IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aare01/125829.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tracing the Effects of Agricultural Commodity Prices on Food Processing Costs

Author

Listed:
  • Morrison Paul, Catherine J.
  • MacDonald, James M.

Abstract

Although food processing sector production is inherently linked to the availability and prices of agricultural materials (MA), this link appears to be weakening due to adaptations in input costs, technology, and food consumption patterns. This study assesses the roles of these changes on food processors’ costs and output prices, with a focus on the demand for primary agricultural commodities. Our analysis of the 4-digit U.S. food processing industries for 1972-1992 is based on a cost-function framework, augmented by a profit maximization specification of output pricing, and a virtual price representation for agricultural materials and capital. We find that falling virtual prices of MA and input substitution have provided a stimulus for MA demand. However, scale effects have been MA-saving relative to intermediate food products, and disembodied technical change has strongly contributed to declining primary agricultural materials demand relative to most other inputs.

Suggested Citation

  • Morrison Paul, Catherine J. & MacDonald, James M., 2001. "Tracing the Effects of Agricultural Commodity Prices on Food Processing Costs," 2001 Conference (45th), January 23-25, 2001, Adelaide, Australia 125829, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aare01:125829
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.125829
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/125829/files/Paul.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.125829?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fulginiti, Lilyan E & Perrin, Richard K, 1993. "Prices and Productivity in Agriculture," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(3), pages 471-482, August.
    2. Morrison, Catherine J, 1985. "Primal and Dual Capacity Utilization: An Application to Productivity Measurement in the U.S. Automobile Industry," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(4), pages 312-324, October.
    3. Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2000. "Cost Economies and Market Power in U.S. Beef Packing," Monographs, University of California, Davis, Giannini Foundation, number 11934, December.
    4. V. Eldon Ball & Robert G. Chambers, 1982. "An Economic Analysis of Technology in the Meat Products Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 64(4), pages 699-709.
    5. Catherine J. Morrison, 1997. "Structural Change, Capital Investment and Productivity in the Food Processing Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(1), pages 110-125.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kingwell, Ross, 2002. "Issues for Farm Management in the 21st Century: A view from the West," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 10, pages 1-28, September.
    2. Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 1999. "Production Structure And Trends In The U.S. Meat And Poultry Products Industries," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2000. "Productivity And Efficiency In The U.S. Food System, Or, Might Cost Factors Support Increasing Mergers And Concentration?," Working Papers 11983, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    4. Kingwell, Ross S., 2002. "Issues for Farm Management in the 21st Century: A view from the West," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 173982, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    5. Catherine Morrison Paul, 2003. "Productivity and Efficiency Measurement in Our “New Economy”: Determinants, Interactions, and Policy Relevance," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 161-177, April.
    6. Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2002. "Supply and demand-driven spillovers and productivity growth," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 285-304, August.

    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. Catherine J. Morrison Paul, 2003. "Cost Economies: A Driving Force for Consolidation and Concentration?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(1), pages 110-127, July.
    2. MacDonald, James M. & Ollinger, Michael & Nelson, Kenneth E. & Handy, Charles R., 2000. "Consolidation In U.S. Meatpacking," Agricultural Economic Reports 34021, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 1999. "Production Structure And Trends In The U.S. Meat And Poultry Products Industries," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Morrison, Catherine J., 1997. "Economic performance, cost economies and pricing behaviour in the US and Australian meat products industries," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 41(3), pages 1-23.
    5. Casasnovas, Valero L. & Aldanondo, Ana Maria, 2011. "Influence of Animal Feeding on Milk Supply in Navarre," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114316, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2000. "Productivity And Efficiency In The U.S. Food System, Or, Might Cost Factors Support Increasing Mergers And Concentration?," Working Papers 11983, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    7. Xia, Yin & Buccola, Steven T., 2000. "Technological Performance In Meat Processing And Implications For Policy," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21862, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Fulginiti, Lilyan E., 1994. "Price-Conditional Technology," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 19(01), pages 1-12, July.
    9. Malte Reimers & Stephan Klasen, 2013. "Revisiting the Role of Education for Agricultural Productivity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(1), pages 131-152.
    10. Alfò, Marco & Carbonari, Lorenzo & Trovato, Giovanni, 2023. "On the effects of taxation on growth: an empirical assessment," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(5), pages 1289-1318, July.
    11. Zhang, Wei & Alston, Julian M., 2013. "Factor Substitution and Technical Change in the U.S. Dairy Processing and Manufacturing Industry," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150707, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Shoemaker, Robbin, 1986. "Effects of Changes in U.S. Agricultural Production on Demand for Farm Inputs," Technical Bulletins 157024, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    13. Lachaal, Lassaad & Chebil, Ali & Dhehibi, Boubaker, 2005. "Measuring factor substitution and technological change in the Tunisian agricultural sector, 1971 - 2000," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11.
    14. Samuel Gamtessa, 2022. "Capacity utilization, factor substitution, and productivity growth in Canadian food processing sector," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    15. Zúniga-González, Carlos Alberto, 2011. "Total Factor Productivity Growth in Agriculture: A Malmquist Index Analysis of 14 Countries, 1979-2008," Conference Papers 114036, National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, León (Unan-León), Researching Center for Applied Economics (RCAE).
    16. Holloway, Garth J. & Hertel, Thomas W., 1991. "Comparing Hypotheses About Competition," Working Papers 225867, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    17. H. Kim, 1999. "Economic Capacity Utilization and its Determinants: Theory and Evidence," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 15(4), pages 321-339, December.
    18. Lilyan E. Fulginiti & Richard K. Perrin, 1999. "Have Price Policies Damaged Ldc Agricultural Productivity?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 17(4), pages 469-475, October.
    19. Celikkol, Pinar & Dunn, James W. & Stefanou, Spiro E., 2003. "Policy Reform Impact on Food Manufacturing," Policy Reform and Adjustment Workshop, October 23-25, 2003, Imperial College London, Wye Campus 15743, International Agricultural Policy Reform and Adjustment Project (IAPRAP).
    20. Tim J. Coelli & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2005. "Total factor productivity growth in agriculture: a Malmquist index analysis of 93 countries, 1980–2000," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 115-134, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agribusiness; Demand and Price Analysis;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ags:aare01:125829. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaresea.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.