Structure, Conduct and Performance in the South African Potato Processing Industry

The South African Potato industry was deregulated in the early 1990’s, leading to changes in market structure. The adjustment in market structure leads to changes in production and marketing practices, including contracting and pricing strategies for processing firms within the industry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current status in the potato processing industry, based on market structure, conduct and performance. The objective is to qualitatively measure the driving forces within the industry, and how these factors influence performance of the industry as a whole. The research method was based on the structure-conduct-performance paradigm, giving a better understanding of the potato processing industry and the driving forces, relating to future growth. A short case study of the Australian potato processing industry, which finds itself in a similar position as South Africa, reveals that increasing global competition in the form of low cost importers, are hampering competitiveness and profitability, along with rising production costs. It was found that the South African potato processing industry has a relatively high concentration, which means efficiency is lacking as market shares is not distributed effectively. It was further evident that a lack of trust between processors and producers is a source of concern for processors.Crop Production/Industries,

STOCHASTIC EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE BASIC MAIZE MARKETING STRATEGIES

The use of modern marketing strategies to minimize risk exposure is not a widely adopted practice under maize producers. The producers tend to use high risk strategies which include the selling of the crop on the cash market after harvested; while the current market requires innovative strategies including the use of Futures and Options as traded on SAFEX. However, due to a lack of interest and knowledge of producers understanding of modern, complicated strategies the study illustrates by using a SERF and CDF that the use of three basic strategies namely a Put-, Twelve-segment-, Three-segment- can be more rewarding. These strategies can be adopted by farmers without an in-depth understanding of the market and market-signals. The results obtained from the study illustrates that producers who tend to be more risk neutral would prefer using the Twelve-segment- or Spot-strategy while a risk averse producer would prefer the Three-segment-, or Put-strategy. It also indicates that no strategy can be labelled as the all-time best and that the choice between strategies depends on risk adverse characteristics of the producer. The purpose of the study is to prove that the adoption of a basic strategy is better than adopting no strategy at all and to convince producers to reconsider the adoption of modern marketing strategies.Marketing strategies, futures, options, SERF, Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

The texture development of It-Ni-Cu wire during thermomechanical cycling

An investigation has been carried out on the texture of Ti-44Ni-5Cu (at %) shape memory alloy wire. The texture of the B2 and monoclinic phases has been determined as a function of the degree of cold deformation during the drawing process and the number of cycles on thermomechanical cycling. After cold drawing and anlealing (823 K, 180 s) under tensile stress, the [110], [1(-1)0] [101] and [(-1)01] directions in the monoclinic phase are parallel to the wire axis. In this condition a preference for the [(-1)01] component is observed. On heating the wire above Af and cooling down, this preference disappears. Subsequently the preference develops again on thermomechanical cycling. The B2 phase shows in all conditions a fiber texture. The observed preference of the [(-1)01] fiber texture component in the monoclinic phase is discussed in terms of strain accomodation during plastic deformation

Structure, Conduct and Performance in the South African Potato Processing Industry

The South African Potato industry was deregulated in the early 1990’s, leading to changes in market structure. The adjustment in market structure leads to changes in production and marketing practices, including contracting and pricing strategies for processing firms within the industry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current status in the potato processing industry, based on market structure, conduct and performance. The objective is to qualitatively measure the driving forces within the industry, and how these factors influence performance of the industry as a whole. The research method was based on the structure-conduct-performance paradigm, giving a better understanding of the potato processing industry and the driving forces, relating to future growth. A short case study of the Australian potato processing industry, which finds itself in a similar position as South Africa, reveals that increasing global competition in the form of low cost importers, are hampering competitiveness and profitability, along with rising production costs. It was found that the South African potato processing industry has a relatively high concentration, which means efficiency is lacking as market shares is not distributed effectively. It was further evident that a lack of trust between processors and producers is a source of concern for processors

Maize prices in South Africa: Can the producer increase his revenue by marketing grain through cattle?

