Maldives Tuna Exports Plunge 48 Percent in Q1 2026, MMA Reports

Maldives’ fish exports plunged 48 percent in the first three months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to Maldives Monetary Authority data reported by Avas on February 27, 2026. The Avas item says both volume and value plunged but does not provide tonnage or MVR/USD breakdown in the excerpt, leaving the percentage as the primary headline metric for Q1 2026.

The Q1 2026 drop extends a multi-year contraction that sector groups and analysts have traced back to a 2023 peak. The Maldives Fishermen’s Association’s charts show total national fish catch peaking at more than 160,000 metric tonnes in 2023, with both export volume and export revenue “peaked in 2023 before experiencing a sharp decline by early 2025,” and seasonal peaks concentrated in February, March, and November.

Product-level shifts have been dramatic. CorporateMaldives reports that frozen skipjack’s share of fish export earnings fell from 55 percent in 2023 to 34 percent in 2024, while canned or pouched tuna rose to represent 37 percent of total fish export earnings in 2024. CorporateMaldives also states that export earnings from frozen skipjack dropped by 67 percent, and that domestic exports contracted by 43 percent year-on-year to USD 92.4 million. Market destinations shifted as well; CorporateMaldives records Thailand’s share of Maldivian exports falling from 54 percent to 35 percent while the UK’s share rose to 22 percent even as UK value declined by 10 percent.

Month-to-month reporting in the Maldives Republic provides concrete evidence of the slump through 2024: January–October exports that “this year” totalled 33,994 metric tonnes versus 63,071 metric tonnes in the same period the year before, a 46.1 percent decline. The Maldives Republic monthly table shows March sliding from 11,975 metric tonnes in 2023 to 3,760 metric tonnes in 2024, and July collapsing from 3,189 to 1,099 metric tonnes; August 2024 was the lone month where 2024 exceeded 2023, at 2,174 versus 1,848 metric tonnes.

Historical MMA bulletins captured similar shocks earlier in the decade. The MMA Quarterly Economic Bulletin quoted by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers records Q4 2021 exports at 20,685.4 metric tonnes, a 24 percent fall versus Q4 2020. That Q4 2021 breakdown showed frozen skipjack down 31 percent and frozen yellowfin down 46 percent, while fresh or chilled yellowfin and canned or pouched tuna each rose 41 percent; fish purchases in Q4 2021 totalled 23,874.4 metric tonnes, driven by an 18 percent increase in skipjack purchases and a 39 percent decline in yellowfin purchases.

The 48 percent Q1 2026 figure therefore reads as the latest episode in a sequence: a 2023 high-water mark, steep volume and earnings declines across 2024, sharp adjustments in product mix toward canned tuna, and now a near-halving of exports year-on-year in early 2026. With MMA’s percentage as the current benchmark and MFA and CorporateMaldives documenting the composition and market shifts, Maldives tuna exporters face sustained pressure on volumes, earnings, and traditional buyer relationships into 2026.