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Bread consumption habits in the gluten free diet
113-119Views:403Gluten is a protein found in many grain products. Celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disorder characterized by sensitivity to gluten. When a person with celiac disease consumes gluten, his/her immune system perceives the gluten to be a harmful substance and reacts negatively. The only treatment for individuals with celiac disease is lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet. It is one of the most frequent and well defined of all lifelong diseases. In Hungary, 1-2 % of the population is said to be affected, but only every 10th has been diagnosed. Bread is a basic and frequently consumed food made principally from wheat. Gluten is the main structure-forming protein in flour, and is responsible for the elastic characteristics of dough, and contributes to the crumb structure and appearance of many baked products. Gluten removal results in major problems for bakers. Currently many gluten-free products available on the market are of low quality, exhibiting poor mouth feel and flavour. People wishing to eat bread in the gluten-free diet basically have two options: buying or baking the bread for themselves. There are several gluten-free bread brands are available on the Hungarian market. The price, ingredients, texture, colour, softness of the available breads are different. There is a rather good choice in gluten-free flour mixtures on the Hungarian market, as well. The composition of these mixtures are also different. The aim of our empirical research was to investigate the gluten-free bread consumption habits of people following gluten-free diet. The research was carried out using Google forms in January 2017. Size of the sample is 196. The online form was shared in four closed gluten free Facebook groups in Hungary since they are really active in sharing information concerning gluten-free lifestyle and diet. Summarizing, in this study we wish to examine how evolve the world pork meat production, trade and consumption, and to demonstrate the main consuming countries, highlighting the role of China, as it is the most populated country in the world with its 1.4 billion inhabitants.
JEL Code: M31
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Market trends and consumer demand for fresh berries
11-14Views:473We present an analysis of markets for fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in the United States during 2008–2011. We use weekly panel data covering supermarket purchases in 52 cities. The primary goal is to estimate demand elasticities for fresh berries and thereby provide a better understanding of consumer behaviour in response to price changes and the nature of competition among these crops. We estimate fixed and random effects models for double log demand equations and a complete demand system, the Almost Ideal Demand System. The latter specification can be used to estimate demand relationships that conform to utility maximising behaviour. The elasticity estimates are very robust across the different specifications and estimation methods. This increases confidence in our findings and provides some assurance that choice of functional form or estimation method is not driving our results. We find that retail demands for all berry crops are in the elastic range and that the different berries are substitutes for one another. The demand for strawberries was the least elastic with an own price elasticity of –1.26 and blackberries were the most elastic with a demand elasticity of –1.88. Blackberry demand was also the most responsive to the prices of competing berry crops. The study provides clearer insight into markets for berries in the United States. In addition, it fills a gap in the present lack of up-to-date consumer demand elasticities for these crops and will be useful for growers, decision makers and consumers.
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World importance and present tendencies of dairy sector
119-123Views:217The general objective of this paper is to present the world importance of dairy sector and to illustrate present tendency of milk production, consumption, trade and prices mainly based on FAO data base. World milk production was 711 million tonnes in 2010 and it is expected to increase in the future. The most significant milk producers are the EU(27), the United States and from the Asian countries, India and China. Developed countries give one-third of world milk production, while more than two-third of world dairy herd can be found in developing countries. Milk production growth is a future tendency mainly in China, India, Pakistan, Argentina and Brazil. The average level of consumption of milk and milk products is 103,6 kg/capita/year and it will increase in developing and developed countries as well. The ratio of international trade of milk and milk products to production is 6 percent and itmay expand in the future. New Zealand, the EU(27), theUnited States andAustralia are themajor exporters. There is a strong demand formilk andmilk products among others from the Asian countries, the Russian Federation,Algeria,Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United States.Analysis of world market price of the most important dairy products it represents a strong recovery from last year, but it still remains 20 percent below its peak value in early 2008. However prices have doubled compared with prices of period of 2002–2004.
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The effects of global real economic crisis on the markets for fossil and renewable fuels
51-56Views:145The 2008/2009 world economic crisis had significant impact on the oil and fuel markets. The crisis developed from the meltdown of American and European mortgage and financial markets and rapidly involved the global real economy. As each country reacted differently to the crisis, the changes in the fuel market also showed significant geographic variation. In our present research, the actions of the US, German and Hungarian fuel markets were analysed for the answer to the reasons for the differences in crisis reactions. We examined the tendency of fuel consumption, the changes of price elasticity for gasoline and diesel and the possible effects of the crisis on the regulatory system.
