Demand structure for fish

Abstract

During the last decades, there has been virtually an explosion in the number of studies of the demand structure for seafood markets. The most common approach is demand analysis, where demand equations are estimated either individually or in a system of demand equations. These studies of the demand structure focus on the price sensitivity of demand, on the degree of substitution between potentially competing products and on income/expenditure effects. However, as price information is often more available than quantity, there have been a number of market integration studies that primarily focus on the competition between different products. The purpose of this paper is to give a review of demand and market integration studies with respect to fish, focusing on the method used, the information that is obtained, and how this information varies with the approach used.