Price volatility and demand of vegetables in three Brazilian Southeast supply centers between 2017 and 2021

Resumen

Vegetable consumption has increased in recent years due to the predisposition of people to have a healthy diet, which includes the ingestion of fibers, vitamins, and minerals present in fruits and vegetables.  In Brazil, lettuce, tomato, carrot, onion, and potato are the five vegetables with the highest consumption. In this study, the price volatility and the price elasticity measure (price elasticity of supply, price elasticity of demand, or price inelasticity) of lettuce, tomato, carrot, onion, and potato were evaluated in three supply centers (CEAGESSP, CEASAMINAS e CEASA/RJ) between 2017 to 2021. The results indicated that all the evaluated products had similar price volatility behavior between 2019 to 2021 in the three supply centers. Moreover, the years with higher instabilities of prices were 2020 for potatoes and carrots, 2019 for lettuce, and 2018 for onion. The price elasticity or inelasticity had independent behavior per supply center. However, there are some periods of inelasticity where the price does not influence the quantity demanded or supplied of the evaluated products. In conclusion, there is high variability of price and volume for tomato, potato, onion, lettuce, and carrot during the year. There was a negative in the price and volume of vegetables which indicates that the reduction of volume increases the price of vegetables. The prices of commercialized vegetables are strongly influenced by the forces of supply and demand, which configures a seasonal characteristic.