State Trading Enterprises in a Differentiated Product Environment: The Case of Global Malting Barley Markets

This study tested if the exclusive procuring and pricing policies of two state trading enterprises (STEs) in international malting barley markets could be used in a strategic trade context. The research provided four key findings. First, the global malting barley market operated in a quantity-setting oligopolistic structure during the study years. Second, both STEs and other exporting countries were in Cournot competition and thus made available strategic trade possibilities. Third, initial commodity payments were too high to generate a rent-shifting outcome. Fourth, product differentiation was confirmed, which may have dampened the desire/ability of STEs to pursue a rent-shifting objective.     

Emerging differences in state grain trading: Australia and Canada

The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) and Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) have attracted attention recently because they are two of the largest state trading enterprises (STEs) engaged in agricultural trade. They have traditionally been viewed as nearly sister agencies. Among major STEs in the world market, these two agencies historically had similar characteristics including: price pooling, cost pooling, export sales monopolies, monopoly powers within domestic markets, grain quality control, and government underwriting of initial producer prices and export credit. However, during the past 6 years, similarities between the AWB and CWB have begun to diverge and the importance of their differences is becoming increasingly apparent. This paper identifies major emerging differences between the AWB and CWB and explores potential explanations (hypotheses) for these dissimilarities. A major point is that reforms in institutional design and legislative changes have given rise to emerging differences in key aspects of the marketing systems and performance.     

The Potential Impacts of State Trading Enterprises on World Markets: The Exporting Country Case

Export state trading enterprises (STEs) play an important role in global agricultural trade. STE behavior has significant implications for world food markets, irrespective of whether or not these markets are inherently competitive. Previous literature has suggested that STEs have market power and can earn oligopolistic rents. We find there is no compelling empirical evidence to support this argument. However, we show the cross-commodity effects of export STEs can disrupt competitive world markets, through offering an implicit export subsidy to a downstream industry.     

Agricultural Biotechnology: A Comparison of Consumers' Preferences for Selected Policy Options

This paper reports on a study of consumers' preferences for regulatory policies that relate to food biotechnology. Data on consumers' choices of selected policy options were collected through a telephone survey of Alberta residents conducted in early 2000. Conditional and mixed logit models were developed and tested. These assess the influence of different socio-economic factors on respondents' choices of particular policy options and are used to estimate respondents' willingness to pay for two policy options that were the major focus of the study, specifically:

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  a food labeling system that gives more information about agricultural biotechnology for

       
  
  

The Contingent Tariff of the Special Safeguard Mechanism: What Happens When Markets are Imperfectly Competitive?

Contingent tariffs for agri‐food commodities have been proposed as a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) in the Doha Round negotiations by the G33 group of countries as an instrument to control downward spikes in their border prices and/or surges of imports. The objective is to safeguard the livelihood security of farm households in poor countries. To date, most analysis of such tariffs uses stochastic partial equilibrium models with perfect competition. Yet in many markets for such commodities, imperfectly competitive market intermediaries play an important role in determining producers' prices, as do state trading enterprises (STEs). A stochastic partial equilibrium model of a typical importing country situation is specified in which there are either imperfectly competitive domestic intermediaries with a contingent tariff or an STE. The role of these intermediaries in influencing price behaviour and livelihood security in the presence of contingent tariffs alters the conclusion based on models of perfect competition. Using Monte‐Carlo simulation, it is shown that the efficacy of a contingent tariff is substantially reduced as the number of firms declines because increasingly they absorb the tariff, and the procurement price and producer surplus do not increase to the extent that they do under perfect competition.     

What is the Appropriate Counterfactual When Estimating Effects of Multilateral Trade Policy Reform?

Multilateral trade reforms, such as may eventually emerge from the WTO's Doha Development Agenda (DDA), tend to be phased in over a decade or so after agreement is reached. Given the DDA's slow progress, that implementation may not be completed before the end of the next decade. Ex‐ante analysis of the DDA's possible effects thus requires first modelling the world economy to 2030 and, in that process, projecting what trade‐related policies might be by then without a DDA. Typically, modellers assume the counterfactual policy regime to be a ‘business‐as‐usual’ projection assuming the status quo. Yet we know developing country governments tend to switch from taxing to assisting farmers in the course of economic development. This paper shows the difference made by including political economy‐determined agricultural protection growth endogenously in the baseline projection. We reveal that difference by projecting the world economy to 2030 using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model with those two alternative policy regimes and then simulating a move to global free trade (the maximum benefit from a multilateral trade reform) in each of those two cases. The welfare effects of removing the counterfactual price distortions in 2030 are shown to be much larger in the case where agricultural protection grows endogenously than in the case assuming no policy changes over the projection period. This suggests the traditional way of estimating effects of a multilateral agricultural trade agreement may considerably understate the potential welfare gains.     

