Estimates of the potential demand of Japanese consumers for eco-labeled seafood products

This paper examines the potential demand of Japanese consumers for eco-labeled seafood products. Eco-labeling programs are known to promote sustainable fisheries such as sound resource management and environmental conservation. Conjoint analysis is conducted to estimate consumers' preferences for eco-labeled products. The estimated parameters of the conditional logit model showed that consumers have positive preferences for products certified as "domestic" or "eco-label". Furthermore, while the value of marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for domestic products is the highest, MWTP for eco-labeled products is the second highest among various attributes of seafood products. These results suggest that a certain level of demand exists for eco-labeled seafood products in Japan.