Taiwanese tuna trawlers are staying put in port, according to an industry representative.
Tony Lin, project manager at the Taiwan Tuna Association, told SeafoodSource that depreciation of the value of the Japanese yen, alongside high oil prices and continuing COVID-19 safety and prevention measures have “caused the operating costs of Taiwan distant fisheries to rise, affecting the willingness to operate and the decline in catches.”
Lin said he is concerned the Japanese sashimi market will remain weak for the rest of the year as the yen’s value remains depreciated. The yen’s value has fallen 17 percent against the U.S. dollar thus far in 2022.
French investment bank Natixis said the devaluation has been caused by a divergence between monetary tightening by the U.S. central banking system and a contrasting agenda from its counterpart in Tokyo, which has continued to loosen monetary policy in a bid to keep Japan out of the deflationary spiral which has dogged its economy for over a decade.
“The immediate problem with the sharp fall in the yen is the erosion of real disposable income, hurting consumption,” a research note from Natixis said. “Furthermore, companies have limited room to raise wages, as income transfer to overseas have already increased to a record level during the first quarter of 2022 on the back of jumping import prices. In fact, the Bank of Japan’s policy has amplified the surge in import prices of global commodities through a weaker yen.”
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