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Price premiums for the MSC-ecolabel in the U.S.: A hedonic analysis haddock in U.S. market

Presented at the North American Association of Fisheries Economists (NAAFE) 2025 Forum in La Jolla, CA
Ecolabeling
Seafood market
Price premium
Hedonic price
Homescan data
Marine stewardship council

“Price premiums for the MSC-ecolabel in the U.S.: A hedonic analysis haddock in U.S. market”

Authors
Affiliations

Roberto Cárdenas-Retamal

School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida

Frank Asche

School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida

Di Fang

Food and Resources Economics Department, University of Florida

Published

October 2025

Abstract

Ecolabels signaling a sustainable or responsible production process have become an important product attribute for many food products including seafood. If an ecolabel is to incentivize improved production practices, there must be a price premium associated with the label. Although price premiums for ecolabels in seafood markets have been studied in several European markets, evidence from the U.S. market is scarce, despite the importance of US in the global seafood market. In this study, we estimated the price premium for haddock labeled with the ecolabel of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in the U.S. We used the NielsenIQ Consumer Panel data from the 2013-2020 together UPC-codes obtained from the MSC on which products carried the ecolabel. The premium of the MSC-ecolabel as well as other product attributes are estimated using a hedonic price model. Our results indicate that U.S. households on average pay a 22% premium for MSC-labeled haddock. However, the premium vary over households as only high- and low-income households are found to pay a premium, while the attribute is insignificant for middle-income households.