Agricultural Commodities and Crude Oil Prices: An Empirical Investigation of Their Relationship

Eleni Zafeiriou, Garyfallos Arabatzis, Paraskevi Karanikola, Stilianos Tampakis and Stavros Tsiantikoudis
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Eleni Zafeiriou: Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 671 00, Greece
Garyfallos Arabatzis: Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 671 00, Greece
Paraskevi Karanikola: Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 671 00, Greece
Stilianos Tampakis: Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 671 00, Greece
Stavros Tsiantikoudis: Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 671 00, Greece

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: Within the last few decades, the extended use of biodiesel and bioethanol has established interlinkages between energy markets and agricultural commodity markets. The present work examines the bivariate relationships of crude oil–corn and crude oil–soybean futures prices with the assistance of the ARDL cointegration approach. Our findings confirm that crude oil prices affect the prices of agricultural products used in the production of biodiesel, as well as of ethanol, validating the interaction of energy and agricultural commodity markets. The practical value of the present work is that the findings provide policy makers with insight into the interlinkages between agricultural and energy markets to promote biodiesel or bioethanol by affecting crude oil prices. The novelty of the present work stands on the use of futures prices that incorporate all available information and thus are more appropriate to identify supply and demand shocks and price spillovers than real prices. Finally, the period of study includes extremely low, as well as extremely high, crude oil prices and the results illustrate that biofuels cannot be substituted for crude oil and protect economies from energy volatility.

Keywords: soybean; corn; crude oil; energy markets; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1199-:d:141270

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