1887

OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers

NB. No. 1 to No. 58 were released under the previous series title OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Working Papers.

English

Maritime Transportation Costs in the Grains and Oilseeds Sector

Trends, Determinants and Network Analysis

More than 80% of global trade in grains and oilseeds occurs by maritime transport. This report provides an in-depth analysis of ocean freight rates during 2007-2021, examining their evolution, volatility, determinants, and how they influence port networks. Freight rates accounted on average for 11% of the cost and freight price, but this share ranges between 2% and 43%, demonstrating the potentially large impact of freight rates on consumer prices. Freight rates for grains and oilseeds are generally more volatile than their free-on-board prices. Regression analysis shows that a 10% increase in the distance between two ports is estimated to lead to a 2.5% increase in freight rates. It also demonstrates that freight costs for grains and oilseeds do not obey the iceberg formulation, which implies that they should be modelled as additive (constant costs per unit traded) rather than as multiplicative (iceberg) costs.

English

Keywords: Iceberg, Additive costs, Freight rates, Ports
JEL: R40: Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics / Transportation Economics / Transportation Economics: General; F14: International Economics / Trade / Empirical Studies of Trade; D85: Microeconomics / Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty / Network Formation and Analysis: Theory; Q17: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Agriculture / Agriculture in International Trade; Q2: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Renewable Resources and Conservation
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