dressing sauce. This product is generally priced about 2- 3 Euro per case lower then regular chunks in oil retail. During 1999 Indonesia has been together with Thailand the major producer of canned tuna in dressing sauce with as major outlets, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Most other E.U markets do not consume this product. In the same period Indonesian producers had been concentrating more on the export of catering pack tuna to the E.U., because they have a very hard time competing against the favored ACP countries. The E.U taxes Indonesian exports with 24% duty.

Taiwanese and Korean Tuna Boats might stop for 2 months Thailand September 06, 00
It seems that some finally there is a good chance that some serious action will be taken by the Taiwanese purse seiner fleet to reduce the over-supply of skipjack. After two meetings in Hawaii among fisherman active in the Western Pacific ocean, Taiwanese fishing companies announced to be willing to stop fishing skipjack for 2 months. The Taiwanese fleet which caught in 1998 a total of 459.000 M/T of tuna is the second largest tuna fleet in the world. It was promised that this stoppage would take place within the next 4 months, exactly when has not been agreed yet.
The Korean fleet, which already held back their fleet earlier this year, reacted by saying that if Taiwan would indeed stop fishing, the Korean purse seiners (255.000 M/T in '98) would follow also by stopping two months.
The Japanese(655.000 M/T), and American companies (216.000 M/T), and others represented, did not commit themselves yet, and expressed to await the actions taken by the Taiwanese.
Now there is hope arising within the industry that the fishing companies might finally come up with a solution for this very black skipjack crises. It seems that no final agreements were made during the  Hawaii meeting but the attending companies agreed to meet again by the end of this month to come to conclusions and to make solid mutual agreements. In the past often these agreements failed to come through. But this time the hopes are high ! ( all catch data mentioned based on total tuna catch of all species in 1998  source: FAO

Eastern Pacific Ocean Catches Ecuador, September 07, 00

	IATTC Data	period :	1-Jan-00		to	4-Sep-99
	Vessel Flag	Skipjack	Yellowfin	Bigeye	Others	Total	% TTL catch
	Colombia	5.317	11.369	994	0	17.680	4%
	Ecuador	91.639	28.060	22.528	27	142.254	32%
	Mexico	14.566	74.985	0	2.766	92.317	21%
	Panama	10.776	5.193	3.850	10	19.829	4%
	Spain	15.473	4.930	15.031	8	35.442	8%
	U.S.A	10.751	4.429	1.495	660	17.335	4%
	Vanuatu	9.839	10.933	5.619	0	26.391	6%
	Venuzuela	4.263	48.946	196	6	53.411	12%
	Other	17.861	9.107	9.571	1	36.540	8%
	Total	180.485	197.952	59.284	3.478	441.199	100%
	Preliminary estimates in M/T - source: IATTC
	Chart 1 -1 "EPO Catches per Vessel Flag Jan- Sept 00" Arial 10 None None -153.75375 -93.307181396484381 363.94875000000002 42.899853515624997 FullPage Arial 8 0 0 7785 4289.9853515625 1 1 1605.65625 1522.9447998046876 4573.6875 2036.6705456542968 None None Arial 8 Pie Exploded 3D 150 0 0 Series 1 25 2 None Arial 8 None 0 14 347 BestFit 4 None Arial 8 None 0 -3 592 BestFit 3 None Arial 8 None 0 -15 347 BestFit 5 None Arial 8 None 0 2 531 BestFit 6 None Arial 8 None 0 1 490 BestFit 7 None Arial 8 None 0 9 41 BestFit 8 None Arial 8 None 0 12 469 BestFit 0 None Arial 8 None 0 -11 403 BestFit 1 None Arial 8 None 0 -11 122 BestFit None Arial 8 None 0 0 Sheet1!$B$7:$B$15 0 Sheet1!$G$7:$G$15 None Arial 8 None 0

Ecuadorians continue to dominate EPO catches Ecuador September 07, 00
Data released by the IATTC shows that the tuna fleet flying the Ecuadorian flag continues to dominate the catches of tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. On the graph below you find that Ecuador's share so far in 2000 is 32 % of the total EPO catch. This is hardly any different from the situation last year when the fleet caught 33% of all tuna in the area. So far it seems the Mexican share of the catches is again slightly declining by abt 2% compared to 2000. Most nations have lost a small share, only the U.S.A is up by abt 0,5% and the Others by abt 3%.
So far the volume of the total skipjack catches in the EPO are down by abt 8% compared to last year, yellowfin has decreased 8%.
Catches per day/absent for vessels at sea targeting skipjack are almost 50% less to 2.2 M/T compared to 4.3 M/T per day in 99. Outlook for the coming months is that catches might decline further, much will depend on measures taken by the IATTC this month of FAD fishing.

EU's biggest 7000 ton vessel operational Europe, September 08, 00
Europe's largest fishing vessel, the Irish-owned Atlantic Dawn, has arrived in Dublin after its maiden voyage from Kristiansund in Norway, where it was built. The 144-metre ship, which cost £50m, has the world's largest catch capacity designed to carry 7,000 tonnes of fish, enough for 18m meals. Due to EU regulations, it will not fish in Irish or European waters, but will mainly operate off the coast of west Africa, beginning with Mauritania, where it will catch sardinella, mackerel and horse mackerel.

