JAPAN EXTORT! OF nOIBi TUNA. I9S7 



IN MILLIONS OF POUNDS 



Figure 5. 



West Germany is a new and growing 

 market for canned tuna. The leading sup- 

 pliers have been Peru and Portugal but 

 recently Japanese packs have practically 

 taken over the market. Vest Germany im- 

 ported over 5 million pounds (250,000 

 cases) of canned tuna in both 1957 and 

 1958, mostly light meat. Prices quoted 

 for light meat tuna, packed in oil, c.i.f. 

 Hamburg, as of May 5, 1959 were reported 

 by the American Consulate to be from $6.U0 

 to $6.80 per case of U8 (7 ounce) cans. 

 Germany also has recently imported some 

 frozen tuna from Japanese sources. 



In France, fish marketing and dis- 

 tribution is in the hands of associations 

 which arrange to buy and market through 

 established dealer channels. France has 

 sought to satisfy its demands for fish 

 from home production. Heavy duties, taxes, 

 and quantitative limits apply to prac- 

 tically all fish imports, including canned 

 fish. No import licenses are granted for 

 tuna products. An increase in the French 

 tuna supply from operations out of Dakar 

 has resulted in prices declining con- 

 siderably in the past year. Production 

 of canned tuna reached 1,100,000 cases in 

 1957. 



In Spain, as in France, some tuna is 

 marketed fresh or frozen; it is also salted, 

 dried, and canned in oil. High costs of 

 production and tin plate have put the 

 Spanish tuna-canning industry at a marked 

 disadvantage on world markets. During 

 1958, Spain exported 1 million pounds 

 (50,000 cases) of canned tuna. 



In Portugal, most of the tuna is canned 

 in olive oil or sauce and exported; little 

 is sold fresh or frozen. Italy has taken 

 more than half of the Portuguese tuna ex- 

 ports; Switzerland, Brazil, Belgium, and 

 the United States are other outlets. Ex- 

 ports largely of tuna canned in olive oil, 

 amounted to about 7 million pounds (350,000 

 cases) in 1958. 



The United Kingdom has recently become 

 a buyer of rather substantial quantities of 

 canned tuna. The market was stimulated by 

 the shortage of canned salmon on British 

 markets. About 195U, Peruvian tuna was 

 promoted in the United Kingdom by a nation- 

 wide advertising campaign. The Peruvian 

 product sold readily until Japanese tuna 

 gained a foothold through a trade and pay- 

 ments arrangement in 1957. Canned salmon 

 again became available in the United 

 Kingdom in 1959 so the trend of increased 

 tuna imports may suffer some reverses this 

 year. According to Peruvian export data 

 for 1957, about 13 million pounds (650,000 

 cases) of bonito and l.k million pounds 

 (70,000 cases) of tuna were shipped to the 

 United Kingdom. Japan supplied about 1.5 

 million pounds (75,000 cases) of tuna. 



Belgium and the Netherlands are also 

 expanding markets for canned tuna. During 

 1957, Japan exported 2.5 million pounds 

 (about 125,000 cases) of canned tuna to 

 these countries. Prices for tuna, solid 

 packj in oil, c.i.f. Rotterdam, were re- 

 ported by the American Consulate in April 

 1959 at from $7 to $7.50 per case of 

 7 oz./U8 for white meat in oil, and $6 for 

 light meat. Peruvian solid pack light 

 meat was reported at $6, up recently from 

 $5.80. Peru has sold about 500,000 pounds 

 (25,000 cases) annually in this market. 



Yugoslavia recently imported over 

 2.2 million pounds of frozen tuna from 

 Japanese vessels fishing in the Atlantic. 

 Sardine canneries in that country are re- 

 ported to be able to handle substantially 

 greater quantities of frozen tuna during 

 the off season for sardines. 



Turning to the Western Hemisphere, 

 and excluding the United States, Canada 

 has not developed a large tuna fishery but 

 cans imported frozen tuna in plants nor- 

 mally used for salmon. Canada bought over 

 2 million pounds of frozen tuna from Japan 

 in 1957. Canada's canned tuna imports 



100 



