Potential factors in determining cross-border price spillovers in the pork sector: Evidence from net pork-importing countries

Although food self-sufficiency is regarded as a potent strategy to secure food supply in the policy circle, the efficacy of policy measures, especially in terms of their quantitative effects, is still not fully understood. We analysed the relationships between international and local prices of pork between January 2001 and December 2018 for 10 net pork-importing countries. The primary outcome obtained in our research is that high self-sufficiency and a small trade volume of pig meat commodities could impair price volatility transmission from the global market. This result does not suggest that a protectionist regime should be established to stabilise the national food supply. It presents useful information to balance the benefit from highly efficient resource allocation and the market steadiness gained from higher self-sufficiency in food, considering the maximisation of the expected utility of economic agents.

Jin Guo, Tetsuji Tanaka