Consumer Willingness to Pay for Organic Products in Urban Turkey

Sedef Akgungor, Bulent Miran and Canan Abay

No 7872, 105th Seminar, March 8-10, 2007, Bologna, Italy from European Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: The objective of the paper is to present the preliminary results of the survey project whose aim is to explore the Turkish consumer's perceptions regarding food safety and the tradeoff they make between chemical residues and cosmetic quality in fresh fruit and vegetable marketing chain. Previous research in Turkey contends that Turkey organic food exports are growing and that there is a small but growing domestic market. A lacking component of the prevailing studies is that none of the studies have focused on the cosmetic quality component of organic products. Another aspect that is missing in the previous studies is that it is not possible to make inferences for the Turkish urban consumers due to designs in sampling and population definition. The aim of the project will be fulfilled by estimating a representative sample of Turkish urban consumer's willingness to pay for reduced chemical residues in food and the tradeoff they make between cosmetic quality and food safety. The data is obtained through consumer focus group studies and consumer surveys with a representative sample of Turkish urban population. Higher income and educated individuals show more interest and have more knowledge regarding organic products. The choice for organic products is due to consumer perception that organic products have higher nutritional value and carry low health risk. It is also found that consumers do not perceive that organic products have higher prices than conventional counterparts. Consumer willingness to pay for products with organic labels and certified products is up to 36%, thus representing a strong demand potential for organic products in Turkey's urban markets.

Keywords: Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11
Date: 2007
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:eaa105:7872

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7872

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