Oil prices break the $35 mark Europe, September 08, 00
Oil prices surged to a new 10-year high as traders took the view that leading producers will not boost production by enough to ease a continued supply shortage. In after-hours trading in New York, crude oil futures reached $35.19, the highest level since 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The gains were held in trading in Singapore on Thursday, where the price settled at around £35 a barrel.
Analysts said traders were panicking ahead of a planned meeting on Sunday in Vienna of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in which output levels are due to be discussed. They said traders did not feel Opec would do anything significant to reduce prices.
At an Opec policy meeting, Iranian Opec governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said the markets would not justify an increase in output of more than 500,000 barrels per day.
The world's largest oil producer and exporter Saudi Arabia - which is a key Opec member - has indicated that it would favour a collective output rise by the cartel of more than 500,000 barrels a day. And it has been lobbied hard by the United States government to deliver this.
The EU also entered the fray on Wednesday, calling for Opec to push through a "substantial increase" in output and help drive down to prices to about $20 a barrel. The EU's energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio said she was worried by the "explosion" in oil prices which had caused inflation in the EU to rise by 1% and threatened worldwide economic growth.
Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Naimi said in New York on Tuesday that he saw no problem in putting extra oil into the market. But he qualified his comments by saying that supplies were not as tight as prices suggested. "A lot of this price is hype," he said. Some other Opec states also argue that the oil price rises are partly the responsibility of refiners, saying the market is being moved by tight supplies of refined products such as heating oil rather than any shortage of crude oil.
@tuna: Tuna fisherman are really also starting to feel the extreme strain of the diesel prices now, the current skipjack prices are already far below their cost level, and now their costs even continue to increase, pushing losses up even further. Their decision to stop fishing, will soon no longer be a decision, but will be forced upon them, some due to bankrupcies !

Heinz blames Tuna Pouch launch costs for lower Q2 outlook U.S.A, September 08, 00
Wednesday reported slightly higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings, but warned that the second quarter would come in 2 cents per share below Wall Street forecasts, sending its shares tumbling almost 5 percent.  Heinz blamed a strong dollar and the costs of launching a new tuna product for the lowered second-quarter outlook. Heinz said expenses from a nationwide rollout of pouch-packaged StarKist tuna in September, six weeks earlier than previously anticipated, and the continued strength of the U.S. dollar would hurt results in the upcoming second quarter. The dollar is trading at a record high against the euro.
``I think that's what investors are worried about,'' said Merrill Lynch analyst Eric Katzman. The market is worried the currency risk could extend beyond the first quarter, Katzman said, though he thought the stock price already fairly reflected those concerns. ``I think their goals are ridiculously optimistic,'' an analayst said ``They just don't have the sales growth to support their earnings forecast.'' The company would need to register a 17 percent earnings growth rate in the second half to meet its 10 percent target for the full fiscal year, he said.
First-quarter sales fell 1.3 percent to $2.15 billion from $2.18 billion a year ago, as improvements in sales volumes were offset by the continuing strength of the dollar against European currencies and lower prices for tuna.
Almost half of the company's sales are generated outside the United States. Heinz also said tuna prices fell to a 34-year low. ``Tuna was a big problem this quarter, worse than they expected and worse than I think anyone expected,'' said Katzman. Sales at the company's North American grocery and food service group, which includes its ketchup, soups and tuna business, fell 3.5 percent. Heinz posted a 16 percent increase in European sales, helped by its acquisition of United Biscuit's European frozen and chilled division. North American frozen sales increased 7 percent.

Western Pacific Tuna commission to be formed ! ? Honolulu, September 08, 00
Several Tuna fishing nations, including the United States agreed Tuesday to create a commission to regulate the catch of tuna in the Pacific Ocean, but Japan threatened to ignore any new regulations if its concerns aren't addressed.
Nineteen of the 24 nations attending a conference on migratory fish formally approved the creation the commission, which supporters say will help ensure a sustainable harvest of fish. Several of the nations, including the United States, still need government approval. It is remarkable that Japan and South Korea oppose the deal, while China, France and Tonga abstained.
The Japanese complained that concerns they had raised over some aspects of the agreement, including the boundaries of the affected fishing zone, were ignored by the group. ``If Australia, New Zealand and their voting bloc continue to trample upon our rights and ignore our views, they will leave us no choice but to continue our fishing in the area outside of the proposed convention,'' said Masayuki Komatsu of the Japanese delegation.
Two-thirds of the world's tuna is caught in the Pacific region and is valued at $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year, according to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council. Although Pacific tuna stocks are not currently threatened, supporters said the agreement is necessary to ensure their future of tuna fishing in the region.
The agreement allows the commission to set limits on how many fish could be caught, where they could be taken, the times of the year fishing would be permitted and what type of gear could be used. The commission also can hire independent observers. ``It reflects a fair balance of interests, in particular between developing Pacific countries in whose national areas large stocks of tuna fish are found, and distant-water fishing states which fish in the central and western Pacific,'' said Satya Nandan of Fiji, chairman of the Multilateral High-Level Conference on Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific.
The head of the Japanese delegation, Seiji Kawamoto, said Japan may seek to create an alternative conservation program. South Korea also voiced opposition. And China opposed giving membership status to Taiwan, the second biggest tuna fishing nation in the Western Pacific Ocean ! This would create a very big practical problem !
One international fishing legal expert called the agreement burdensome and impractical. ``In all my years in the field, I have never seen a proposed fisheries conservation convention as complicated and unworkable as this,'' said William T. Burke, professor emeritus at the University of Washington. ``It is filled with untried concepts and principles that are sure to raise costs to exaggerated, even intolerable, levels.''

