volume 4, issue 4: august 15, 2016 food demand...

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FooDSFOOD DEMAND SURVEY

Volume 4, Issue 4: August 15, 2016

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | [email protected] Lusk | Regents Professor & Willard Sparks Endowed Chair | 405-744-7465

Susan Murray | Research Specialist | 405-744-4857This project is supported by a Willard Sparks Endowment, the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

FooDS tracks consumer preferences and sentiments on the safety, quality, and price of food at home and away from home with particular focus on meat demand. FooDS is a monthly on-line survey with a sample size of at least 1,000 individuals, weighted to match the US population in terms of age, gender, education and region of residence. See the online technical document for more details.

About the Survey

After a spike in July, willingness-to-pay (WTP) for steak, chicken breasts, and deli ham fell in August. WTP for hamburger remained virtually unchanged. There was a slight increase in WTP for pork chops and for chicken wings. Compared to one year ago, WTP is lower for all food products.

MEAT DEMAND

Expenditures on food eaten at home increased 1.86% from July to August and expenditures on food purchased away from home decreased 1.48% compared to one month ago. Compared to last month, consumers expect slightly higher prices for chicken and pork and lower prices for beef. Plans to eat out more decreased compared to last month, and plans to buy beef and chicken increased slightly.

FOOD EXPENDITURES

Willingness-to-Pay

Steak Chicken Breast

Hamburger Pork Chop Deli Ham Chicken Wing

Beans & Rice

Pasta

Last Year:August 2015

$8.03 $5.81 $4.93 $4.42 $3.18 $2.92 $3.07 $3.97

Last Month:July 2016

$9.05 $5.31 $4.52 $3.93 $2.45 $2.43 $2.17 $3.22

August 2016 $7.91 $5.28 $4.53 $4.02 $2.41 $2.78 $2.14 $2.52

% change(July - August)

-12.60% -0.56% 0.22% 2.29% -1.63% 14.40% -1.38% -21.74%

Current weekly at home

Current weekly away from home

Anticipated change in at home in next 2 weeks

Anticipated change away from home in next 2 weeks

August 2015 $98.96 $54.52 -0.64% -1.32%

July 2016 $94.73 $56.87 -0.69% -1.18%

August 2016 $96.49 $56.03 0.06% -1.20%

% change(July - August)

1.86% -1.48% -------- --------

http://agecon.okstate.edu/files/Survey%20Info%20(pdf4556).pdf




Consumer Expectations FooDS

GMOs, E. coli, and Salmonella remained the most visible issues in the news over the past two weeks. Awareness increased for all issues, except for BSE. The largest percent increase in awareness over the last month was for hormones and GMO. E. coli, Salmonella and hormones were ranked as the top three concerns in August. The largest percent increase in concern over the last month was for cloning followed by hormones. The largest percent decrease in concern was for greenhouse gases.

AWARENESS & CONCERN TRACKING

Awareness of Food Issues




Concern for Food Issues FooDS

Taste, safety, and nutrition remained consumers’ most important values when purchasing food this month. Consumers’ food values remained similar to those in past months, with a slight decrease in perceived value of appearance and naturalness and an increase in perceived value of safety and price. Similar to previous months, consumers reported that their main challenge was finding affordable foods that fit within their budget. Finding affordable foods that fit with-in their budget was the challenge experiencing the largest percentage decrease. In August, 10.18% of participants reported having food poisoning, a 19.72% decrease from one month ago. About 5.5% of respondents reported being vegetarian or vegan.

GENERAL FOOD VALUES

Consumer Challenges Consumer Values




FooDS

Several new ad hoc questions were added this month.First, participants were asked: “Imagine seeing a label on a food product that pledges a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the food go to a particular social cause or group. Which of the following social causes or groups would be most appealing to you? Participants were asked to rank each of the outcomes on a scale of 5 to 1 where 5=most appealing and 1=least appealing. On average, participants ranked a label pledging a “portion of the proceeds go to a local food bank to help the hungry” as the most appealing. Participants ranked a label pledging a “portion of the proceeds go to a campaign to promote healthy eating and exercise” as the least appealing. The following percent of respondents ranked each issues as most appealing: Portion of the proceeds go to a local food bank to help the hungry (51.4%), Portion of the proceeds go to an animal advocacy organization (15.2%), Portion of the proceeds go to an environmental advocacy organization (15.2%), and Portion of the proceeds go to farmers in a developing country (9.6%), and Portion of the proceeds go to a campaign to promote healthy eating and exercise (8.6%).

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Preferred Support for Social Causes or Groups




FooDS

Second, participants were asked “Which of the following characteristics would be most important to you when shopping for eggs? Please allocate 100 points to the following characteristics in terms of the importance in deciding whether and which egg option to buy (total points must sum to 100).”Six different characteristics were shown in random order. On average, “Price: low vs. high price” was most important when shopping for eggs, with 26 out of 100 points allocated to this issue on average across participants. The brand of eggs was rated as least important with less than half the points allocated to brand than price. Size was, on average rated slightly more important than cage vs. cage free, whereas color was slightly less important than this issue. These statistics can provide a crude estimate of willingness-to-pap (WTP). Presuming respondents perceive that the gap between low vs. high prices is a $1 dozen difference, then for every dollar change, mean rating falls by 26 points. By contrast, going from small to large eggs increases the mean rating by about 20 points. It follows that people would give up 20/26=$0.77/dozen to have large instead of small eggs. Using similar logic, WTP for cage free vs. cage is $0.67/dozen, brown vs. white is $0.48/dozen, proceeds to preferred social cause vs. none is $0.46/dozen, and least to most preferred brand is $0.46/dozen.Presuming respondents perceive that the gap between low vs. high prices is a $2 dozen difference, then for every dollar change, mean rating falls by 26/2 = 13 points. And, in this scenario, WTP for large vs. small eggs is 20/13 = $1.55/dozen. WTP for the other attributes also double under these assumptions.

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Attribute Importance When Shopping for Eggs




FooDS

Last, respondents were asked: “Are you a member of the AmeriCorp program?”Less than 8% of participants stated they are a member of the AmeriCorp program, while over 92% stated they are not a member of the AmeriCorp program.

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Members of the AmeriCorp Program

volume 4, issue 4: august 15, 2016 food demand...

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