Product forms and price transmission in major European salmon markets

Abstract

Product development is often an important component in increasing demand for successful aquaculture species. However, this topic has not received much attention due to limited data availability. In this paper, we investigate how the composition of salmon sales differ by product form by comparing the four largest European countries in terms of salmon consumption: France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The composition of salmon products varies significantly across countries, with unprocessed products dominating in Spain and highly processed products being the most important in the United Kingdom. We also find a high degree of price transmission for the less processed consumer products in all markets, while the price transmission is zero for most highly processed products. This is important since it implies that the more processed consumer products are largely are insulated from the high price volatility of salmon at the producer level.