Prices of raw material skipjack softened in the last two weeks of August in Bangkok to $1250 per metric ton, from a peak in June of this year at $1700 per metric ton. Packers in Thailand and the Philippines are currently offering small lots of finished product simply to keep the factories in operation. Recent pricing for small quantities of canned retail sized tins actually is being offered below today’s cost of production. At these levels for finished product, the breakeven point for the canners would reflect a raw material skipjack market of $1100 per metric ton, which the market has not yet seen. Read the rest of this entry »

SURIGAO CITY, Sept 1 (PNA) – Economic boom continues to spur in this nickel and city of adventure in northeastern part of Mindanao as an American-Japan business partners are set to build a $ 21-million cannery plant here, city officials here reported Tuesday.

The Crystal Corp. will release an initial amount of $ 8 million for the mobilization of this tuna cannery plant, the city officials in this city said during an interview with newsmen. Read the rest of this entry »

With barely a month to go, Tuna 2010 is gaining added momentum with the inclusion of Ernest Z. Bower from the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, USA). He will add to the already impressive line-up of speakers which includes industry heavy weights such as Chris Lischewski, the President & CEO of Bumble Bee Food LLC, USA. Ernest Z. Bower, Senior Adviser and Director, Southeast Asia Programme, the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, USA) will deliver the keynote address on “The Seven Revolutions”, a thought provoking presentation that gives an interesting and lively outlook of the future of the world over the next 25-50 years. Read the rest of this entry »

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — Nearly half of the 800 workers StarKist Co. planned to lay off at its American Samoa tuna cannery this year will lose their jobs this weekend.

“The first phase of layoffs will commence on Aug. 28, affecting 380 employees,” StarKist Samoa General Manager Brett Butler testified Thursday before the U.S. territory’s House Commerce Committee.

He said the rest of the layoffs would occur in October, but no firm date has been set. Read the rest of this entry »

Taiwan has officially become a full member of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), according to the Council of Agriculture on Friday.

The IATTC is in charge of the management and conservation of tuna in the East Pacific. The waters are a high source of income for Taiwanese who export the raw fish. Taiwan has been an IATTC observer since 1973, but this status has never allowed voting rights for Taiwan within the commission. An official from Taiwan’s Fishery Agency, Tsay Tzu-yaw, explained why Taiwan’s recent entry is significant. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Phillippines — The Philippines will push for the lifting of the tuna fishing ban being implemented by members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission from January this year to December 2011, a ranking fisheries official said on Thursday. Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr. told reporters that the government is making this move to ease the problem of local tuna fishers, who have run out of stock. Read the rest of this entry »