During the first quarter of the year, fishing in the Western and Central Pacific improved. In the Eastern Pacific, skipjack catches improved while for yellowfin were worse. As a result, yellowfin prices grew more markedly in that region while skipjack prices increased only marginally.
In the Indian Ocean, fishing has been moderate with landings consisting primarily of skipjack. With slight weakening of skipjack prices in this side of the world, raw material inventories during the first quarter period in Thailand increased moderately both through imports as well as carriers arriving in Bangkok. From January-March 2016, the average import price of skipjack was 6.3% lower than last year's. Frozen tuna import volumes into Thailand increased by 8% to total 125 600 tonnes against 120 000 tonnes in the same period in 2015. However, import volumes of yellowfin and albacore declined by 35% and 28% respectively at 21 500 tonnes and 7 000 tonnes compared with the same period last year.
Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean continues at a low-to-moderate rate, while raw material inventories at local canneries are at low levels. Skipjack and yellowfin prices continue their upward trend due to short supplies from Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
Indonesia reported improved domestic catches of pole and h line caught skipjack since the first quarter of this year as a result of the government's measures to combat IUU fishing by foreign fishing vessels. Price of pole and line skipjack has a premium price at USD 1 700-1 800 per tonne, FOB Indonesia, which is USD 200 per tonne higher than purse seine caught skipjack. The main fishing areas for pole and line fishing are the eastern part of Indonesia, namely North Sulawesi, South of Sulawesi, Maluku and East Flores.
Canned tuna production in Ecuador, the largest supplier to the European market, was lower in May following the earthquake in mid-April. The canneries in Manta were kept closed for two weeks as many workers went back home to be with their family members following the quake. In addition, the port infrastructure at Manta was directly impacted, which made it impossible to land raw material for the canneries. Combined with a scarcity of tuna arrivals from the Eastern Pacific, this situation is pushing prices upwards.