Abstract
Milk consumption has been on the decline for decades. Part of the cause for this is due to changes in consumer behavior and interest in healthy eating. The aim of this study was to estimate the premium price that consumers are willing to pay for A2 milk. A2 milk is a newcomer type of product containing only A2 beta-casein that is spreading in many countries of the world as a functional food. In addition, it is produced by traditional breeds of cattle that are adapted to the marginal areas and could be a virtuous model of the sustainable management system to which the consumer lately seems to turn in an increasingly conscious way. To accomplish this aim, contingent valuation has been used, which permits using a survey and a direct estimation of the premium price that consumers are willing to pay (WTP). The question format used is a dichotomous choice valuation based on a double-bound model. Statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistical analysis. The empirical results reveal that consumers are willing to pay a premium for A2 milk. In addition, individuals interested in product quality and already buying functional products are attracted to this type of product.
Highlights
The European Union (EU) dairy sector is the second biggest agricultural sector in the EU, representing more than 12% of total agricultural output
Of a total of 1277 Italian consumers interviewed between October and December 2019, 1140 consume milk and of these, 899 have declared consuming functional foods
The estimate of the first model in an enlarged form, that is, in which all the explanatory variables listed above are inserted, has shown that some of these variables are not statistically significant, i.e., other than zero. They were, eliminated by obtaining a better restricted model based on the information criteria than the previous one, while not significant socioeconomic variables were not excluded from consideration
Summary
The European Union (EU) dairy sector is the second biggest agricultural sector in the EU, representing more than 12% of total agricultural output. Over the past two decades, milk production in the EU has been steadily increasing. It increased from 152 million tons in 2000 to over 172 million tons in 2018 (an increase of almost 11%). The main producers of cow milk are Germany (19%), France (15%), the United Kingdom (9%), the Netherlands (8%), Poland (8%), Italy (8%), Spain (5%), and Ireland (5%), which together account for three-quarters of total EU production. The remaining Member States produce just a quarter of EU production. Relates only to milk directly intended for consumption, normally in containers of 2 L or less. The production has gone from 31 million to 29 million tons from 2013 to 2018, with an average annual loss of 0.3 million tons [1]
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