Milk Price Advance under the Cooperative Direct Marketing : A Study on Ohuchiyama Dairy-cooperative in Mie Prefecture

Abstract

In spite of the period of a hang low state of Japan's milk price, we have found that Mie prefecture has broken through this barrier with an upward tendency of the price. The economic good result was the effect of direct marketing between cooperatives in Osaka and the Ohuchiyama Dairy-cooperative in Mie prefecture. The results of this analysis are as follows. 1) A characteristic of Mie Prefecture's production of process milk is low quantity with kown cheap milk prices. 2) Adding to this, we can find the advancement of the Ohuchiyama Dairy-cooperative linked to the development of the cooperative direct marketing. Now the Ohuchiyama Dairy-cooperative has guided most dairy-cooperatives and milk plants in Mie prefecture, so they have the most force in influencing milk prices in Mie prefecture. 3) There is no milk plant within the big three capitals of the dairy industry in Mie prefecture. Mie prefecture's milk price is determined by the negotiation of the milk price in Mie prefecture. The big capital's milk price of dairy industries is not determined in Mie prefecture but in Tokyo. 4) Here is the demonstration of the normal working of the Mie Dairy-cooperative Association. The Mie Dairy-cooperative Association has the power to guarantee a universal milk price for Mie prefecture's dairy farmers. We conclude, in whole, that the mechanism of the upward movement of Mie prefecture's milk price exists in spite of the hang low period of Japan's milk price.