As of December 2015, fishing in the Western and Central Pacific slowed down slightly while Thai canneries reported healthy raw material inventories.
With the end of seasonal FAD and 'veda' closures, tuna landings in the Pacific Ocean region improved beginning in late October. However, slow demand from tuna canners worldwide pushed skipjack prices below USD 1 000 per tonne in December 2015, compared with USD 1 150 in the same month of 2014 and USD 1 400 in 2013. Yellowfin prices have remained stable.
Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean continues at a moderate-to-good level while local canneries report healthy raw material inventories. A slight increase in demand has helped to raise European prices for whole tuna while prices for tuna loins have stayed firm. In general, frozen skipjack prices remained 15-20% lower in 2015 compared with 2014.
Weak demand for canned tuna in the USA and the EU has led to a significant decline in frozen raw material imports into Thailand, the world's largest tuna canning producer. Indeed, during January-September 2015, frozen tuna imports into Thailand were 20% lower at 574 382 tonnes (-140 800 tonnes) compared with the same period in 2014. However, imports of semi-processed cooked loins to Thailand increased by 12% compared with the same period in 2014. China, Viet Nam and Indonesia were the leading suppliers.
In contrast, during the review period of January-August 2015, total tuna raw material imports almost doubled to the Philippines at 84 115 tonnes compared with the same period last year. This growth took place despite a 27.6% decline in total Fillapino exports of canned tuna, which could be attributed to a strong domestic market for the product. Despite this general decline, Fillapino exports to the EU increased by 17% during this period facilitated by the lower tariff rate from the Philippines. The Phillippines also reported higher imports of yellowfin (+124%) at 30 000 tonnes, mostly meant for export processing of cooked loins to the EU as well as to Thailand.
Also during the first nine months of the year, frozen tuna imports into Ecuador totalled 43 554 tonnes, which is 2% less compared with the same period in 2014. Frozen yellowfin imports fell by 7%.
For export processing of cooked loins and canned tuna, China imported nearly 70 000 tonnes of frozen skipjack, yellowfin and albacore during this period, compared with over 61 000 tonnes during the same time period in 2014.
Lower tuna prices, particularly for skipjack, induced imports of cooked loins among European canners for processing higher value products. EU imports of cooked skipjack loins totaled 43 639 tonnes during January-August 2015.