Reporting Egg Prices at Shipping Points in Iowa and Minnesota

Excerpts from the report: The object of the research project reported here was to test the feasibility of developing periodic reports of prices received for eggs by country-point dealers in the Midwest. Prior to this study, there was no published report at that trading level in the Midwest. Price reports on eggs covered only prices paid to farmers and prices at wholesale or other levels of trading, in various cities such as New York, Chicago, and St. Louis. To determine the feasibility of establishing a country-point price report for shell eggs, the following criteria were used; (1) Information on transactions to be included in a particular report must be accurate, and fairly uniform as to the more significant terms of trade, product characteristics, and time of sale; (2) prices and other conditions of sale for a significant proportion of these transactions must be subject to independent negotiation; (3) it must be feasible to obtain and report these prices promptly; and (4) the information reported must be potentially useful for decision making in the industry. The method of investigation involved two stages; (1) An initial survey of egg dealers to obtain information on their selling and pricing practices and on the terms and conditions of sale on their last two shipments, and (2) initiation of an experimental price report to test the feasibility of collecting and reporting prices on a current basis.