Agricultural Economics, 2015 (vol. 61), issue 4

Commodity price risk management using option strategiesOriginal Paper

Martina RUSNÁKOVÁ

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2015, 61(4):149-157 | DOI: 10.17221/101/2014-AGRICECON  

In the world of increasing price volatility, it is more important than ever to understand how to manage the price risk. The paper deals with the price risk management issues associated with commodities. Using options is performed by an analysis of hedging strategies in the commodity market. The authors focus on the application of the vanilla option strategies to risk management in order to point out the advantages and disadvantages of each hedging strategy. Based on the general expressions of selling price intervals, there are modelled various hedged scenarios of wheat. The authors look at the wheat option contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Trade....

Taxation of exports - theory and practiceOriginal Paper

Pavel ŽAMBERSKÝ, Radek ČAJKA

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2015, 61(4):158-165 | DOI: 10.17221/219/2014-AGRICECON  

Taxation of export has been used by many countries. As of June 2014, there are 53 member countries of the WTO using export tariffs or taxes. Theoretically, a large country which is able to influence the world price of the given commodity could be better off by the export tax levied on it. Practically, there are many problems with implementing this tool of trade policy. Empirical case studies have shown that usually the objectives of this policy were not accomplished. The key problem connected with the export taxation of primary agricultural products is that it can even harm the poor because of the significant share of these products in their consumption....

International market structure and competitiveness at the malted beer: from 2003 to 2012Original Paper

K.M. Thomé, A.B.P. Soares

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2015, 61(4):166-178 | DOI: 10.17221/189/2014-AGRICECON  

Barley malt beer is the world's most consumed alcoholic drink and its industry represents a multibillion dollar international trade. The paper's main goal is to contribute with the analysis of this industry in terms of its international competitiveness and market structure. It utilizes the data regarding exports and imports for malted beer available in the International Trade Centre's Trade Map database and it refers to the period of ten years (2003-2012). The method used to expose the industry's competitiveness and market structure consisted in the calculation of (i) Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA); (ii) Relative Position of Market (RPM); (iii)...

Identification of key factors for enhancing competitiveness: an exploratory study of the selected agri-biotech firms of Punjab in IndiaOriginal Paper

Sandeep SINGH, Ravi KIRAN, Dinesh GOYAL

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2015, 61(4):179-188 | DOI: 10.17221/26/2014-AGRICECON  

The present study covers empirical research on the selected Agri-Biotech firms of Punjab. The sample has been chosen from the state of Punjab covering the sectors Food Processing Industry, Fertilizer and Pesticides Industry. On the basis of factor analysis, the study has also identified key factors influencing competitiveness. These are Threat of new competition; Threat of substitute products or services; Bargaining power of suppliers; Intensity of competitive rivalry; Bargaining power of customers; Rivalry among existing firms. The study also tries to evaluate the findings on the basis of the author-factor matrix. The aim is to identify the key factors...

Identifying sources of social capital among the farmers of the rural Sindh province of PakistanOriginal Paper

Muhammad Javed SHEIKH, Ma'rof REDZUAN, Asnarulkhadi Abu SAMAH, Nobaya AHMAD

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2015, 61(4):189-195 | DOI: 10.17221/144/2014-AGRICECON  

Social capital is the spirit of social relations. While it contains social resources, and is interrelated with other forms of capitals, there are some delusions among the scholars over its generation. The study was conducted to identify the factors possibly involved in the fluctuation of social capital, in which the structural social capital, bonding social capital and linking social capital of the water-user associations were measured, and it was linked to various socioeconomic, demographic and farm characteristics of farmers. The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the social capital was significantly influenced by the canal water availability,...