Skipjack tuna prices are soaring to record highs. The wholesale price of Thai canned tuna has increased 50 percent from a year ago, surpassing USD 2,000 per metric ton. Japanese companies are finding that the high raw material cost has counteracted the appreciation of the yen.
The usual trend in Thailand is for prices to rise in August and September, as the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has established regulations to catch bigeye in the Pacific Ocean from July to September, while reducing catches of skipjack by purse seine vessels at the same time.
However, at the end of 2011, the price continued to strengthen even after the regulation period, due to increased demand for canned tuna in emerging markets such as China and throughout Southeast Asia. Thailand’s current trading price for skipjack, or bonito, tuna is USD 2,050 to USD 2,100 per metric ton.
Processed skipjack is mainly exported to Europe and the United States for use in sandwiches. Canned tuna production in Thailand totals about 600,000 metric tons, about half of global consumption. Skipjack caught in the main fishing grounds of the mid-west and south Pacific are mostly landed in Thailand, forming the basis for the international price.
The Nippon Keizai Shimbun (Japan Economic Journal) recently speculated that retail prices of canned tuna will rise in Japan. However, Kenji Takinawa, PR manager of Shizuoka-based Hagoromo Foods, said that the company gets most of its tuna from its Indonesian joint venture, PT Aneha Tuna Indonesia, so it is not strongly affected by Thai price levels. Hagoromo, Japan’s leader in canned tuna, sells nearly JPY 18.5 billion worth of canned tuna annually, making up 46 percent of the company’s total sales.
For many food products, manufacturers have avoided scaring off price-sensitive customers by instead reducing package weight. But this is hard to do for canned tuna, which would clearly show empty space in the can. Hagoromo has a tuna salad product that may help it out in this case. In 2009, the company introduced the Sea Chicken PLUS series of tuna mixed with corn and cheese, carrot or potato. It has been selling well, though not rivaling their regular oil- or water-packed tuna. Oil-packed is more popular in Japan, though water packed has gained in popularity among health-conscious customers.
