Decompose food price disparities in China: Evidence from wholesale markets

IF 6.8 1区经济学 Q1 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY

Food Policy Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102817

Qingxiao Li , Jinyang Yang , Xiaoli Yang , Endong Mu

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Abstract

This paper examines regional variations in food prices in China and the underlying factors contributing to these disparities. Leveraging administrative data from agricultural wholesale markets, we construct spatial price indices and reveal consistent monthly trends in disparities. Using our proposed decomposition method, we identify livestock products, particularly beef and pork, as the main components driving regional food price differences. We examine the role of local supply–demand factors in explaining spatial food price variations and find that local gasoline prices are a significant contributor to food price disparity. A one percent increase in local gasoline prices leads to a 0.6 percent rise in local food prices and exacerbates spatial food price disparities by 0.5–1.0 percent. These results highlight the importance of considering transportation costs and regional supply–demand dynamics in understanding food price variations across regions. Our findings have implications for policy aiming to address regional food price disparities and ensure food affordability.

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分解中国食品价格差异：来自批发市场的证据

本文考察了中国食品价格的区域差异以及造成这些差异的潜在因素。利用农业批发市场的行政数据，我们构建了空间价格指数，并揭示了差异的一致月度趋势。使用我们提出的分解方法，我们确定畜产品，特别是牛肉和猪肉，是导致区域食品价格差异的主要因素。研究发现，地方汽油价格是造成粮食价格差异的重要因素。当地汽油价格上涨1%，导致当地食品价格上涨0.6%，并使食品价格的空间差异加剧0.5%至1.0%。这些结果强调了考虑运输成本和区域供需动态对于理解区域间粮食价格变化的重要性。我们的研究结果对旨在解决区域粮食价格差异和确保粮食负担能力的政策具有启示意义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Food Policy 管理科学-农业经济与政策

CiteScore

11.40

自引率

4.60%

发文量

128

审稿时长

62 days

期刊介绍： Food Policy is a multidisciplinary journal publishing original research and novel evidence on issues in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies for the food sector in developing, transition, and advanced economies. Our main focus is on the economic and social aspect of food policy, and we prioritize empirical studies informing international food policy debates. Provided that articles make a clear and explicit contribution to food policy debates of international interest, we consider papers from any of the social sciences. Papers from other disciplines (e.g., law) will be considered only if they provide a key policy contribution, and are written in a style which is accessible to a social science readership.