U.S.A and Japan might face Tuna fight  U.S.A, September 08, 00
Already under criticism for expanding its annual whale hunt, Japan is bracing for an even bigger fishing dispute with the United States - over how to regulate the lucrative tuna industry.
At the 24-country Western Pacific conference on migratory fish that ended Tuesday in Honolulu, Japan was one of five participants that refused to agree to a U.S.-backed proposal to establish a commission to regulate the catch of tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean.
The parting of ways came less than a week after U.S. officials boycotted a United Nations environmental conference held in southern Japan in protest over Japan's decision last month to scale up its whaling activities for research purposes.
A Japanese government official said Wednesday that Japan was opposed primarily to the proposed tuna commission's decision-making rules, which in most cases don't allow members to dissent from a majority decision. ``Every country has its own set of circumstances, and there is a possibility that the majority will agree to some regulations that simply can't be implemented by one country or another,'' said Ikuo Takeda, an official in the Fishery Agency's International Division. He was speaking a day after members of the Japanese delegation in Honolulu warned that Japan might ignore any new regulations if its concerns were not taken into account - or an alternative treatry put forward for conserving the Pacific's tuna fisheries.
The agreement allows the commission to set limits on how many fish could be caught, where they could be taken, the times of the year fishing would be permitted and what type of gear could be used. The commission also can hire independent observers.
Takeda stressed that Japanese officials are still considering their options. ``Japan opposed the decision by conference participants to adopt this particular regulatory framework, but the question of whether or not we will participate is one that we still have to consider,'' he said.
Tokyo is weathering a storm of international criticism raised in late August when Japanese fishermen killed sperm and Bryde's whales for the first time in more than a decade. They were caught along with the more abundant minke whales that Japan hunts every year in the name of science - to determine what impact their eating habits have on fish stocks. Industry watchers say that the two disputes may be connected.
``I think it's in Japan's interest to have all tuna-fishing nations playing by the same rules,'' said Tamotsu Iwai, a fisheries expert and professor emeritus at Kyoto University. ``But the government probably has the whaling dispute in the back of its mind, so I can understand why it wants to ensure it has the right to dissent to any majority decision.'' source: Associated Press

Ecuadoreans Wave goodbye to Sucre - Hello to Dollar Ecuador, September 12, 00
Ecuadoreans waved goodbye to their national currency, the sucre, on Saturday, lamenting the loss of a national symbol but also optimistic the adoption of the U.S. dollar would usher in a new period of stability. While some held mock burials to protest the death of the 116-year-old sucre, other Ecuadoreans praised the Andean country's dollarization as a way to bolster an economy on the verge of collapse last year.
As of Sunday, the dollar has replaced the sucre as Ecuador's main currency, capping the first phase of the shock move announced in January.  Although prices will be officially in dollars, Ecuadoreans will be able to exchange their sucres fr dollars until March.
President Jamil Mahuad announced Ecuador's dollarization in January following the country's worst economic crisis in decades. The economy contracted 7.5 percent in 1999, inflation was Latin America's worst at over 60 percent and the sucre lost two thirds of its value. By scrapping the beleaguered sucre for a more-stable greenback, Mahuad hoped inflation would stabilize and investment would flow back into the country -- kick-starting the economy and creating jobs for the largely impoverished nation of 12.4 million people. Mahuad was eventually kicked out in a coup and replaced by his vice president.
So far, inflation has slowed after an initial jump in prices and the economy is expected to grow between 0.5 and 1 percent this year. But economists say dollarization is still a work in progress that must be backed up by a long list of reforms to guarantee a smooth flow of dollars into the country.
``This is a sad day in Ecuador's history. The country is losing its traditional currency, the sucre, and officially adopting an alien one, the dollar,'' said El Comercio newspaper in its main editorial. One of the country's largest indigenous groups has called for a strike to protest dollarization and a series of other economic reforms.

