10. SUMMARY REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL MARKETING OF BLUEFIN TUNA

Prepared by
Makoto Peter Miyake
(Japan Tuna)

1. INTRODUCTION

The Ad Hoc GFCM/ICCAT Working Group on Sustainable Bluefin Tuna Farming/Fattening Practices in the Mediterranean established by ICCAT and GFCM held the first meeting on 12-14 May 2003^[11]. At the meeting, the author of this report was assigned to summarize and/or analyze the trade and marketing of farmed tuna. In order to make a full analysis of the international marketing of the farmed Atlantic bluefin tuna products, it is essential to have a full reporting on the production and output from the farming sites. Unfortunately at the time of writing this report, the information on output from various farming countries was not fully available. Therefore this report at this time is somewhat limited.

The report reviewed the output from various farming sites as reported, compared them with the quantities of farmed tuna in the international market. Several different sources were reviewed for the international trade. The pre-farming trade, i.e. imports/exports of live stock fish, is only reviewed from the stand point of Bluefin Statistical Documents (BFSD) and not from the national reports, as this subject has been assigned to different scientists.

At the end, the Japanese bluefin tuna market price was compared with the import quantities of bluefin tuna.

2. DATA SOURCE

The definitions of terms used in this report and data source are as follows:

Output (from the farming)

Quantity (in tonnes) of bluefin tuna taken out of the farming cage for shipping. The data are taken from National Reports presented by various countries to the Working Group. The reported data were for Spain, 1997 through 2002; for Italy, 2001 and 2002; for Malta, 2000 and 2001; and for Turkey, 2002. Therefore there were certain omissions of data but those were not estimated. The weights are as reported in the National reports. Most of the weights are not defined as live weight or product weight.

Imports in product weight of farmed tuna by Bluefin Statistical Documents (BFSD)

Weight (in tonness) of products, as reported in the BFSD as farmed tuna. For Turkey, there was no specification between farmed and wild tuna but with confirmation by Turkish authority, all amounts reported in the BFSD were assumed as farmed tuna, since 2002. BFSD has been implemented since 1993. All the ICCAT Contracting Parties which import bluefin tuna must request the products accompanied with a BFSD validated by the authority of the exporting country. The document format includes fields to report the general area of capture, flag of fishing vessels, quantity of products by type of products, shipping ports etc. The importing countries have to report to the Commission, the summary of the BFSD received, twice a year. Since 2003, it has been requested that farmed tuna have to be marked to that effects in the BFSD. The country re-exporting bluefin tuna must attach the original BFSD they received at the time of the import together with the re-export document. The figures used in this report is taken from Matsumoto (in press - Summary of the Japanese statistics for the import of farmed Mediterranean bluefin tuna, submitted at the 1^st meeting of the GFCM/ICCAT Working Group), but updated for the first half of the 2003, using the Japanese biennial report on BFSD.

Imports in estimated round weight of farmed tuna by BFSD

Estimated round (live) weight (in tonnes) from the product weight reported as farmed tuna in the BFSD. According to the Working Group decision, the following conversion factors were used for estimation;

The figures used in this report is taken from Matsumoto (in press) but updated for the first half of the 2003, using the Japanese biennial report on BFSD.

Total imports of bluefin tuna by BFSD

Product weight or estimated round weight of bluefin tuna imported based on the BFSD. This amount includes all farmed tuna and wild tuna caught in the Mediterranean area, according to the BFSD.

Import based on (Japanese) custom data

Product weight of commodity classified either as frozen, fresh or filleted bluefin tuna in the Japanese custom records. Only those from the Mediterranean countries are included. Therefore the data may include Atlantic catches by Morocco, Spain and/or France, while some fish caught by non-Mediterranean countries but in the Mediterranean (such as Chinese Taipei, Equatorial Guinea) are not included. Also the custom records generally show the point of shipments and no origins are specified. As information for product type is not available, no round weight was estimated.

Tsukiji market price

Weekly highest, lowest and average prices per kilogram for imported fresh bluefin tuna at the auction of Tsukiji market. The figures were taken from the official record of the Tokyo Municipal Government. The price is given in Japanese Yen per kilogram of the products (whatever the types are).

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET

Figure 1 illustrates schematically the flow of farmed bluefin tuna in the international market. There are several stages where bluefin tuna are exposed to an international market.

First step is when the live stock fish are traded internationally before they are put into the farming cages. In principle, BFSD applies only to fresh fish and frozen fish but not live fish. However, some countries requests BFSD even for the live fish.

