Strategy of buyers on fish markets – SAMVAP

The ANR project SAMVAP deals with the market of seafood products, for which France is the 4th largest producer in the European Union. Its aim is to study the role of buyers in the first sale market of seafood products and to investigate the transformations of a market characterized by both a change in practices and the arrival of new buyers. In a context characterized by a decrease in quantities sold due to the scarcity of fish resources, the central hypothesis that will be the subject of empirical investigations is that new actors on the market of seafood products (like producers’ organizations and digital platforms selling directly to individuals) contribute to a better valuation of seafood products during their first sales. Understanding the decisions of buyers is a major issue from a sustainable development perspective. Given the downward trend in quantity of fish caught, it is the price evolution of seafood products that will condition the trajectory of the revenue of fishermen. The project will also study the mechanisms by which price increases can occur: increased quality of products purchased on the markets, willingness to pay higher prices for new buyers with lower intermediate costs, increased competition between buyers to guarantee purchases of seafood product, or strategic behavior of purchasing orders to contribute to price increase. The work conducted in the ANR will be organized around three axes: purchasing behaviors on the market of seafood products (axis 1), organizations of producers (axis 2), and new buyers involved in direct sales to consumers (axis 3). The project will be based on modern micro-econometric evaluation using several original data sources with detailed information on transactions in fish markets.