Market Equilibrium: UK fish price.

It is to be said that the demand of fish in the United Kingdom has exceed the maximum amount of Europe sea supply. Annual UK fish supply can only fulfill UK consumers and UK would run out of fish stock if they only depend on its own fisheries. UK has also imported some other fishes from countries such as Iceland, Norway and even China. This indicates that the demand of fish in the UK is excessively high, which is even higher than the supply that can be produced by the country itself. If the quantity demanded is higher than quantity supplied, it indicates that there is a shortage and there is also an increase both in the equilibrium price and in the equilibrium quantity.

The United Kingdom can fix the disproportion between the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied of fish by elevating or forcing up the price of fish so that the quantity demanded of fish will drop. If the quantity demanded of fish becomes lower, UK’s supply of fish can fulfill the quantity demanded. Another alternative to resolve this problem is by revising the market by making a better way to manage the UK’s seas, which is to save its fish stocks from overfishing even UK could be a net fish exporter.

It is to be said that if UK can manage its sea well, UK can boost up the number of quantity fish supplied. When there is an increase in supply, there will be a movement down along the demand curve, which results in a drop in the equilibrium price, but will make the equilibrium quantity of fish becomes higher. When the total amount of quantity supplied of fish increases, it will fulfill the consumer’s need or the quantity demanded of fish. The producer does not have to make the price of fish higher because the supply of fish has already meet the consumer needs. When there is an increase in supply, there will be a surplus because the quantity supplied of fish is now bigger than the quantity demanded of fish. The producer will get more than it actually needs. The producer can also make the price lower because they still have a lot of fish stocks and according to the law of demand, the higher the price of a good, the smaller the quantity demanded and the lower the price of a good, the higher the quantity demanded. When the UK has excessive supplies, they can make the price lower or export it to other countries. Although the UK sells it with a lower price, the quantity demanded is increasing more than its markdown so that UK still can get bigger profit. I think this way seems more favorable for UK, rather than if they continue selling it with no change in price which will make the quantity demanded of fish remains the same. This situation shows that when the quantity demanded increases, the quantity supplied of fish increases too.

When UK has imported the fish, it means the stock of the fish will increase. As shown in the graph above, the increase in the change of supply will cause the supply curve to shift rightwards. It also changes the equilibrium point. Hence, there will be an increase in equilibrium quantity but a decrease in equilibrium price of the fish.

However, if there is any substitute for the fish, the demand will be elastic because people in the UK will be looking for substitutes such as chicken, beef, and etc. instead of fish which supply is low and hard to get if the government decides not to import it. Moreover, if the supply is low, it means that there will be scarcity of fish, which can make the fish price higher than before. In my opinion, I think it will be better if the people in UK look for other substitutes until the supply of fish that can be produced by UK itself can fulfill the demand of the consumers.