Assessing the Intensity of Market Competition in the US Papaya Import Market

Most of the empirical work addressing imperfect competition in international agricultural trade has focused on grains and meats. The present study is an attempt to help fill the gap by assessing market competitiveness in the US fresh papaya market, which can be characterized as oligopolistic whereby Mexico, Belize, and Brazil are the main suppliers. In order to assess the intensity of competition among fresh papaya exporters in the US market, an inverse residual demand model is specified and estimated. The findings suggest that Mexico, Belize, and Brazil are completely constrained in exercising market power in the US fresh papaya market.