PRICE VOLATILITY AND ELASTICITY MEASUREMENTS OF SOME FRUITS IN THREE SUPPLY CENTERS OF BRAZIL DURING THE PERIOD FROM 2017 AND 2021

Abstract

Vegetables consumption has increased in recent years due to the predisposition of people to have a healthy diet, which includes the ingestion of fibers, vitamins and minerals present in Fruits and Vegetables.  In Brazil, the five vegetables with highest consumption are: lettuce, tomato, carrot, onion and potato. In this investigation we calculated the price volatility and the price elasticities measures (price elasticity of supply, price elasticity of demand or price inelasticity) of these five vegetables in three supply centers: CEAGESSP, CEASAMINAS, and CEASA/RJ, and from 2017 to 2021. The results indicate that all the evaluated products had similar price volatility behavior or pattern from 2019 to 2021 in the three supply centers. Moreover, the years with higher instabilities of prices were 2020 for potato and carrot, 2019 for lettuce and 2018 for onion. In addition, the result shows that price elasticity or inelasticity had independent behavior per supply center, however in this research we identified some periods of inelasticity where the price does not influence the quantity demanded or supplied of the evaluated product.

Keywords: Vegetables; Price volatility; Elasticity of supply; Elasticity of demand; EIGEDIN.