Analysis of U.S. Demand for Imported Melons using a Dynamic Almost Ideal Demand System

Melons constitute an important part of the U.S. fruit and vegetable industry even though they are produced only from May through December of each year. Import supplies from Latin American countries are used to make up for the domestic demand shortages. This paper investigates the U.S. demand for imported fresh and frozen melons using quarterly data on import volumes and unit prices. A static and a dynamic linear approximated almost ideal demand systems were estimated using ITSUR. Marshallian and Hicksian elasticities were used to analyze consumers’ responsiveness to price and income change in the short run and the long run.