(IntraFish) Prices expected to remain high in coming months, putting pressure on US canners. Prices for skipjack tuna in Bangkok are set to remain at a high level, said an executive with a tuna trading company.
Currently, the price for skipjack tuna on auction in Bangkok is $2,200 (€1,730) per metric ton, he told IntraFish. "We don't know the July price yet, but I don't see any reason why it should drop," he said.
There is a closure to catching on fish aggregation devices from July to September in the western Pacific and catches from South America have not been good, he said. The main talk at the Tuna 2012 conference in Bangkok was about how prices are set to remain high, said the source.
This is going to put a lot of pressure on canners in the US to do something about the pricing of the end product and, by extension, the quality, he said.