Structure of Seasonal Supply and Demand in the Onion Market

This study examines year-to-year price and output variation for three seasonal onion crops. Econometric models are developed and estimated for two disjoint time periods. The first period encompasses the crop years 1946/47-1958/59, when onion futures contracts were actively traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; the second period, 1959/60-1969/70, covers years following futures trading. The results failed to divulge significant differences in the structure of supply and demand between the two periods. Observations for the combined period were subsequently used to quantify the seasonal supply-demand structure.