Filipino-owned Frabelle Fishing Corp. (FFC) has expressed interest in putting up tuna canning facilities in India following the expansion of local tuna companies to Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Indonesia.
At the India Philippines Marine fisheries & Aquatic Business Conference (IPM-ABC) last week, FFC president Francisco Tiu Laurel said India is a very prospective site for putting up canning facilities with the availability of tuna raw material.
“India has a potential of 230,000 metric tons of tuna annually of which 40 percent is skipjack and the rest is big eye and yellowfin. That’s something worth looking into by way of putting up the facility or at least buy more materials to feed existing Filipino-owned factories around the western and central Pacific,” said Tiu at the IPM-ABC.
Another expansion option, Tiu said, is for Filipino companies to expand their fleet and fish around India’s fishing ground. That is if they are permitted.
“We are willing to expand our tuna fleet where we are welcome to fish.That’s something quite encouraging to look at in India. The Philippines will be willing to invest as long as they’re are allowed to fish– if that’s possible,” said Tiu.
FFC has expanded operations to Papua New Guinea while six other firms now operate in Indonesia and Vietnam.
FFC is into deep-sea fishing, aquaculture, canning, food manufacturing, processing, food importation and trading, cold storage, shipyard operations, wharf development, real estate development, and power generation.
It runs a fleet of over 100 vessels and employs 5,000 people. Its markets for seafood are Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, and the United States.
The Philippines exports the large chunk of 90 percent of its tuna production mainly to the European Union, 60 percent (where it enjoys preferential duty); United States, 40 percent; and to the Middle East, Japan and Australia, a combined 26%. Only 8 to 11 percent is marketed locally.
Tuna is the Philippines’ biggest seafood export with value of $300 to $400 million yearly.