Strategies and impact of agro-allied parastatals reform in Nigeria

This study examines the reform of agro‐allied parastatals in Nigeria and determine the impact financially, economically and socially. Three enterprises, Flour Mills of Nigeria Limited (FMNL), Okitipupa Oil Palm Company (OOPC) and Nichemtex Industries Limited (NIL), were privatized in Nigeria under a reform programme aimed at improving the performance of agribusinesses in the country. The exercise was successfully conducted through public offer of shares and private placement. The reform led to an improvement in profitability, productivity, financial leverage and liquidity position of the enterprises. The social impact of privatization was also favourable. It has no adverse consequences on job security, level of employment and participation of employees in trade union matters. Successful implementation of the reform was due to several factors including high level of professional competence and dedication of officials connected with the reform, a high degree of transparency and strict compliance with laid down guidelines. At the enterprise level, the positive changes recorded by the enterprises came about through the adoption of a number of coping strategies such as the maintenance of diverse product mix, expansion of export potentials and upgrading of product quality, improved marketing management, technological restructuring and improved techniques of sourcing raw materials. At the macro level, some policy actions such as trade policy reforms and price liberalization also played significant role in enhancing the performance of the enterprises after privatization.     

Forging Strategic Alliances in Canada's Agrifood Sector: Framework for Analysis and Action

In recent years, participants in Canadas agrifood sector have become more concerned about their competitiveness and have identified strategic alliances as being vital to becoming more competitive. This paper is a review of economics, strategic management and other social science literature examining several issues such as:

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  the types of objectives organizations should pursue using strategic alliances
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  the appropriate configuration for a strategic alliance, given its objectives
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  advantages and disadvantages of strategic alliances versus other types of business relationships
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  factors that enhance or inhibit organizations' abilities to forge alliances.

The latter part of the paper concentrates on what managers interested in pursuing strategic alliances can do to enhance their chances of success.     

An Evaluation of the Ontario Farm Business Management Association Program

The Ontario Farm Business Management Association (FBMA) program was initiated to improve the business management skills of Ontario red meat producers. The program has three aims:

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  to increase management skills on the farm
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  to increase management skills in the private sector
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  to help farmers make use of private sector advice.

Two methods were used to evaluate the program. First, FBMA members and other red meat producers were surveyed about their farm and personal characteristics as well as use farm records and information sources. Second, focus groups were held with the FBMA field persons. Results indicate that membership in an FBMA increased the collection and use of farm records, but that there was no significant increase in the use of private sector consultants by the producers. Moreover, FBMA members indicated a very low willingness to pay to support their FBMA if government funding were stopped.     

An application of optimal control theory to agricultural policy analysis

Since the early 1970s there has been interest in the application of optimal control theory to the management of economic systems. Specifically, optimal control theory prescribes policy strategies which optimise a quantifiable policy preference function subject to market equilibrium conditions. Problems of this kind have been identified among agricultural markets and this paper aims to illustrate the application of optimal control theory to the British potato market. The paper takes evidence from policy makers to derive target values for the producer price, imports, and the changes in the quota area from year to year. The constraints on optimisation are specified in terms of a partial equilibrium econometric model which specifies, demand, supply and trade relationships. The policy preference function is specified as a quadratic and a ‘revealed preference approach’ is employed to estimate the parameters which penalise market equilibria which over or under-shoot policy targets. The resulting optimal control problem is minimised by a dynamic programming routine. The results suggest that policy makers may benefit from taking dynamic effects directly into account when formulating policy strategies.     

Agricultural price transmission across space and commodities during price bubbles

This article investigates agricultural price transmission during price bubbles. The empirical approach concerns the horizontal transmission of cereal prices both across different market places and across different commodities. The trade policy intervention put forward to mitigate the impact of price exuberance is considered. The analysis is performed using Italian and international weekly spot (cash) price data over years 2006–2010, a period of generalized turbulence of agricultural markets. Firstly, the properties of price time series are explored; then, interdependence across prices is specified and estimated by adopting appropriate cointegration techniques. Results suggest that the bubble had only a slight impact on the price spread and the temporary trade‐policy measure, when effective, has limited this impact.     

