Determinants of fish and fishery products consumption in India: A partial least squares regression approach

Understanding the factors of fish and fishery products consumption is important for various operators in the fisheries industry. The knowledge of the determinants of fish and fishery products consumption might provide insights to them on what course of action to take in the process of boosting the consumption of the products. This study has examined the determinants of fish and fishery products consumption in India during 1961–2019. A key contribution of this paper is its analysis of the factors influencing both the total fishery product consumption and its individual components, including fish and fishery product consumption. Using a partial least squares (PLS) regression approach, the results indicate that income, price index, literacy rate, and old-age dependency ratio promote total fishery products consumption, while the young-age dependency ratio decreases fishery products consumption. The results remain consistent when examining the determinants of freshwater fish and crustaceans’ consumption. Additional results show that an increase in prices lead to a decrease in the consumption of marine fish, demersal fish and cephalopods, while a rise in literacy rate leads to a decrease in Pelagic fish consumption. Another important finding is that both literacy rates and obesity levels are associated with increased consumption of marine fish. The relevant policy implications of the results are discussed in the paper.