AgriFood Other

Investment support to aquaculture and fish processing. Does it stimulate private investments?

This report is written in Swedish with an English summary.

Within the EU’s fisheries policy it is possible for Swedish companies to apply for funding in the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) for investments in aquaculture and fish processing. The purpose is to stimulate investments that promote an economic and environmentally sustainable development of the industries. However, there is a risk that financial support is provided to investments that the companies would have done anyway, so called deadweight losses.

The focus in the report is to investigate if the investment support stimulates investments in Swedish aquaculture and fish processing, and to quantify possible deadweight losses. The analysis is based on support payments in the time period 2007-2015. The conclusion of the report is that the investment support has a positive effect on investments, both in aquaculture and fish processing, but that deadweight losses occur. The deadweight loss is estimated to be about 35 percent for aquaculture and about 75 percent for fish processing. That is, 35 percent of the supported investments in aquaculture would have taken place also without the support. The deadweight loss in small-scale processing companies is estimated to about 40 percent, which is about the same as for aquaculture. The analysis shows that despite the existence of deadweight losses the support has a positive impact on investments, and therefore has potential to promote environmental and economic sustainability in aquaculture and fish processing.