Margarine Consumption and Prices

Stanley A. Gazelle and Paul D. Velde

No 327169, Miscellaneous Publications from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: Margarine is the major table spread consumed in the United States and use is still expanding. Technological breakthroughs have improved its quality. This, coupled with prices lower than butter, primarily explains its expanding use. Vegetable oils are major margarine ingredients, with soybean oil the largest. Abundant supplies and favorable prices account for the increasing use of soybean oil in margarine production. To analyze variability in margarine prices, we tested the hypothesis that retail margarine prices are affected by ingredient costs and retail butter prices. A statistical analysis was conducted regressing retail margarine prices against weighted wholesale fat and oil prices and retail butter prices. The equation explained 84 percent of the annual variation in margarine prices.

Keywords: Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Research Methods/Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17
Date: 1974-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersmp:327169

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.327169

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