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Abstract
The objective of this study is to provide an
empirical analysis of potential market power of the
Ukrainian milk processing industry in the market for
raw milk. The article is based on the New Empirical
Industrial Organization (NEIO) approach and pays
special attention to the production technology of the
sector. In NEIO studies of market power in the food
processing industry the production technology is
typically assumed to be of a neoclassical type with
simple properties like, e.g., constant returns to scale.
Properties of this kind, however, are likely not to prevail
in most transition countries of Eastern Europe because
of serious distortions in factor usage mainly due to
institutional deficiencies. Therefore, the analysis of this
study is based on the more general representation of the
production technology by a translog production
function. The econometric model used to measure the
degree of oligopsony power of the Ukrainian milk
processing industry is estimated on the basis of monthly
data. The model did not produce any evidence
suggesting the exercise of market power by the milk processing
industry in the estimation period from
January 1996 to December 2003. This empirical result is
consistent with the low operating rate of the Ukrainian
milk processing industry and relatively small
concentration ratio at the national level. However, it
may be appropriate to conduct similar analyses on a
regional level, since the concentration of milk processing
plants and the structure of agricultural farms in the
regions of Ukraine are quite different.