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Corporate branding effects on consumer purchase preferences in Serbian telecom market
91-104Views:172This research is carried out to know the role of corporate branding in mobile phone network along with different influencing factors involved in the purchase of mobile telephone connections. This paper discusses corporate branding from consumer’s point of view that how much they value it and what type of role it has.This is a quantitative study. A questionnaire is used in order to investigate corporate branding and other influencing factors involved in purchase decision of the customers. Population selected for this study are Belgrade University students which is the most of Serbian youth segment and is a valuable source that gives precise information with high probability about market preferences according to the Research of Serbian republic statistical office. Primary data are obtained by collecting data from questionnaire and interview, while the secondary data are collected from various reliable sources. Primary data provide reliable content in accordance with a secondary data obtained by Serbian republic statistical office and with a Research of competitor and consumer preferences insight provided by Telenor Company. The analysis of the data has been performed in accordance with the chosen theories and summarized in a table, which serves as a tool for deriving reliable and relevant conclusions. The sample size was determined by conducting a primary study and defining the variance of primary sample and the intended number of samples was selected carefully and randomly from the population. Then the validity and reliability of the questionnaire was determined. The used questionnaire in this research consisted of 7 common, and 30 specialized questions which were supporting the hypotheses of the research. Data was analyzed using the frequency percent techniques, and in the chapter related to the deductive statistics, one-sample t test was used to analyze and approve/disapprove the questions supporting the research hypotheses. The analysis of this study reveals different set of results while making comparison between literature and empirical. It investigates the relative importance of the corporate branding to the customers in mobile phone telecommunication industry while making purchase decision. The findings of this study provided useful information which is helpful not only for the students but also for the brand managers of mobile telecom operators that how they can improve their company’s strategic position for longer period of time through corporate branding to trigger more customers and for a good brand.
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Corporate branding effects on consumer purchase preferences in Serbian telecom market
23-36Views:133This research is carried out to know the role of corporate branding in mobile phone network along with different influencing factors involved in the purchase of mobile telephone connections. This paper discusses corporate branding from consumer’s point of view that how much they value it and what type of role it has.This is a quantitative study. A questionnaire is used in order to investigate corporate branding and other influencing factors involved in purchase decision of the customers. Population selected for this study are Belgrade University students which is the most of Serbian youth segment and is a valuable source that gives precise information with high probability about market preferences according to the Research of Serbian republic statistical office. Primary data are obtained by collecting data from questionnaire and interview, while the secondary data are collected from various reliable sources. Primary data provide reliable content in accordance with a secondary data obtained by Serbian republic statistical office and with a Research of competitor and consumer preferences insight provided by Telenor Company. The analysis of the data has been performed in accordance with the chosen theories and summarized in a table, which serves as a tool for deriving reliable and relevant conclusions. The sample size was determined by conducting a primary study and defining the variance of primary sample and the intended number of samples was selected carefully and randomly from the population. Then the validity and reliability of the questionnaire was determined. The used questionnaire in this research consisted of 7 common, and 30 specialized questions which were supporting the hypotheses of the research. Data was analyzed using the frequency percent techniques, and in the chapter related to the deductive statistics, one-sample t test was used to analyze and approve/disapprove the questions supporting the research hypotheses. The analysis of this study reveals different set of results while making comparison between literature and empirical. It investigates the relative importance of the corporate branding to the customers in mobile phone telecommunication industry while making purchase decision. The findings of this study provided useful information which is helpful not only for the students but also for the brand managers of mobile telecom operators that how they can improve their company’s strategic position for longer period of time through corporate branding to trigger more customers and for a good brand.
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Impacts of the global financial and economic crisis on the agro-food industry and rural livelihoods in Serbia
113-118Views:145Sixty-five per cent of the Serbian land area is agricultural and 55% of the population is rural.Agriculture share of GDP is more than 10% and about 47% of the rural labour force deals with agriculture. The aim of this work is to analyse the impacts of the global financial and economic crisis on the Serbian agro-food sector and rural communities. Measures introduced, mainly by public institutions, for relieving the consequences of the crisis are presented and discussed. Easily accessible yet high quality data from the central Office of Statistics in Serbia and specialized literature have been used. Impacts have been assessed by analyzing and discussing the trends of many socio-economic indicators. The crisis has had general impacts on the Serbian economy (low GDP growth, unemployment increase, price volatility, purchasing power decrease, etc.). Due to the crisis growth in agricultural production has been very low (0.1% in 2009). Agro-food exports decreased dramatically in 2008. About 9000 agricultural jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009. Reduced exports and lower domestic demand impacted negatively on agricultural commodity prices and agricultural household incomes.Access to credit became more difficult especially for small producers. However, agriculture is still a very important safety net. Agricultural employment share has increased both for men and women. The importance of agriculture is even higher if we consider the “grey agricultural economy”. To mitigate the crisis effects, the Government provided subsidies to rural people and will adopt the National Strategic Plan and Programme for Rural Development. Nevertheless, public institutions - in partnership with private, civil society and international organisations - should improve rural producers’ access to market information and credits and foster investments in rural areas including non-agricultural ones and those aiming at improving physical capital.
