Oleksandr Perekhozhuk, Ph.D., Agricultural Markets, Marketing and World Agricultural Trade, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO), Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 2, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
The objective of this paper is to provide an analysis of potential oligopoly and oligopsony power in the Ukrainian meat processing industry. Many agricultural Economists find evidence of oligopoly and/or oligopsony market power in the meat packing industry. These studies are typically done for industries in developed market economies and have largely focused on the US and European meat sectors. However, the meat sectors in transition countries, that are potentially different from the ones in developed economies, have been largely ignored by research. Yet, the issue of imperfect competition seems to be especially relevant to the meat sector in transition countries. With reference to the contribution by NEIO studies there was a market structure model constructed to measure the degree of oligopoly and oligopsony power in the Ukrainian meat processing industry. The estimation results of the market structure models did not produce any evidence suggesting the exercise of market power at the national level in the investigation period from January 1996 to June 2003.