EPO fisherman start lifting radio buoys Ecuador, September 13, 00
Fisherman in the Eastern Pacific Ocean have started lifting their buoys, which are used as FAD's, Fish Aggregation Devices. The reason behind this action is that from Sept 17 fishing with the use of floating objects which are used to attract bigeye, and skipjack, will be banned in the Eastern Pacific ocean for the next few months, until further notice. This measure has been taken by the IATTC in order to protect the resources of juvenile bigeye tuna in the EPO. IATTC member nations such as Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, USA and Spain agreed to limit the catches of bigeye tuna in 2000 to 40.000 M/T, and to prohibit sets of all types of floating objects whenever the limit would be reached. 
Now that the limit is reached, not only fishing on bigeye will be effected, but also the catch of skipjack. Most skipjack in the EPO is caught nowadays by using floating objects. A very strong reduction in EPO skipjack catches in the last quarter of 2000 is expected.
The floating object fishing method is quite effective from the economic point of view, it reduces the use of fuel considerable in comparison with school fishing on the High Seas, and provides good returns. The downside however is the high percentage of by-catch of many other non-targeted species and the fact that mostly juvenile - immature tuna gather under the floating object. Floating object fishing is also strongly promoted as a dolphin-safe catching method, but criticized by others as being a threat to the Eco-system.

EU agrees compensation for tuna delivered to E.U processors  Europe, September 14, 00
The Commission of the European communities last week agreed upon the compensatory allowance to be granted to the European Tuna processors organizations in respect to frozen tuna which was delivered to the canneries. The regulation EC 1926/2000 specifies the compensation given for whole round yellowfin and skipjack, the main species for the Spanish, French and Italian canned tuna industry.The allowances are payable over the period October 1st till December 31st of 2000. For Yellowfin more than 10 kgs the maximum allowance will be EURO 136 / M/T. For smaller yellowfin the support provided is EURO 106 / M/T. For stripe-bellied bonito and skipjack the canned tuna processors will receive a contribution of EURO 84 per M/T.
If you want to know more about this regulation please click here >>> Compensation delivered tuna to EU processing industry

Demand from USA picks-up, prices firming Thailand, September 14, 00
Latest news in Bangkok is that during the last week prices of canned tuna have started to move up seriously. About two weeks ago the market rumored of below $10 FOB prices for 6oz product to the States, but now we are seeing offers being accepted around $11,50 fob. Although many tuna processors did not expect an increased demand for the single duty in the States, is seems that there is now increased activity from some USA buyers to benefit from the 6% duty instead of the usual 12%, valid for imports from Jan 1st 2001 onwards. With the recent decision of Taiwanese fisherman to stop fishing for two months, frozen skipjack prices have firmed to US$ 420 p M/T CF BKK, and insiders expect to see US$ 450 very soon. It is reported that some packers are holding their bids at $400, but traders are not willing to give in, supported by the youngest market developments.

Indonesian skipjack production still limited Indonesia, September 15, 00
With a steady local fresh market and cheap imported fish, most of the Indo light meat packers have ignored the cheap offers for canned tuna in foodservice sizes from Philippines and Thailand, and have made the step to shrink their output over the last quarter. The result has been almost no competitive or volume offers from the traditional exporting tuna canners for the U.S and E.U market. The risks to book orders at the same level as Thailand and Philippines, has just been too high, also taking in consideration the unpredictable local currency and the Indonesian political situation. Since there have so far also been hardly any inquiries for the single duty in the States, there is little reason for the packers to gear up.

White Tuna  scarce in Indonesia Indonesia, September 15, 00
Albacore is becoming a rare commodity with local prices of raw material at US$ 2700 landed in Indonesia. Local catches are about 20 % down when compared with last year over for the same period. Expectations are that albacore prices will rise further with almost no alternative supply for time being.
The only alternative for some buyers is Tongol, or longtail tuna. But also this specie is quite scarce from Indonesia. The export market to the U.S is quite good and packers are receiving attractive prices. Interest from Europe for this item is limited, most buyers find the price too high compared to yellowfin or skipjack. For foodservice 66,5oz sizes Tongol is trading about US$ 12,50 p. case higher then skipjack. Yellowfin has a US$ 9,00 p. case premium over skipjack for 66,5oz.

Basque tuna to be sold in Tokyo Europe, September 15, 00
SPAIN (September 14, 2000) - Several tuna species from the Basque country will be sold in Tokyo - the world´s major tuna market- from October, as part of an experimental plan. The agreement came after a three-day visit of representatives of the Japanese company Chuo Gyorui to Basque fishing ports, following an invitation from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government.
The Japanese company plans to launch a similar plan for mackerel catches on March 2001.
The commercial co-operation programme also foresees future deals to sell some fish species caught in other fishing grounds where the Basque fleet has access, like the Azores.
Though tuna was the main target of the Japanese commercial mission, the possibility of importing mackerel also attracted their attention. This way, the catches of mackerel landed at the port of Bermeo will be able to gain access to the Japanese market and compete with the product imported from Norway, the country which fixes the sizes and price guidelines.
Technicians of the Basque fisheries institute accompanied the Japanese businessmen during their visit to the ports. They informed them of the current state of the fisheries resources and exchanged ideas about ways to adapt the local products to the demands of the Japanese market. Source : Fish Info Service, September 14, 2000

