Price premiums for geographical indication under the coexistence of self-claims and certification

Abstract

As the popularity of geographical indication (GI) grows in developing countries, the coexistence of GI self-claims and certification has become widespread. This study focusses on the Chinese rice market and explores the market performance of GI self-claims and certification. The findings indicate that while GI self-claims can generate price premiums, these are lower than those generated by GI certification. In the mid-to-high-end rice market, GI self-claims barely succeed to generate any price premium, whereas GI certification maintains its competitiveness. Notably, there is heterogeneity in the price premiums of different types of GI self-claims and certification. On the one hand, only indirect self-claims, which utilise origin information denoted by a GI label, can generate a price premium. On the other hand, GI certification promoted in earlier years or with more stringent certification standards generates higher price premiums. There is no clear evidence suggesting that a higher number of GI certificates corresponds to higher price premiums.