The Role of Fish-Markets in the Icelandic Value Chain of Cod

• Main Authors: Knútsson, Ögmundur, Klemensson, Ólafur, Gestsson, Helgi
• Format: Report
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade
• Subjects: Cod fisheries; Fish trade; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/conference_proceedings_or_journals/r207tq39j

The two main pillars of the Icelandic fishing industry are the large vertically integrated fishing companies and the SMEs, specialised in fishing, producing or marketing. In order to understand how they are able to function side by side and at the same time secure a relatively high value added for the domestic part of the Icelandic value chain of cod, a closer look at the functions and operations of the Icelandic fish markets is needed. In the authors’ recent studies on structural changes in the fisheries value chain in Iceland from 1990 to 2007, six dissimilar main operational strategies were identified. Common to all of those was the need for an efficient use of the Icelandic fish markets. Three distinctive effects of fish markets were identified: firstly, specialisation, where large and small fisheries companies use the fish markets to swap or sell all other species than needed in their specialised production (usually to SMEs producers specializing in those species); secondly, to gain stability in sourcing, where companies source raw material from the fish markets and top-up when there is lack of certain species (or sizes) from the companies’ own boats and; thirdly, the market driven function or effect (market orientated value creation). To study this facilitating and supporting effect of fish markets on the on the progress of the Icelandic fisheries sector further, the focus is now the importance of fish markets from the time of their establishment in Iceland in 1987. The research is based on semi-structured and in-depth interviews with managers of a number of Icelandic fishing and processing companies and is a part of an ongoing research on the value chain structure and on organisational- and productivity changes in the Icelandic fisheries sector. Keywords: Markets and Trade, Fisheries Economics, Supply and Value Chains Keywords: Markets and Trade, Fisheries Economics, Supply and Value Chains