Spanish expand their fishing permits Melanesia Philippines, September 18, 00
The fishing fleets of the canning companies Jealsa and Calvo have greatly benefited from the allocation of permits to fish in Melanesian waters, as part of the agreements signed between the E.U. with Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.   
The agreements will enable 14 tuna purse seiners to operate in Kiribati´s waters, Melanesia, reports El Faro de Vigo. The vessels will be monitored by satellite and will be obliged to carry observers on board. In addition, they will have to land the catches at local ports and pay a cannon of approximately 6% of the value of the catches.   
The Calvo group, which operates through its company Mendana Fishing, already holds several licences to fish in waters of the Solomon Islands. The group has maintained commercial relationships with that country for almost two years, and was allocated an annual quota of 10,000 tonnes of tuna.  
Calvo plans to incorporate a new tuna vessel into those fishing grounds - the vessel is currently under construction in Vigo. The company will also invest in the construction of a canning company, which is expected to employ some 500 workers.  
About 60% of the world´s tuna catch comes from the Pacific. The Spanish tuna fleet is the largest of its kind in Europe, being composed of 40 Spanish-flagged vessels and 27 FOC vessels. Other major European tuna fleets are those from Italy, France, the UK and the Netherlands.  
According to the European Union, the tuna sector growth rate reaches about 7%. Of Europe´s canned tuna production 160,000 tonnes are produced in Spain.

U.S Import statistics show dramatic prices U.S.A September 18, 00
The recently released USA import data of 2000 thru July, show that USA import prices have reached a dramatic average price level. Average import price of canned skipjack outside of the quota was US$ 16,85 FOB (converted to 48 x 6oz) for product imported from Thailand. Philippines packers made a much lower average import value at US$ 13,22, which is partly caused by the fact that they mostly exported foodservice product 66,5oz to the States. Papua New Guinea is now the 4th largest tuna importer in America, also almost entirely focussed on food service. Currently the factory in PNG is under pressure of the depressed market temporarily not operational. For detailed chart click below:
CHART: USA canned skipjack imports thru July 2000 outside Quota

(USA) Tuna prices hit 34-year low Pittsburgh September 18, 00
Holy mackerel! Tuna by the ton has not been this cheap since 1966, not long after the wisecracking Charlie the Tuna started pitching Star-Kist on television. The problem lies partly in swollen stocks of the widely consumed fish. A new fishing method has boats catching more tuna for canning more quickly, and international trade organizations are restricting or regulating tuna fishing.
The price drop has let grocery store chains cut the price of their private-label tuna - good news for consumers, but bad for competing tuna brands. Grocery chains typically take losses on store-brand tuna to get people into their stores. "We've seen some stores charging as little as three cans for a dollar, which is insane," said Don George, marketing vice president for privately held tuna canner Chicken of the Sea International in San Diego.
H.J. Heinz Co., owner of the Star-Kist brand, said this month that a 34-year low in tuna prices contributed to a 3.5 percent decline in earnings for its North American grocery and food service business in its most recent quarter.
The price for a metric ton of most tuna species is about $400, down from normal prices of $600 to $800. The glut was at its worst during the last six to eight months, but affects neither fresh tuna nor the white-fleshed albacore tuna that is also canned.
The price of a small can of Star-Kist, the best seller, is about 59 to 79 cents at grocery stores, down from 79 to 99 cents, Heinz executives said. "Tuna represents about 10 percent of their earnings, so this is not the end of the world for them," John McMillin, a food industry analyst for Prudential Securities in New York, said about Heinz. "But I don't think anybody thought it would go this low for this long."
Star-Kist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea comprise 85 to 90 percent of U.S. tuna sales. Industry observers say the supply problems reflect more boats catching more tuna on the Pacific Ocean.
For example, U.S. boats caught a record 38 tons of tuna per day east of Papua New Guinea last year, the most recent studied by the U.S. Department of Commerce. That compares with 28 tons per day for the U.S. fleet in 1998. More boats in the Pacific Ocean have started floating rafts with chains that dangle in the water, a technique that attracts plankton and eventually tuna, researchers said. Boats drawn by beacons on the rafts circle nearby for the catch. The method lures tons of skipjack, the smallest and least-expensive tuna species, in the world's best tuna fishing spot, the west-central Pacific. That part of the ocean produces $1.5 billion worth of tuna per year.
"They have glutted the market with small fish," said Sam Herrick, a seafood industry economist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, Calif. In the eastern Pacific, nations including the United States also have tried to reduce tuna supplies through the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, based in San Diego. On Friday, the group started a three-month ban on the new floating fishing devices along the coasts of North and South America.
The Tuna Commission earlier this year cited the potential for depleting two tuna species, bigeye and yellowfin, in the eastern Pacific and called for restrictions including the current ban. Separately, most countries whose boats fish in central and western Pacific voted last week in Hawaii to start a commission to regulate fishing, mostly of tuna. The treaty called for the "long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna." "My personal opinion is that we will see an improvement," said Paul Krampe, a San Diego businessman who buys tuna from 19 boats. "It's always difficult to predict, but these are some of the biggest cutbacks that I've seen in a long time."
Tuna consumption in the United States has remained flat for five years at 2.21 billion cans per year, the U.S. Tuna Foundation said. To try to boost sales, Heinz is packing tuna in 7-ounce pouches. The bags should appear on store shelves in two to three weeks and be available nationwide by January, said Barry Shepard, the marketing vice president for Heinz's Star-Kist division. Heinz may unveil a resealable tuna pouch later.
Karen Savinski, a spokeswoman for Bumble Bee tuna producer ConAgra Inc. in Omaha, Neb., acknowledged that the tuna market was soft. But she said the company sells many types of seafood - including oysters, shrimp and clams - and the tuna glut "does not cause us concern for our growth prospects." By Jeffrey Bair, Associated Press

