But just as farmers warned of Argentinian beef flooding supermarket shelves during talks over the Mercosur pact with Latin American countries, EU fishers now fear Thai tuna could overwhelm the bloc’s markets. Thailand, a fish super power, is the world’s largest exporter of preserved tuna, and any tariff concessions could see imports rise sharply. “At the moment [Thai tuna] imports are low, about 40,000 tonnes a year,” said Anne-France Mattlet, director of the tuna group of Europêche, which represents the EU sector. “Thailand produces 450,000 tonnes yearly, so export potential to the EU market is very big,” she added. Asked by Euractiv, the Commission declined to disclose the state of play on talks over tuna market access.