Trends in Fish Price Volatility: Icelandic Whitefish

• Main Authors: Jonsson, Erlendur, Dahl, Roy Endré, Asche, Frank
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English; unknown
• Subjects: Seafood > Marketing; Aquaculture > Economic aspects; Seafood industry > Congresses; Fishery management > Congresses; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/conference_proceedings_or_journals/b5644w29w

For centuries, the Icelandic people has relied on its abundance of natural resources and fisheries in particular. In today’s volatile and homogenous economy of Iceland, fisheries is one of its main export industries, together with power-intensive manufacturing and tourism. Consequently, movements in fish prices have a significant effect on the economy as a whole, making the small nation of Iceland vulnerable to fish price volatility. In this study, we investigate market price uncertainty of exported whitefish in Iceland. Among whitefish, cod is the most important fish species for the Icelandic fisheres, with haddock and pollack following. We model the price volatility for a set of whitefish speiees and establish empirically that price volatility is stable or in a downward trend. Contributing factors such as the food price trends and trends in world whitefish markets are discussed. In addition, we account for other contributing factors to volatility such as the financial crisis, exchange rates, quota restriction and policy implications.