| Abstract: | Comparative market prices for four freshwater and four marine fish species in the raw and processed forms were determined in a survey within Lagos and Oyo States of Nigeria. Costs of processed fish were calculated relative to the sale prices of their raw equivalents, taking moisture differences and cost of processing into consideration. All the species would have to be sold in the processed form for much higher prices than was found during the survey if sales were to be by weight. Processed catfish, sardine, mudfish and mackerel appear to be sold at a loss while three species (tilapia, sole and bongafish) are sold at very marginal profit. Only tigerfish is sold at reasonable profit. It is suggested that anyone going into fish smoking as a modern business venture should be prepared to face unfair competition in pricing from the small operators who appear to be underpricing their products and who currently dominate almost the entire fish market in Nigeria. |
