Tuna prices are currently on the rise across all markets, with canneries worried this could be a long-term trend. 

In Bangkok, Thailand skipjack prices have reached $1,900 per-metric-ton at the end of June, while they have jumped to $2,000/t in Ecuador. Meanwhile, sustainability measures introduced in the Indian Ocean are expected to cause prices to increase in the second half of the year, as the EU fleet is closing in on the yellowfin quota introduced this year for the first time.

Canneries are nervous because of the potential impact that new quotas for yellowfin in the Indian Ocean, as well as for bigeye and yellowfin in the Eastern Pacific, may have, one industry source from an international player pointed out.

"The quotas are here to stay", a second industry source pointed out.

"That can change fishing as we know it," he said, noting he foresees global catches to decrease in the long-term.

"My forecast is that global catches will be reduced and that will affect prices because global demand continues to grow, little by little, but it continues to grow," he added."

In 2017, "catches are going to fall a lot at the end of the year", a third source from a European large cannery noted. "There have never been quotas in the Indian [Ocean], in the Pacific, a reduction of catches in general," he said.

Read more at Undercurrent News