After the farming, the products are shipped to the consumer markets. At present, almost all, if not absolutely all the products are destined to the Japanese "sashimi" market. Most of the products are directly shipped to Japan, either using air-cargo or low-temperature freezer (cargo vessels). However, a small part is once shipped to a third country and re-exported to Japanese market after some additional processing. All these transactions have to be made with BFSD and the importing countries have to report the summary of BFSD they have received to the Commission, twice a year. Unfortunately in many countries, these mandatory actions are not implemented.

4. PRE-FARMING TRADE

Who provided the fish for the farming should have been reported in the National reports which Working Group had requested. However, it seemed that the fish movements between countries are only partially reported. Therefore pre-farming trade, as shown from the BFSD which Japan received was analysed, only in order to help the clarification of trade at this stage.

Table 1 shows the fish by countries of origin and of shipment, as described in BFSD for farmed products received in Japan. The country of origin means, in principle, the flag of country of the fishing vessels captured that fish, while country of shipment may include both the country where the farming took place and that shipped out the output from the farming. Until 2001, almost all the farming products have been shipped from the farming country. However, in last few years, some farming countries export the harvested and processed fish through the third countries to Japan (e.g. Turkey to Japan through Spain). Between EU countries, fish movements are not considered as an international trade. However, for many occasions, the fish moved between EU and non-EU countries, which requires BFSD unless fish are live and the summary must be reported to ICCAT. Unfortunately many countries have not reported to the ICCAT the imports (or BFSD received with imports), and hence this can only be guessed through the BFSD received in Japan.

The estimated pre-farmed live (round) weights are given in this Table. The calculations are made, according to the ICCAT normal practice,i.e. all the product weights imported to Japan were converted using the accepted conversion factors, except for the belly meat products. Conversion factor 1 was applied for the belly meat, as belly meat may represent double reporting with other products^[12]. Besides, factor of 0.8 was applied to all the converted weight, to compensate 25 percent hypothetical increase (less mortality loss) in meat weight during the farming. Thus, the values given here supposedly represent the weight of fish at captures. Therefore the weight of fish imported from a country of shipping (regardless if that were farmed in that country or re-exported) represents pre-farming weight.

The reliability of the data is subject of question, as many hypotheses were included in the above calculations. Some BFSDs lack information on country of origin. Conversion factors vary depending on the stage of faming. Belly meat may not double reported. Average growth of 25 percent may be quite wrong, particularly if the fish are kept over a year in the cage.

5. OUTPUT VS IMPORT

In this Section, three data sources are used (see Section 2 for definitions). Those are:

Output from the cages - The quantities of bluefin tuna as reported by the National report and is not very clear in many cases, if they are in product weight or in live weight.

Japanese import estimated by BFSD - The data are originally in product weight. Round weight is estimated according to the procedures explained in Section 2. They are further classified into two categories, one for farmed tuna and one for all products (including farmed tuna). Since BFSD started in 1993, only countries reported the receipts of the BFSD have been Japan, USA, Taiwan (Province of China). Most of the imports to Korea Rep., Taiwan (Province of China) and USA were re-exported to Japan. Therefore it can be assumed that all the farmed bluefin tuna have been imported to Japan at the end.

The countries in this Section refer to the countries of shipments, not origin or capturing.

Japanese Custom records - The data are taken from Japanese custom import data of the categories of fresh, frozen and fillet bluefin tuna. As the products are not classified by type except for fillet, round weight was not estimated. Custom records lack information of region of origin (or capture) and hence the imports from the Mediterranean countries are considered as Mediterranean products. Thus the catches by non-Mediterranean countries in the Mediterranean area are missing, unless they are transshipped from the Mediterranean countries. As in the case of BFSD, a part of Atlantic catches made by Morocco, Spain and France would have been included but the quantities are assumed to be minor.

Figure 2 shows in accumulative histogram the total production of farmed tuna in the Mediterranean and a part of which imported to Japan (shaded area). Therefore, unshaded area of hystogram represents the quantities sold in other market than Japan. The total production is the author's estimates while the imports are from Japanese national report by Matsumoto (in press) They are all given in round weight basis but at the time of output from the farms. Those histograms are compared with the lines, which represent the reported bluefin catch from the Mediterranean (excluding those by Japanese fleet) according to the ICCAT latest statitics (as of March 2005). The Mediterranean catches include all the countries by various non-Mediterranean countries such as Taiwan (Province of China), Belize, Panama, and Equatorial Guinea but not by Japan. That means all the bluefin tuna captured in the Mediterranean that can be available for import by Japan. This Figure shows that the import of farmed tuna increased very rapidly since 1997, and in recent years almost all the catches are used for farming. However, it should be remembered that there are some time lag between year of farming and year of import. In general, import year is somewhat delayed. Therefore a part of the imports are always from the previous years farming and catch. Also it should be kept in mind that the quantities of capture is not directly comparative with farming production as the latter include the growth of fish (which is considered aquaculture rather than capture).

