CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 1 



Meaning of price spread 1 



Purpose of the study 2 



Source of data 2 



Adjustment of price data 3 



Behavior of the retail food market 3 



The fisherman's share 7 



Variation among finfish product groups 7 



Variation among shellfish product groups 8 



Variation over time 9 



Comparison with the farmer's share 9 



Trend of price spreads of fish products 10 



Ex- vessel prices 10 



Processor's margin and markup 11 



Wholesale margin and markup 11 



Retail margin and markup 12 



Comparison of price chimges at retail level with those at other levels 14 



Costs and profits — ^the components of price spreads 14 



Source of data 14 



Classification of costs 16 



Allocation of costs 16 



Division of consumer's dollar spent on fish products 16 



Conclusions 18 



Recommendations 20 



Acknowledgments 23 



Literature cited 23 



Figures 



1. Comparison of consumer prices (1967 = 100) among different food and fish products. 1950-71 ... 2 



2. Price spreads for fresh haddock fillets, 1950-71 4 



3. Price spreads for fresh flounder fillets, 1950-71 4 



4. Price spreads for fresh cod fillets, 1950-71 4 



5. Price spreads for frozen ocean perch fillets, 1950-71 4 



6. Price spreads for fresh and frozen halibut steaks, 1950-71 4 



7. Price spreads for fresh king salmon steaks, 1967-71 4 



8. Price spreads for fresh, dressed king salmon, 1950-71 5 



9. Price spreads for canned pink salmon, 1950-71 5 



10. Price spreads for canned tuna (chunk), 1950-71 5 



11. Price spreads for frozen raw peeled shrimp, 1959-71 5 



12. Price spreads for live American lobsters, 1959-71 5 



13. Price spreads for fresh sea scallop meats, 1959-71 6 



14. Price spreads for fresh blue crab meat, 1959-71 6 



15. Prices of inputs used by fish processing and marketing firms (1950 = 100) 17 



