Yellowfin Tuna: A Global and Uk Supply Chain Analysis

No poster available.Introduction Tuna is one of the worlds most traded and sought after species\ud of fish. The global tuna market is worth in the region of $6billion and\ud annual catch volumes of around 4 million tonnes. The tuna supply chain is\ud global and it is broad and complex involving multiple stakeholders. There\ud are a wide range of different factors affecting tuna supply chains and\ud driving stakeholder behaviour in the chain.\ud Objective The paper aims to identify key developments and options for UK\ud based suppliers and processors of tuna.\ud Methods This paper draws on primary based research with UK processors\ud alongside secondary research in order to understand and characterise the\ud different aspects of tuna supply chains. The paper provides an overview of\ud the main tuna supply routes including catching, trading and processing\ud activities and the main consumption patterns. For each of these parts of the\ud chain we identified a range of environmental/market factors. A key factor\ud was international trade rules which have a significant impact upon the tuna\ud trade. This paper also provides an overview of the key consumption areas\ud of Japan, USA and the EU and an analysis of the UK market.\ud Results The findings suggest that there are a number of areas of risk for UK\ud tuna processors and suppliers. Amongst these are international trade\ud agreements, trading conditions and trade data deficiencies. Declining\ud stocks and pressure on these stocks, particularly from the tuna canning\ud industry, is another key risk.\ud The paper recommends that to reduce their exposure to these risks UK\ud processors and suppliers should: review the above developments and\ud identify key risk areas; identify opportunities to influence and so mitigate\ud risk areas; and agree possible stakeholder actions