Pricing and performance in agri-food supply chains

Abstract

This paper explores whether European food-processing and retail industries exert market power towards farmers and consumers. More in particular, this paper analyses (1) whether price changes at the farm level are fully and instantaneously transmitted into changes at the consumer level; and (2) whether there have been changes in the price risk distribution in post-war agri-food supply chains. With respect to the first research question, we do not observe a general pattern of price asymmetry to the disadvantage of farmers and consumers. In general, price symmetry and price levelling are as prevalent as price asymmetry is. With respect to the second question, I observe a shift in price risk from farmers to marketing organizations in the Dutch ware-potato supply chain.