One of New Zealand’s largest fishing groups is throwing in the towel when it comes to its Pacific tuna business.
Auckland-based company Sanford has put its Pacific tuna fleet up for sale, and has already sold its San Nanumea vessel. The company’s other remaining vessel, San Nikunau, has a potential buyer lined up, according to company representatives.
Per an interim report released by the company in June, Sanford had entered into a conditional agreement as of 9 April to sell the two international purse seiner vessels. Even though the sale of another purse seiner last year afforded the company’s remaining fleet marginal success over the proceeding six months ending on 31 March, it wasn’t enough to combat the increased access costs associated with the South Pacific. Moreover, the shrinking prices for skipjack tuna – which made up 5 percent of Sanford’s NZD 226 million (USD 144.7 million; EUR 127.3 million) in revenue – suffered a five year low during the same timespan, further convincing the company to exit the Pacific tuna trade.
"Continuing unsatisfactory returns driven by low prices and the strict commodity nature of skipjack tuna coupled with ever increasing access costs to the fishery, resulted in the decision to exit this business and offer the vessels for sale," Sanford chief executive Volker Kuntzsch said.
Sanford experienced an 18 percent decline in first-half profits in May, as it tried to tackle falling prices for skipjack tuna, blue mackerel and other oily fish. The same timespan brought strong demand for deepwater fish and stable prices for greenshell mussels. However, the company was moved to write down the value of some of its vessel fleet by NZD 6 million (USD 3.8 million; EUR 3.3 million).
