4.1 Protein consumption
Table 6 shows per caput consumption of animal protein and sources, namely pork, beef, chicken and fish[34] during 1980-1997. Fish ranked first among all sources, followed by chicken, pork and beef. Per caput fish consumption in 1997 was about 27 kg[35], compared to 8.5 kg, 2.1 kg, and 11.5 kg of pork, beef and chicken, respectively. During the same period, the average yearly increase in consumption of fish was only 2.3%, probably because production from marine fisheries has been threatened in the past two decades, whereas average per caput intake of pork, beef and chicken rose 2.7%, -0.2%, and 4.8%, respectively. Consumption of beef is gradually decreasing, possibly because changes in the pattern of consumption. Thai-Chinese people are usually not fond of beef.
4.2 Annual per caput fish consumption
We estimated annual per caput consumption by species, types of consumers and location, based on a field survey on consumers conducted during 1998-1999. A total of 456 (Appendix 1) consumers were sampled.
Table 7 shows annual per caput consumption of fish by Thai people to average 28.8 kg, of which 92.5% is in the form of fresh fish. Tilapia is the preferred freshwater fish (8.52 kg, or 29.6%), followed by Thai silver barb (4.68 kg or 16.3%) and striped snakehead (4.44 kg, or 15.4%).
However, the figure estimated from the baseline survey is somewhat lower than the national level of consumption, which is based on the national food balance sheet (FAO, 1997). Discrepancy in the figures can be attributed to the choice of sites surveyed, which do not include the southern part of the country, where most people consume marine fish.
4.2.1 Fish consumption by types of consumers and by sources
Annual per caput intake of fish classified by types of consumers in rural and urban areas is also shown in Table 7. Urban consumption amounted to only 19.92 kg, which was much lower than the quantity of fish consumed by rural people. Fish intake is as high as 34.92 kg for rural producers and 28.68 kg for rural non-producers. These figures illustrate the importance of fish as a source of protein for rural consumers to meet their nutritional requirements.
Composition of species in the fish basket differs for rural and urban consumers. Tilapia ranks first on the list for all consumer types (24-32%). Snakehead ranks second for both rural non-producers and urban consumers, whereas silver barb is second to tilapia for rural producers.
Over half of the fish consumed by rural producers come from capture-fisheries, whereas the majority of fish for rural non-producers and urban consumers is purchased.
4.2.2 Fish consumption by location
People in different regions tend to differ in their cultures, traditions, socio-economic status, attitudes etc. Thus, quantities of fish consumed and preference for species vary also. Results of the survey on consumption by regions reveal that per caput intake of fish is highest in the northeast (33.8 kg), followed by the northern (32 kg), eastern (29.8 kg), western (28.5 kg) and central (23.1 kg) regions of the country, despite the fact that per caput income in the northeast is lowest. Tilapia is the single most preferred species by consumers in all regions. In the north and the northeast, silver barb competes with tilapia, and quantities consumed are high. In other regions, snakehead is consumed as well as tilapia. Consumers in the central part of the country tend to prefer marine fish and dried fish. Generally, the survey results show that freshwater fish account for about 70-90% of total quantity of fish consumed in all regions, suggesting that the Thai people have easy access to freshwater fish, both from natural and cultured sources (Table 8).
4.3 Fish expenditure
4.3.1 Fish expenditure by income groups
Based on survey results, total annual per caput expenditure is classified into four quantile groups (Table 9). Quantile 1 represents consumers of the lowest expenditure group and quantile 4 represents buyers of the highest expenditure group. On average, total annual per caput expenditure of Thai consumers is 19 872 Baht. Food expenditure constitutes about 40% of total expenditure. Fish expenditure as percentage of food expenditure accounts for 15.6%.
As expenditure can be used as a proxy for income, discrepancies in income are apparent across these quantile groups, particularly between the fourth group and the others. People in the highest income group spent more than double the amount on food than the third group did and five times more than the lowest income group. As income increases, the share of expenditure allocated to food decreases. Fish expenditure accounted for 4-9% of total expenditure, and 14-17% of food expenditure. The share of money spent on fish rises, as income increases.
