Price assessment of selected high value vegetables in Cordillera

The study aimed to assess the price structure in marketing of selected high value vegetables in Cordillera. Specifically this determined the volume of production and the throughout inventory of these vegetables, examined the price trends and discovery process, the pricing efficiency, and policy implications. In the short-run, prices were very erratic especially during the period from May to November. This instability was caused by problems such as high incidence of rains, landslides, and low quality of vegetables. Weekly prices of snap bean were more stable than cabbage and carrot because its quality does not easily deteriorate. But cauliflower's weekly prices had the highest variation from December to May. Retailers earned more profit viz-a-viz marketing charges. Price variation of vegetables showed that cauliflower farm gate price and wholesale price had the highest variation among the other vegetables. Nevertheless, snap bean received the lowest price variation in its farmgate and wholesale prices because it does not easily deteriorate. This result revealed that retail prices were the stickiest across marketing levels. The most unstable was the wholesale price followed by the farmgate price. Wholesale price and price spreads are positively related. Nevertheless, in July, September and October wholesalers incurred negative price margins which could be attributed to the quality of the cabbage supplied to them. On the retail level, retailers imposed lower margins during the months of June, July and October. In November the retail price spread started to increase because the supply from the initial production for the period December to May was already coming in the market. All the vegetables' wholesale margins were unstable than their retail price during the first cropping period. However, wholesale margin instability was consistent with the first crop except snap bean and cauliflower. Regression results showed that price averaging exists in cauliflower retailing as indicated by the significant coefficients for cabbage and snap bean which could influence the cauliflower margin. The effect of cabbage and snap bean on the cauliflower margin may reflect complementary relationship among these vegetables. The study found out that ricing inefficiency occurs at the retail level with evidence of price averaging. Also, retail prices are more stickier than wholesale and farmgate prices suggesting price asymmetry across the marketing chain. Moreover, transportation and handling costs dominate the marketing costs in fresh vegetable marketing. Government should address measures to reduce marketing risks for fresh vegetables through cost-effective post-production technologies . Likewise, efforts must be given on improving communication system to allow more accurate and faster dissemination of market information in the marketing chain.