[in Japanese]

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This paper clarifies the characteristics of the shell egg market, particularly for barn eggs from the point of sales (POS) data on the basis of an investigation of 90 retail shops and examines the problems related to barn laying systems from farm on-site interviews. The POS data analysis uncovered the following points. The volume of AW eggs is about one percent of all shell egg POS sales. The investigation of retail shops showed that the number of AW egg items in the luxury supermarket or natural-foods supermarket is around 3-6 times more than that for ordinary food supermarkets. Thus, we concluded that barn egg prices should be standardized. From farm on-site interviews, we found that most poultry farm sell for organized consumers through co-op delivery system and home delivery business and that there are few poultry farmers who sell mainly on wholesale.

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The purpose of this research is explication of the characteristics of market pricing of rice WCS (whole crop silage) which is generally negotiated between the farmers. The analysis target is rice WCS made in Misato town, Saitama prefecture and the investigation of rice paddy farmhouses and stock raising farmers. Subsidy fluctuations, product quality, depreciation of harvesting machinery and market development costs were found to influence relations between the farmers in Misato town. The stock raising farmers who buy rice WCS behave subject to the purchase of cheap feed. On the other hand, they expect continuation of rice WCS production farmers by establishing a lower limit of the considered request price. Rice farmers are not just stock-raising farmers in Misato town; a stock rasing request is to share an effort of a production cost reduction of rice paddy farmers in this area. They also participate in consideration of profits through mechanical renewal methods. The state of the price formation as above indicates the flank of the rice WCS production for the whole region. Its characteristic is cooperative, which encourages continuation of a cooperation system. The rice WCS price is one function of the adjustment of a continuous area farming system, indicative of more than just the value of the product. Continual financial burdens contribute to reduce effort and risk which affect negotiations between farmers.

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This paper analyzes the weekly fluctuation in the price of strawberries. Fruits and vegetables have large fluctuation width in the price, so these price fluctuations have long been topics of special interest in the field of agricultural economics. Previous research suggests that the price of strawberries changes from the effects of the previous day's price, weather, season, and days of the week. Nevertheless, research has not revealed about the weekly fluctuation in the price of strawberries. To analyze the weekly fluctuation in the price is important for selling strawberries at advantageous price. Data from the survey results about wholesale market prices by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are used to analyze the fluctuation in the price. The study considers that there is a possibility to increase the sales when strawberries are sold at weekly advantageous price. We simulated the changes of the sales of strawberries through analyzing cases of packing centers of agricultural cooperatives in Fukuoka prefecture. Our results indicate that the weekly fluctuation tendency of the strawberries' price differs depending on season, marketplaces, and production areas. Therefore, there is a possibility that each agricultural cooperative gets more earnings when they sell their strawberries at certain markets at certain days in the week.

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This paper clarifies the situation and problem of wholesale function in Japanese Brown Area, focusing on “Tosa Akaushi” of Kochi Prefecture.
In Kochi Prefecture, the carcass price and grading of Japanese Brown rises after 2009. In these circumstances, distributors expand the amount of Japanese Brown, push forward the sales which focused on the high-end restaurants outside the prefecture.

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Due to the recent increase in demand for processed food, researchers are now paying attention to the cut-fruit market. This paper focuses on the domestic apple as cut-fruit and examines the following two issues. First, we verify the actual conditions of domestic apple procurement by cut-fruit manufacturers. Second, we examine the problem of contract farming of apples from the view point of game theory. The results are as follows. First, cut-fruit manufacturers are procuring the requisite standard apples for cut-fruit manufacturers from agricultural cooperatives that can provide specific apples in large quantities. Second, there are possibilities that contract farming has problems such as opportunistic behaviors due to the market price fluctuation and diversity of quality in an orchard. Third, we should take the procurement channel from agricultural cooperatives into account for coping with processed fruit demand.

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In Japan, the most imported banana is the Cavendish banana from the Philippines, followed by bananas from Ecuador and Guatemala. The large companies that run business on fresh fruit wholesale distribution such as Dole, Sumifru, Del Monte and Unifruitti (Chiquita) are major banana importers in Japan. However, banana which have been a niche product in the Japanese market are now increasingly imported. The major banana distributors are not large companies but rather Japanese consumer cooperatives (co-op). In this study, we chose Homthong banana, a Gros Michel cultivar, grown in Thailand, representing rarely seen banana in the Japanese market. We analyzed strategy by a consumer co-op's, assumed name as “P Co-op”, for Thai Homtong banana that has been subject to a stable supply chain as a niche banana in the Japanese market.

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This paper identifies the recent trends of processing and trading companies dealing in cultured yellow tail fin (Seriola quinqueradiata), focusing on their export business and management strategy. The paper has three specific objectives. Firstly, according to case studies having been conducted in Shikoku and Kyushu regions, the paper looks at how trading companies in production areas explored processing business and enlarged export is identified. Secondly, two selected cases in Kyushu region are analyzed. Lastly, the authors discuss the drastic change of the market structure in cultured yellow tail fin from the perspective of export business. The case studies may provide insight into how Japanese aquaculture should change its domestic-oriented nature to become more export-oriented. Mass production, reduction of costs, global standard-requirements such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and GAP (Good Aquaculture Practice) are substantial factors to accelerate export.

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