Since the decline in the price of maize from the beginning of 2010, meat has become the new buzzword under maize producers as they are desperately looking for alternatives to increase the value of their crops. It seems as if the price of maize may stay low at levels equal to export parity prices for the next year or two due to very large yields and an increasing level of ending stocks each year. On the other hand, there is the meat sector which is doing extremely well and had even shown positive growth during the worldwide financial crisis. A substantial decrease in the price of beef therefore seems unlikely and makes it a very attractive alternative market for maize. The question, however, is whether the value of maize can be increased by marketing it through beef, and what factors influence the profitability of this marketing alternative. A model simulating different scenarios with regards to the physical and financial information of a feedlot indicates that in the most cases a feedlot will have a positive margin and thus increases the value of the maize that is fed. The factors that were found to affect the margin the most in a negatively correlated relation, are the weaner price, maize price, feed conversion ratio, mortality rate and feed concentrate price, while those affecting the margin in a positively correlated way are the carcass price, slaughter percentage and average daily gain

STOCHASTIC EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE BASIC MAIZE MARKETING STRATEGIES

The use of modern marketing strategies to minimize risk exposure is not a widely adopted practice under maize producers. The producers tend to use high risk strategies which include the selling of the crop on the cash market after harvested; while the current market requires innovative strategies including the use of Futures and Options as traded on SAFEX. However, due to a lack of interest and knowledge of producers understanding of modern, complicated strategies the study illustrates by using a SERF and CDF that the use of three basic strategies namely a Put-, Twelve-segment-, Three-segment- can be more rewarding. These strategies can be adopted by farmers without an in-depth understanding of the market and market-signals. The results obtained from the study illustrates that producers who tend to be more risk neutral would prefer using the Twelve-segment- or Spot-strategy while a risk averse producer would prefer the Three-segment-, or Put-strategy. It also indicates that no strategy can be labelled as the all-time best and that the choice between strategies depends on risk adverse characteristics of the producer. The purpose of the study is to prove that the adoption of a basic strategy is better than adopting no strategy at all and to convince producers to reconsider the adoption of modern marketing strategies

Profitability analysis of different reproduction methods with Dohne Merinos

The management of new technology for farming is important, as it has an influence on the profitability of the farm. With the development of new technology, new breeding methods have been developed and have an influence on the profitability on a sheep farm. This article studies the difference in gross margins for three kinds of reproduction methods with sheep namely: Conventional, Artificial Insemination and Cervical Insemination. Four different scenarios have been developed and for each of the scenarios the gross margins have been calculated, according to the assumptions made in the scenario. This resulted in the comparison of the new breeding technology against the conventional technology, taking into account the all the different factors. It was found that with the use of new breeding technological methods in sheep (A.I. and C.I.) a producer can increase the profitability of his herd, despite the higher capital investment required

The impact of maize-based ethanol production on the competitiveness of the South African animal feed industry

Over the past few years the world has witnessed substantial developments in the global production and the production capacity of ethanol. This tremendous growth in the industry is mainly driven by the following: petroleum prices, the reliability of traditional crude oil exporters along with political motives, adverse pollution effects and more specifically, emission gases from fossil fuels. Together with this growth, various researchers locally and globally have focused on ethanol production, but little work has been done on the economic impact that ethanol production will have on the animal feed industry. In order to simulate the results, the two main scenarios were analysed using two different models - namely, the BFAP model and the APR model. By applying the BFAP model to these scenarios, the equilibrium prices of animal feed row materials were simulated for the year 2015. The APR model was then applied to these prices in order to evaluate the impact of ethanol production on the animal feed industry. Two main scenarios are constructed with four combinations; the main variables in the scenarios are the oil price and the blending ratios of biofuel. The results revealed that there is no significant effect on the animal feed industry. Various raw materials are affected, but only by small percentages. The only raw material that shows any significant change is lucerne, with a 20 percent decrease in consumption. The greatest effect is the replacement of imported protein raw materials by DDGS (dried distillers grains with solubles). In terms of the animal feed costs, there was only a 2 per cent decrease with the introduction of ethanol production. Under a scenario of high blending ratios and oil prices, the yellow maize price increases by R169/ton and the soya oilcake price decreases by R347/ton

Endoscopic polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) for in-vivo imaging of lungs periphery in bronchial thermoplasty treated asthma patients

© COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. We performed in-vivo PS-OCT in three asthma patients who underwent bronchial thermoplasty (BT). PS-OCT qualified as minimally invasive technique to visualize airway smooth muscle (ASM) and showed its reduction after BT

Single versus multicomponent intervention in frail elderly: simplicity or complexity as precondition for success?

Research on geriatric syndromes has helped to clarify risk factors and established effective intervention strategies, yet the results based on this evidence have mostly failed to translate into clinical practice. The translation of geriatric syndrome research into practice faces unique challenges, which may heighten the barriers to evidence-based implementation. The British Medical Research Council framework (MRC) for development and evaluation of complex interventions, turns out to be very valuable in developing and evaluating interventions in the complex clinical reality of geriatrics. This paper illustrates the different phases of this framework on the basis of examples from geriatric research projects in The Netherlands. The discussed barriers in complex interventions can be mapped using the different phases in the MRC-framework and thus become feasible challenges for good quality research