Price transmission and market integration of Bangladesh fish markets

The rapid development of the aquaculture industry has a significant impact on fish price movements along the value chain; especially in Bangladesh where most of the animal source protein consumption is driven by this sector. In this article, we investigate price transmission and market integration in the value chain of the four most consumed aquaculture fish species: silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), pangasius (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus), and rohu (Labeo rohita). Monthly fish price data were collected from the Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Marketing website from January 2007 to December 2019, a period characterized by rapid emergence of aquaculture and declining capture fisheries. Our analysis shows that for almost all the fish species, the direction of market information is moving from the retail market to the wholesale market. This implies that retail markets are more organized and wholesalers follow the price set by the retailers. In the short run, only rohu market shows bidirectional information flow between wholesale and retail markets indicating no single market has significant control over the price. The study has highlighted the role of aqua-culture to increase fish production and potential contribution to fish price stabilization and food security.