A cod is a cod, but is it a commodity?

Cod is exported in traditional product forms, such as fresh, frozen, salted, dried, or as clipfish. This makes it difficult to compare price changes in the export market with the first-hand price of cod. All first-hand sales of cod in Norway are organized through sales organizations that are entitled to set minimum prices. New legislation states that the minimum price should be “market-based.” In this study, we use Lewbel's (1996) Generalized Composite Commodity Theorem (GCCT) as an empirical test of whether all seven product forms of cod can be aggregated into a representative price index. We find that the first-hand price of cod is cointegrated with the price index, forming a stable long-term relationship. In addition, we find weak evidence that price signals go from the first-hand price to the export market price. Cod prices are driven by supply. Finally, we find that there is asymmetry in the transmission of these price changes. A positive change in the first-hand price is almost twice as large as a negative price change, indicating that market prices rise twice as fast as the price declines. These findings are important for the whole whitefish industry in terms of price policy settings.