IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v23y2012i1p34-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How connected are Chinese farmers to retail markets? New evidence of price transmission

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Bo
  • Keyzer, Michiel
  • van den Boom, Bart
  • Zikhali, Precious

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which Chinese farmers are connected to regional agricultural markets by looking at the intensity of price transmission from retail markets to the farmgate. This intensity is indicative of the extent to which farmers might benefit from improved marketing opportunities and be exposed to price risks. We estimate the elasticity of farmgate prices to retail prices using price data for 170 markets, in 29 out of 33 provinces of China, at the detail of 12 main products and for the five-year period 1996 to 2000. In each province we find strong linkages between retail and farmgate prices with elasticities ranging between 0.6 and 1 and intensifying over time. This suggests that Chinese farmers are generally well connected to retail markets and that this connectivity has strengthened in the period considered, creating not only new opportunities but also new risks. It is also found that linkages are relatively weak in inland provinces, which is a point of concern in view of Chinese policies to create equal opportunities and equitable growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Bo & Keyzer, Michiel & van den Boom, Bart & Zikhali, Precious, 2012. "How connected are Chinese farmers to retail markets? New evidence of price transmission," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 34-46.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:23:y:2012:i:1:p:34-46
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2011.07.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X11000769
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2011.07.010?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Ziping & Merlean, Seamus, 2003. "Market efficiency in the reformed Chinese grain marketing system," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 115-130.
    2. Anderson, Kym & Huang, Jikun & Ianchovichina, Elena, 2004. "Will China's WTO accession worsen farm household incomes?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 443-456.
    3. Zhuang, Renan & Abbott, Philip, 2007. "Price elasticities of key agricultural commodities in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 155-169.
    4. Jikun Huang & Scott Rozelle & Min Chang, 2004. "Tracking Distortions in Agriculture: China and Its Accession to the World Trade Organization," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 18(1), pages 59-84.
    5. Cheng, Yuk-shing, 1996. "China's grain marketing system reform in 1993-1994: empirical evidence from a rural household survey," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 135-153.
    6. Wolfgang Keller & Carol H. Shiue, 2007. "Market Integration and Economic Development: A Long‐run Comparison," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 107-123, February.
    7. Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 2006. "The emergence of agricultural commodity markets in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 266-280.
    8. Albert Park & Hehui Jin & Scott Rozelle & Jikun Huang, 2002. "Market Emergence and Transition: Arbitrage, Transaction Costs, and Autarky in China's Grain Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(1), pages 67-82.
    9. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," NBER Working Papers 7828, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. ZY. Zhou & GH. Wan & LB. Chen, 2000. "Integration of rice markets: the case of southern China," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(1), pages 95-106, January.
    11. Awokuse, Titus O., 2007. "Market Reforms, Spatial Price Dynamics, and China's Rice Market Integration: A Causal Analysis with Directed Acyclic Graphs," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 32(1), pages 1-19, April.
    12. Park, Albert & Rozelle, Scott & Cai, Fang, 1994. "China's grain policy reforms: Implications for equity, stabilization, and efficiency," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 15-33.
    13. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1091-1135.
    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. Jian Li & Jean‐Paul Chavas & Chongguang Li, 2022. "The dynamic effects of price support policy on price volatility: The case of the rice market in China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(2), pages 307-320, March.
    2. Taoyuan Wei & Solveig Glomsrød & Tianyi Zhang, 2017. "Extreme weather, food security and the capacity to adapt – the case of crops in China," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 523-535, June.
    3. Jing You, 2014. "Dietary change, nutrient transition and food security in fast-growing China," Chapters, in: Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), Handbook on Food, chapter 9, pages 204-245, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Bargawi, H. & Newman, S.A., 2013. "From futures markets to the farm-gate," ISS Working Papers - General Series 50215, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    5. Flaig, Dorothee & Stone, Susan & van Tongeren, Frank, 2014. "Global Value Chains and the Cost of Protection: Insights from the New OECD Trade Model," Conference papers 332508, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Brockhaus, Jan & Huang, Jikun & Hu, Jiliang & Kalkuhl, Matthias & von Braun, Joachim & Yang, Guolei, 2015. "Rice, wheat, and corn supply response in China," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205988, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Mhd Ruslan, Siti Marsila & Mokhtar, Kasypi, 2020. "An Analysis of Price Disparity: Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 54(2), pages 53-66.

    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. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les, 2012. "The emergence and evolution of regional convergence clusters in China's energy markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 82-94.
    2. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les & Gibson, John, 2009. "Gradual reforms and the emergence of energy market in China: Evidence from tests for convergence of energy prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4834-4850, November.
    3. Jeffrey S. Zax & Yin He, 2016. "The Law Of One Price In Chinese Factor Markets," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(04), pages 1-31, September.
    4. Li, Zhigang & Yu, Xiaohua & Zeng, Yinchu & Holst, Rainer, 2012. "Estimating transport costs and trade barriers in China: Direct evidence from Chinese agricultural traders," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1003-1010.
    5. Chao Li & John Gibson, 2013. "Spatial Price Differences and Inequality in China: Housing Market Evidence," Working Papers in Economics 13/06, University of Waikato.
    6. Chao Li & John Gibson, 2014. "Spatial Price Differences and Inequality in the People's Republic of China: Housing Market Evidence," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 31(1), pages 92-120, March.
    7. Hengyun Ma & Les Oxley & John Gibson, 2008. "Testing for Energy Market Integration in China," Working Papers in Economics 08/12, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    8. Shi, Xiaoping & HEERINK, Nico & QU, Futian, 2011. "Does off-farm employment contribute to agriculture-based environmental pollution? New insights from a village-level analysis in Jiangxi Province, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 524-533.
    9. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les, 2010. "The integration of major fuel source markets in China: Evidence from panel cointegration tests," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1139-1146, September.
    10. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les & Gibson, John, 2010. "China's energy economy: A survey of the literature," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 105-132, June.
    11. Mullen, John D., 2004. "Impact Assessment of ACIAR-funded Projects on Grain-market Reform in China," Impact Assessment Series (IAS) 113252, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
    12. Nico Heerink & Marijke Kuiper & Xiaoping Shi, 2006. "China's New Rural Income Support Policy: Impacts on Grain Production and Rural Income Inequality," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(6), pages 58-69, November.
    13. Long, Cheryl & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2012. "Patterns of China's industrialization: Concentration, specialization, and clustering," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 593-612.
    14. Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 2010. "Agricultural Development, Nutrition, and the Policies Behind China’s Success," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-34, June.
    15. Kleinwechter, Ulrich & Grethe, Harald, 2012. "Trade policy impacts under alternative land market regimes in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1071-1089.
    16. Zheng LU & Xiang DENG, 2017. "Regional Specialization: New Methods Of Measurement And The Trends In China 1987-2007," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 17(2), pages 119-134.
    17. Pedroni, Peter & Yao, James Yudong, 2006. "Regional income divergence in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 294-315, April.
    18. Laiqun Jin & Xiuyan Liu & Sam Hak Kan Tang, 2021. "High-Technology Zones, Misallocation of Resources among Cities and Aggregate Productivity: Evidence from China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-11, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    19. Kui-Wai Li & Tung Liu & Lihong Yun, 2007. "Technology Progress, Efficiency, and Scale of Economy in Post-reform China," Working Papers 200701, Ball State University, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2007.
    20. Liu, Tung & Li, Kui-Wai, 2006. "Disparity in factor contributions between coastal and inner provinces in post-reform China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 449-470.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; Farmgate prices; Agriculture; Price transmission;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

    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:eee:chieco:v:23:y:2012:i:1:p:34-46. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    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.