Tuna brokers in BKK  demand higher prices Thailand, September 20, 00
The last week hardly any trading on whole round skipjack took place. Tuna brokers from USA and Taiwan were demanding higher prices at levels to US$ 450 per M/T for 1.8kg up, but there was hardly any buying interest from tuna processors reported at these levels, and prices are still around US$ 420 CF . Although USA demand has picked up, canned tuna packers still have quite some stock to cover their current and new orders. Still some very low offers for canned product were made to Eastern Europe for limited quantities, but these low levels were explained due to the fact that raw materials were used which had been in cold-storage for a longer time. This is in general a problem some packers have been facing. Due to very slow demand for the last few months, some have been forced to hold their frozen inventory for longer times, which in several cases has led to a loss of quality.
Buyers all over the world are watching the movements of the market in Bangkok very closely. general expectation is that demand from canned tuna packers will only slowly increase, and that therefor increase in price will be limited.
Significant for the price movements in Thailand will be the fact if also Korean and Philippine fisherman will follow the recent decsision of Taiwanese fisherman to stop fishing on skipjack for 2 months. If this decision would gain wide support, prices will definitely rise further in the coming two months.

Spanish skipjack fleet continues fishing Europe, September 21, 00
During a conference meeting last week organized by ANFACO in Galicia,Spain, the Spanish tuna industry met. Fishing companies, canned tuna processors, traders and some selected retailers, together discussed and analyzed the current state of the Spanish tuna industry. According to our information, it was announced that the Spanish skipjack fleet active in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean will not stop fishing, following the initiative of the Taiwanese and American fleet  to stop fishing on skipjack in the Western Pacific for two months. The reason given for this decision is that fishing companies, although suffering from low raw material prices, can still survive for a while at this price level of abt $420 CF per M/T. Also the fact that several Spanish companies have new boats, and are required to make continued payments to their bankers, seems to be a motivation to continue fishing to create cash flow. Some voices within the business say the Spanish companies are hoping to take advantage of the price rise which is expected to take place soon, as a result of the other fleets staying in port.

Philippine fleet agrees 30% reduction Philippines, September 21, 00
During a meeting on Sept 19th in Manila Philippine fishing companies have agreed to cut their fishing operations by 30% last month. They have not decided a final period, but sources say that fishing companies are considering such a reduction for a period of 4 months. The agreement will become effective starting next month, so likely they will keep more boats in port from Oct 1st till Jan 1st 2001. It is expected that skipjack prices in the Philippines will rise further. Recent business took place around $450 landed, but some already started asking $ 480 CF.

