(Seafood.com) After first protesting against the agreement between the EU and Papua New Guinea in regard to the favorable zero duty import tariff for canned tuna and precooked loins, the Spanish tuna processing plants, mostly based in Galicia, now intend to ensure their future supply of the same tuna loins “with the right quantity, quality and price conditions”.
Frozen pre-cooked loins are one of Galicia's most important tuna import products, now that most tuna is no longer cleaned in Spain but in low cost countries.
Therefore, the Spanish National Association of Manufacturers of Canned Fish and Seafood (ANFACO) is demanding the European Union's Fishery and Trade Commissions to allow the import of up to 30,000 M/T of frozen pre-cooked tuna loins at a zero duty tariffs from third countries, which have no trade agreement with the EU, during the period 2013-2015.
In this case, these third countries are Thailand, Philippines, China and Vietnam.
The quantity demanded is double the current amount, with a tariff of 6%, according to ANFACO's secretary general, Juan Manuel Vieites, who indicated that Spain's share represents 67.5% of the EU's production and that the demand to increase imports from third countries was also adopted in view of rising claims of other European countries.
As an example, Vieitas said that in the case of Italy, with a production of only 18% of the EU total, is requesting to import 25,000 M/T with zero tariff, and in the case of Portugal, with not more than 2% production, is demanding 20,000 M/T duty-free.
With the agreement reached by ANFACO last Friday, after beating the Spanish fleet's opposition, the canning sector aims at having a continuous supply of frozen pre-cooked tuna loins throughout the year, “under suitable price and quality conditions, so that we can maintain the activity and employment at the canning plants here. That's what we stand for”, Vieites stated.
This demand for loins from third countries' tuna, mostly situated in Asia, represents less than half of Spain's total imports of frozen pre-cooked tuna loins, which amounted to 63,000 M/T between January and October 2011, representing a 10.24% increase compared to the same period in 2010.