IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rae/jouraf/v100y2019i1-4p93-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating market power in the Belgian porkproduction chain

Author

Listed:
  • Dries Maes

    (Faculty of Business Economics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium and Departement of Economy, Science and Innovation, Flemish Government, Brussels, Belgium)

  • Mark Vancauteren

    (Faculty of Business Economics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium and Statistics Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands)

  • Steven Van Passel

    (Faculty of Business Economics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium and Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium)

Abstract

Belgian pork production has faced stagnating prices for decades. It remains unclearwhether excessive market power from slaughterhouses or meat retailers has played arole in this trend. While market power studies can reveal some of the market dynamicsin this setting, this type of research has not yet been applied to the Belgian pork market.The present paper investigates oligopolies and oligopsonies in the pork productionsector. We build a new model that focuses on market power dynamics in the market forlive pigs and distinguishes horizontal and vertical market power parameters, both forpig farmers and for slaughterhouses. The results follow from an empirical applicationusing unique slaughterhouse data for 2001–2015. The results indicate that the farmersbenefit from a significant power advantage in the live pig market, when very modestprice demands are taken as a reference. The final market price of live pigs approachesthe price requested by the farmers. On the other hand, the measured vertical marketpower also suggests that a pig farmer does not receive the (modest) full-wage-basedsalary. The market power of the slaughterhouses is also limited. Market power as aresult of collusion—that is, horizontal market power—is present, but is not strong.However, there are significant differences between the slaughterhouses in terms ofmark-up on the input prices. These differences reflect differences in company strategy,and this diversity further reduces the possibility to create sector-wide collusivebehaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Dries Maes & Mark Vancauteren & Steven Van Passel, 2019. "Investigating market power in the Belgian porkproduction chain," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 100(1-4), pages 93-117.
    • Handle: RePEc:rae:jouraf:v:100:y:2019:i:1-4:p:93-117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41130-019-00096-6
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Perloff,Jeffrey M. & Karp,Larry S. & Golan,Amos, 2007. "Estimating Market Power and Strategies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521011143, October.
    2. Iwata, Gyoichi, 1974. "Measurement of Conjectural Variations in Oligopoly," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(5), pages 947-966, September.
    3. Perloff, Jeffrey M. & Shen, Edward Z., 2001. "Collinearity in Linear Structural Models of Market Power," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt6js7c38h, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    4. A. M. Azzam & E. Pagoulatos, 1990. "Testing Oligopolistic And Oligopsonistic Behaviour: An Application To The Us Meat‐Packing Industry," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 362-370, September.
    5. Richard J. Sexton, 2000. "Industrialization and Consolidation in the U.S. Food Sector: Implications for Competition and Welfare," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1087-1104.
    6. Azzam, Azzeddine M. & Schroeter, John R., 1991. "Implications Of Increased Regional Concentration And Oligopsonistic Coordination In The Beef Packing Industry," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 16(2), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Azzeddine Azzam, 1996. "Estimating the degree of dominance in a bilateral oligopoly," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 209-211.
    8. Bresnahan, Timothy F., 1982. "The oligopoly solution concept is identified," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 87-92.
    9. Schulze, Birgit & Spiller, Achim & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2006. "More Trust Instead of More Vertical Integration in the German Pork Production? Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Considerations," 99th Seminar, February 8-10, 2006, Bonn, Germany 7756, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Delis, Manthos D. & Tsionas, Efthymios G., 2009. "The joint estimation of bank-level market power and efficiency," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1842-1850, October.
    11. Yamaura Koichi & Xia Tian, 2016. "Measuring Bilateral Market Power in International Markets of Vertically Differentiated Agricultural Commodities," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 33-42, May.
