Monday, August 28, 2006
Key Challenge: Sustaining the Philippine tuna industry
THE city will again host the annual Tuna Congress, now on its eight year, this week where some 300 local and foreign players take another look at the country's P18-billion tuna industry and draw strategies for its future.
Bayani Fredeluces, executive director of the Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries Inc., said this year's congress would focus on quality, food safety and sustainability strategies for the country's tuna industry.
"The congress will push as scheduled on September 1 and 2. Everything is ready," he said.
This year's theme is "Quality and Sustainability: Key to Competitive Philippine Tuna Industry."
An apt catch phrase given the many problems and difficulties the Philippine tuna industry is now facing.
Focusing on EU market
In line with this year's theme, local industry players here have been improving their facilities since last year to meet stringent policies in the huge European market.
European food experts are set to inspect the facilities of tuna producers here before the end of the year after it was twice canceled to give industry players enough time to meet the requirements.
The European Union accounts for roughly 40 percent of the country's exports of fresh and canned tuna.
Industry sources said the European market accounts for roughly $100 million of the country's $250 million annual tuna export revenue.
Marfenio Tan, president of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, said passing the inspection would boost export revenues in the vast European market.
"We are confident of getting the nod of the European inspectors when they visit us. We have upgraded our facilities and operations to meet rigid world standards," Tan said in a statement.
He added that industry stakeholders, to be globally competitive, were exposed to a series of fish enhancement training programs on such topics as the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, Good Manufacturing Practices, and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedure.
Seminars and trainings on hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) actually started as early as 2001 as the health and safety conscious European and American markets moved to impose stringent quality control measures for tuna products entering their respective markets.
Beyond that however, the Philippines is seeking higher quota at lesser, if not zero, tariff similar to that given by the European Union to tuna-producing African countries, most of them former colonies of colonial Europe.
At present, the country is enjoying a 12 percent tariff on the 15,000 metric tons of the huge EU tuna pie it is sharing with Thailand and Vietnam.
Rising fuel costs
At the home front, tuna producers are saying that the spiraling cost of fuel, coupled with declining fishing grounds amid intense competition, has brought production level down for at least three consecutive years now, a situation that has not escaped the Philippine government and has raised serious concerns.
Tan said fuel costs alone are eating up at least 60 percent of their production costs.
A source who requested anonymity said the operational fishing fleet of one of the city's largest tuna producers is now down to two from five fishing fleets three years ago.
Prices of petroleum products in Indonesia, where some of these Philippine fishing boats erstwhile sources their fuel, have also gone up, which are adding to the woes of local tuna producers.
Marfenio Tan has been calling on the Arroyo administration to look into the situation and said they would gladly welcome government "subsidy" on fuel used by Philippine fishing vessels.
Given that the fishing grounds of Philippine tuna producers are now getting farther and farther away from the Philippine shores, the idea may just give the industry a shot in the arm.
Otherwise, as already in some cases, Philippine canned tuna manufacturers may find merit to relocating their plants closer to their fishing grounds as what the Damalerio Fishing, RD fishing and San Andres Fishing are now doing.
Should this trend continue, it would be another significant blow to the Philippine economy.
Optimism
Still, industry players said all is not lost.
The race to transform the local tuna industry from mere exporters of semi-processed products to value added export commodities has already started.
Several homegrown companies have started to export tuna consumer products like hams, sausages, toppings, sashimi and the likes. But these are the domain of big yellowfin tuna processors.
There is also a long-standing proposal to consolidate all canned tuna exports under one or two Philippine labels instead of local manufacturers canning tuna in brine and in oil under European and US brands.
Gensan's bread and butter
Arguably, the local tuna industry is what makes the local economy of General Santos afloat.
The country annually produces approximately 400,000 metric tons of tuna with a value of P18 billion (about $330 million), of which about 85 percent (roughly P15 billion or $280 million) is exported to various regions, including Japan, the US, and Europe, according to the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
The bulk of this production directly comes from the city
This city, touted as the Tuna Capital of the Philippines, hosts six of the country's eight tuna canneries, as well as a modern, sprawling fish port complex.
The tuna industry provides direct and indirect employment to at least 100,000 fisherfolk, laborers and factory workers, located, for the most part, in the Socsksargen and Davao regions.
It is estimated that in General Santos City alone, 80,000 of its residents are directly and indirectly dependent on the industry.
When the 8th Tuna Congress opens this week, top government officials are again expected to tackle issues confronting the tuna industry and its outlook.
The congress, sponsored by the Growth with Equity in Mindanao, a United States Agency for International Development-funded program and the city government, opens its two-day affair on September 1.
Main guests during the congress will be Agriculture Secretary Antonio Panganiban and Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Senate committee chairman on agriculture.
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(August 28, 2006 issue)
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