Producing for Chinese luxury seafood value chains: Different outcomes for producers in the Philippines and North America

Abstract

This paper examines the implications of changing Chinese seafood value chains for producers in source countries. The paper shows how institutions mediate the relationship between luxury seafood consumption in China and the ability of producers to environmentally and socio-economically upgrade. Examples come from the live reef fish for food trade in the Philippines and different seafood products from North America. The paper traces the implications of differences in institutional context across developing and developed countries. Fisheries value chains linking China and Southeast Asia exemplify environmental and socio-economic downgrading, as a consequence of an institutional context of weak regulation and local financing capacities in the Philippines. In contrast, the massively different institutional context of North American seafood production means that growth in Chinese consumption presents opportunities to upgrade.