Italy is one of the biggest European Union member states with more than 59 million population and is located in the South of Europe, along the Mediterranean.
According to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) calculations, Italy was ranked as the seventh largest economy in the world in 2006, behind the USA, Japan, Germany, China, UK and France, and the fourth biggest in Europe.
The country’s economy is divided into a strong economically developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed agricultural south. Most of the country fishing industry is also located south of Rome. In the fishing sector there are about 90.000 workers employed and its annual turnover is estimated at about Eur 3.5 billion.
The catch composition of Italian marine fisheries is extremely heterogeneous, reflecting both the different gear in use in various fishing grounds and the high biodiversity of aquatic resources. And tuna, especially Bluefin and Albacore are the main species among large pelagics. In the last few years the Italian fish imports went up due to the EU withdrawal policy which caused the reduction of the Italian fleet capacity and catches of tuna in the Mediterranean. Bluefin tuna – which migrate every year into the Med are the major species for the Italian fleet. The country has also in the far South a centuries old traditional small scale tuna fisheries called the Matanza, by which schools of migrating tuna are driven into huge net, held up by many small boats.
Due to high labor costs the Italian canning tuna industry – which started around the 1900’s has been reduced dramatically. Nowadays most canneries have moved to the use of imported pre-cooked frozen loins and others have scaled down and specialized on niche and high quality tuna delicatessen products – such as tuna in jars – in olive oil.
Due to the decline in local catches and production the Italian market over 2007 imported again more tuna which totaled 129.023 M/T , 6% more than the year before. The major product forms were canned, frozen pre-cooked loins, frozen and fresh tuna.
Canned tuna showed strong growth from 6.807.658 cartons (48x185g) to 7.632.320 by 12%. While Yellowfin in oil is still the most preferred product – the strongest growth was seen for canned tuna in brine which recorded a 26% jump. Imports canned in oil went up by 10%.
The majority of exporters to Italy saw their volume go up, with the biggest volume coming from Spain, Ivory Coast and Colombia. From Spain the country bought 48% of the total quantity or 3.660.135 cartons (basis 48 x 185g), when from Ivory Coast 1.121.506 and from Colombia 586.149 cartons. Moreover all three of them increased their delivery meaningly, Spain by 13%, Ivory Coast by 10% and Colombia by 25%. Also it was quite remarkable that the French supply jumped significantly by 44%, which might indicate a switch from production in Italy to France – by a processing group which owns canneries in both countries.
The dramatic looser in the Italian market was Seychelles which was confronted with a steep drop of 43% less canned tuna, it was joined by PNG - which saw it newly established business shrink again by 89%.
In 2007 Italy paid an average price of US $ 51,90 CIF per imported carton (48x185g), which is 10% higher than the price in 2006 when importers paid US $ 47,36 per unit.
While imports of canned were in the rise – pre-cooked loins are down. Frozen pre-cooked loins were the second tuna product in terms of the volume with 39.177 M/T, 4% less than in 2006. Ecuador, Kenya and Colombia were the leading sources last year. South American processors saw their pre-cooked loins exports decline ( Ecuador – 10%, Colombia -26%) , while the African exporter Kenya went up by 17%. These numbers indicate that the decline of tuna canning activity in Italy continues, and that still each year more tuna canning gets outsourced to low cost labor countries.
Frozen tuna imports went up by 34% and landed at the level of 16.935 M/T. This growth was caused by more frozen Yellowfin, the leading species within other frozen tuna. Moreover a bigger quantity of Albacore and Bigeye influenced a rise of the entire frozen tuna purchase as well.
Fresh tuna was the largest looser with a 38% dive. But because of its 4% share, fresh tuna did not affect the total Italian tuna import. Over 2007 the quantity of the item equaled 5.136 M/T. The reduction was caused by fresh Yellowfin which went down by 44% and fresh Bluefin which amount was 51% less that time.
Italy is one of the most important tuna markets in terms of the average consumption equaled 2,11 kg per capita per year and it is also still important in terms of the local canneries share. The market is characterized by a high seasonality with summer as a major tuna eating time.
The Italian industry production is mostly supplying their important local branded like Rio Mare, Palmera, Alco, or Nostromo and private label market which has about 15% of the volume share, and is still rising. Italy’s the largest tuna company is Bolton Group, the owner of Saupiquet, Rio Mare, Palmera and Alco. The brand leader is Rio Mare and is followed by Palmera. Alco is the best known brand of tuna in glass jars.