Vertical price transmission in Swiss dairy and cheese value chains

Hillen, Judith

doi:10.1186/s40100-021-00187-3

Agricultural and Food Economics

Table 2 Data description of all used Swiss dairy and cheese prices

From: Vertical price transmission in Swiss dairy and cheese value chains

Variable	Description	Measure	Time period	Source	Mean	SD
Farm-gate producer price
P_dai	For production of any non-cheese products	Rp./kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	64.10	7.30
P_che_art	For artisan cheese production, silage-free feeding	Rp./kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	73.29	2.82
P_emm	For Emmentaler AOP cheese production	Rp./kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	66.91	5.03
P_gru	For Gruyère AOP cheese production	Rp./kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	80.75	2.32
P_che_ind	For cheese production by industrial dairies^a	Rp./kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	65.39	6.87
P_org	Organic raw milk for any processing channel, standards defined by Bio Suisse (2015)	Rp./kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	79.72	4.80
Export price^b
E_hard	All hard cheese, TL 0406.9099	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FCA	9.66	0.69
E_semi	All semi-hard cheese, TL 0406.9091	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FCA	10.74	1.55
E_emm	Emmentaler cheese (AOP)	CHF/kg	1/2004–5/2017	FCA	8.59	0.83
E_gru	Gruyère cheese (AOP)	CHF/kg	1/2004–5/2017	FCA	12.81	0.74
E_melt	Melted cheese, not grated or powder, TL 0406.30	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FCA	7.50	0.68
Wholesale price
W_but	Butter, salted, or unsalted	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	10.08	0.70
W_wmp	Whole milk powder, 26% fat, for food preparation	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	6.33	0.34
W_smp	Skimmed milk powder, < 1.5% fat, for food preparation	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	4.44	0.42
Retail price
R_milk	Pasteurized whole milk	CHF/l	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	1.46	0.06
R_but	Butter for cooking (“die butter”)	CHF/250 g	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	2.98	0.15
R_emm	Emmentaler surchoix	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	19.03	0.90
R_gru	Gruyère surchoix	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	19.89	0.72
R_app	Appenzeller surchoix	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	18.96	0.93
R_mozz	Mozzarella	CHF/150 g	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	1.74	0.27
R_racl	Raclette (block)	CHF/kg	1/2004–3/2018	FOAG	19.59	1.21
R_milk_org	Organic pasteurized whole milk	CHF/l	1/2006–3/2018	FOAG	1.77	0.04
R_but_org	Organic butter (“vorzugsbutter”)	CHF/200 g	1/2006–3/2018	FOAG	3.84	0.12
R_emm_org	Organic Emmentaler	CHF/kg	1/2006–3/2018	FOAG	20.20	1.03
R_gru_org	Organic Gruyère	CHF/kg	1/2006–3/2018	FOAG	21.01	0.71
R_mozz_org	Organic mozzarella	CHF/150 g	1/2006–3/2018	FOAG	2.27	0.17

AOP protected designation of origin (Appellation d’Origine Protegée), CHF Swiss francs, FCA Swiss Federal Customs Administration, FOAG Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, Rp. rappen (0.01 CHF), TL tariff line
^aIndustrial cheese includes all non-artisanal cheese production by large dairies, such as mozzarella and numerous semi-hard, fresh and soft cheese types made from pasteurized milk. In contrast to raw milk for artisan cheese production, raw milk for industrial cheese production is not subject to strict specifications: the use of silage fodder is allowed und there are no geographic origin restrictions. In fact, the requirements are the same as for the production of other dairy products. Hence, this producer price is closely related to the producer price for dairy milk: the farmers deliver their milk to one of the large dairies (either directly or via an intermediary first milk buyer), where it is pooled and processed into various dairy products, including industrially processed cheese. These large dairies (or other first milk buyers, such as producer organizations) report how much milk was processed into cheese. This is well-documented, because with some minor exceptions (small amounts of low-fat cheese), the processors receive the cheese processing aid for these quantities.
^bExport prices for dairy products (e.g., fluid milk, butter, milk powder) are available, but excluded from the analysis due to high product heterogeneity and very low trading volumes leading to highly volatile export unit values

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