A Note on Price Levelling and Price Averaging in Sydney Retail Vegetable Price Spreads

For tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and onions in the Sydney market, the degree of variability of the retail price is substantially lower than the degree of variability of the wholesale price. The objective here is to investigate whether fresh vegetable retailers in the Sydney market practice price levelling and price averaging. 2SLS and 3SLS procedures were used to estimate a system of price spread equations for the four vegetables using quarterly data from 1980 to 1990. In the preferred 3SLS estimates price levelling was confirmed for potatoes and carrots. Price levelling was not evident in the tomatoes and onions equations, with price transmission influenced more by markup pricing policies for these vegetables. No evidence of price-averaging behaviour was found for any of the vegetables examined.