La Nina gone, but long-term warming continues, NOAA reports U.S.A September 25, 00
Noting a trend that could influence fisheries production in both North and South America, scientists with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared on 20 September that La Niña, the cool water system that favors growth of many key commercial fish stocks in the Pacific, has faded out. They say the La Niña phenomenon and its climatic opposite, El Niño, are unlikely to influence global weather for the next nine months.
"For the first time in three years, global weather will not be impacted directly by either a strong El Niño or La Niña," said Norman Mineta, Secretary of the US Department of Commerce which includes NOAA. "This means a return to more normal weather, but it also means that long-term seasonal outlooks will be more uncertain without the firm influence of these climate cycles."
El Niño occurs when sea-surface temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific are warmer than usual. La Niña occurs when the water temperatures are cooler than normal. The two events, drive cyclical changes in the abundance of fish stocks harvested off the Americas. The largest effect on landings occurs in the huge South American harvest of pelagics for fish meal and oil. The El Niño of 1997-98 plunged those fisheries into depression, dropping world fish meal production to a fraction of normal levels. With the return of cooler waters, Chile and Peru are expected to produce around 2.8 million metric tons of fish meal this year. Peru´s Ministry of Fisheries recently issued January-July statistics showing its catch for meal and oil at 7.16 million tons, reflecting rapid improvement after the end of the last El Niño. California´s loligo squid fishery emerged from the trough of El Niño last year and roared into the spring of 2000 with catches that some packers said would have set a record if the market had been stronger. The California fleet in 1999 hauled up USD21.5 million worth of squid, up from just USD813,000 in 1998. Salmon fisheries on the US West Coast in 1999 and 2000 have also enjoyed a rebound with the fish gorging on abundant feed fostered by La Niña. After a worrisome drop during most of the 1990s, salmon swam home fat and in force to rivers in California, Oregon and Washington, and catches swelled with the stocks. This year, the early season California salmon catch (through May) was up 750% from 1999, itself up sharply from prior years.
But cool water conditions may not be a boon to all fisheries. The rapid swelling of sardine stocks off the North American coast in recent years has been attributed to a long cycle of warm water conditions, which may have been aided by El Niño events. The US National Marine Fisheries Service this year set the West Coast sardine quota at 205,937 tons, reflecting a rapid increase from the catch of just 3.7 tons in 1990.
The El Niño/La Niña cycle in fishery production rides upon the surface of deeper, longer-term cycles and trends. On the largest scale, climate scientists report that the long-term trend is clearly toward warmer conditions globally, both at sea and on land.
"If we look at the year-to-date, January-August period, we find that the US temperature is at record levels, though only slightly above the 1934 value," said Tom C. Peterson, chief of the Scientific Services Division at NOAA´s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). "This is the 17th time the January-August period for the US was above average in the last 20 years."
In a report posted on the web, the NCDC states, "Global surface temperatures were much above average in August," the US National Climatic Data Centre reported. "The combined land and ocean temperature anomaly was +0.44C above the 1880-1999 long-term mean, while ocean temperatures were +0.36C warmer than average. This continues a trend toward overall warmer global temperatures that began in the late 1800´s. August global temperatures have increased at a rate of +0.42C per century over the past 120 years." Source : Fish Info Service

70 EU ships given access in Angolan waters Europe, September 25, 00
Angola and the European Union recently concluded a fishing agreement that authorizes 70 EU ships to operate in Angola's territorial waters for the next two years. Under the agreement the EU will, for the first time, submit its boats to third-party inspection. The EU also agreed to increase financial compensation to Angola from 13 million Euros (US$11.3 million) to 14 million Euros (US$12.2 million). The accord calls for closer cooperation in investigating, evaluating and preserving fishing resources to improve Angola's resource management.
In addition, the EU will assist Angola in improving the quality of fishing products; taxing people working in fishing activities; and training personnel in the field. The agreement was signed by Fatima Jardim, Angola's Minister of Fisheries and the Environment, and Emilio Mastracchio, head of the EU mission in Luanda.
In related news, a newly installed Sea Satellite Control System has allowed Angola to better police its fishing sector. Over the past six months, Angola has recorded 31 violations by industrial fishing boats poaching in its waters. Both foreign and local ship operators have been charged. Angola is a major fish producer in Africa, with an output of about 202,000 tons - over 400 million pounds - of in 1999.

EPO tuna fishing effort drops to 54% Ecuador, September 25, 00
Data released today by the IATTC shows that fishing efforts in the Eastern Pacific Ocean have dropped to a low of 54%. Out of the total tuna catching capacity of 157.048 M/T, which is monitored by the IATTC, almost half of all tuna boats are currently in port.
The impact of this drop in fishing efforts is largely effected by the ban of fishing with floating objects effective from this month onwards. Also the very low world market prices for skipjack , and high diesel prices have led to the decision by many fleet owners to keep their boats in port.

So far catches for skipjack in 2000 are down by 10% compared to record year 1999. Especially the last month skipjack receipts have edged off. In 1999 the average  skipjack catch per day for purse seiners in the EPO was 9.6 M/T, however the last week boats only caught  4.5 M/T average.
Smaller boats (under 901 M/T) seem to suffer most, they only netted an average of 1.9 tons, while seiners over 901 M/T managed to keep their average daily skipjack catch at 5.9 M/T.

Solomon Islands & Taiwan sign big-eye deal Taiwan (Taipei), September 27, 00
A new tuna cooperative accord signed between the Solomon Islands and Taiwan will allow more Taiwanese vessels to operate in the country's territorial waters after more than a year's absence. Solomon Islands Fishing and Ocean Resources Minister George Luialamo was in Taipei this weekend at the invitation of the Taiwan Deep-Sea Tuna Fishing Association.
Luialamo signed a new cooperative agreement that will allow all 42 of Taiwan's big-eye tuna fishing boats to operate in Solomon waters for a year, at the price of about $40,000 per boat. The agreement can be extended in the future, if both sides concur.
Taiwan tuna fishermen have not entered the key fishing area around Solomon Islands since May 1999 after a proposed hike in the price of fishing permits, which reached $750,000 per vessel.
Deputy Ambassador at the Taiwanese embassy in Honiara Wen Yvon says the minister first went to Japan before striking the deal in Taiwan. He says in these times of financial difficulties, Solomon Islands could now earn foreign cash from the deal. Fisheries negotiations between the government and fishing boat owners in Japan took place prior to the deal struck in Taipei.