    12. Diewert, W. Erwin & Fox, Kevin J., 2008. "On the estimation of returns to scale, technical progress and monopolistic markups," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 174-193, July.
    13. Mei, Bin & Sun, Changyou, 2008. "Assessing Time-Varying Oligopoly and Oligopsony Power in the U.S. Paper Industry," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Schroeter, John R, 1988. "Estimating the Degree of Market Power in the Beef Packing Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 158-162, February.
    15. Kutlu, Levent & Sickles, Robin C., 2012. "Estimation of market power in the presence of firm level inefficiencies," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 168(1), pages 141-155.
    16. Chanjin Chung & Youg Sook Eom & Byung Woo Yang, 2014. "Optimal Generic Advertising under Bilateral Imperfect Competition between Processors and Retailers," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 438-455, September.
    17. Bresnahan, Timothy F., 1989. "Empirical studies of industries with market power," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 17, pages 1011-1057, Elsevier.
    18. Appelbaum, Elie, 1982. "The estimation of the degree of oligopoly power," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 287-299, August.
    19. Jeffrey Perloff & Edward Shen, 2012. "Collinearity in Linear Structural Models of Market Power," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 40(2), pages 131-138, March.
    20. Ian Sheldon & Richard Sperling, 2003. "Estimating the Extent of Imperfect Competition in the Food Industry: What Have We Learned?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 89-109, March.
    21. Alexandre Gohin & Hervé Guyomard, 2000. "Measuring Market Power for Food Retail Activities: French Evidence," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 181-195, May.
    22. Sara Amoroso & Bertrand Melenberg & Joseph Plasmans & Mark Vancauteren, 2015. "Productivity, Price- and Wage-Markups: An Empirical Analysis of the Dutch Manufacturing Industry," CESifo Working Paper Series 5273, CESifo.
    23. Oleksandr Perekhozhuk & Thomas Glauben & Ramona Teuber & Michael Grings, 2015. "Regional-Level Analysis of Oligopsony Power in the Ukrainian Dairy Industry," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 63(1), pages 43-76, March.
    24. Pierre Mérel, 2011. "Institutional Market Power in Comté: Insights from a ‘Double Marginalisation’ Model," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 585-603, September.
    25. Robert J. Myers & Richard J. Sexton & William G. Tomek, 2010. "A Century of Research on Agricultural Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(2), pages 376-403.
    26. S McCorriston & CW Morgan & AJ Rayner, 2001. "Price transmission: the interaction between market power and returns to scale," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 28(2), pages 143-159, June.
    27. Chung, Kit C. & Griffith, Garry R., 2009. "Another look at market power in the Australian fresh meat industries," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 17, pages 1-18.
    28. Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr & Matyukha, Andriy & Glauben, Thomas, 2011. "Estimating the Degree of Buyers' Market Power: Evidence from the Ukrainian Meat Processing Industry," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114782, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    29. Richard J. Sexton & Ian Sheldon & Steve McCorriston & Humei Wang, 2007. "Agricultural trade liberalization and economic development: the role of downstream market power," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 36(2), pages 253-270, March.
    30. Hall, Robert E, 1988. "The Relation between Price and Marginal Cost in U.S. Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(5), pages 921-947, October.
    31. Catherine J. Morrison Paul, 2001. "Market and Cost Structure in the U.S. Beef Packing Industry: A Plant-Level Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(1), pages 64-76.
    32. Rigoberto Lopez & Azzeddine Azzam & Carmen Lirón-España, 2002. "Market Power and/or Efficiency: A Structural Approach," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 20(2), pages 115-126, March.
    33. Hayenga, Marvin L., 2000. "Meat Packer Vertical Integration and Contract Linkages in the Beef and Pork Industries: An Economic Perspective," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10564, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    34. Lau, Lawrence J., 1982. "On identifying the degree of competitiveness from industry price and output data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 93-99.
    35. Alexandre Gohin & Hervé Guyomard, 2000. "Measuring market power for food retail activities : French evidence," Post-Print hal-01931688, HAL.
    36. Mei, Bin & Sun, Changyou, 2008. "Assessing Time-Varying Oligopoly and Oligopsony Power in the U.S. Paper Industry," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(3), pages 927-939, December.