Expenditure on fish is divided into eight groups: common carp, Thai silver barb, tilapia, catfish, snakehead, other freshwater fish, marine fish and dried fish. In terms of money spent on buying fish, marine fishes were most preferred by the highest income group. Snakehead and tilapia followed next in line. Other income groups had similar patterns of fish expenditure: snakehead ranked first, followed by tilapia. Thai silver barb was popular with lower income groups, as its share of total fish expenditure rose with decreasing income. Average prices paid by each group varied significantly.
4.3.2 Fish expenditure by types of consumers
Total expenditure of urban consumers was almost double that of rural consumers for all income classes (Tables 11 and 12). Nevertheless, the share of money spent on fish by urban consumers (3-6%) was less than that by rural consumers, (5-9%).
For consumers in urban areas, the share of expenditure on individual fish species to total fish expenditure followed the spending pattern of the highest income class, whereas that of rural consumers followed the pattern of the other three groups.
Rural consumers are divided into two groups: Producers and non-producers. On average, total expenditure of non-producers was about 46% higher than the amount spent by producers. The expenditure gap between these two types of consumers increased as their income rose. Non-producers tended to follow a spending pattern for fish that was similar to the urban consumers' (Table 12 and 13).
Many species of indigenous and exotic freshwater fishes have been developed for culture. Recently, some peculiar species have appeared in upper-level markets and to serve the tourist trade, such as freshwater prawns and sand gobies. Species like tilapia, sepat siam, Thai silver barb, walking catfish, striped snakehead, striped catfish and Chinese and Indian major carps are produced for city markets. Most of the herbivorous species of small sizes are sold to low-income markets or in rural areas.
4.4 Price of individual species (Tables 14 and 15)
On average, snakehead commanded the highest price (68.58 Baht/kg) among freshwater fishes as measured in Baht/kg, followed by Thai silver barb (30.00 Baht/kg) and tilapia (28.47 Baht/kg). Snakehead is sold in large size of about 2 pcs/kg. Sizes of other species were smaller, ranging from 3-5 pcs/kg.
Generally, the price paid by urban consumers is higher than that paid by their rural counterparts for the same species. This may be attributed to the larger sizes of fish sold to urban consumers. Comparing retail prices paid by producers and non-producers, it is evident that non-producers pay more. Access to the market is the likely dominant factor contributing to price differences in addition to the size of fish.
Moreover, prices vary according to season. Without a significant difference in sizes, prices are relatively high in the first quarter (January-March) and in the last quarter (October-December) of the year, because several festival-months fall into these quarters. In contrast, prices are relatively low for the rest of the year due to a substantial supply of freshwater fish, especially from capture sources.
4.5 Elasticity of demand
In this section, market demand for cultured freshwater fish is modelled as a quantity-dependent relationship that is predetermined by price. The rationale for this model is that the freshwater fish market is ostensibly characterized by perfect competition, that traders are price-takers and unable to influence the prices. An attempt has been made to estimate total demand for freshwater fish (aggregate demand)[36]. The function specified as total consumption is a linear function of own price[37], disposable income and prices of substitute products such as pork, beef, chicken and Indo-pacific mackerel (marine fish that Thai people commonly consume).
Annual time-series data for 1980-1996 are used and all prices are deflated to the value of the Baht of 1985. The wholesale price index for the whole country is used for this purpose to account for inflation. The model assumes price to be exogenous and quantity as determined. Two-Stage Least Square (2SLS) estimation is used to estimate the aggregate demand function. After various functions have been tried, the best result is chosen. The result is summarized as follows:
D = 142700 - 7.91 P1 + 2.86 P2 + 2.75 Y
All variables affecting demand are statistically significant at the 90-95% level (Appendix 2). Elasticity of demand regression is evaluated at sample mean.
Variables affecting consumption of total cultured freshwater fish are average price, price of chicken, and disposable income (P1, P2 and Y). Elasticities are 1.2, 1.3, and 0.8, respectively.
Own price elasticity is elastic, indicative of readily available substitute goods. Chicken proved to be a good substitute for freshwater fish. Income elasticity for chicken is somewhat inelastic and thus, change in consumption is not sensitive to shift in income. However, elasticity of freshwater fish is normally good, as expected.
