The World Demand for Catfish Pangasius: A Demand System Approach

In this paper we present a world demand system for Pangasius catfish products. We use solely exporting data from Vietnam for estimating a non-linear Almost Ideal Demand System because Vietnam accounts for more than 90% catfish export value of the world and the products exported are mostly in filleted form. The demand system includes seven equations representing for most important markets that are ASEAN & EAST ASIA, NORTH AMERICA, OCEANIA, RUSIAN & EASTERN EU, SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA, WESTERN EU, and ROW (rest of the world) markets. The monthly data are updating from January 2007 to March 2014. Direct elasticity including own- and cross- price elasticity and income elasticity are calculated to show how consumers from different markets of the world prefer for the Pangasius catfish. We found that catfish products have big room of market demand, indicated by absolute values of own price flexibilities are less than 1. While there are many demand studies for other whitefish species and salmon, which are strongly competed by catfish in many markets, there is a lack of demand study for Pangasius catfish. Therefore, this study will supplement seafood demand literature and be meaningful for seafood producers.