Pinoy groups in US asked to push RP tuna

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II is enlisting the help of Filipino organizations in the United States to help lobby for Philippine canned tuna to gain greater access to the US market.

According to Roxas, the so-called "influence vote" is very strong in the US, and the Philippine government could use the help of Filipino organizations for its efforts to penetrate the US market for canned tuna.

The Philippines’ share of the US canned tuna market is being threatened by the newly-passed Andean Trade Preferences Expansion Act (ATPEA) which would allow the duty-free importation of canned tuna from Andean countries like Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.

The ATPEA is expected to adversely affect the Philippines’ canned tuna exports to the US which currently faces a tariff of between six percent to 35 percent.

The US is the largest single country market for Philippine tuna.

For the past five years, exports of tuna to the US have amounted to about $40 million.

Tuna exports infuse anywhere from $100 million to $200 million to the country annually.

According to Roxas, improving the tuna industry is not only an economic strategy of the Arroyo government, but also a security strategy to curb terrorism in the South.

Roxas stressed that while American and Filipino troops improve their skills in combating terrorism, the two countries should also help each other provide a healthy economy to Mindanao so that its citizens would have sufficient livelihood and not resort to violence.

The country’s tuna canneries are concentrated in Mindanao where the industry benefits almost 150,000 people in direct and indirect employment.