Figure 3 shows, for the countries for which output data have been available, comparisons between output and Japanese import of farmed bluefin tuna. The countries given here are those of shipments The years given are the years of output for the countries of shipment, but for import, the years when the BFSD are accepted. Therefore, obviously, there are some discrepancies between these two years. Only for Spain, available data cover a considerable period. Comparisons of the two series indicated that, considering the time lag between two series, the Japanese import (product weight) is quite comparative with the Spanish output. From this, it can also be assumed that the Spanish output weight was given in product weight rather than in round weight. For other countries, data are not complete enough or for enough period to make meaningful comparisons.

This Figure was not updated after the third meeting of the Working Group. The reason is that until 2001, the countries of shipment are almost the same as countries of farming. Therefore the product weight from country of shipment can be directly compared with the reported output from that country. However, since 2002, there seemed many cases where landed and processed farmed tuna were trans-shipped via another country before reaching to the Japanese market. Therefore, the farming could have been made in another country rather than country of shipments, or of origin.

6. JAPANESE MARKET PRICE AND DISCUSSION

In this Section, the bluefin price at the Japanese Tsukiji market is reviewed in terms of quantity of bluefin imported to Japan. Figure 4 The data were taken from the official records of Tokyo Municipal government, which own the Tsukiji market. Tsukiji price can be considered representative of the price in Japan. The price is for the fish categorized as "imported fresh bluefin tuna" (not including southern bluefin tuna but including Pacific bluefin tuna). Prices are not classified for farmed and wild tuna. Also it is very well known that the price difference is very significant for a little difference in quality of the products. Although there are many different types of products such as belly meat, these highly processed products are not sold at the auction of the market. Therefore it can be considered that the price is mostly for less processed fish such as gilled and gutted, and dressed. Also it should be mentioned that these prices are generally well linked with those of the Japanese domestic products as well as other species of tuna, particularly of southern bluefin tuna. There are about 8 000 tonnes of farmed southern bluefin tuna imported to Japan yearly. Therefore those also interact very significantly with the import of farmed bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean area.

It should also be noted that the Japanese market is not as large as many people believe. The price of high quality fish is very sensitive to the quantity of fish sold daily in the market.

In Figure 5, the monthly quantities in tonnes and average price in yen per kg for imported fresh bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean countries based on the Japanese. Import data of the Custom. The custom records show only weight of products and total value. Therefore price of Yen per Kg is calculated by dividing the value by weight, hence showing the average price of products. Since those are for fresh fish, possibly almost all are from farming and possibly gilled and gutted or simply dressed. Also it should be noted that the price represents as imported and not necessarily the market price.

The monthly fluctuations both in quantity and in price showed very high variation but there is a very distinct annual pattern. Every year, the import quantity is very high towards the end and beginning of the year. This is because the Japanese market demands for tuna peak twice a year, for two largest festivities. One, by far the largest, is the New Years festival and another is the Buddhist festival in August. Because of the nature of the bluefin farming, the best is to aim to ship for the New Years festivity, as the August is the time when fish are just put into the cage and meat quality is not desirable. The price also paralleled with the import quantity. The relation is somewhat like that of the chicken and egg, though price might be the driving factor. However, this trend in price has been less obvious since 2004. This is mostly due to the sudden increase in import in December 2003, as the consequence of rapidly increased bluefin farming in the Mediterranean area. In general, it is clear that the price has been in a downward trend.

It should also be remembered that some imports in the spring months (particularly from March to June) may have included wild tuna of re-spawning, particularly in earlier years. Until 2001, most of farming activities (except for Croatia) were terminated by January. However, recently, many farmers keep fish until mid-year as they can not sell all the fish during the peak period for the Japanese New Year.

