Effect of Imports on US Prices for Fresh Apples

This paper presents new econometric evidence concerning the variation of fresh apple prices in the US market as a function of fluctuations in supplies from seven major US and non-US supply areas. The Rotterdam inverse demand system recently developed by Barten and Bettendorf is used in the analysis. The results show that the impact on prices stemming from a change in overall quanitities of fresh apples varies widely across supply regions. The price of Washington apples would suffer a market drop with a rise in total quantity. The analysis also suggests taht Chile's entrance into the US apple market has had a negligible impact on prices.