The recent ban on fishing in the Western and Central Pacific and the annual Seine ban in the Eastern Pacific have led to a reduction in the supply of skipjack and a sustained rise in raw material prices to $2250-2300 per ton (Bangkok arrival price). Some wrappers even predict that the price of raw materials for skipjack may rise to $2,400 a tonne in the near future and that it will not ease until the ban ends in October. However, prices of raw materials for yellowfin and Longfin tuna have been relatively low recently due to weak demand for canned tuna from southern European countries, particularly Italy and Spain. At present, the price of yellowfin tuna is $2,600 a tonne, down from $2,750 in January, and that of albacore tuna has dropped from $3,800 a tonne in March to $3,600-3,650 a tonne.

 

Because of the soaring price of skipjack and the fall in oil prices over the same period, South Korea is expected to make $166 million in revenue in the second quarter of this year, 29.7% higher than last year, resulting in an 87.5% increase in operating profit and a profit of $29 million. In the second quarter of this year, 41,000 tonnes of tuna were caught, an increase of 18.3 percentage points, accounting for 60 per cent of the purchases of large tuna buyers. At the same time, it tries to raise the price of canned tuna in the U.S. market by increasing profits from tuna operations.

 

USA: All welcome the US Congress's decision to postpone wage increases in American Samoa until 2015. A new canning factory was set up on the old brand site. Recently, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to freeze the minimum wage in American Samoa, mainly because of employers'requests and government financial reports that the spread of automation would damage the U.S. economy. Initially, American Samoa planned to raise the minimum wage by $0.5 per hour across the industry in September from the current $4.18 to $5.59 per hour. Tuna cannery, the largest local individual company, has an average wage of about $4.76 an hour. Three years ago, it announced that it would cut 800 jobs in its factories, and canning was no longer a competitive industry because of increased labor costs. For the same reason, it moved out of the area a few years ago.

 

Indonesia: Last year, Indonesia's exports of canned tuna increased significantly, totaling 69,989 tons, an increase of 27.8% over the same period of last year, and exports of 279.2 million US dollars, an increase of 49.9%. Although exports to the United States fell sharply (29.3 per cent), the expansion of European and Middle East markets compensated for the loss. Exports to Germany, Britain and the Netherlands rose 72.5%, 96.6% and 275.3% respectively, while exports to Saudi Arabia increased by 18.1% over the same period. Exports to Japan rose only slightly by 1.4%.