Price determination and discovery in a ‘de-regulated’ milk market: perspectives on the price of UK milk
Abstract The de-regulation of the UK milk market, in November 1994, saw the end of sixty years of monopoly control by the Milk Marketing Boards, yet milk prices are currently higher than at any time in the history of the MMB. This paper examines the factors which are likely to determine the price of UK milk in the longer term, both at the aggregate market level and for specific transactions. In the future, all milk users in the UK will have an incentive to increase their capacity utilization and add value to raw milk, to justify a higher milk price. The option of importing liquid milk from the continent will become increasingly attractive as cross-channel links improve and transfer costs fall. The price-fixing mechanism adopted by Milk Marque has resulted in a short-term increase in UK milk prices. In the long run, prices will fluctuate within a band, with intervention prices for butter and skimmed milk powder determining the floor and the cost of transfering milk from the continent determining the ceiling.
The breakdown of the Milk marketing schemes
Abstract For almost 60 years milk marketing in the UK has been controlled by statutory milk marketing boards, which have often been regarded as a classic example of the use of discriminatory monopoly pricing exercised for the benefit of producers. This paper describes the development and characteristics of the system, questions the effectiveness of the boards, and considers the challenges to their authority which have recently emerged. These stem partly from opposition by producers and processors and from the latent antagonism of the European Commission. It is now anticipated that the boards will lose their statutory powers and possibility be replaced by unitary voluntary cooperatives. This paper considers the prospects for co‐operative success concluding that there are substantial difficulties still to be overcome.
ANALYSIS OF SAUDI ARABIAN MARITIME TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY
This paper analyses the past, present and future of the maritime transportation industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian seaborne trade and the shipping capacity are analysed for the past 15 years. Relationships between the declining Saudi shipping capacity and other economic measures are identified. Analysis of the Saudi Arabian maritime transportation is performed with respect to the world carrier fleets and models are developed to determine the theoretical shipping capacity required for transportation of the national seaborne cargo. Forecasts of the future shipping capacity requirement for the Kingdom are also presented. This paper illustrates the general approach for analysing a country's maritime industry and thus could help other researchers in that respect.