Abstract

Cattle breeding and rearing are not localised but rather spread across distant spaces in Southwest Nigeria with variations in the market prices of the cattle across the region. The extent to which prices are transmitted across markets is of utmost importance to producers’ and consumers’ responses to price changes. This study examined the price transmission in cattle markets in Southwest, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from 121 wholesalers and 379 retailers using structured questionnaires. Data were collected on share of markets by actors and spatial price relationship. The data were analysed using Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI) and bivariate regression model at p < 0.05. The HHI estimate was high for retailers (0.224) and moderate for wholesalers (0.147). Mean retail-wholesale price elasticities were less than 1.0 with an average value of 0.197 showing lower proportionate transmission of prices between traders. Cattle markets was highly concentrated for retailers than wholesalers with poor price linkage and collusion practices. Cattle market integration was poor. Therefore, cattle sellers should increase their participation in cooperative societies to raise adequate fund for cattle marketing with a view to enable more entrants into the business. Government should create special markets for easy and efficient functioning of the cattle marketing system particularly Southwest of Nigeria.

Key Words: Cattle Marketing, Market concentration, Spatial Price. Hedonic Price, Fluctuation