Maldives, an archipelago island nation, is the smallest Asian country in terms of the population with 300 thousand people and it is also the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world.

The country is an archipelago of nearly 1.200 coral islands grouped into 19 widely dispersed atolls covering an area of nearly 90.000 sqkm in the centre of the Indian Ocean.

The major key components of the Maldivian economy are tourism and fisheries. Among the Asian nation, the country has the highest per-capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) at US $ 3.900.

Looking at the fishery, it was a very important sector for many centuries with fishing as the main occupation of the locals. Today, fisheries contribute over 11% of the GDP and engages 20% of the country’s work force and represents 74% of the country’s export commodities. It is also the second- largest foreign exchange earner after tourism.

Tuna fisheries are quite seasonal and take place in off-shore, coastal and reef waters and there are no inland operations.  Moreover they are dictated by the monsoons. In the Maldives most commonly used catching method is pole and line.

Tuna is the most important Maldives fish exported to the EU and the USA but also to Asian markets. For raw material – whole round frozen skipjack the Thai canning industry has been the main destination. Whereas for processed and fresh product Europe was the main market.  

Just the exports the the EU and the USA combined amounted to 4.960 M/T of tuna products in 2007 which was a 11% decrease from 5.585 M/T compared with the previous year. The drop was caused by a shrinking the supply to the EU from 5.395 M/T to 4.645 M/T by 14%. At the same time however the export to the USA went up by 66% and reached 315 M/T.

EU is the major destination for added value tuna products from the Maldives. The island nation provided in several different tuna forms like canned, frozen pre-cooked loins, frozen raw loins, frozen whole round and fresh whole round.

Canned product to the EU was responsible for the majority of the volume with 84% of total sales last year. Maldives delivered 442.005 cartons (48x185g) canned which was 0,4% less. UK was the main destination with 263.401 units, which was 15% more than before. The rest of the volume went to the Netherlands, Ireland and Greece but all of these markets took a smaller amount of canned tuna. The Netherlands got 4% less while shipments fell to Ireland by 36% and to Greece by 59%.

Frozen pre-cooked loins was the other tuna products which quantity dropped dramatically by 69% and landed at the lower level of 331 M/T through 2007.  relatiove to its potential Maldives only supplied a tiny quantity of loins to Europe. Deliveries to Spain dropped by 88% from 517 M/T to minimum level of 62 M/T.  The other major markets for precooked loins also showed decline  35^ less to Italy to 228 M/T  and France got only 41 M/T an 80% fall !

The third most important tuna item for export is fresh whole round Yellowfin with 269 M/T. Its volume fell from 287 M/T by 6%. Also here we see decline in all the European markets. France is the most important destination nowadays – with the UK mostly concentrating on Sri Lanka. France took 219 M/T of airfreighted tuna – which was mostly delivered to Rungis. Other destinations for fresh tuna were Germany Spain, Austria, Italy and UK, together they consumed only 19% of the fresh tuna by air from the Maldives.

Frozen raw loins which quantity doubled and 88% of its delivery went to  the UK market.

Due to its remoteness and less favorable duty regime the USA  is less important for the Maldives. Air freighted shipments increased from 190 M/T to 315 M/T by 66%. The supply to the American market contained fresh whole round tuna especially Yellowfin and Bigeye but also frozen fillets.

Looking at island’s companies MIFCO is the important fishery firm, which prominent markets include UK, Germany, France, Japan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The company involved in all aspects of the tuna business, it is in tuna fishing and processing. MIFCO has packed over the years, for some of the most demanding and prestigious labels in the UK market including John West, Princes, Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose. Also other companies have invested in tuna processing – but not all with much success.

In Maldives fish provides the principal source of protein for the population. Almost half of the catch is consumed locally. Traditionally, demand existed mainly for Skipjack, an essential ingredient in the Maldivian diet. However, with the development of tourism and more access to Southeast Asian markets also appeared the demand for other species.   

The Maldives currently enjoys exemption from the 24% import duty levied by the European Union of fish imports due to its UN classification as a Least Developed Country (LDC). But it is now at the start of a three-year transition phase, at the end of which it will lose LDC status.

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