Preliminary analysis of the performance of the fry industry of the milkfish (Chanos chanos Forskal) in the Philippines

The fry industry of the milkfish in the Philippines is alleged to suffer from certain inefficiencies, principal among which are an annual shortage to meet the stock requirements of the 176,000 ha of fishponds in the country, and the failure of the pricing system to direct and allocate the fry resources geographically. Contrary to these and other allegations, this paper presents a preliminary analysis that indicates a higher level of performance for the industry than hitherto supposed. Specifically, fry catch is estimated to be 1.35 billion, sufficiently high to meet present stocking requirements; less than 3% of trade flows between regions overlap; and monthly average fry prices between trading regions are significantly correlated, indicating the system responds to supply and demand changes and other stimuli.