Premium
The Demand for Lauric Oils in the United States
Author(s) -
Nyberg Albert J.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1238167
Subject(s) - palm kernel oil , lauric acid , coconut oil , palm kernel , palm oil , economics , price elasticity of demand , consumer demand , income elasticity of demand , agricultural science , agricultural economics , business , pulp and paper industry , food science , chemistry , environmental science , microeconomics , engineering , fatty acid , organic chemistry
Demand for lauric oil (coconut and palm kernel) is derived from demand for final products, principally soap and confectionaries. Under current conditions of relative price and use, demand for lauric oil is highly price inelastic at about −0.2; income elasticity is about 0.6. Coconut and palm kernel oil used in the United States is all imported under a basic duty of three cents per pound. Since lauric oils are no longer used in butter substitutes and offer virtually no competition to domestic vegetable oils or butter and in some uses are complementary, no protection objective is served by the duty.