170,289 research outputs found
Commodity futures markets: are they an effective price risk management tool for the European wheat supply chain?
No full textThe instability of commodity prices and the hypothesis that speculative behaviour was one of its causes has brought renewed interest in futures markets. The paper analyses the European wheat futures markets (feed and milling) and the Chicago Board of Trade’s wheat contract as a comparison. Although the main purpose of the paper is to analyse whether futures markets are still useful for hedging (considering the demands from different market participants), implicitly this can be seen as testing whether the increasing presence of speculation has made futures markets divorced from physical markets. The results indicate that hedging with futures markets is still a viable alternative for dealing with price risk. This is particularly true in short period hedges (e.g. merchants and processors), where the basis seems to have been affected by the observed price instability
Hedging effectiveness of European wheat futures markets: An application of multivariate GARCH models
Full text linkThe instability of commodity prices and the hypothesis that speculative behaviour was one of its causes has brought renewed interest in futures markets. In this paper, the hedging effectiveness of European and US wheat futures markets were studied to test whether they were affected by the high price instability after 2007. In particular, the focus of the paper is to test of whether the increasing presence of financialisation of commodity trading in futures markets mentioned in the literature has made them divorced from the physical markets. A multivariate GARCH model was applied to compute optimal hedging ratios. Important evidence was found of a slight improvement, after 2007, in the effectiveness of hedging with the European futures
Exploring the Hedging Effectiveness of European Wheat Futures Markets during the 2007-2012 Period
Full text linkAbstractThe hypothesis that speculative behaviour was the cause of the instability of commodity prices has brought renewed interest in futures markets. In this paper, the hedging effectiveness of European and US wheat futures markets were studied to test whether they were affected by the price instability observed after 2007. Indirectly, this could also be thought as a test of whether the increasing presence of speculators in futures markets have made them divorced from physical markets. A multivariate GARCH model was applied to compute optimal hedging ratios. No important evidence was found of a change in the hedging effectiveness after 2007
Enhancing the integration of agri-food supply chains: theoretical issues and practical challenges in the UK malting barley supply chain
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to explore the issues that may affect the integration (i.e., the relationships) between the different actors that comprise a supply chain. Whist the theoretical part of the paper can be referred to any supply chain, the empirical part is focused on the UK barley to beer supply chain. The main motivation behind the topic is that improvements in the relationships amongst the different segments of a chain can enhance its efficiency and effectiveness, (e.g., through improvements in coordination and cooperation), and therefore, its competitiveness and long term sustainability. The paper is based on two complementary analyses: the first one consisted of a structural equation model (SEM) to determine those factors that affect the sustainability of relationships in the chain. The model is estimated based on a survey of 69 chain stakeholders. The second analysis comprised an in-depth case study based on an important malting-barley- to-beer supply chain in Eastern England, and had the purpose of providing further understanding of those aspects that were highlighted by the SEM. The overall results pointed out to five factors affecting the relationships in the malting barley to beer agri-food supply chain: communication, compatibility of aims in the supply chain, contractual relationships backed by professional regard and personal bonds; high levels of trust exist between the chain participants and a willingness to resolve any problems; and commercial benefit.supply chain management, malting barley supply chain, supply chain coordination, competitiveness, Agribusiness,
AN ANALYSIS OF MARKETING CHANNELS OF LOCAL FOOD IN SCOTLAND
Full text linkLocal food and its possibilities for addressing sustainable regional growth, food availability, accessibility and affordability has received considerable attention in the discussion on and development of the National Food Policy in Scotland. In terms of methodology, the paper continues the analysis of the local food database for Scotland constructed in Watts et al (2010) by exploring the marketing outlets used by the local food enterprises. This subject is important because it may provide information about the degree of entrepreneurship of the involved firms.Local food, Scotland, marketing outlets, Marketing,
Demand for low carbon food products
Full text linkThe emissions associated with food consumption make up approximately 20-30
percent of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Reducing demand for
high carbon footprint food products may provide an effective instrument for reducing
GHG emissions. However, there is concern that using consumption based taxes may
also have negative consequences on nutrition. Therefore, this thesis investigates the
likely effect of carbon consumption taxes on GHG emissions and the resulting
impact on nutrient consumption.
