Demand functions for beef imports in Greece
1980
Kalaitzis, K.V. (Graduate industrial school of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki (Greece))
Historical analysis of beef production and imports in Greece showed that a complex pattern of both domestic and foreign variables affected the amount of beef imported into Greece. The so-called "price-effect" of imports is therefore complex. Beef imports in Greece are mainly coming from Australia, Argentina and New Zealand and are largely of frozen beef whose quality is directly related and comparable to beef meat produced from cows in Greece of two years and over in age. The historical relationships showed that imports coming into Greece and domestic meat prices were jointly determined in the market place at least in a short-rum time span. Import supply and demand functions are estimated simultaneously. The results obtained are compared with the estimates of the price effect of imports derived under the assumptions that imports were predetermined and imports are perfect substitutes for domestically-produced beef meat. Some major conclusions of the paper are: a) Imports of beef were rather sensitive to domestic meat prices, b) Imports were more closely related to both changes in production in the exporting countries and changes in the production in the importing country, that is Greece, c) beef meat as it is defined in Greece seems to be a rather weak substitute for veal produced in Greece, and that is why imports had probably only a slight impact on prices of veal, d) increasing consumer incomes tend to temper the impact of imports on prices of veal, e) the other meats, i.e., poultry meat, pork, lamb and mutton taken together appear to be strong substitutes for beef and the paper tentatively concludes that beef imports affect prices of the meats more than they affect prices of veal.
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