我が国における大豆粕フードシステムの構造遷移

抄録

In Japan, after the further promotion of trade liberalization, there is the possibility to increase the import of intermediate-goods such as vegetable oil and flour milling. The question we ask here is how will the change of grain market condition, e.g. trade liberalization as mentioned above, affect the structure of future grain food system in Japan. To answer this question, we focus on the soybean meal, of which import has increased, and examine how the trends of recent international grain market change the vertical relationship and firm's behavior of soybean meal food system. In this paper, we attempt 1）to grasp the overall structure of soybean meal food system by using the analytical framework proposed by Niiyama［7］; and 2）to examine the structural transition of soybean meal food system. By doing these, this paper aimed to suggest the implication for future grain procurement regime in Japan.
The results showed that Japanese soybean meal food system mainly consists of general trading companies, vegetable oil manufactures and animal feed manufactures. In the system, however, the power of vegetable oil manufactures is shrinking because of the current increase of soybean meal import. With the concern of the threat of intermediate-goods import increase, each economic agent seeks the alternative to domestic production of intermediate-goods, such as the overseas expansion of general trading companies and vegetable oil manufacturers.