Who’s Picking Up Lost Asian Exports?
After holding a steady and dominant presence for many years, it seems Asia’s grasp on the US canned tuna market is seriously slipping, as the region has recorded a fall in US sent product for the fourth year running. Showing a trend in the opposite direction, the Americas are picking up some of the slack.
Despite Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, in particular, being commonly mentioned as key canned tuna producing countries, Asian nations as a whole witnessed a 14 percent fall in exports to the US last year.
As the largest single supplier of canned tuna to the States, Thailand alone has reported an even bigger fall of 15 percent, with tonnages dropping to just over 55,500 tons for full year 2015 and US consumers apparently losing their taste for Thai canned tuna.
Thailand did however manage to maintain its position as the top supplier of pouched tuna to the United States, sending volumes of over 15,000 tons, followed closely behind by Ecuador.
Vietnam maintained a steady performance through 2015 in US sent canned tuna but saw little overall growth, while the Philippines saw a YOY plummet of nearly a quarter in shipments to the US. In addition, the prices paid for these Asian delivered tonnages have also taken a hit, coming in at an average of USD 3,639 per ton, a slump of four percent compared with 2014.
Less Cans, More Pouches, And More Added Value
In contrast, canned tuna coming from the Americas, namely central and southern nations, maintained a higher average price of USD 3,996 per ton CFR and saw a striking rise in deliveries by a third. This marks the third year in a row the region has raised its US sent deliveries, and strengthened its place as a valuable North American supplier.
Mexico records the biggest shipments to the US of all the Americas nations, alone supplying five percent of the total volume of canned tuna delivered to the territory in 2015. Ecuador is up next, having more than quadrupled its YOY exports to make up a modest total of 3,261 tons last year.
However the country’s big 2015 expansion in the US market came alongside losses in the European Union, which have been mainly credited to significant strengthening of the Dollar against the Euro. As the adopted currency in Ecuador, the strong USD therefore made labor costs surge, and left Ecuadorian canners struggling to compete with their non-dollar counterparts in Asia and also Africa.
Despite higher costs, Ecuador remained by far one of the largest exporters of pouched tuna to the US, sending more than treble its canned tuna deliveries. Speaking to Atuna, one US importer stated that StarKist is having a big impact on rising shipments out of Ecuador, taking the majority of pouched product coming from the nation. He speculated that Bumble Bee may also be buying more pouches from the South American nation.
Pouched tuna coming from Ecuador reached an average price USD 5,846 per ton, while the country’s US sent canned tuna saw average prices of USD 4,216 per ton CFR. Both of these prices were well above the norm for tuna products coming from both the Americas and Asia in their respective categories.
Returning to canned tuna, Costa Rica and Canada also raised their consignments to the US over 2015, although both volumes were relatively small.
Struggling Market
However, despite the much smaller volumes Latin American nations sent to the US – equivalent to only about ten percent of the total Asia exported to the US - Latin American countries did well to muscle in on this huge market, as US buyers as a whole decreased their imports of canned tuna significantly, by 11 percent year on year.
Although reduced imports may suggest that the popularity of the shelf-stable product is declining, the US also has a considerable volume of canned and pouched tuna coming from domestic production, which could be taking volumes away from external deliveries.
Despite this however, the US canned tuna market as a whole has been struggling against a variety of issues for the last decade, such as declining consumer interest, shrinking can sizes, deteriorating product quality and a lack of relevancy in an often convenience-based snack food market.
Trying to reverse the trend and raise tuna’s popularity once again, several US brands are now renewing their focus to concentrate on pouched tuna, while others have placed emphasis on new product flavors, or snack packs served with crackers. Particular attention is also being given to entice younger consumers into the tuna market. But the question is, which products, companies, or brands will be able to turn around this steady decline in consumption, and where will they find the right product, in terms of price and consumer experience to establish new tuna buying trends?