Is There Asymmetric Price Transmission in the U.S. Fluid Milk Market

This study is used to examine the characteristics of the retail price adjustment within the U.S. fluid whole milk market. We employ an error correction model (ECM) to test for asymmetry in the transmission of farm milk price changes to changes in the retail price. In this analysis we use monthly data of farm and retail whole milk prices encompassing the January 2001 to December 2011 period for 16 U.S. cities. Several cities were found to display asymmetric price transmission where retail prices tended to respond more quickly with farm price increases vs. decreases.