Professor Madhuri Saripalle, Professor, Economics & Chairperson – MBA Programme, IFMR GSB, Krea University presented a paper on Analyzing Inter-State Price Volatility Across the Rice Supply Chain at the American Agricultural Economics Association’s annual meeting (AAEA) held in New Orleans, US, from 28–31 July, 2024. The AAEA meeting is a prestigious conference and attracts more than 1,000 agricultural and applied economists from around the world every year.
Professor Saripalle’s research analyses rice price volatility at regulated market centres or APMCs, the minimum support prices received by farmers, and the prices paid by consumers at retail-level fair-price shops. Price trends are examined in major rice-growing states – West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Data from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI) is utilised to compile weekly and daily rice prices from various market channels for the pre and post-pandemic periods across various states of India. The study finds differences in price trends and volatility based on state-specific responses and institutional mechanisms prevalent across states.