    37. Habtu Tadesse Weldegebriel, 2004. "Imperfect Price Transmission: Is Market Power Really to Blame?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 101-114, March.
    38. T. A. Lloyd & S. McCorriston & C. W. Morgan & A. J. Rayner, 2006. "Food scares, market power and price transmission: the UK BSE crisis," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 33(2), pages 119-147, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maes, Dries & Vancauteren, Mark & Van Passel, Steven, 2019. "Investigating market power in the Belgian pork production chain," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 100(1-4), November.
    2. Dries Maes & Mark Vancauteren & Steven Passel, 2019. "Investigating market power in the Belgian pork production chain," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 93-117, December.
    3. Maes, Dries & Vancauteren, Mark & Van Passel, Steven, 2016. "Investigating market power in the Belgian pork production chain," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 245114, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr & Chezhia, Giorgi & Glauben, Thomas, 2021. "Measuring Oligopsony Market Power in Kazakh Grain-Processing Industry: Converging Evidence from Two Structural Approaches," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315345, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr, 2007. "Marktstruktur und Preisbildung auf dem ukrainischen Markt für Rohmilch," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 41, number 92322.
    6. Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr, 2013. "Moderne Konzepte zur Analyse der Preisbildung auf dem Faktormarkt mit unvollständigem Wettbewerb," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 4, pages 99-106.
    7. Oleksandr Perekhozhuk, 2013. "Modern Concepts for Pricing Analysis in Imperfect Competition Production Factor Market," Oblik i finansi, Institute of Accounting and Finance, issue 4, pages 99-106, December.
    8. Grau, Aaron Stephan Alexander & Hockmann, Heinrich, 2017. "Estimating oligopsony power on two vertically integrated markets," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 261277, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Bhattacharyya, Aditi & Kutlu, Levent & Sickles, Robin C., 2018. "Pricing Inputs and Outputs: Market prices versus shadow prices, market power, and welfare analysis," Working Papers 18-009, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    10. Devin Garcia & Levent Kutlu & Robin C. Sickles, 2022. "Market Structures in Production Economics," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 13, pages 537-574, Springer.
    11. Koppenberg, Maximilian & Hirsch, Stefan, 2020. "Comparing methods for markup estimation with an application to EU food retailing," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304272, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Alessandro Bonanno & Carlo Russo & Luisa Menapace, 2018. "Market power and bargaining in agrifood markets: A review of emerging topics and tools," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 6-23, December.
    13. Ian Sheldon & Richard Sperling, 2003. "Estimating the Extent of Imperfect Competition in the Food Industry: What Have We Learned?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 89-109, March.
    14. Chanjin Chung & Seongjin Park & Jungmin Lee, 2018. "Estimating bilateral market power of processors and retailers in the U.S. beef industry," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 771-792, October.
    15. Soregaroli, Claudio & Sckokai, Paolo & Moro, Daniele, 2011. "Agricultural policy modelling under imperfect competition," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 195-212, March.
    16. Sheldon, Ian M., 2017. "The Competitiveness Of Agricultural Product And Input Markets: A Review And Synthesis Of Recent Research," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(1), pages 1-44, February.
    17. Chen, Yuquan & Yu, Xiaohua, 2018. "Does the centralized slaughtering policy create market power for pork industry in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 59-71.
    18. Maximilian Koppenberg & Stefan Hirsch, 2022. "Output market power and firm characteristics in dairy processing: Evidence from three EU countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 490-517, June.
    19. Levent Kutlu & Ran Wang, 2018. "Estimation of cost efficiency without cost data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 137-151, June.
    20. Maximilian Koppenberg & Stefan Hirsch, 2022. "Markup estimation: A comparison of contemporary methods at the example of European food retailers," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 108-133, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rae:jouraf:v:100:y:2019:i:1-4:p:93-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nathalie Saux-Nogues (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inrapfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.