定额补贴模式能够促进农机装备制造企业创新吗——以拖拉机制造行业为例

农机购置补贴政策已深刻影响中国农机行业发展,本文以拖拉机制造行业为例,探讨政策的定额补贴模式对农机企业创新的影响。研究表明,定额补贴模式下的农机购置补贴对企业创新产生了两种效应。一是偏离效应,表现为补贴政策既难以降低企业创新成本,也难以带动高质量产品销售,对农机企业的创新激励不足,导致政策设计与政策目标实现的需要相偏离;二是扭曲效应,表现为补贴政策主要带动了中低端农机市场需求的增加,引致社会资源向中低端产能重复扩张,最终造成高端产能供给不足而中低端产能过剩的局面;进一步地,供给过剩加剧行业内部竞争,部分企业采取"套取补贴资金+降低产品质量"的策略开展价格竞争,冲击正常的市场竞争秩序,不仅导致企业减少创新投入,还诱发企业生产"大马拉小车"产品,造成"劣币驱逐良币"的产业困局,鼓励农机企业创新的政策目标难以实现。     

Auction markets for specialty food products with geographical indications

We present a first analysis of online auction markets for specialty food products. We identify auction prices, trade volume, and value for domestic and foreign-origin specialty ham with geographical indications (GIs) that were sold in online auctions in Germany within a 1-month period. Applying hedonic modeling, we examine potential factors that may influence online bidding behavior and final auction prices. We estimate positive auction price effects for weight, bidding activity, and auction length, that the domestic product is sold at a discount, that higher shipping costs have a negative impact on final prices, and that auctions ending on Fridays and Saturdays yield lower prices. The model may be used to estimate the value of GIs. In our example, we estimate relative price differences of 20–30% for the GIs of three specialty hams (Prosciutto di Parma, Jamón Serrano, and Schwarzwälder Schinken).     

Grain price stabilization in India: Evaluation of policy alternatives

Stabilization of prices is an important element of food policy in India as in most other countries — both developing and eveloped. However, since the magnitude of grain stocks held for this purpose as well as the costs of physical storage have become prohibitively high, there is now a need for finding cost-effective alternatives including non interventionist and market-oriented methods for price stabilization. In this paper we consider the case of rice and wheat which are staple foodgrains in India. We make a comparison between alternative price stabilization policies including that of holding buffer stocks in terms of their impact on domestic price stability, producer and consumer welfare and government costs. A multi-market equilibrium framework is used where private storage, consumption, supply and prices of rice and wheat are determined simultaneously. Indian exports and imports are assumed to affect world prices. The alternative price stabilizing mechanisms are ranked according to both the criteria, welfare and price stability achieved. The main findings are as follows. The ranking of alternatives varies with the criterion used. Greater price stability need not necessarily imply greater welfare. The option of variable levies on private external trade turns out to be the most inexpensive and that of domestic buffer stocks the costliest in achieving price stability. Further, the efficacy of buffer stocks and subsidy to private storage in stabilizing prices is lower under free trade as compared to the case where the economy is closed to private external trade.     

基于籽棉交易价格分析的新疆棉花目标价格试点工作改进研究

[目的]已有研究对目标价格政策的分析具有较强的启发意义,但对籽棉交易价格方面的研究较少。文章通过实证数据分析影响籽棉交易价格的相关因素,试图找到植棉农户交易风险的重要变量。[方法]分区间统计新疆28个县市1 140份交易数据,使用分位数回归模型对整个数据样本进行解析,并采用bootstrap方法对籽棉交易价格进行分位数回归,进一步解释各因素对籽棉交易价格的影响。[结果](1)随着分位点的提高,籽棉交易数量对籽棉交易价格的影响程度呈现出先下降后上升的"U型"趋势,交易规模扩大对籽棉交易价格提升的作用较为明显;(2)在0.7分位点以前,有中介对籽棉交易价格的影响程度较为稳定;(3)随着分位点的提高,南疆对籽棉交易价格的影响程度越来越大;(4)在低分位点籽棉交易等级对籽棉交易价格的影响具有不确定性;(5)随着籽棉交易的进行,籽棉交易价格与籽棉交易时间呈现出显著的负相关关系。[结论]籽棉交易价格会因各种因素影响而发生变化,其中单个农户籽棉交易数量的提高会有利于单笔籽棉交易价格的提高,交易时间与籽棉交易价格具有明显负向关系;南北疆籽棉交易价格因地域不同而出现差别;棉花交易等级对籽棉交易价格形成具有显著影响,但同一长度不同等级籽棉交易价格基本一致;不同棉花交易主体对籽棉交易价格的形成具有较大影响。     

Agriculture trade restrictiveness in Canada: How important are the cross effects?

