ABSTRACT
The Spanish market for salted fish products has been restructured over the last decade. A significant pattern is a steady increase in the consumption of frozen light salted fillets at the expense of traditional products. This study is to model the Spanish demand for salted fish using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). Our findings suggest that a significant trend exists that consumers in Spain prefer to purchase the new light salted cod fillets to traditional salted cod in general. The cross price elasticity of Norwegian salted whole cod with respect to frozen light salted fillets is significantly positive. This suggests that the light salted fillets are a strong substitute for Norwegian salted whole cod. Strong substitution effects also exist between the salted whole cod from Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Since Norway has the dominant share of exports of traditional salted whole cod, the results overall indicate a strong challenge for the Norwegian salted fish industry to maintain its position in the Spanish market.
