How important are product attributes for U.S. lamb imports?

Abstract

The U.S. lamb industry has changed in the last decade, impacting the structure of imports, which have become necessary to meet domestic demand. Product differentiation plays an important role in determining lamb imports. This research examines the importance of source (country or origin) and product attributes such as boneless versus bone-in cuts and chilled versus frozen products in determining U.S. demand for imported lamb. Overall, boneless and bone-in products show evidence of separability, which is an indication that preferences are independent based on these characteristics. For other product attributes, preferences were not independent, implying their aggregation in trade analyses may be justified. For agribusiness importers and wholesalers, our results and a better understanding of the importance of product origin, quality and form are useful to inform pricing and product substitution strategies.