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Dairy farms efficiency analysis before the quota system abolishment
147-157Views:210The abolishment of the dairy quota system in the EU is expected to increase competition across dairy farms in Europe. Assuming a common price for milk in the EU, only the most efficient farms will survive in the new environment. The main objective of the research is to compare dairy farms in Germany, The Netherlands and Hungary about their technical efficiency. In the first part of the research, the efficiency is measured by partial efficiency indexes using one dimensional efficiency measuring. In the second part, the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) have to be used to measure efficiency in a multidimensional space, using six inputs and two outputs. It appears from the results that the highest efficiency farms are in the Netherlands, and then Germany and Hungary follow thus, we get that the most efficient farms are in the Netherlands with 84% efficient. The German farms are 76% efficient. The Hungarian farms are 68% efficient. With respect the abolishment of the dairy quota system, our results suggest that the Dutch farms are the most efficient, thus probably they will increase their production after the quota system. But because the size of the country we cannot expect dramatic changes in the European Dairy market. The Germans farms efficiency is lower, but their efficiency is also lower, so we won’t expect high increase about the dairy supply. The Hungarian dairy sector is not so efficient like the Dutch, and the size of the sector has also small among the European countries, thus if they want to survive the quota system demolishing, they have to increase their technical efficiency.
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Trends in agriculture and food production
99-110Views:146Agricultural reform resulted a shift from collective farming to small-scale production in China. This reform also has resulted a strong increase in gross agricultural output, which coincides with a slower increase in labour productivity. At the beginning of the reforms, agriculture accounted for 70 percent of total employment in China and still employs more than 50%. As a result of these reforms, China has undergone impressive economic growth also in the agriculture; the country has become one of the world’s top exporters and is attracting record amounts of foreign investment. The government has also stepped up investments in rural areas to meet the market demand for agricultural products. Results are very competitive compared to Central and Eastern European countries, where agriculture accounted for only 15 percent of total employment, but agricultural reform resulted a strong decline in gross agricultural output, which coincides with a similarly strong decline in employment. When approaching the issue of sustainable agriculture, we have to take into consideration, which China and India feed the largest populations in the world and both countries have had its own agricultural successes in the past 50 years. China has used land far more efficiently than many developed countries. With nine percent of the world’s arable land, China is responsible for the greatest share of agricultural production worldwide. Volume of produced pork, eggs, wheat, cotton, tobacco, and rice has increased and China exports an increasing amount of product each year. China has opened his borders, but do not expose food consumers to price shocks and producers to risks and disincentives. In this paper, the land-tenure system and the trends of agricultural developments are analysed in China and selected countries of EU.
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The role of corporate branding in Serbian mobile phone operator market
Views:135This research is carried out to know the role of corporate branding in mobile phone network along with different influencing factors involved in the purchase of mobile telephone connections. This thesis discusses corporate branding from consumer’s point of view that how much they value it and what type of role it has.
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More insurance subsidies for European farmers – is it needed?
33-38Views:150In addition to traditional sources of uncertainties, such as market price volatility and animal and plant health-related risks, the impacts of climate change have recently become a major concern in the agricultural sector throughout the world. Insurance has been commonly proposed as a key instrument in farm risk management, and agricultural insurance schemes have become more widespread both in developed and developing countries. We conducted a case study in the UK to investigate farmers’ risk perception and willingness to pay for crop insurance by using contingent valuation method (CVM). Similarly to the experience from developing countries, we found that farmers are less willing to pay for insurance, however they do take actions to reduce their risks. While these results suggest that the provision of premium subsidies to European farmers can be justified; in order to avoid counter-productive policy outcomes, one may consider the introduction of a risk-based approach in agricultural risk management.
