RP tuna industry barely above water

The Philippines, though a relative newcomer in the global tuna market, has of late been vocal in advocating fair trade and even playing field to ensure the survival of its tuna canning industry.

The country’s canned tuna exports are being relegated down under by uneven tariff regimes in the United States and Europe, which both accord duty free treatment for some countries while slapping high rates on exports of other tuna suppliers like it. These skewered realities surface during the recently-held Fish Talk forum of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists sponsored by the Fishery Resources Management Program of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

The United States is as of now deliberating in both its legislative chambers the granting of duty free entry of the Andean countries’ tuna exports. The consolidated bill if finally approved, is designed to wean away the economies of these South American countries from the illicit drug trade while slapping 6 percent (for in-quota shipments) and 24 percent (for out-quota shipments).

The European Union grants duty free treatment to colonies and former European colonies, of which the Philippines can easily qualify (after having been under Spanish rule for over three centuries).

The Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia have been asking for the same privilege (with the Philippines being the most qualified among them) even before the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in Doha Qatar last November.

To ensure the passage of an agreement after the Doha round, these three countries were asked to waive their issue for the meantime and instead work out bilateral arrangements with the European countries, which they did three times (the first in December in Brussels, the second in January in Manila and the last in Bangkok last April).

All these negotiations ended in vain and the three pursued their case in WTO for mediation, a first time in WTO history which is why the director general and representatives of WTO are finding difficulty fleshing out the terms of reference for such mediation procedures.

The global tuna market

The total export market for tuna is $120million of which $70 million is the European market and the balance is the United States market, according to the 2002 trade statistics of the National Statistics Office. Of total exports, canned tuna exports account for 60 percent with the rest consumed as fresh or frozen tuna (mostly high priced sashimi grade).

But tuna traded globally carry only three famous brands namely: Chicken of the Sea (Thailand); Starkist of Heinz and Bumble Bee from Japan. Tuna producers all over the world either trade their product carrying these brands (through toll packing arrangements) or these companies buy their production outright and can them in their facilities in certain parts of the world. It was Starkist, which 15 years ago was looking for sources of raw tuna and other fishery products in the Philippines, that introduced the tuna canning industry here.

All tuna canneries in the Philippines operate under this toll packing scheme and none of their output could be shipped out under another brand. But the labels specifically state the origin of the tuna, which is why trade is easily determined, according to Engr. Augusto Natividad, senior vice president of Frabelle Fishing Corp., the largest fishing fleet that catches its tuna in pelagic waters of the Pacific outside the depleted resources of the Philippines.

The European market is entirely discriminatory in favor of its current and former colonies, but would not grant the Philippines this treatment because it claims that the last colonizer of the Philippines was the United States, not Spain, said Francisco Buencamino, spokesman of the Tuna Canners Association of the Philippines.

Buencamino stated that even with the unfair advantage given by Europe to its colonies, these colonies and European canneries themselves are now bracing for the eventuality that the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia would win their case in WTO and this would mean disaster for their own un-competitive canneries.

Bargaining position

Being one of the first allies of the US to come out in defense of its all out war against terrorism (after September 11, 2001 bombings in America), the Philippines has been the favorite ally of the Bush administration.

It is on this note that the Arroyo administration is banking a positive development for its tuna issue in the US, but the fight is beyond the executive branch, since the issues are based on two separate bills in both chambers of the US Congress.

A known ally in the US Senate is Senator Lugar and others, but the Arroyo administration is lobbying hard with the Bush administration to push strongly its position before both chambers.

A favorite bargaining position is that if tuna canneries in Mindanao would be allowed to survive (given a favorable zero tariff on canned tuna shipments to the US), then this would do well to generate economic activity, reduce political instability and lessen the chances of residents in Mindanao to harbor terrorists and lawless international elements. And Veronica Bartolome of the International Trade Group of the Department of Trade and Industry is very optimistic that the US government will buy this.

Current state of RP canneries

To show just how fragile the financial condition of Philippine tuna canneries is, from a high of 10 canneries, these are now down to 8 (of which 2 are in Zamboanga and six are located right next to each other in General Santos City), Buencamino said.

Most of these canneries hire local unskilled but cheap labor and their technologies can hardly match those of foreign tuna canneries because of the huge capital investment required.

Being a labor intensive and tedious process at low wages, tuna canneries can not expect to hire knowledgeable people and those who can not afford to land jobs elsewhere, he said.

The canned tuna exports of the Philippines have slid by 40 percent for the last three years and this might further be eroded if it fails to get favorable treatments from both the United States and European markets.

In the US market for instance, from a high of 34 percent, canned tuna exports slid to 14 percent only last year because of the uneven tariff regime accorded to its tuna. The total tuna import of the United States is 2 million cases a year, Buencamino said.

Since most of the Philippine fishing grounds for purse seining are almost depleted, tuna fleets have to go farther away and deeper into the ocean to be able to catch tuna. This is why, the Philippine government entered into a capture fishing agreement last year with Indonesia, but pending release of the final rules and regulations by the Indonesian government, this agreement remains to be good just in paper.

Saving the dolphins

One other issue that would greatly affect international tuna trade is the mounting dolphin preservation movement, which calls on consumers in the world to boycott canneries/countries that harm the dolphin population in their operations.

But Natividad said this is the problem more of tuna operators in the eastern Pacific, rather than the Philippines and countries in the Western Pacific. Tuna populations in this part of the globe swim under dolphin populations, which is why seiners that catch tuna also harm the dolphins.

Just like the Greenpeace, another environmental advocacy group which has turned to a global oppositor to biotechnology, the dolphin preservation movement is well financed and very influential. — PAJ News & Features