China & Latin America Drive Together: Global Tuna Industry Enters a New Growth Cycle

A consensus was reached at the 2025 International Tuna Conference (Vigo, Spain): After years of adjustment, the tuna industry has broken free from the dual constraints of market fluctuations and resource conservation, officially entering a new growth cycle. The core engines driving this growth are the rapidly emerging Chinese market and resource-endowed Latin America — as Roberto Alonso, Secretary-General of the Spanish National Association of Canned Food Industries and Marine Research Center (ANFACO-CYTMA), emphasized in the conference summary: "The future of the global tuna industry lies in China’s consumption vitality and Latin America’s supply potential."

1. China: From "Major Import Country" to "Pioneer of Industrial Upgrading"

• Booming Demand: Tuna, rich in high-quality protein, Omega-3 fatty acids and various vitamins, has been included in the "nutritional superfood" consumption list amid rising national health awareness. Annual sales growth of products such as ready-to-eat tuna cans, tuna salads, and sashimi-grade fresh-frozen tuna in supermarket cold chains and e-commerce platforms exceeds 20%. This consumption upgrade not only drives imports — China has become the world’s third-largest tuna importer — but also forces domestic industrial upgrading: Chinese aquatic enterprises have begun to focus on refined processing, shifting from traditional "frozen product cutting" to "ready-to-eat and customized" production. Some enterprises have also established full-chain traceability systems from fishing to end-market sales through cooperation with international fishing grounds, enhancing product premium capabilities.

• Market Inclusiveness: Unlike European and American markets’ concerns about mercury content, Chinese consumers, guided by scientific popularization, are more receptive to the research conclusion that "selenium antagonizes mercury risks" (the latest scientific findings cited by Alonso at the conference show that selenium in tuna can effectively reduce the potential impact of mercury on the human body). This has allowed low-to-medium mercury tuna species (such as albacore tuna) to gain broad market access in China, further balancing the global demand structure for tuna species.

2. Latin America: Resource Endowment Fosters a "New Supply Hub"

If China is the "demand engine" of the global tuna industry, Latin America is undoubtedly the "supply core". Endowed with two high-quality tuna fishing grounds — the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean — Latin American countries such as Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico account for over 35% of global tuna catches. Benefiting from scientific quota management by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), local tuna resources have achieved sustainable development. For example, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) dynamically adjusts fishing quotas by real-time monitoring of population sizes, ensuring catches remain within the resource carrying capacity.

• Processing Transformation: In recent years, Latin American countries have moved beyond "raw material exports" and accelerated the shift to "processing for value addition". Peru has established multiple tuna deep-processing parks, converting originally exported frozen tuna into products such as canned tuna and surimi, increasing added value by 3-5 times. Ecuador, relying on its mature aquatic processing industry chain, customizes "ready-to-eat tuna meals" for European, American, and Chinese markets, with products directly entering chain catering and retail channels. This full-chain layout from "fishing to processing" has upgraded Latin America from a "resource exporter" to an "industrial participant", and its influence on the global tuna supply chain has grown accordingly — in the first half of 2025, Latin America’s exports of processed tuna products to China increased by 42% year-on-year, making it one of the main supply sources for the Chinese market.

3. Multi-Dimensional Support: Sustainability and Innovation Lay the Foundation for Growth

The "dual-drive" of China and Latin America is not isolated; it can only release its maximum potential by relying on breakthroughs in the global tuna industry in three areas: sustainable management, technological innovation, and regulatory adaptation.

• Sustainable Management: Cross-regional collaboration among RFMOs is key. In addition to the aforementioned IATTC, institutions such as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have effectively curbed illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing through data sharing and joint law enforcement. Global IUU tuna catches in 2025 decreased by 28% compared with 2020, removing "compliance barriers" for industrial growth.

• Technological Innovation: AI and digital traceability technologies are reshaping the industry chain. The European Union plans to launch the "Tuna Supply Chain Transparency Regulation" in early 2026, requiring all imported tuna to provide full-chain data from fishing vessels and processing plants to importers. The application of blockchain technology fully meets this requirement: a Peruvian fishing ground has piloted "fishing-processing-export" data on-chain, allowing Chinese importers to view real-time tuna fishing time, sea areas, and test reports. This not only enhances trust but also provides technical support for combating IUU fishing.

• Regulatory Adaptation: The industry is proactively responding to global policy changes. Regarding the upcoming EU regulation on forced labor, Alonso clearly stated at the conference: "This is not a threat, but an opportunity to strengthen the value chain." Latin American processing enterprises have begun to improve labor protection systems, and Chinese importers have included "labor compliance" in supplier selection criteria. This "proactive adaptation" not only helps the industry avoid policy risks but also gains consumer trust through the "ethical production" label, accumulating reputation for long-term growth.

4. Global Collaboration: Jointly Mapping a Sustainable Blueprint

The conference concluded with an initiative: The global tuna industry should take the "dual-drive" of China and Latin America as an opportunity to further strengthen cross-regional cooperation — for example, China can share processing technologies and market channels with Latin America, while Latin America provides stable high-quality raw materials. At the same time, countries need to promote the establishment of unified sustainability standards to avoid "compliance arbitrage". It is reported that the next International Tuna Conference will be held again in Vigo in 2027, where the global industry will re-evaluate the growth effectiveness of the "dual engines" and formulate a roadmap for future development.

From the conference hall in Vigo, Spain, to the cold chain shelves of Chinese supermarkets, from fishing vessels in Latin American fishing grounds to EU regulatory offices, the global tuna industry is forming an interconnected "growth network". China and Latin America are the two most dynamic nodes in this network — their collaborative efforts will not only drive the expansion of the tuna industry scale but also redefine the balance between "resource conservation and industrial development", providing a "tuna model" for the sustainable development of global fisheries.