Danilo Rolim Dias de Aguiar

Padrão de consumo de alimentos no Brasil

Food purchasing in Brazil has undergone major changes in the last few decades caused by structural shifts such as urbanization, changes in demographic characteristics and increase in participation of women in the labor force. Therefore, it is necessary to identify thoroughly new consumption patterns of families, especially concerning determinants of food purchasing decision. The objective of this study was to understand the consumption pattern of Brazilian families for food products by means of a qualitative response variable model including eighteen food products using POF 2002/2003 data. The Probit model was chosen to estimate this decision. Estimation results showed that purchasing probabilities of staple foods were negative related to family monthly income, while meat, milk and other products showed a positive relation. Regional, educational and urbanization variables were also important. Households whose head is a woman have smaller purchasing probabilities in most commodities in the sample.

Food demand in Brazil: an application of Shonkwiler & Yen Two-Step estimation method

The objective of the analysis is to estimate a demand system including eighteen food products using data from a Brazilian Household Budget Survey carried out in 2002 and 2003 (POF 2002/2003). The functional form used was Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS). Estimation employs the Shonkwiler and Yen method to account for zero consumption. Results showed that purchase probabilities of staples foods were negatively related to family monthly income, while meat, milk and other products showed a positive relation. Regional, educational and urbanization variables were also important in the first stage estimation. While some of the goods had negative income coefficients, none were inferior and six of eighteen were luxuries based on second stage estimates.

Concentração industrial, fusões e turnover no setor supermercadista brasileiro

This paper reports on an analysis of the structure of the supermarket sector in Brazil from 1991 to 2002. This analysis revealed a growth in market concentration driven by the entry of foreign retail companies and by a considerable increase in mergers and acquisitions in the late 1990s. The turnover was high, but did not, in general, involve the largest groups. Although there have been contradictory effects, the structural changes in Brazils retail sector may lead to the abuse of market power on the part of the largest retailers, a possibility that should concern the antitrust authorities.

Poder de mercado no varejo alimentar: uma análise usando os preços do estado de São Paulo

The Brazilian retail sector has gone through expressive structural transformations since the 90s decade. Despite the high level of concentration, the retail sector has presented evidences of strong rivalry among the top firms. This research aimed to analize the impact of market concentration on the use of market power for specific agricultural products, through time series analysis of agricultural prices referring to the Sao Paulo state. The empirical results indicated that the use of market power differs from product to product, what suggests that retailers have been adopting specific strategies according to the characteristics of products demand. The analysis of price asymmetry showed that retailers tend to delay the transmission of price decreases and transmit price increases more rapidly. Moreover, results indicate that the increase in rivalry in the current decade has made it more difficult for retailers to use their market power manipulating prices. In general, retailers were able to transmit price increases more intensely before the year 2000, when the turnover level was lower and restricted to the small and middle size firms.

Estratégias de hedge com os contratos futuros de soja da Chicago Board of Trade

This paper analyzes the return and risks of hedging strategies of the major ten soybean producing regions in Brazil concerning Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) future contracts. It was verified that the bases presented a well defined pattern characterized by strengthening from May to November and weakening in the remaining months. Long hedging had larger returns and larger risks comparing with short hedging. The conclusion of this study is that the CBOT soybean contracts present different returns depending on the type of hedging, on the period of hedging, and on the contract used. Therefore, the information presented in this paper is very important to support the decision making process in the Brazilian soybean agricultural system.

Assimetria na Transmissão de Preços e Poder de Mercado: o caso do mercado varejista de etanol no estado de São Paulo

The presence of market power in fuel retailing has been a major concern in Brazil, motivating antitrust investigations as well as economic research. However, lack of appropriate data precludes the estimation of straight market power indicators, leaving the possibility of using price series to identify market power. The objective of this study is to identify the presence of market power at the retail of fuel ethanol in cities of different sizes. The method adopted consists in verifying if price increases and decreases are transmitted asymmetrically to consumers, assuming that more intense transmission of price increases is related to the presence of market power. Monthly wholesale and retail price series of ethanol for cities with different sizes located in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, were used. The results indicate the presence of market power, since retailers were able to transmit price increases more rapidly and more intensively than price decreases for most cities. Such results suggest that asymmetry in price transmission can be a useful analytical tool to investigate market power and that antitrust authorities must observe the retail concentration and the behavior in the fuel market in order to protect consumers.