Gathering storms for besieged local tuna

More depressing developments for the besieged local tuna sector: The European Union (EU), the world’s largest buyer of seafood, is relentless in creating more non-tariff barriers just to keep away our tuna exporters in General Santos City in Mindanao, the country’s tuna capital, from getting better share in the much-sought for market.

The EU is putting pressure to change existing standards of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to allow lead content in tuna and other fish products at 0.02 parts per million (ppm) instead of 0.05 ppm. (CAC is the international body tasked with developing a food code known as the Codex Alimentarius or Codex, the global reference point for harmonized or uniform food standards to ensure the protection of public health and fair practices in food trade.)

As an outward gesture to show its reasonableness, the EC is partly agreeing to raise the allowable lead level in tuna and other fishery exports to 0.03 ppm instead of the 0.02 ppm. But the Philippines and other tuna exporters in Southeast Asia such as Thailand are opposing this move.

There is hardly any difference between 0.02 ppm and 0.03 ppm, and more importantly, none of the exporters at this stage have the capability to comply. The EU is adamant about not deviating from acceptable world standards because of increasing pressure from Spain and Italy – which make up for 65 percent and 19 percent of the region’s EU tuna canning industry – to block off other sources of tuna and its variants.

Tightening on lead levels

The EU is not expected to treat this matter lightly. EU legislation on heavy metal contamination in food is clearly becoming increasingly strict. The EU has initiated a so-called "rapid-alert system for food and feed" and publishes regular "alert notifications" and "information notifications." Alerts are triggered by the EU member state that detects the problem and which has initiated the relevant measures, such as withdrawal or recall of products from container vans to supermarket shelves.

Since the system was started in recent years, fishery products have figured prominently in the weekly reports. Such action heavily impacts on tuna processors in General Santos City since the EU market accounts for 42 percent of the country’s tuna exports and 49 percent of canned tuna exports.

What is worrisome about the rapid alert system is that the heavy metal content of fish cannot be controlled. Tuna and other species are highly migratory, and there is no existing method that could trace the exact origins of these fish.

Uneven application of regulations

Exporters said there is evidence of uneven application of the regulations across the EU. The way that random testing for heavy metals in fish entering the EU market is currently carried out is highly unreliable, and most likely can be used to discriminate exporting countries like the Philippines.

For instance, tuna caught by EU vessels fishing under other fishing agreements such as those of France and Spain could receive more favorable treatment when entering the EU market, without being tested as rigorously as when it comes from the Philippines.

An EU inspection team is also due in September to look into some of the major tuna and sardine processing facilities in the country. The team will look at improvement made to address reported inadequacies concerning Hazard Analysis on Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards.

The EU wants to continue the restrictions on exports of frozen tuna treated with filtered smoke, a continuing inspection of fish ports and landing sites, internal and external calibration of the plants‚ processing and canning equipment, and inspection of accredited freezer vessels. Such continuing vigilance by the EU last year resulted in the reduction of accredited export firms to 30 from 97.

Some local companies investing heavily to upgrade their facilities complain that the tightened watch is unfair since some of the tuna processing plants of their EU counterparts are not being subjected to the same scrutiny. A tuna exporter in General Santos City pointed out in the previous tuna congress that he had toured some of these canneries and they were in conditions far worse than ours. So, why the fuss on the local canneries?

Lower allocation, higher tariff

Aside from technical barriers, the EC also recently junked the Philippines’ request for a higher tuna allocation at the reduced tariff of 12 percent. Currently, the EU allocates a tariff rate quota of 25,000 metric tons (MT) annually at 12 percent duty for imports of canned tuna from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

The Philippines’ share of the quota is 9,000 MT, Thailand’s at 13,000 MT, Indonesia at 2,750 MT, and all others for the remaining 250 MT. Beyond this allocation, tuna exporters pay a 24-percent duty. The EC allows a certain volume of canned tuna shipments at lower tariff provided non-preferred countries’ export allocations are raised by at least three percent starting 2004.

EC justified its action by pointing out that there was no need to raise the volume of canned tuna shipments at 12 percent duty because the 9,000-MT allocation was not even met in the previous quarter.

This is rather absurd because exporters in fact, want a higher allocation since the present allocation is just good for two weeks’ consumption. Exporters are in a bind because they have the capacity to ship more but will have difficulty competing with favored EU exporters enjoying zero duties.

US and Japan also tightening restrictions

On top of EU restrictions, our tuna exporters also face tougher competition in other major markets like the US, which currently favors tuna suppliers from Central America, African, and the Caribbean and Andean countries.

For one, the US is negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Central American countries (CAFTA), along with the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

If this takes effect, tariffs on tuna products under CAFTA will be gradually reduced over a 10-year period ending in 2010. This will result in tuna products from such preferred countries entering the US market at zero tariff.

Another threat is the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act that resulted in a low one percent to 2.5-percent tariff for tuna products entering the US from the Caribbean countries. The US is also holding its 10th round of FTA negotiations with Andean countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. One of the possible talking points is to expand the privilege of zero duty on imported pouched tuna from Andean countries to include other tuna products.

And if these weren’t enough, Japan still refuses to lift the nine-year ban on smoke-filtered tuna from the Philippines. What is so ironic about the whole thing is that Japan uses the same technology that is being used by local processors and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to further expand its smoked tuna exports to the US.

Is it doomsday?

With everything that happening, our government’s trade representatives will have to be more aggressive, innovative and trade-savvy in making moves to push for the country’s tuna exports and defend it from restrictive trade barriers. If nothing drastic is done to halt the selective restrictions imposed on tuna exports coming from the Philippines, we will be seeing another sunset industry within the next couple of years.

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