Isaac Ankamah-Yeboah

Market Integration between Farmed and Wild Fish: Evidence from the Whitefish Market in Germany

ABSTRACT Following decade-long growth in worldwide farming of pangasius and tilapia, imports to Germany, a main European market, have been reduced since 2010. One reason for this might be supply growth of wild species at the total German whitefish market, if market integration exists between farmed and wild-caught whitefish. This article examines market integration between farmed (pangasius and tilapia) and wild-caught (Alaska pollock, cod, and saithe) frozen whitefish in Germany and finds close integration. Hence, prices of frozen pangasius and tilapia fillets in Germany are determined not only by supply of these species, but more importantly by the much larger supplies of wild-caught cod and Alaska pollock. The implication of the presence of market integration is that the small-scale Asian farmers are secured against severe price reductions in Germany arising from farm productivity growth. However, market integration also makes them dependent on quotas and supply of competing wild-caught whitefish. JEL Codes: C32, F15, Q21, Q22.

Price formation of the salmon aquaculture futures market

ABSTRACT This study examines price formation of the internationally traded salmon futures exchange. Analyzing data from 2006 to 2015, the study identifies the co-integration relationship between the spot market price and 1–6-, 9- and 12-month futures contract prices. With exception of the 12-month maturity futures price, the unbiasedness hypothesis is shown to hold, thus evidence of risk neutrality and efficiency among the co-integrated pairs. Further, it is evident that the spot price provides leadership role in the price discovery function for the 1-, 2- and 6-months futures contract. On the contrary, the 3-, 4-, 5-, 9- and 12-months futures contracts provide the expected leadership role in the price discovery function, a case that supports a matured market that can be considered a necessary price risk management tool. The mixed finding is an indication of a maturing or near matured futures market. Analysis of the term structure of futures volatilities reveal that the shorter the length of the futures contract, the more volatility there is. This is because salmon prices exhibit short-term cyclical and seasonal patterns like other agricultural commodities. As such, salmon producers will be better off hedging in far month futures contracts, ceteris paribus.

Market Integration of Cold and Warmwater Shrimp in Europe

ABSTRACT This study examines market integration between the cold and warmwater shrimp value chain in the UK, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, and Norway using cointegration methods. For all countries, market integration exists between cold and warmwater unprocessed shrimp imports, where the law of one price (LOP) holds in three of the five cases. For processed shrimp, the LOP holds in three of four integrated cases, and for retail sales in the UK and Denmark, the LOP fails to hold in the presence of market integration. Unprocessed coldwater shrimp leads the market in northern Europe. Downstream, prices adjust within a few months, indicating that a shrimp is a shrimp. In the short-run, the coldwater value chain seems to be protected from competition, but provides opportunities for a shift in consumer demand towards warmwater in the long-run. This implies that coldwater shrimp prices are determined by demand and supply of warmwater shrimp, which is 15 times larger. JEL Codes: C32, F15, Q21, Q22.

Asymmetries in import-retail cost pass-through: Analysis of the seafood value chain in Germany

ABSTRACT This study examines the degree of price transmission in the German Alaska pollock, cod and salmon value chains. Moreover, in addition to aggregated market prices used in most studies, access to prices by retailer type allows investigation of different adjustment patterns by value chain. Using monthly average prices, the Johansen and consistent threshold cointegration models are estimated. The results indicate the presence of price transmission relationship and equilibrium adjustment asymmetries, such that agents only react to shocks when the deviation from equilibrium is above or below a certain nonzero threshold value. In most cases, retail outlets exercise market leadership in the Alaska pollock and cod chains while some bidirectional adjustments are observed in the salmon value chains. Overall, import prices adjust to deviations above the threshold value following a shock to the retail prices for Alaska pollock and cod. For salmon, deviations above the threshold value are generally not transmitted.