Effects of Catfish , Crawfish , and Shrimp Imports on U . S . Domestic Prices

Recent increases in imports of catfish, shrimp, and crawfish have caused concern as to their impact on domestic prices. This study seeks to identify the linkages between imports of these goods and producer prices. Increases in imports of catfish and shrimp are shown to decrease related domestic prices. However, recent trends show a simultaneous increase in both imports and domestic prices of crawfish. An increase in consumer income also typically indicates a corresponding increase in the demand for catfish, crawfish, and shrimp. This study also showed that an increase in the supply of trout, clam, and chicken caused the domestic price of catfish to decrease, an increase in the supply of pork generated a decrease in the domestic price of crawfish, and an increase in the supply of trout, clam, and pork typically reduced the domestic price of shrimp. Each model showed different relationships between domestic prices of these three goods and other aquaculture and meat products. In addition, the reciprocal of the direct elasticity is not always a good approximation of the direct flexibility because of the stochastic properties of the econometric model. As a result, it is not proper to use the indirect price flexibility from inverted direct price elasticity with other variables for catfish, crawfish, and shrimp.