Factors Determining the Prices of Thai Silk: A Hedonic Price Analysis

This paper aims to analyze factors determining the prices of Thai silk products by using the hedonic price model. A quantitative and qualitative approach were used to obtain the data of silk products. Findings from statistical estimated coefficients indicated that many factors were importance to Thai silk producers and related to consumers willing to pay for a premium price for some attributes. The results showed that the location of retail store, types of business model, and online distribution channel were factors affecting to price setting with a positive impact. The negative factors determining the prices were normal silk fabric (without the Royal peacock logo) and the variety of the product. The outcomes suggest that producers of Thai silk fabric should use the location of store, the business model, and the distribution channel as advantages of a product differentiation strategy to adding value to silk products

An Assessment of Chinese Consumers' Preference on RTE Foods From Thailand

The research aims to assess the preferences of Chinese consumers on Ready to Eat (RTE) foods from Thailand through sensory evaluation analysis. Focus group interview was conducted with a group of Chinese consumers living in Thailand to understand the insights of food consumption behaviors. Chinese consumers' opinion toward Thai RTE foods and favorable types of foods were investigated. In order to obtain a better understanding of Chinese consumers' preference on Thai RTE foods, three Thai and two Chinese foods were benchmarked as samples for the target panels. Sensory evaluation was tested over five items of RTE product with Chinese panels living in three major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. All panels indicated their overall preferences; however Tom Yum Kung obtained the least acceptance among five products. Just About Right scale composed of sweet, sour, salty, spicy and oiliness was assessed and it was found that different located area of testing panels have shown the significantly different preferences. Beijing panels preferred noodle-based foods like Spaghetti and Pad Thai, while Shanghai and Guangzhou panels favored of rice dishes such as Green Curry and Yellow Curry with Rice. It can be concluded that the adjusted product taste to satisfy Chinese consumers' preferences was necessary for export product strategy of Thai RTE foods

Analysis of Logistics Costs for Rice Mills in Improving the Aroma of Jasmine Rice

One of unique characteristics of Thai jasmine rice is its aroma, which can easily reduce in various conditions during post-harvesting activities, especially in rice milling stage. This study aims to investigate logistics cost analysis of the rice mill of Kasetwisai Agricultural Cooperative, Ltd. by using activity based costing (ABC) method and to define key activities for the improvement of the rice aroma loss reduction. The results show that the activity that has the highest logistics cost is warehousing at 26.52%, followed by material handling at 24.27%, transportation at 12.33% and packaging at 10.84% of the total logistics cost, respectively. The total logistics cost per unit of the rice mill is about 4.52 baht/kg. Findings from an in-depth interview revealed that warehousing and transportation can be major activities influencing aroma loss in jasmine rice. To reduce the aroma loss in a cost effective way, the Kasetwisai Agricultural Cooperative, Ltd. should focus on storage time and temperature in warehousing and transportation systems. In addition, the collaboration of the rice miller with supply chain partners should be encouraged to cut the logistics cost and to improve the quality of rice

Water Footprint of Food Quality Schemes

Water Footprint (WF, henceforth) is an indicator of water consumption and has taken ground to assess the impact of agricultural production processes over freshwater. The focus of this study was contrasting non-conventional, certified products with identical products obtained through conventional production schemes (REF, henceforth) using WF as a measure of their pressure on water resources. The aim was to the show whether products that are certified as Food Quality Schemes (FQS, henceforth) could also incorporate the lower impact on water among their quality features. To perform this comparison, we analysed 23 products selected among Organic, PDO and PGI as FQS, and their conventional counterparts. By restricting the domain of analysis to the on-farm phase of the production chain, we obtained that that no significant differences emerged between the FQS and REF products. However, if the impact is measured per unit area rather than per unit product, FQS showed a significant reduction in water demand

The Carbon and Land Footprint of Certified Food Products

The carbon and land footprint of 26 certified food products - geographical indications and organic products and their conventional references are assessed. This assessment goes beyond existing literature by (1) designing a calculation method fit for the comparison between certified food and conventional production, (2) using the same calculation method and parameters for 52 products - 26 Food Quality Schemes and their reference products - to allow for a meaningful comparison, (3) transparently documenting this calculation method and opening access to the detailed results and the underlying data, and (4) providing the first assessment of the carbon and land footprint of geographical indications. The method used is Life Cycle Assessment, largely relying on the Cool Farm Tool for the impact assessment. The most common indicator of climate impact, the carbon footprint expressed per ton of product, is not significantly different between certified foods and their reference products. The only exception to this pattern are vegetal organic products, whose carbon footprint is 16% lower. This is because the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from the absence of mineral fertilizers is never fully offset by the associated lower yield. The climate impact of certified food per hectare is however 26% than their reference and their land footprint is logically 24% higher. Technical specifications directly or indirectly inducing a lower use of mineral fertilizers are a key driver of this pattern. So is yield, which depends both on terroir and farming practices. Overall, this assessment reinforces the quality policy of the European Union: promoting certified food is not inconsistent with mitigating climate change

Foodmiles: The Logistics of Food Chains Applied to Food Quality Schemes

This paper estimates the foodmiles (embedded distances) and transport-related carbon emissions of 27 Food Quality Scheme (FQS) products-Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and organic- A nd their reference products. It goes further than the existing literature by adopting a value chain perspective, instead of the traditional consumer perspective, and focusing on FQS products. The same methodology is applied across all the case studies. The article specifically investigates the determinants of differences between FQS and their references. FQS products travel significantly shorter distances (-30%) and generate significantly lower transport-related emissions (-23%) than conventional food products. The differences are even greater for vegetal and organic products. The relationship between distance and transport-related emissions is not exactly proportional and highlights the importance of transport modes and logistics, in particular for exports and imports. Finally, we stress the importance of the spatial distribution of the different stages in the value chains (e.g. production, processing). PDO technical specifications delimit a geographical area for production and processing, thereby limiting distances and transport-related emissions compared to conventional food products, but also compared to other types of FQS

Do Food Quality Schemes and Net Price Premiums Go Together?

This article addresses the issue of the profitability of Food Quality Scheme (FQS) products as compared to reference products, which are defined as analogous products without quality label. We approach this question by taking into account the level of the value chain (upstream, processing, and downstream), the sector (vegetal, animal, seafood) and the type of FQS (PGI, PDO, Organic). We collected original data for several products produced in selected European countries, as well as in Thailand and Vietnam. Comparisons depending on value chain level, sector and FQS are possible by using two comparable indicators: price premium and net price premium (including cost differential). The following principal conclusions were reached: 1) Price is higher for FQS products than for the reference products, regardless of the production level, the type of FQS or the sector; 2) Price premiums generated by FQS do not differ along the value chain, nor between sectors (vegetal, animal or seafood/fish); 3) Price premium for organic products is significantly higher than for PGI products, and this conclusion holds at upstream and processing levels, taking into account the costs directly related to production; 4) All organic products and almost all PDO and PGI products analysed benefit from a positive quality rent; 5) At upstream level and processing level, the relative weight of intermediate consumption in the cost structure is lower for organic products than for reference products