Determinants of Malaysian Household Expenditures on Fish and Seafood

The censored Tobit model is applied on the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey (1998/99) data to identify socio-demographic determinants of household expenditures on fish and seafood. Results indicate that older households tend to spend more on fresh fish and fresh shellfish compared to their younger cohorts. As household income or family size increases, total expenditures on fresh fish, fresh shellfish, and processed fish increases, suggesting that all three types of seafood are normal goods in the Malaysian diet. In addition, while Malay and Chinese households have significantly higher total expenditures for fresh fish, the latter are observed to spend significantly more on fresh shellfish but considerably less on processed fish, ceteris paribus. Based on these results, several observations are noted.