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Impacts of changes in transportation rate structures on exports of soybeans and soybean products from western U.S. soybean production areas
Abstract
Improvements in transport efficiency have contributed to the westward expansion of the major U.S. soybean growing area and to increasing exports of soybeans from the western fringe of the area through ports in the Pacific Northwest. Some observers have questioned whether future adjustments in transport rates and in Asian export demand for U.S. soybeans might not accelerate this trend. A spatial equilibrium, quadratic programming model was used to evaluate the effects of alternative short- and long-run domestic and ocean transportation rate structures on shipping patterns and prices of soybeans and soybean products. Results show rail rate reductions do increase West-Coast soybean shipments and enhance producer prices along the western edge of the U.S. soybean belt but their impact declines as barge and ocean rates approach variable transport costs. Import prices and volumes, West-Coast exports, and producer price spreads among domestic regions are all more affected by ocean shipping rates than by domestic transport rates. Higher ocean rates, however, yield absolutely lower producer prices in all producing areas. Results suggest that soybean exports across the West Coast are likely to stabilize under long-run equilibrium transportation rates at about 1.24 million metric tons. Prospects for a rate-precipitated major permanent expansion in exports beyond this level appear limited in the absence of other forces which might expand western soybean supplies. In the long-run, however, equilibrium transportation rate structures will shift the bean-product trade composition towards soybeans, yield reduced net port shipments in meal and oil equivalents, and result in a lower producer price surface across all domestic regions.
Subject Area
Agricultural economics
Recommended Citation
Sarwar, Ghulam, "Impacts of changes in transportation rate structures on exports of soybeans and soybean products from western U.S. soybean production areas" (1989). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9013624.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9013624