Price transmission for the French and UK salmon markets

Abstract

This study analyses price transmission from Norwegian export prices of fresh salmon to retail prices of consumer salmon products in France and UK. For different reasons, changes in salmon export prices do not need to be fully transmitted to retail prices of salmon products based on Atlantic salmon from Norway. This study tries to shed light on these price links between different levels in the value chain. Specifically, this study attempts to quantify the degree of price transmission on a broader set of consumer salmon products than has been analyzed in earlier studies. Moreover, this is the first study that analyzes differences in price transmission between branded products and supermarkets’ private label salmon products. The results from this study show a high degree of price transmission from Norwegian export prices to retail prices of natural fresh products such as fillets, steaks and whole. However, price transmission to retail prices decreases as more processing are involved; for fresh whole salmon price transmission is complete, while in highly value added products such as fresh ready main meal the price transmission can be close to zero. The econometric results further suggest that the transmission is higher from the Norwegian export price to the retail prices of private label salmon products compared to prices of branded salmon products. Again, this is an indicator that there are higher marketing costs for branded products. The increasing range of salmon products marketed to satisfy the different consumer tastes therefore reduces transmission from salmon export price to retail prices. Nonetheless, supermarkets’ private label products appear to have the opposite effect on price transmission.