Socio Economic Evaluation and Technology Transfer Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18
Online published on 6 February, 2020.
The fish consumption of Kerala is four times the national average, as 85 per cent of the Keralites eat fish, which accounts for over three quarter of the animal protein intake of an average Keralite. Though the fish demand-supply gap is ironed up by the arrivals from the neighboring states and even from the fish landing centres further north, huge fluctuations are visible in the retail prices of fish. In this backdrop, the present study was conducted at Ernakulam district, the commercial capital of the state, which abodes around 2.1 million metropolitan population with an average monthly fish consumption of 9.34 kg. The study analyzed the trends in price volatility of the major commercially traded fishes in selected Ernakulam markets, identified the species which exhibit stability in prices and also deduced the relationship between marine landings vis-à-vis price realized in the district. The study revealed that high value species are found to be having better stable prices compared to the low value species. Also, the retail prices are found independent over the quantity landed in the district.
