Showing papers by "Christophe Béné published in 2002"

Investigating the dynamic relationships between wild shrimp and cultured shrimp prices

Abstract: The arrival in the 1980s of cultured shrimp has induced large changes on the World shrimp market. In this new environment, the French Guyana fishery production now competes strongly with some of these farm-produced shrimp. Consequently, this fishery has experienced serious export problems during the last decade. This paper is an attempt to analyse the specific impact of the arrival of cultured shrimp to the World markets on the French Guyana domestic market price and on the fleet activity. More particularly, we analyse the relationship between this market and one cultured shrimp market usually considered as benchmark, the Thai market. We use econometric techniques to test whether these two markets are cointegrated and whether causalities exist between them. For these tests, we rely on the two monthly price series recorded over the period 1986-93. The tests indicate that the two series are non-stationary and co-integrated. Therefore, a long-term relationship exists between the two markets, and the identification of the valid dynamic model requires a two-dimension error correcting model. The analysis of the impulse responses derived from the model indicates that the French Guyana market responds significantly to shocks on the Thai market. In other respects, a significant causality from the Thai market to the French Guyana market has been identified. Finally, we discuss these results by briefly analysis the main consequences they induced for the fishery's dynamics.