Abstract
This study is intended to analyse the economic sensitivity of imported fishery products due to decrease in or elimination of tariff rates through the progress of free trade. Forty-seven species of fishes were selected for this study on the basis of the HS Code. The substitution and price effects were calculated using the price elasticities of both domestic and imported demands for fishery products under the assumption of 5% decrease in a tariff rate. Seven main economic variables were extracted from the fishery industry which can mediate the substitution and price effects. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to obtain the influence weights of these main economic variables on both effects. The order of sensitivity of the fishes was calculated using these weights. The 47 fish species were classified into four groups according to their sensitivity based on the means and the standard deviations of their total scores on seven main economic considerations. Nine fish species such as squids, hair tails, shellfishes, and crabs belonged to the hyper-sensitive group, whereas 15 fishes such as eels, sea breams, and sea weeds belonged to the sensitive group. Twelve species including common sea basses, cods, and abalones were among the less-sensitive group, and 11 species including skate rays and mud fishes comprised the non-sensitive group.
