Purchase Price Research Articles

Optimizing E-Commerce Profits: A Comprehensive Machine Learning Framework for Dynamic Pricing and Predicting Online Purchases

In the online realm, pricing transparency is crucial in influencing consumer decisions and driving online purchases. While dynamic pricing is not a novel concept and is widely employed to boost sales and profit margins, its significance for online retailers is substantial. The current study is an outcome of an ongoing project that aims to construct a comprehensive framework and deploy effective techniques, leveraging robust machine learning algorithms. The objective is to optimize the pricing strategy on e-commerce platforms, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right purchase price rather than merely offering the cheapest option. Although the study primarily targets inventory-led e-commerce companies, the model's applicability can be extended to online marketplaces that operate without maintaining inventories. The study endeavors to forecast purchase decisions based on adaptive or dynamic pricing strategies for individual products by integrating statistical and machine learning models. Various data sources capturing visit attributes, visitor details, purchase history, web data, and contextual insights form the robust foundation for this framework. Notably, the study specifically emphasizes predicting purchases within customer segments rather than focusing on individual buyers. The logical progression of this research involves the personalization of adaptive pricing and purchase prediction, with future extensions planned once the outcomes of the current study are presented. The solution landscape for this study encompasses web mining, big data technologies, and the implementation of machine learning algorithms.

STUDI KOMPARATIF PENJUALAN TOMAT (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) LOKAL DAN NON LOKAL DI TINGKAT DISTRIBUTOR PASAR SEGIRI KOTA SAMARINDA

There are generally two types of tomatoes sold at Segiri Market, Samarinda City, namely local tomatoes and non-local tomatoes. The two types of tomatoes have many differences, including prices and stock in different markets. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in prices and stocks of local and non-local tomatoes at the distributor level of Segiri Market, Samarinda City. This research was conducted for 12 weeks starting from September 2022 to November 2022. The data needed is primary data and secondary data with purposive sampling of 11 respondents, namely 4 respondents are local tomato distributors and 7 respondents are non-local tomato distributors. To find out the marketing channels for local tomatoes and non-local tomatoes at the Segiri Market distributor level, Sanarinda City, the snowball sampling method was used. Meanwhile, to find out the difference in price and stock of local and non-local tomatoes, an independent sample t-test can be used. The results of this study stated that the average price of local and non-local tomatoes had differences. Although based on the average price of local and non-local tomatoes had differences, when the sample t test was carried out for the selling prices of local and non-local tomatoes, it was known that the sig value. (2-tailed) of 0.193 0.05. So, according to the basis of decision making on the independent sample t test, it can be concluded that Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected. The sample t test for the purchase price of local and non-local tomatoes is known to have a sig value. (2-tailed) as much as 0.154 0.05. So, according to the basis of decision making in the independent sample t test, it can be concluded that Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected. Thus it can be determined based on the t test that there is no significant difference between the prices of local and non-local tomatoes. The amount of stock of local and non-local tomatoes also differs based on the average number of stocks. After testing the sample t test, it is known that the sig. (2-tailed) of 0.002 0.05. So, as the basis for decision making on the independent sample t test, it can be concluded that Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted. Thus it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the number of local and non-local tomato stocks

Developing dairy farming and improving product quality

The need to find ways to improve the quality characteristics of milk as a basis for increasing the competitiveness of dairy products in the global market determines the relevance of the study. Ukraine’s dairy industry is one of the critical ones in the agricultural sector of the economy, as it provides the country’s population with vital foodstuffs. The purpose of this study was to substantiate the areas of solving organisational and economic problems of development of the dairy industry to meet the needs of the domestic market with quality dairy products and increase export potential. The study was conducted to identify the main reasons for the transformational changes that have taken place in dairy farming and to outline the promising areas for the development of this industry in the context of improving product quality. This study focused on European and national requirements for the quality of raw milk. The following methods of economic research were used in the analytical material: economic and statistical, comparative analysis, graphical, logical generalisation, systematic approach, systemic and structural analysis, calculation, and design. The study analysed the data of agricultural enterprises and households engaged in milk production in Ukraine for 2010-2022 and recalculated the purchase prices for raw milk in relation to the European quality indicators. The findings of this study showed that ensuring the competitiveness of dairy products depends on the quality of milk. It was found that it is higher in European countries, and therefore high standards for the quality of raw milk become a barrier to entry into European markets for most domestic dairy processing enterprises. Accordingly, the state’s strategy should focus on increasing the production of high-quality raw milk and growing export potential by forming specialised milk production cooperatives for dairy processing enterprises. The practical significance of the obtained results is that the author’s recommendations can be used by agricultural enterprises or private households in their everyday activities