In the Japanese market, however, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna is competing with the Pacific bluefin, much of which are taken by Japanese near coast fisheries, and southern bluefin tuna. In Figure 5 monthly quantities (tonnes) and average price (Yen/Kg) recoded in Tsukiji (Tokyo) market are compared for the imported and domestic fresh bluefin tuna. Those are weight and price of products (gilled and gutted, mostly), and farmed and wild tuna are all mixed together, although Japanese domestic fish are all wild. Size of fish is not available and hence Japanese domestic bluefin include juveniles caught near Japan, which make up different category in the market with much lower price. For the comparative purpose, Figures 4 (available for 2000 Jan. to 2005 Jan.) and 5 (data available only since 2002 Jan.) are lined up for the month-year. It is interesting to note that the price fluctuations among three series are not matching, indicating the complications of the market. It seems that the Japanese tuna supply tends to peak during the summer month to meet Buddhist holidays, compensating the lack of imported bluefin tuna.

In Figure 6 gives estimated imports of the farmed bluefin tunas (Atlantic, Pacific and southern) by countries of shipments. The most of the data are taken from BFSD and estimated as round fish. The imports from the Mediterranean area (Atlantic bluefin tuna) keep increasing rapidly until 2004, for which the data are available. Imports from Australia (southern bluefin tuna) have been stabilized as the catch is under a strict quota). Most significant development is entry of Mexico (Pacific bluefin tuna) since 2002. At present (since 2003), it is estimated that more than 4 000 tonnes of tuna are kept in farming. Obviously some of those farmed products are marketed to the North America.

It is true that the Japanese market of moderately high quality bluefin tuna has expanded very rapidly, when the farmed tuna started providing high-fat tuna at a relatively low cost since late 1990s. However the increase in supply went very rapidly as seen. In 2002, about 12 000 tonnes in processed product basis (15 000 tonnes in round weight) was imported, in addition to about 8 000 tonnes of farmed southern bluefin from Australia. In 2003 and 2004, 17 000 tonnes and over 20 000 tonnes, respectively, have been imported in round weight basis. It has been reported that the recent low price paid for the farmed tuna in Japan is having a serious difficulties for some of the Mediterranean farming business as well as to all the tuna industry in Japan. On the other hand, in the countries where farming cost is still low, the price is still attractive. It is yet not known how much the Japanese market absorb these farmed tunas but it is also true that the market is expanding to Europe and U.S.A. as we can really witness in the city markets of the countries in Europe and U.S.A.

7. RECOMMENDATIONS

- Adopt BFSD for live fish and implement it strictly.

- Biennial reports of BFSD (for normal frozen and/or fresh bluefin tuna) must be submitted to the Commission by all the countries (particularly of European countries) which imported bluefin, even the fish are thereafter re-exported. At present, only Japan, Taiwan (Province of China), Korea Rep. and U.S.A. are practicing this mandate.

- National report of the farming must be provided from all farming countries. Presently only a few countries follow the rule.

- Input and output to and from the cages are very essential information and Commission is requesting now to report them to the Commission. This recommendation must be implemented.

- The type of weight given as output by farming countries must be well defined. From this analysis, it seems that the output reported in the national reports was the weight of processed products. Since various types of products are mixed, if they are reported in product weight, they should be reported by type of products.

- If the same fish are exported in more than one type of product, they must be well marked to that effect, in order to avoid double reporting.

- For the management of sustainable farming, it is essential that social and economic studies be made.

- In this report, only superficial and introductory work was made on the Japanese market. The price for farmed tuna for an extended period must be analysed, which were not available at this time.

Figure 1. Diagram showing the international trade flows of farmed bluefin tuna.

Figure 2. Estimated Mediterranean farmed bluefin tuna (entire histogram-converted to round weight at output), and reported bluefin catch from the Mediterranean area (lines in tonnes). Shaded areas represent those farmed tuna imported to Japan based on BFSD and ICCAT statistics.

Figure 3. Comparison between reported outputs from cages (National reports) and Japanese import (processed weight) based on farmed BFSD.

Figure 4. Monthly import of fresh bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean area to Japan and declared custom price.

Figure 5. Monthly sale quantities (in tonnes - product weight) and monthly average price (Yen/Kg) of imported bluefin (upper panel) and domestic bluefin (lower panel) at the Japanese Tsukiji market.

Figure 6. Estimated quantities (tonnes) of various farmed bluefin tunas (Atlantic, Pacific and southern) imported to Japan by country of shipments.

11. FARMING FACILITIES REPORTED AS AUTHORIZED TO OPERATE FOR FARMING OF BLUEFIN TUNA CAUGHT IN THE ICCAT CONVENTION AREA*

(ICCAT list as of 13 May, 2005 - see ICCAT website for updated information)

* Established pursuant to the ICCAT Recommendation on Bluefin Tuna Farming [03-09]