Ecuador: China ramps up tuna supplies to EU

Published 2023년 3월 7일

Tridge summary

The European Union (EU) is shifting its tuna purchasing preferences towards Chinese suppliers, leading to a decrease in transactions with Ecuador, despite the country's efforts to combat illegal fishing and improve production standards. This shift is attributed to the EU's autonomous quota policy, which allows for the import of tuna from countries without specific trade agreements. This policy undermines tariff incentives provided to Ecuador under its 2017 trade agreement with the EU. The price disparity between Ecuadorian and Chinese tuna, as well as concerns over China's production practices, exacerbates the situation. Ecuador is seeking to address these issues during the European Commission's upcoming visit, aiming to maintain its competitiveness in the EU market.

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Original content

This is due to the fact that the European bloc is increasingly inclined to buy tuna from Chinese suppliers, although there is no trade agreement with them. Between 2015 and 2022, Ecuador's share of this market declined from 32% to 26%, while China's share rapidly increased from 9% to 24%. Europe's purchasing policy of increasing its autonomous quota every two years (importing tuna from other countries without an agreement) worries the Ecuadorian industry because, as Bruno Leone, president of the National Chamber of Fisheries (CNP), explains, partially undermines the tariff incentives that Ecuador and the European Union materialized in a trade agreement signed in 2017. The Ecuadorian sector planned to bring this issue up for discussion, taking advantage of a visit to the country by the European Commission, which is seeking to test the efforts that Ecuador is making to improve its production practices and combat illegal fishing. The supply of tuna loin and canned fish is the largest ...

Source: Fishretail