Causality Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Consumer Price of Veal: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

It is interesting to identify the reasons and the direction of the correlation between the input/output prices and the macro/micro parameters in animal production processes. In the present study, the time series of the monthly data between the years 2014 and 2019 were analyzed to examine the factors that affected the consumer price of carcass meat in Turkey. An attempt was made to identify the relationship between the consumer price of carcass meat and the prices of cattle fattening feed, the exchange rate of the dollar, producer price index (PPI), and the agricultural PPI, which were anticipated to affect the consumer price of carcass meat as determined by the Granger causality analysis. According to econometric analysis results, when there is a change in carcass producer price, cattle fattening feed and PPI in the short term, the consumer price of carcass meat is affected by this. The producer price of carcass and PPI variables are determined to be the cause of each other’s Granger. At the same time, the PPI variable and the consumer price of carcass meat and dollar rate variables were found to be the cause of each other’s Granger. If Turkey is to prevent the excessive fluctuations in the consumer- and producer-prices of carcass meat caused by macro variables, an effective price control mechanism should be put into practice. It seems that this change would be possible only by developing and implementing policies to lower the input prices and production costs.