Spanish canners warn over tuna ‘threat’ in Thailand FTA talks

The Spanish National Association of Manufacturers of Canned Fish and Seafood (Anfaco-Cecopesca) argues that duty-free imports of canned tuna from Thailand poses a great threat to the European canned tuna processing industry, and would jeopardize thousands of jobs in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy.

In mid-December, an FTA deal between the EU and Singapore included tuna as a sensitive product. “Given that Singapore is commercially insignificant in global tuna  processing, it seems likely that this was included as a precedent  for negotiations with Thailand,” wrote FFA.

According to Atuna, Anfaco has sought the support of Portugal and Azores in a joint statement calling for canned tuna to be excluded from the FTA. The Spanish congress reportedly supports this exclusion.

In addition, Anfaco is lobbying for strict rules of origin which would restrict Thailand’s potential for regional accumulation with other ASEAN members.

Anfaco is also calling for a framework that ensures a level playing field, whereby third countries exporting to the EU are subject to the same standards regarding labour, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, sustainability, food safety, health and hygiene, etc.

This position is reportedly supported by the EU’s Regional Council Advisory of the Long Distance Fleet (LDRAC) which acknowledges the sensitivity of the EU canned tuna sector.

Anfaco reported that LDRAC will present a concept paper to the EU which calls for the EU-Thai FTA to be subject to conditions relating to strict compliance with EU regulations and international conventions on social, labour, governance and environmental issues, which would be carefully monitored and controlled.

According to recent Globefish statistics, EU importers have been looking for cheaper alternatives to Asian canned tuna as prices rise, including products from ACP countries that have 0% import duty.

While EU imports of canned tuna from countries such as Mauritius, the Ivory Coast and Papua New Guinea were all up last year, imports from Asia, particularly from Thailand and the Philippines, dropped significantly.

According to Globefish, Ivory Coast exports of canned tuna to the EU increased by 31% last year, while exports from PNG were up 38.5%.

In contrast, exports from Thailand and the Philippines were down, by 44.3% and 7.8%, respectively.

That said, supplies from Africa this year could be disrupted as the EU has tightened up on shipments from West African countries suspected of engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

In May, this situation was said to have been particularly bad in the UK, where shipments from West Africa and mainly Ghana were said to be held in port due to authorities doubling-checking every container. Also in May, the EU gave an ultimatum to three tuna exporting African countries–Ghana, Ivory Coast and Kenya– to sign Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by October 2014 or risk losing their privileged zero duty trade status tariffs.

Meanwhile, Thai shrimp exporters are hoping the EU extend tax privileges on imports, after disease halved local production late last year. The Thais are not the only ones to be concerned. Sources told Undercurrent at the beginning of 2013 that importers and retailers in the EU are looking at alternatives for supply.