(Hoy) Ecuadorian tuna is reaching new markets. And one of the markets most interested is Venezuela, which is becoming an attractive prospect for Ecuadorian tuna exporters.
In 2011, tuna exports from Ecuador to Venezuela reached 12,100 MT million corresponding to a value of USD 55.5 million. In 2010, 11,000 MT were sold to the Venezuelan market, according to the company Manifiestos and Ecuador Pesquero.
During the first half of this year, Ecuador exported a total of 86,800 M/T of tuna valued at USD 200.2 million. Venezuela’s take was 3,500 MT, equivalent to USD 14.7 million, as per Manifestos statistics.
Earlier this year, the national tuna companies Salica and Nirsa in Guayas; Asiservy, Isabel, Ideal, Markfish, Tecopesca, Bilbosa, Saefman and Promarsan, in Manabí, received a delegation from Venezuela composed of more than a dozen political and business representatives.
During their visit, the delegates from Venezuela inspected the tuna plants and the quality of the products.
The director of the Venezuelan Marketing and Logistics of the Agricultural Supply and Service Corporation (CASA), Andres Moffe, confirmed Venezuela’s intention to further strengthen the purchase of Ecuadorian tuna. “We do not want to be considered in Ecuador as mere customers or partners,” he said.
The tuna entrepreneur Bruno Leone confirmed the importance of the Venezuelan market for the sector. “The purchases performed by Venezuela have been growing in importance. Of all the countries in South America, Venezuela takes 18 percent of purchases,” he stated.
In the meantime,, in an attempt to increase the total exports of the Ecuadorian tuna industry, the sector claims that canned tuna should be included in the list of Ecuadorian products exported under the General System of Preferences (GSP), apart from the tuna in pouches..
There are 105 Ecuadorian tuna fishing vessels. 53 of them have currently stopped fishing while undergoing the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) tuna fishing ban, which will end on September 28th. The latest IATTC figures for tuna catches indicate that between 1 January and 29 July, 2012 a total of 339,856 tons were caught, representing 7.1 percent less than in the same period last year, when catches reached 365,581 tons.
Until 29 July, 2012, the Ecuadorian vessels captured 140,193 tons of tuna; the Mexican fleet caught 81,034 tons; the Venezuelan fleet fished 33,066 tons; and the fleet from Panama captured 32,172 tons, among others.