Tuna America's Favourite Seafood ! U.S.A September 27, 00
The recent release of the USA Seafood Top 10 by the NMFS shows that tuna was again in 1999, America's favourite fish. Although some expected a decline in seafood consumption in general, the National Marine Fisheries Service reports that the U.S. per capita total seafood consumption for 1999 increased by 3.6 percent - from 14.9 to 15.3 pounds.
Of these 15.3 pounds of seafood consumed per person in 1999, 10.4 pounds were fresh or frozen fish or shellfish, 4.6 pounds were canned seafood and 0.3 pounds were cured. The popularity of tuna is mostely related to canned product, but also frozen and fresh tuna are experiencing more attention from the American consumer.
Americans consumed in 1999 together 4.2 billion pounds of domestic and imported seafood.

USA Seafood’s Top 10 for 1999

Species/per Capita Consumption*
*Calculated in pounds per person
Raw data collected from NMFS.
"Top Ten" calculated by National Fisheries Institute

NMFS stations 27 observers on Hawaii swordfish longliners USA September 28, 00
Faced with a court order requiring observers on Hawaii tuna boats, the National Marine Fisheries Service is scrambling to hire and train enough people for the task.Twenty new observers went to work last week, enabling the fisheries service to meet a court-imposed deadline for achieving 10% observer coverage in the fleet.
The standard climbs to 20% on 7 November under US District Judge David Ezra´s revised order in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups who contend the government has not done enough to protect sea turtles from being hooked.
The fleet includes 115 boats, of which an estimated 60 to 80 generally fish at once, targeting tuna and swordfish. The judge all but banned swordfish longlining, closing most of the key fishing grounds for the species. Tuna longlining suffered less restriction on the theory that the shallower swordfish sets are more likely to catch turtles incidentally.
The 20 new observers bring the fleet´s observer corps to 27. In response to the judge´s ruling, Congress approved USD 5 million to pay for the rapid expansion of the observer corps in order to meet the court mandate. That money is expected to cover observer costs until 15 March, when the season closes for 75 days.
If the mandate remains in force after that, the cost of observer coverage is likely to breed controversy. Hawaii longliners average 277 days per year at sea, and observers cost a minimum of USD 2,000 per month per vessel, according to one estimate. Fishermen in Hawaii are hoping to maintain government funding for the observer programme.
Stepping into another controversial issue, Judge Ezra has reportedly called for the observers to function in an enforcement role, not just as scientific data gatherers. The impulse to task observers with both duties has proven problematic for observers and fishermen alike in many fisheries, straining relationships on board vessels and fostering widespread distrust of observers in general.
As in a number of other lawsuits affecting US fisheries, Judge Ezra found that NMFS had failed to prepare a legally required Environmental Impact Statement on the potential harm to endangered sea turtles from longlining. The agency is expected to complete an EIS by next April, but some in the industry are skeptical of whether NMFS will meet that timeline. The judge imposed sweeping restrictions on the fishery until such time as NMFS can show, through a thorough analysis, that more liberal fishing rules will still protect the turtles.

Philippine reduction will be almost 50% Philippines, September 28, 00
After the meeting last week in Manila, Philippine fisherman have worked out the details on how they will deal with their agreement to reduce their fishing efforts within the Western Pacific Ocean. According to our information all Philippine tuna fishing companies have committed themselves to the reduction, the larger companies but also the smaller players. Most reduction will take place in the small boats, but also many big boats will stop their operation. It looks like most operators either stop entirely with part of their fleet, go into repair or maintenance, or switch to non-tuna operations. All together the reduction seems to amount to almost 50% of all tuna boats which will stop fishing for the rest of this year.
In view of these sharp reductions in catching volume, price rises are expected in the Philippines to a level of about US$ 500 by Mid October for skipjack 1.8kg up, when the consequences of the recent reduction will start having their impact. Until now most canneries still have enough stocks, and demand has only slightly increased recently.
At this moment Philippine packers are not offering, since they feel quite insecure about the current price level.

Thailand want talks with Egypt on GMO-tuna ban Thailand, October 02, 00
Thailand wants talks with Egypt over Cairo's decision to ban imports of Thai tuna packed in soya oil on the grounds that the soybeans used in the oil might be genetically modified. The discussion have been dragging on for some time now, and has had quite a bad effect on the thai tuna exports. Thailand would expect Egypt to waive the restriction after both countries discuss the matter at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, said Chantra Puranariksha, deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade Department.
Under WTO rules, the countries will have 60 days for consultations. If they cannot reach a conclusion, the issue will be sent to the WTO's dispute-settlement system. Ms Chantra said that since early this year Egypt had barred imports of canned tuna in soya oil from Thailand. Tuna in sunflower oil or brine is still permitted.
Last year, Thailand exported canned tuna worth 769 million baht to Egypt. The country's total tuna exports earned 21.8 billion baht. Saudi Arabia also banned Thai canned tuna in soya oil, citing concern about genetically modified soybeans, but lifted the ban in June after negotiations with Thai officials.

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