Multilateral or Regional Agreement: The Case of Mediterranean Non-EU Countries

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are at a crossroad regarding potential trade reforms. The EU is not only the world's largest market for the region's agricultural products, but also remains the prime outlet for these Mediterranean countries' exports. An applied general equilibrium model is used to assess the impact of various trade reform options in the region. Results suggest that the region might benefit most under special provisions for developing countries. Under global trade reform, MENA preferences with EU might be eroded, with EU Mediterranean countries like Greece benefit the most with global trade reform.International Relations/Trade,

The Greek Olive Oil Market Structure

Food product differentiation leads to significant price variations among the same products, meaning that specific products can be sold in higher prices. An Hedonic Price analysis is adopted to investigate the influence of food differentiation on consumer prices and to identify product attributes’ values for the olive oil market. This will con- tribute to device the most appropriate olive oil differentiation strategies in order to be purchased by consumers in a higher price. The retail price structure was estimated in relation to several product natural attributes, to production and processing conditions, to quality control and to labeling and distribution. Findings demonstrate that olive oil price differentiation is mainly influenced by factors relevant to quality of life, purchase uncertainty, acquisition cost and consumers’ psychological needs. Additionally, vertical integration in production and processing and the retailer size significantly influence the olive oil price formulationdifferentiation structure, hedonic prices, olive oil market, Crop Production/Industries, Marketing, Q13, C23, L15, M31,

Middle East and North Africa countries' agricultural export potentials under trade reforms

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries future stand in the world's economy depends to a large extent on the potentials of their agriculture to perform in a free trade world. EU is the largest market for agricultural products of MENA countries, though new outlets and new partnerships can expand the market of their produce. Enhancing agriculture's potentials safeguards the economy's general expansion and impede the flee of MENA countries' huge labor reserves to the developed world. In this work, introducing a few possible trade reforms, a general equilibrium model is employed to assess the impacts upon region's export potentials and welfare changes. Selecting certain distinct scenarios from a wide spectrum of anticipated trade reforms, and feeding them into the model, insights on the direction of the expected changes and rough estimates of accrued benefits can be extracted. The model results suggest that the region might benefit the most under special provisions for developing countries in a WTO agreement, while in the case of EU-Med agreement agricultural trade will benefit MENA countries and can induce economic growth through the expansion of agricultural exports

Hedonic Analysis of Retail Egg Prices

The fast growth of product differentiation affects even the raw food product market and causes substantial price variations. The hedonic price technique is applied to examine raw-egg attributes because of a recent transformation from an undifferentiated to a highly differentiated market. The effects of product attributes, production methods, distribution, and product image on retail egg prices are considered. Results reveal that retail egg prices are influenced by specific product attributes including nutritional characteristics and unconventional production methods. Results provide knowledge useful in the development of marketing strategies and suggest areas for possible involvement of policymakers.Demand and Price Analysis,

The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Greek Consumer Behaviour towards Food Consumption

This study was focused on investigating the factors that affect consumers and their shopping attitudes in the turbulent economic period which characterizes the recent years. In particular, the main aim of this study was to investigate and contribute towards understanding consumer behavior and to explore the factors that affect consumers during their food shopping in adverse economic conditions. To address our research objective, the study is focused on identifying consumers’ current spending habits and investigating consumers’ food purchasing behavior. Data were obtained from an intercept survey conducted in a random selected sample consisting of 553 consumers between January and May 2016 in the Prefecture of Thessaloniki. In the data which were collected,initially, reliability and validation testing was performed with Factor Analysis (EFA) followed by a second checking ofvalidity with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using the statistical program LISREL 8.80. The results were used toformulate a conceptual model in order to investigate consumers’ behavior towards food. The empirical examination of this theoretical model was carried out by forming a model of structural equations. Results demonstrate that “objective resources” have been found to influence behavior both indirectly through the “attitudes” towards diet, but also directly. Income was found to affect the model directly and significantly. Also, consumption of food is affected by the number of adults in the household. At the same time, there is a rejection of the “quality” factor due to its higher price

Measuring and comparing the carbon footprints of different procurement models for primary school meals:Analysis of cases across five European countries

Sustainable Public Food Procurement (PFP) represents a key game changer for food systems transformation. It can influence both food consumption and food production patterns. It can deliver multiple social, economic and environmental benefits towards sustainable food systems for healthy diets. This publication aims to contribute to the improved understanding, dissemination and use of PFP as a development tool in particular in the case of school meals programmes. In Volume 1, researchers, policymakers and development partners can find evidence on how PFP can be used as a development tool and deliver multiple benefits for multiple beneficiaries. It argues that PFP can provide a market for local and smallholder farmers, promote the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity, and improve the nutrition and health of children and communities. Volume 2 of this publication, available at https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7969en, presents further analysis of the instruments, enablers and barriers for PFP implementation. It also provides case studies with local, regional and national experiences from Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America

Multilateral or Regional Agreement: The Case of Mediterranean Non-EU Countries

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are at a crossroad regarding potential trade reforms. The EU is not only the world's largest market for the region's agricultural products, but also remains the prime outlet for these Mediterranean countries' exports. An applied general equilibrium model is used to assess the impact of various trade reform options in the region. Results suggest that the region might benefit most under special provisions for developing countries. Under global trade reform, MENA preferences with EU might be eroded, with EU Mediterranean countries like Greece benefit the most with global trade reform

Consumers' Willingness To Pay for Value-Added Food Products; Abstract Only

The increasing importance of food quality and food safety has led to an increased consumer concern for certified quality products. However, the market share of certified quality products still remains very small. The aspect of "quality" has also been accepted as an important ingredient of marketing that offers producers a great opportunity to differentiate themselves in the market and add value to their products (Jervell and Borgen, 2004). In the case of agricultural products producers may view a quality certification (either it is a certification of traceability or a quality label) as a tool that protects them in an environment of distrust and as a promotion strategy that will add value to their products and justify higher prices for them. However, in order for value-added markets to be successful an effective communication must be promoted. This means, that consumers must be aware of the existence and meaning of these commodities and also have a favorable attitude towards them. In addition, consumers must be willing to pay an extra amount of money for such products. It is therefore, of major importance to better communicate with the consumers and gain a better understanding of their attitudes, needs and perceptions (Preston and McGuirk, 1990; Kuznesof et al., 1997; Walley et al., 1999; Van Ittersum et al., 2000; Grunert, 2002; McEachern and Willock, 2004). The aim of this paper is to examine consumer attitudes and behaviour towards two different quality foods: the organic and the traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) products. A survey of Greek consumers was carried out to examine perceptions of food quality, level of awareness and attitudes towards food certification. Furthermore, an attempt is made to compare the socioeconomic characteristics and attitudes that affect consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for these two different food products. Data were collected in February 2006, using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The survey took place in the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki (northern Greece) and only those consumers who were responsible for purchasing their household's food were interviewed. In total, 414 valid questionnaires were used in the analysis. Results indicate the high level of consumer awareness and knowledge about organic and TSG products. The majority of consumers are buyers of organic and of TSG products (55 per cent and 67 per cent respectively). Sociodemographic factors (gender, age) are positively associated to consumers' willingness to pay a premium for organic products, whereas nutrition and freshness positively affect consumers' willingness to pay for TSG products. The findings are considered to be useful to food policy makers and marketing practitioners, since effective methods of marketing would increase the demand of the studied product