Insights from transaction data: Norwegian aquaculture exports

Abstract

This paper discusses how transaction data can be used to shed light on trade dynamics in seafood exports, with Norwegian salmon exports as the case. There is a large literature on exports and imports of salmon between countries, but less is known about how the heterogeneity of exporters and importers relates to the aggregate data. We utilize transaction data for all exports of salmon in the period 2010–2014 and show that firms involved in salmon exports holds several of the characteristics that are commonly found in the international trade literature, but differs in some important dimensions. Most exporters of salmon connect to relatively many importers and serve many different destination markets. Short-lived trade relations are shown to account for a large share of export values.