Factors Affecting the Chicken Meat Marketing Margin in Iran

Failure of marketing structure for agricultural commodities and the significant gap between producer price and consumer price are considered as most important issues of agriculture sector in developing countries. So, investigating effective factors on reduction of this gap is vital. This study investigates the factors affecting the chicken meat marketing margin in Iran using monthly data for the period of 2001-2008. Different models including Mark up, relative margin and marketing cost model were estimated and the best one (relative margin model) is selected based on goodness of its criteria.
The main results reveal a direct and significant effect of retail price and transportation cost on marketing margin, while similar impact for producers income found to be negative.
Furthermore, marketing margin follows a seasonal pattern with highest and lowest levels in winter and summer, respectively.

JEL Classification: M31, L11, C01