JEL classification: Q14
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Consumption habits of “Free range chicken” in Hungary
69-73Views:208Poultry is highly ranked in theWorld meat production and consumption (it accounted for 32% in 2007), and, in the past 20 years it was growing with an annual rate of 3–6%, higher than in case of any other meat-types. This tendency is also valid for Hungary: poultry has the largest share (29.8 kg/person/year, 47%) in the domestic meat consumption since 2000, which is among the EU top (KSH, 2007). As the result of the animal health and nutrition scandals, the EU animal welfare and quality requirements and the advancements in health consciousness the Master-Good group launched the production, processing and trade of free-range poultry under the brand “Free-range chicken”. The new products had good consumer responses, because at present 1.5% of the processed chicken in Hungary (25 tons/week) is under this brand. As it regards the future of this product, we can expect the decrease of the current 1.5 times higher production price over broiler chicken, due to the increasing energy, labour and other cost items, thus the increase of the domestic consumption by 25–30% per annum can be foreseen. Besides the growth in domestic demand, increasing foreign consumer demand can also be expected because of the space requirement of the production. Summarising the above mentioned: „Free range chicken” can be one of the most successful products of the Hungarian poultry industry. In order to realise the prognosis mentioned above, it is inevitable to learn the consumer attitudes towards the brand. A primary market research programme supported by the Master Good group has been launched to study the main features of the domestic chicken meat consumption – including the „Free-range chicken” as highlighted brand. The primary aim of the research was the complete assessment and evaluation of the Hungarian chicken consumption habits and the identification of the possible take-off points. The research undertaken resulted basic information concerning the internal structure of the Hungarian poultry consumption (including that of the „Free-range chicken”), the potential consumer groups and their requirements, provided information on the consumers’knowledge of the products and identified the elements of the consumers’ judgements. This will serve as basis for a marketing communication programme to increase the domestic „Free-range chicken” consumption.
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Dutch, Hungarian and German dairy farms technical efficiency comparison
121-128Views:219The abolishment of the dairy quota system in the EU is expected to increase competition across dairy farms in Europe. Assuming a common price for milk in the EU, only the most efficient farms will survive in the new environment. The main objective of the paper is to compare dairy farms in Germany, The Netherlands and Hungary about their technical efficiency. In the first part of the research, the efficiency is measured by partial efficiency indexes using one dimensional efficiency measuring. In the second part, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) have to be used to measure efficiency in a multidimensional space, using six inputs and two outputs. It appears from the results that the highest efficiency farms are in the Netherlands, and then Germany and Hungary follow. If we want to eliminate the low sample size effect, we can assume a common frontier, which decreases the efficiency scores a bit, and makes the Hungarian results more reliable. With respect the abolishment of the dairy quota system, our results suggest that the Dutch farms are the most efficient, thus probably they will increase their production after the quota system. But because the size of the country we cannot expect dramatic changes in the European Dairy market. The Germans farms efficiency is lower, but their efficiency is also lower, so we won’t expect high increase about the dairy supply. The Hungarian dairy sector is not so efficient like the Dutch, and the size of the sector has also small among the European countries, thus if they want to survive the quota system demolishing, they have to increase their technical efficiency.
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Marketing characteristics of Tokaj wine specialities based on factor and cluster analyses
93-101Views:247The marketing kind of analysis in the domestic and international markets of Tokaj’s wine speciality has not happend yet. The present research scientific method supportedly defines the consumers of Tokaj’s wine speciality and it determinates the overlay receipt. The basis of the questionnaire research at the wine consumers cirlce is a representative sample of 1179 people. It confirms the truthfulness with factos and cluster dissection. On the hungarian market 5 sections can be devided, which has been determined by the earning category, the wine savvy and the referene price interval. Tokaj Wine Specialities named “late vintage” are also available. This name can be confusing for the consumer, some do not understand in what they differ from other Tokaj Wine Specialities, as actually all Tokaj Wine Specialities are late vintage wines; particularly, wine is harvested later than usual, occasionally in October or November. The findings obtained during the research can beutilised in practice, too. In accordance with the results and conclusions, we have several practical suggestions. Our methodological suggestion is that the result of the cluster analysis based upon a large number of representative sample should be cross-checked with focus group tests; what is more, upon justification and verification, a detailed analysis of the given segments can also be performed better with this method. It would be worth studying the exact reasons for the popularity of wines with the name ”late vintage”. Such types of Tokaj Wine Specialities should be given higher priority in marketing terms. My suggestion is that the type of wine accepted and liked by consumers should be kept count of as TokajWine Specialities officially, too. The future marketing strategy has to be developed by knowing the sections and by it’s further research which has to integrate to the strategy of Tokaj’s wine region.
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Economics of fairness within the food supply chain in context of the EU
107-116Views:240The paper broaches the issue of unfair trading practices (UTPs) at the expense of, economically spoken, weaker actors among the food supply chain in context of the EU. For illustrating the concept of UTPs and delivering a theoretical basis for scrutinizing the term of fairness in respective trading practices the paper suggests the three variables 1) bargaining power, 2) market power/anti competitive practices and 3) unequal gain distribution. Subsequently the article presents selected national food-specific legislative based reactions towards UTPs evolved in context of the three variables. Ultimately the paper presents a qualitatively generated hypothesis which presumes that legislative food-specific measurements focussing on protecting suppliers lead to a beneficial monetary share for farmers, by means of influencing the producer price to a monetarily advantageous extent. The hypothesis was generated unprejudiced in the run-up to the paper. The research design which led to the hypothesis mentioned will be presented.
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