New Approach Towards Sustainability – The Global Efficiency Concept (GEff)

In the actual economical environment, business sustainability requires high-efficiency technological processes and new innovative developments. That is why the efficiency concept has to be present at all levels of industrial and financial activities. The proposed concepts in this paper could be further developed as a model for improving companies’ corporate energy policies.
 Nowadays, some purchase decisions for equipment are still driven predominately by the purchase price, and the full consequences of energy efficiency and the impact on the environment are not always considered.
 In general relatively “low value equipment” purchase policy is still driven by purchase price only, in spite of the evidence that such price represents a maximum of 5 % to 7 % of the total expenses related to the total costs of ownership. In the minerals industry “low value equipment”, like low-voltage motors (up to 1100 volts, 50/60 Hz), are found many times and in very large numbers, their efficiency and reliability influencing dramatically specific costs of technological processes.
 Although with “major equipment” energy savings are considered more in the purchase decision, every growing importance on the environment of “Green House Gas” (GHG) emissions is still not a major factor when selecting equipment. Often more traditional equipment is purchased at the expense of new innovative technologies that in addition to providing energy savings can also be used as a tool for trading Carbon Credits in the financial marketplace. An example of such a technology is the IsaMill™ comminution machine, which is becoming more widely used in gold and general mining operations in South Africa and throughout the world. Comminution in the mining industry is one of the most energy intensive activities in the world, and the innovative use of “major equipment” saving power can also have a positive effect on the environment.
 The paper presents descriptions of the essentials of the Global Efficiency (GEff) concept that has been promoted over the last years in South Africa. Price-efficiency criteria (as a corollary of GEff) are investigated for applications incorporating equipments that are driven by low and high voltage motors.
 The paper presents theoretical and technical aspects analysing the economic and environmental impact, by reducing total cost of ownership with energy savings, for one “low value equipment” in typical applications largely used in mineral processing in the gold mining industry, and one “major equipment” purchase at a current operating gold mine where the innovative IsaMill™ comminution technology was installed as an alternative to traditional older technologies.
 Besides the impact of energy savings with high-efficiency technological processes and new innovative developments, this paper suggests the general impacts of:
 
 Technical and economical performance improvements and competitiveness of mining corporations to international standards;
 Defusing incipient energy crisis in the gold mining sector;
 Improving environmental conditions;
 Creating new job opportunities in the gold mining sector.

Non-GAAP Earnings and Definite-Lived Intangible Asset Allocations in Mergers and Acquisitions

ABSTRACT We test whether firms that exclude the effects of amortization from non-GAAP earnings allocate more of an acquisition’s purchase price to definite-lived intangible assets (DLIA). This strategy can yield two potential benefits: it can (1) increase non-GAAP earnings by shifting depreciation of tangible assets, which is often included in non-GAAP earnings, to amortization of DLIA, which non-GAAP earnings exclude, and (2) decrease the likelihood of future impairments by shifting allocations from goodwill to DLIA. Consistent with expectations, we find that non-GAAP-reporting firms that exclude amortization from non-GAAP earnings allocate more of the purchase price to DLIA. We also find that these firms allocate less of the purchase price to depreciable assets and goodwill. Finally, we document earnings surprise and valuation benefits related to these allocation choices. Overall, our results provide new evidence about non-GAAP reporting and purchase price allocations and suggest that non-GAAP reporting can influence management’s GAAP accounting choices. Data Availability: All data are publicly available from sources described in the paper. JEL Classifications: M40; M41; M45.

A study on the impact of housing prices on residents' travel frequency and transportation resilience in 35 Chinese cities

As urbanization proceeds, urban transportation resilience suffers greater challenges. Covering panel data for 35 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2019, after controlling for other variables that may affect urban residents' transportation volumes, this paper finds that rising houseing prices have a significant positive effect on urban residents' traffic frequency. As frequent traffic trips increase the probability of urban residents experiencing disruptions, rising housing purchase prices would have a negative impact on Chinese urban residents’ transportation resilience. The regional comparison analysis finds that the regression coefficients of coastal and eastern cities with more expensive housing price are significantly higher than those of non-coastal and western cities with lower housing price, further validating the findings of this paper.

