Tuna industries in Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand : a comparative analysis

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand have become major actors in international tuna markets in the last ten years. The Mexican government targeted the harvesting sector for development. The Mexican purse seine fleet has the potential to become one of the top four worldwide tuna producing fleets. The Philippines, formerly a leader in international markets, is constrained from future expansion by resource depletion problems and inappropriate government policy. Thailand now has 57 percent of the U.S. canned tuna market, displacing exports from both Japan and the Philippines. In all the countries, government policy affected relative industry performance.INTRODUCTION -- INDUSTRY OVERVIEW – Fleets -- Resource availability -- Processing -- GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TUNA INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT -- POSITIONS IN WORLD TUNA MARKETS -- CONCLUSION