Price Integration along the Spanish Gilthead Seabream (Sparus aurata) Value Chain

Seabream is the most important farmed species in the Mediterranean region, and Spain is the largest market. A key question for this industry is to assess the way in which negotiation power is distributed along the value chain. Price transmission is studied by analyzing market integration between different levels of the value chain. The price series for seabream at the ex-farm, wholesale and retail levels have been collected weekly since 2009 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food through the Observatory of Food Prices. Import prices were collected from the quantities and values ​​imported by Spain from Greece and Turkey, the larger exporters in the Mediterranean, available in the database of external trade of the EU. In a model to test price transmission in the domestic market only local prices are considerd. A second model considers Spanish ex-farm prices and Spanish import prices from Greece and Turkey to test market delimitations. Results show that ex-farm prices are not caused by other agents of the value chain. Wholesalers set their prices according to the ex-farm prices and the retailers’ margin. However, when considering retailers, there are no price linkages causing their prices. Results also suggest that Spanish ex-farms prices are determined in part by the Spanish industry, but especially by the price of imports.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Factors Affecting Consumer's Attitudes Towards Aquaculture

Attitudes towards production processes increased their importance over food purchase decissions in recent years. This paper aims to test which factors mainly affects attitudes towards aquaculture. Factors are classified into three groups: demographic, situational, and personal and marketing infuences. Using consumer survey data, factor analysis techniques were used to obtain an attitude meassure from a set of scales. Diferent linear models and fit methods were performed with variables of the three groups of factors to test for significant effects over attitude scores. Significant effects were found with education, ocupation and income. Purchase and consumption place were also found to be significant causes of diferencies across attitudes. Finally Consumer involvement with food safety and sustainability and generic advertising credibility have shown significant effects over attitudes towards aquaculture.Keywords: Consumer attitudes, Food purchase decisions, Safety and sustainability beliefs, Market conditionants, Aquaculture, Advertising credibility, Fisheries EconomicsKeywords: Consumer attitudes, Food purchase decisions, Safety and sustainability beliefs, Market conditionants, Aquaculture, Advertising credibility, Fisheries Economic

Competition and Price transmission in the Spanish seafood value chains

This work is part of the SUCCESS project (Work Package 4: Competitiveness and sustainability of European fisheries and Aquaculture sectors) funded by the EC (H2020, GA 635188). The dynamics of the value chain in eight different species at the Spanish market has been studied using price integration methodologies. Cases of market delimitation cover substitution across wild and farmed species and across imports and domestic production of the same species. Price transmission is tested in domestic and international value chains of farmed and wild species. Results from the market delimitation models show high level of differentiation across production systems, however, there is keen competition across domestic production and imports of the same species. On regard price transmission producers are more likely to be able to transfer their costs downstream in the value chain when they operate a differentiated product, concentrate large volumes of supply and participate as exporters in the international markets. Upstream price transmission, in contrast, is more frequent when the harvesting industry is fragmented in companies operating small volumes and the product is not differentiated

Economic Sustainability of Seabass/Seabream Production in the Mediterranean Sea by European Firms

European seabass and gilthead seabream are two economically important cultured fish species along the Mediterranean coast. Both species represent respectively 10.9% and 13.5% of the total value of the European aquaculture sector (Eurostat, 2013). The EU is one of the largest producers of seabass and seabream in the world, being Greece the largest producer within the EU, followed by Spain. However, the Turkish seabass and seabream industry has been steadily increasing production volumes for the last decade to the point where Turkey is now the world’s major producer of seabass, competing with European producers with lower prices (Globefish, 2015). As consequence, during this period of time, European firms have been struggling to maintain profitability of their farms. The main aim of this work, which is part of the MedAID project funded by the EC (H2020, GA727315), is to carry out a break-even analysis (BEA) of seabass/seabream European producers in the Mediterranean Sea. Calculation of break-even point is important for every business because it tells business owners and managers how much sales are needed to cover all fixed as well as variable expenses of the business or the sales volume after which the business will start generating profit. To perform this analysis, we have used an unbalanced panel of data composed of a sample of 16 seabass/seabream producers’ firms in the Mediterranean Sea from 7 European countries (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain) during a period of 10 years (2005-2014). Economic data for this analysis was obtained from the Amadeus and Eumofa databases

Consumer trends and prefences in the demand for food

The objective of this report is to analyse the major tastes and preferences of consumers in food consumption, as well as expected changes in these over time. We identify five important consumer trends and purchase drivers: food safety and health benefits; corporate social responsibility; production systems and innovations; sustainability; and food origin. For each of these trends we will consider relevant actions that are being implemented by governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector

Value Chain and Price Integration in the Spanish Salted Cod Market

The Spanish market for salted cod has undergone important transformations in recent decades. The collapse of the Newfoundland fishery dramatically reduced local processors’ access to the raw material, which previously was mainly supplied by Spanish vessels. The price of salted cod increased and processors margins decreased. By using price integration procedures, competition across commodities and countries of origin is tested, as well as price transmission to the retail level. The price series of salted cod at the retail levels are available at the panel of food consumption provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food through the Observatory of Food Prices. Import prices were collected from the quantities and values ​​imported by Spain classified by countries of origin. Results found significant price linkages at the import level and along the domestic value chain. Causal relations depend on the countries of origin and point to different competitive and bargain relations across exporters and domestic customers.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Estimating the economic performance of the EU aquaculture sector

Despite the growing importance and high priority assigned by the EU policy makers to the development of aquaculture, little attention has been given to analyze the economic performance of the sector at EU level. Recently, the profitability of the EU aquaculture sector has been estimated by the European Commission’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). However, the few studies that have estimated the profitability of the EU aquaculture sector show sometimes divergent results. In this paper, the economic performance of the EU aquaculture sector is analyzed by country, segment and main species for the years 2006, 2009 and 2010 using financial and accounting data extracted from the Amadeus database and results are compared to other studies. This analysis helps to understand the methodological differences between the diverse sources. Moreover, this alternative methodology offers a simpler and faster alternative to the STECF’s profitability estimates of the aquaculture sector. The analysis indicates that after the economic downturn, companies started to recover profits in 2010 in almost all segments and countries, and that the highest profitability is recorded by companies in the marine segment as compared to freshwater and shellfish

Preferences about seafood safety and sustainability among very young children

A group of 75 children from 3 to 5 years old from the earliest stages of a Spanish school were the target of an experimental test focused on the consequences of providing information about safety and fisheries sustainability on their preferences when choosing between different seafood presentations and labels. Both concepts were associated with two different logos, a crab for safety and an octopus for sustainability, which were introduced into a set of four different presentations of hake (steak with bone, boneless fillet, fish fingers and fishburger) . These were the factors of an 8-sets fractional factorial design to perform a Discrete Choice analysis. Two measures were taken using the same design in a three months term. The first one reflects children's choice on a set of visual stimuli representing nothing other than a dish of hake. Between the measures, the children participated in several weekly activities in which the concepts of food safety and fisheries sustainability were explained to them by their teachers and seafood professionals in technical outdoor visits. At the same time, the two cartoons were linked with the concepts and presented as assurances for safety and sustainability of fishery products, like in the case of a brand or certification logo. A test was performed one week before the second experiment, confirming that the kids, with less success in the youngest group, properly identify the logos, the ideas related with them, and the consequences and benefits of consuming seafood labeled with the logos. Results indicate that as the children better understood the association between the logos and the concepts of safety and sustainability, they exhibited higher preferences towards the crab and lower towards the octopus. This suggests that children are more concerned about their personal safety and the avoidance of diseases than about the environment and its preservation, and that the consequences of the first are more evident to them than thos