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Abstract
Reef fish traded alive for table food are high value-to-volume products, with demand
centred in Hong Kong and southern mainland China. Import demand functions for
live reef food fish are estimated for Hong Kong, in aggregate and for individual fish
species. Cross-price, income and population elasticities, and the impact of SARS and
Chinese New Year on demand, are estimated. Results show that price has a smaller
influence on import demand than expected. The most influential factor is Chinese
New Year. The price of low and medium-value species exhibited a negative impact,
whereas the price of very high-value species exhibited a positive impact, on demand.
This suggests that high-value live reef species may be Veblen goods, where
consumption increases as a direct function of its price, in this case due to associated
prestige and status.