Tuna products imports are growing strongly in many countries around the world

Tuna products imports are growing strongly in many countries around the world

VASEP, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters, reports that Imports of steamed tuna and canned tuna from many markets around the world have grown strongly in the last 5 years.
Update: (7/22/2020)

VASEP, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters, reports that Imports of steamed tuna and canned tuna from many markets around the world have grown strongly in the last 5 years. During this period, tuna trade activity reached its highest level in 2019. And although the US continues to be the largest import market, EU countries have a high growth.

In 2019, the trade of imported processed tuna products (including steamed tuna, canned, canned tuna ...) worldwide reached 1.6 million tons (net weight). , an increase of 2% compared to 2018. However, compared to the transactions of 2015, this number increased by 6.4%. Regarding import prices, after three consecutive years of growth from 2016 to 2018, the price of processed and canned tuna in the world market in 2019 has decreased by 8% compared to 2018. However, the average price Average of 2019 is still higher than the average price in the past 5 years.

In 2015, the world population was about 7,341 billion people, with an average per capita import of processed and canned tuna 200gr. In 2019, the population on earth has increased to 7,577 billion people, and the per capita import of tuna has increased to 215 grams, showing that the demand for imported canned and processed tuna is growing faster than the population. .

The leading importers

The United States has a stable demand for imported processed and canned tuna (HS16) in 2019, reaching nearly 213 thousand tons. However, the US continues to be the largest import market for this tuna product category in the world, accounting for 13% of the world's total imports of processed and canned tuna. In the US, all imported HS16 tuna products are for domestic consumption, and so are the raw tuna products used to produce canned tuna products. Therefore, based on this figure and the US population in 2019, the people of this country consume about 600gr of tuna per person.

In Europe, the market for HS16 tuna products is expanding. In particular, in Spain where HS16 tuna imports reached 3.2kg / person in 2019, more than 5 times higher than US consumption. Compared to previous years, the amount of tuna purchased by Spanish buyers increased sharply. The majority of imported tuna products are steamed meat / loin processed at local factories and then exported as canned tuna to other EU member states. In 2019, Spain also made tuna-related deals for $ 817 / ton cheaper, this decline is largely due to the price of steamed skipjack tuna.

The Netherlands is another EU country that is increasing imports of HS16 tuna. Although the country's total import volume is less than one-quarter of that of Spain, its imports in 2019 were 15,231 tons higher than in 2018. Dutch ports are the gateway to European markets. other; Therefore, the majority of tuna imported into this country is redistributed to other EU markets.

Although tuna import from Italy, UK and Germany in 2019 decreased compared to 2018, these countries are still the largest tuna importers in the world, an attractive tuna import market for tuna processor in the world.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's tuna imports also saw strong growth, with imports doubling in 2017.

Source: Nguyen Ha / VASEP