A trade restrictiveness index (TRI) aggregates an entire protection structure into a single uniform measure that is consistent with trade theory and reflects the extent of policy interventions on trade or welfare. Although there are several variants of a TRI, all approaches aggregate protective measures using weights that depend on import demand and export supply elasticities; some studies ignore cross-price effects while others account for them. This study measures the degree of bias introduced by ignoring cross effects. It provides a practical approach to account for demand- and supply-side cross-price effects in a multi-commodity TRI setting. This approach is illustrated with a case study of distortions in the Canadian crop and livestock sector. Domestic demand and supply cross effects are approximated using a “constant differences of elasticities of substitution” functional form. On average, over the period 1996–2016, we find that cross-price effects do make a difference, and that including them makes the TRI 27% higher than an approach which ignores them. Furthermore, both TRI approaches produce indices that are higher and more variable than the OECD's percentage Producer Support Estimate (PSE) that measures policy transfers as a share of gross farm receipts. The fundamental differences between a TRI and PSE% is driven by market price support for milk.     

PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL POLICY IN EUROPE–A DANISH POINT OF VIEW

Recent developments in the agricultural situation of Western Europe has led to inceased self-sufficiency in importing countries and stagnation in the world trade of agricultural products. An examination is made of the effects of these developments on Danish agriculture and the Danish economy, which has been subject to a very rapid change of structure. Characteristics of the Danish agricultural support policy are commented upon as well as the issue of price support versus income support in relation to the objectives of greater efficiency and improved farm structure. The importance of other measures is emphasised, including action to impove the mobility of agricultural manpower. On the basis of past experience some comments are finally made about the enlargement of E.E.C. and its possible effects on the world trade, on the situation of overseas producers, including the developing countries, and possible ways of reducing the difficulties.     

辽吉黑农产品供应链大数据平台构建研究

[目的]通过构建辽吉黑农产品供应链大数据平台,以期实现东北地区经济持续发展,整合辽吉黑农产品种植、生产、运输等分散主体,有效协调政府部门监管、企业加工和运输、消费者等之间的利益提供借鉴。[方法]文章分析辽吉黑农产品发展现状及以零散农户为中心、以中间商为中心、以龙头企业为中心、以农民合作社为中心的4种农产品供应链模式,剖析辽吉黑农产品供应链存在生产信息化水平落后、农产品物流技术滞后、农产品信息服务平台缺失等问题,构建辽吉黑农产品供应链大数据平台。[结果]辽吉黑农产品供应链大数据平台可实现4个功能:(1)通过建立省级或者大区域农产品信息平台,有助于实现农产品资源跨区域整合和流通,实现资源优化配置,有利于各参与者统筹规划,实现农产品资源互联互通和农产品信息共享;(2)突破传统单一的某个环节监管、某一链条监管,实现从田间到餐桌全链条监管;(3)从传统的提供数据供应、需求向整条链条上农产品供给数量、需求数量、加工企业、分销网络等数据信息归纳、处理和分析,从提供信息向提供决策服务转变;(4)从事后处理向事前预警、风险防控转变,极大提升了政府各职能部门的监管效率和监管力度。[结论]采用"互联网+"思路构建的农产品供应链大数据平台,可促进农产品的协调和增值效应,确保农产品供应链健康、安全、可持续发展。     

IMPACTS OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY ON INTERNATIONAL WHEAT PRICES

The emergence of the EC as a major exporter of cereals in the 1980s and the escalation of international agricultural trade confrontations emphasize the importance of understanding the effects of EC policy actions. Several important features of the EC wheat market are incorporated in an analytical and empirical model including imperfect substitutability in demand between imports and domestic supplies, the simultaneous import and export of wheat by the EC, the distinct impact of threshold versus intervention policy prices, MCAs, and the imperfect transmission between market and intervention prices. Results indicate that EC policies have a smaller impact on world price than found in previous studies.     

Explaining National Border Effects in the QUAD Food Trade

Using a ‘structural’ gravity‐like model, this paper first provides estimates of bilateral ‘border effects’ in food trade among the QUAD countries (the US, Canada, Japan and the EU) at the ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification) four‐digit level (18 food sectors). It then investigates the underlying reasons for border effect, assessing the role played by policy barriers (tariffs, non‐tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) and domestic support) with respect to barriers unrelated to trade policy, such as information‐related costs, cultural proximity and preferences. In contrast to several previous findings, our results show that policy trade barriers, especially in the form of NTBs, are part of the story in explaining national border effects. Interestingly, in all country pair combinations, NTBs significantly dominate the trade reduction effect induced by tariffs. However, results show that elements linked to information‐related costs and consumer preferences matter a great deal in explaining the magnitude of border effects. These findings have implications for the economic and welfare‐related significance of national borders.