The data used for the analysis are the Scottish part of Kantar Worldpanel data for the
UK for the period 2006-2013 along with various sources of carbon footprint and
nutrient data. This thesis models a carbon consumption tax which is based on the
carbon footprint of the products of interest.
The impact of the taxes on demand for food products were measured through the use
of demand systems. Two forms of demand systems were used: Almost Ideal Demand
System (AIDS) and an Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) which allow for the
estimation of price elasticities based on time series data. These Marshallian price
elasticities were then used for estimating carbon footprint and nutrient elasticities
which allow for the estimated change in GHG emissions (represented as carbon
emissions) and nutrients. The price elasticities were particularly important for
identifying the substitutes and complements of the different food products. This is
useful as some food products such as poultry have a lower carbon footprint relative
to beef products.
The results suggest that applying carbon consumption taxes would likely reduce
carbon emissions though the reduction is relatively small. The net effect of taxing all
major food products would likely reduce emissions by 543,208.75 tCO2e/y which
represents approximately five percent of the total emissions in Scotland attributed to
food consumption (no land use change considered). However, taxing only meat and
milk food products could reduce emissions by approximately 1.6 million tCO2e/y.
While this reduction is much larger than when all food products are taxed, it is
considered that modelling all the major food products offers a more realistic
understanding of how households will change their demand for the different food
products. The effect on nutrient consumption with regards to taxing all food products
suggests that households with lower socioeconomic status would likely experience
some favourable changes in terms of a reduction in sugar and energy. Though a
negative distributional effect is likely to occur when considering the decreased
consumption of vitamin D and the increased consumption of salt.
Therefore, a carbon consumption tax is estimated to reduce food based GHG
emissions by a relatively small amount. Despite the mainly positive effect on nutrient
intake, policy makers are still likely to be cautious when considering this instrument
because of the relatively small (compared to other studies) reduction in GHG
emissions
An empirical analysis of the purchases of soft fruit in Scotland
No full textThe production of soft fruits in Scotland, the main fruit category produced in the country, has a marked seasonality. In addition, the availability of soft fruit depends on imports from the rest of the UK and abroad (i.e., EU and non-EU countries) during the entire year. The purpose of this paper is to update the evidence of a previous analysis (Revoredo-Giha et al., 2011) regarding the purchases of soft fruit in Scotland. There are three main motivations on the topic: (1) the Scottish Government interest about the country’s dependence on fruit from elsewhere; (2) whether the expansion of the domestic supply of soft fruit may increase the quantity demand for it, and therefore, getting consumers closer to the health-related recommendations and (3) to what extent consumers’ purchases of soft fruit follow locality and seasonal patterns. For the empirical work we used time series constructed from the Kantar Worldpanel dataset for the period 2013 to 2021. Besides a descriptive analysis where we consider the origin of soft fruit purchased in Scotland, we pursued two further analyses: one was a seasonality analysis, and another was an estimation of an incomplete demand system by socioeconomic groups augmented by seasonal and trend terms. The results indicated that the share of Scottish soft fruit as a proportion of the total purchases is still modest and the purchases of soft fruit are still highly seasonal despite the possibility of getting out-of-season imported soft fruit; however, some of them show an increasing trend. Although strawberries, the main produced soft fruit from Scotland, are price sensitive and inelastic, raspberries price elasticities are above one showing more reaction to prices and possibilities to increase consumption if prices decrease
Collaborative supply chain initiatives as devices to cope with income variability in the Scottish red meat sector
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to discuss whether collaborative supply chain initiatives may help to provide income stability for farmers, focussing the analysis on the red meat supply chain in Scotland. Collaborative supply chains may contribute with two elements to attain higher income instability: first, greater demand stability and market access, and second, less variability in the price received for carcasses, as the produced output fits better the required specifications (i.e., no lost premia). The analysis of a survey applied to Scottish red meat producers showed that farmers that are part of a producers’ club do not differ from other farmers in their perception of marketing problems (e.g., price stability, etc.). However, in terms of their marketing aims, at least for beef producers, they seem to be more satisfied than farmers selling through auctions. An in-depth case study of a producers’ club in Scotland showed that farmers within the club are heterogeneous, not all of them taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the club in terms of improving the quality of their output and targeting better the required specifications, which creates potential to attain more stable incomeAgricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Livestock Production/Industries, Income instability, producers’ clubs, red meat sector, Scotland,
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