Some Stateside buyers may switch their sources of supply US move makes Andean tuna more competitive The US House of Representatives has voted to extend preferential trade treatment to Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru until 2006. This legislation expands the range of products that can enter America duty-free, including canned tuna. This decision will make tuna from the Andean nations more competitive and may lead some US buyers to switch their sources of supply. For example, they could switch from Thai canned tuna in water, which currently attracts a 6% single duty and 12.5% double duty for entry into the US market. If Andean nations do start providing more tuna to the US market, it could have an effect on the UK by reducing the availability of duty free product from these nations. This could have a possible impact on price. There is another scenario, which says that if Thai packers lose sales in the US ­ their largest export market ­ this could reduce short-term demand for fish in the Western Pacific. This could force prices down, which would eventually make Thai product more competitive in Europe. Thai packers already face similar competition in Europe from the Andean nations where Thai canned tuna faces a 24% duty for entry into the EU, while canned tuna from the Andean nations enters duty free. Meanwhile, most packers forecast that demand for canned tuna has yet to improve upon last year. There are a large number of red salmon promotions planned for Christmas, which means there are little or no promotional opportunities for other canned fish products in the near future. {{CANNED GOODS }}

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