Competitiveness Of Production In The Mexican Fishing Sector: The Tuna Case, Competitividad De La Produccion En El Sector Pesquero Mexicano: El Caso Del Atun

This document presents how some countries are losing participation over time in the international market of selected fishery products. Specifically we examine the tuna market which is moving to new emerging economies in the competition for international markets. This paper illustrates the Japanese market as the destination and the participation of their principal suppliers of tuna. We contrast the competitive performance between Mexico and its competitors: United States, Canada and Spain. We utilize the method of constant market shares in the period of 2001-2012. In the first section we address the historical importance of fish exportation, especially tuna for Mexico in the Japanese market for the last twelve years. We show participation of the fishing sector in the exports of the Mexican food industry sector, and how is has been an important sector within agro-alimentary exports. A second section shows how the fishing sector, despite being important in Mexican exports, has a positive competitiveness index. It reveals some negative fluctuations but with signs of recovery in recent years. In recent years this sector gained competitiveness in the international market relative to emerging exporting countries. These emerging countries new competitors for the Japan market