RELATION BETWEEN PRICES OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS AS AN ELEMENT OF ASSESS THE ECONOMIC TRENDS IN POLISH AGRICULTURE

Abstract

The paper was created to assess the values and trends for changes in prices of basic agricultural products (produce) and food products on domestic markets that affect the condition of agriculture and agricultural producers. The relationships were evaluated between retail prices of food and prices of agricultural produce, i.e. price scissors, the author studied the strength of impact of procurement prices on retail prices of food (the degree of correlation between prices received by farm producers and prices paid by food consumers), and defined the prevailing directions of change. It was determined through the analysis that the share of the value of agricultural produce in retail prices of an average food basket is decreasing, and the higher degree of processing of produce deepens the disproportion (the gap) between the producer's prices and retail prices paid by consumers. These tendencies, negative for agricultural producers, were supported by analysis of rates of changes of farm produce prices and retail food prices. It was determined on the basis of the trending function that the variations of current prices for all the studied types of farm produce and food products exhibited a long-term increasing tendency, accompanied by seasonal and economic fluctuations. However, the increases of final product prices were in most cases substantially higher than the increases of raw material necessary for its production.