September 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



55 



Japan (Contd.); 



the excellent catches of tuna by the U. S. tuna 

 fleet. ( Suisan Keizai Shimbun. May 27. 1966.) 



Jg JC ^ i ^ 



FROZEN TUNA EXPORTS TO U. S. AND 

 PUERTO RICO, MARCH -APRIL 1966: 



Japan's exports of frozen tuna to the United 

 States and Puerto Rico for April 1966 to- 

 taled 11,197 short tons valuedat US$5,171,395. 

 This was a decrease of 3,522 tons from the 

 four-months high total of 14,717 tons reached 

 in March 1966. (Fisheries Attache, United 

 States Embassy, Tokyo, June 24, 1966.) 



Japan's Exports of Frozen Tima by Species to the 

 United States and Puerto Rico, March and April 1966 



Species 



April 



March | 



Qty. 



Value 



Qty. 



Value 





Short 

 Tons 



2.126 

 1,475 



US$ 

 1,000 



1,028 

 746 



Short 

 Tons 



2,405 

 3,382 



US$ 

 1.000 



Albacore: 





1,150 

 1,620 



United States . 

 Puerto Rico. . 





Total 





3.601 



1.774 



5.787 



2.770 



Yellowfin: 





2,794 

 1,999 



1,460 

 1.008 



3,702 

 1,658 



1.846 

 726 



United States . 

 Puerto Rico. . 



Total 





4,793 



2.468 



5.360 



2.572 



Big-eyed: 





125 

 323 



45 

 110 



139 

 207 



22 



70 



United States . 

 Puerto Rico. . 



Total 





448 



155 



346 



92 



Skipiack: 





1,894 

 461 



636 

 136 



2,941 

 283 



1,010 

 58 



United States . 

 Puerto Rico. . 



Total 





2,355 



772 



3,224 



1,068 





Total United States 



6.939 



3,169 



9.187 



4,028 



Total Puerto Rico 



4.258 



2,000 



5,530 



2,474 



Grand Total . . 



11,197 



5.169 



14,717 



6.502 



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CANNED TUNA IN BRINE SALES SLOW: 



Japanese canned tuna in brine exports to 

 the United States as of early June 1966 were 

 reported to be light due reportedly to the 

 slow United States canned tuna market. No 

 sales have been contracted since April 1966 

 when 43,000 cases were sold to exporters by 

 the Canned Tuna Sales Company. The ex- 

 porters have asked packers to reduce their 

 prices to the level where Japanese canned 

 tuna could compete with United States prod- 

 ucts. It was reported that they were seeking 

 a reduction in price of US$1.30 a case for 



whitemeat tuna and $1.10 a case for lightmeat 

 tuna. 



The packers claim they cannot lower prices 

 since they are paying around 180 yen a kilo- 

 gram ($454 a short ton) for the raw material 

 and would lose money even if they sold their 

 packs at prevailing prices. Some packers be- 

 lieve there is a current worldwide shortage 

 of albacore so there is no need to rush sales 

 at this time. Exporters are claiming that, 

 unless the packers reduce their prices, they 

 may have to purchase canned tuna in the 

 United States in order to supply their outlets 

 during the summer season. ( Kanzume Nippo , 

 June 9, 10, 16, 1966.) 



:{e ^ 5!c :ffi ^ 



NEW QUOTA FOR SALES OF 

 CANNED TUNA TO U. S.: 



A new quota for sales of canned tuna in 

 brine to the United States was established in 

 late June 1966. The quantityis 100,000 cases 

 with no change in price. Agreement could 

 not be reached in May because of the high 

 cost of tuna and because of the lack of new 

 officers authorized to act for the Joint Sales 

 Company. (Fisheries Attache, United States 

 Embassy, Tokyo, July 13, 1966.) 



***** 



ATLANTIC TUNA FISHING 



AND EXPORT MARKET TRENDS: 



Albacore fishing in the Atlantic Ocean off 

 Angola and further south to the waters off 

 South Africa was reported good towards mid- 

 June, with vessels averaging catches of 4-5 

 metric tons a day. The price of frozen round 

 Atlantic albacore for export to Puerto Rico 

 was quoted at US$435 a short ton f.o.b. Tema, 

 Ghana. This was a decline of about $80 a ton 

 from the peak reached in March 1966. The 

 Italian tuna market was reported to have soft- 

 ened slightly, with yellowfin, d.w.t. (dressed 

 without tail), quoted at $610 a metric tonc.i.f. 

 Yellowfin fishing in the Atlantic continued 

 poor. As a result, more Japanese exporters 

 were beginning to ship yellowfin to Italy di- 

 rectly from Japan proper. (Suisan Tsushin , 

 June 17, 1966.) 



^ ^c >|c >lc :jc 



THREE PURSE-SEINE FLEETS 

 TO OPERATE IN ATLANTIC: 



Beginning in June 1966, Japan planned to 

 operate three purse -seine fleets in the east- 



