Pricing efficiency across destination markets for Norwegian salmon exports

Abstract

This paper investigates how pricing efficiency of Norwegian salmon exports varies across destination market characteristics. Efficiency is defined as the rate at which individual transaction prices adjust to common market information, and is estimated by dynamic fixed effects panel models with parameters conditional on trade attributes using micro-level trade data. Our results show that contract type (Incoterms) used in transactions can be used to segment the Norwegian export markets into three types: (1) high-value trade to large distant markets, (2) medium-value trade to close high-income markets, and (3) lower-value large bulk trades to lower-income close markets. We find that pricing efficiency is lowest for committed trades over long distance using planes, and highest for less committed large bulk trades to close markets. Despite significant heterogeneity, the majority of salmon price variation (around ¾) is common, providing a clear justification for the representativeness of a salmon price index.