Thesis, Master of Arts (Urban and Regional Planning) -- U.P. in Mindanao.

The Tuna Canning Industry in General Santos City is perceived to be the economic propeller that stimulates growth in the region and is the major contributing factor to the growth of the city. Acknowledged to have basic factor advantage in terms of geography and natural resources, the city has relied much on the tuna canning industry as its main export. This study examined the production and consumption linkages and income multipliers of the tuna canning industry through income accrual and household expenditure pattern analysis in order to identify issues and explore strategies to enhance development of the industry. The results showed that the tuna canning industry has a positive impact in the local economy with an income multiplier of 1.48. However, the positive impacts that the industry dissipates to the local economy is not remarkable and the potential of the industry in propelling economic growth has not been maximized. The rate of income leakages is high at forty four point zero five percent (44.05%) of production cost. Only fifty five point ninety five percent (55.95%) of the total production cost is plowed back to the local economy. In terms of consumption linkages, the study shows that ninety one point six percent (91.6%) of the household income of the labor force of the tuna canning industry is being plowed back to the local economy in terms of household expenditure on consumer goods and services. Only a minimal three point forty three percent (3.43%) is spent outside the city. This is an indication that majority of the household consumer goods and services are available in the city. The commodity flow of the supply and demand chain shows the tuna industry has a broad spatial dimension global in magnitude. The production linkages transcend beyond national level with major value added inputs and tin cans being sourced from foreign suppliers. These leakages offset a large percentage of the income generated by the export sales. The overall performance of the tuna canning industry may be considered competitive with an average annual growth rate of three point five percent (3.5%) for the last four years. However, compared to the average annual growth rate of world canned tuna production of seven point eight (7.8%) within the same period, its performance is below par. The growth potential of the industry was not fully optimized. Issues on low fish supplies, transshipment, contractual labor, poor inter-firm collaboration, and outmoded plant equipment, and non-availability of oil and salt, are the barriers that prevent these companies from operating at optimum plant utilization. In addition to these, the persistent problems on discriminatory tariff rates from EU, declining world canned tuna prices, and lack of government support weakened the competitiveness of the industry. The key players of the industry as well as the government need to adopt policy measures to address these issues in order to improve its global competitiveness. Inter-trade collaboration between fishing and canning industries needs to be strengthened to ensure sustainability of tuna resources. Exploring new market potentials in the Middle East and South America, as well as the Philippines, will minimize the market monopoly of US and EU. The industry needs to invest on technology research and development to improve plant efficiency and explore new product line and packaging system in order to reduce dependence on imported raw materials and tin cans. On the government side, transshipment that adds cost to canned tuna exports needs to be addressed immediately. Expansion of the fish port should be supported by the industry to increase the volume fish landings. Vertical integration should be encouraged to increase inter-industry linkages that would greatly benefit the local economy in terms of income and job generation. It can be concluded that the industry's contribution to the local economy has managed to maintain a positive impact on the economy despite the conservative approach of the tuna canneries in expanding their product line. Optimizing the evident potentials of these canneries given their geographical advantage, would bring about tremendous benefit to the local economy.