Assessment of the performance, payback and preferability of residential solar water heaters (SWHs)—A case study in Windhoek, Namibia

The utilisation of solar water heaters (SWHs) even in sunny locations remains low. Most previous studies used assumptions or modelling and simulation software to assess the techno-economic performance of SWHs and unravel the reasons. In this study, real-life data on domestic thermosiphon SWHs, operating in the large solar resource city of Windhoek, Namibia, were used to assess the performance. A novel payback model, based on non-financial variables, was proposed. With this model, the impact on payback time of solar fraction (SF), temporal mismatch between energy supply and energy demand, and other operational factors was quantified. The results show that despite the good thermal performance, the energy savings of the SWHs were limited by the temporal mismatch between energy supply and demand.The payback periods of the SWHs, obtained with the net-present-value (NPV) financial approach, ranged between 11.6 and 13.5 years. The predictions of the developed model agreed well with the payback periods obtained with the financial approach. Fully paid upfront SWHs provided high return on investment (8 - 11%) while loan financed SWHs had negative return on investment and their payback periods stretched beyond the lifetime of the systems.The decision making process in the choice of domestic water heating option was also analysed. The results showed that the choice was governed by the initial cost, disadvantaging the pricey SWHs, despite their potential for high returns, but favouring the cheap to acquire yet costly to operate electric water heaters (EWHs). The preferability of SWHs increased notably when their purchase price dropped to the price which guarantees a payback time of five years.

Credit Card Fraud Prediction Based on Machine Learning Algorithms

The escalating use of the Internet has led to a surge in online shopping and e-commerce, resulting in a corresponding increase in credit card fraud incidents. Therefore, this research focuses on employing machine learning techniques, which offer enhanced precision and efficiency compared to manual detection, to identify fraudulent activities. To establish the association between credit card transaction attributes and the presence of fraudsters, this study initially gathers data from Kaggle, subsequently normalizing the collected data. Furthermore, the data exhibits severe imbalance, leading to overfitting concerns. To ascertain feature correlations, a correlation heatmap is constructed. Moreover, this investigation selects three models for analysis. Finally, the performance of each model is evaluated using a confusion matrix and derived metrics. The findings reveal that both the decision tree and random forest models exhibit optimal performance, achieving 100% across all indicators. The most influential factors in determining credit card fraud involve the ratio to median purchase price and the geographical proximity of the transaction location to the cardholder's residence.

StudyofFactorsinthePriceofDiamonds

In recent years, the price of diamonds has fluctuated significantly. This article mainly studies the factors that affect the price. This article mainly uses linear regression and random forest to calculate the coefficients between prices and influencing factors, and determines the degree of impact between them by comparing their sizes. In addition, the histogram analyzes whether there is a relationship between cutting clarity color and price. However, the relationship between cutting and diamond prices is not so strong. Finally, it is concluded that the weight of the price table, as well as the length and width of the table have a significant impact on the diamond price. When purchasing diamonds, the conclusions of this article can be used to determine whether the characteristics of various aspects of the current purchase price are directly proportional to the price they sell to ensure that consumers do not enter this diamond scam.

부모의 사회경제적 배경이 자녀의 첫 주택 구입 기간 및 가격에 미치는 영향

Intergenerational wealth transfers manifest themselves in the form of parental support during the process of a child’s first home purchase. The level of parental support varies according to the socioeconomic status of the parents. This study focuses on how parental socioeconomic status affects the time to purchase and price of a child’s first home. Our results show that, first, parental economic status, especially parental total wealth, reduces the time to purchase a child’s first home; second, parental total wealth matter when the child’s first home price is in the lower quantiles. However, in the higher quantiles, economic status such as parental total assets, current home value, and total debt, as well as social status such as parental education and occupation, also mattered. This suggests that the wealth gap between children’s generations due to differences in parental support may arise from the purchase price rather than the time it takes to purchase a first home. Policy efforts, such as stabilizing housing prices, are needed to mitigate this phenomenon.

The pricing and sourcing strategies of competitive retailers under supply disruption in the presence of liquidated damages

Supply disruptions often make retailers face stock-outs and lead to higher selling price, which forcing retailers to adopt optimal sourcing strategies to avoid disruptions and carefully adjust their pricing when disruptions occur to achieve ideal profits in competition with other peers. In this paper, we optimize the combination of pricing levels and sourcing strategy of the competitive retailer having choices of cost or stable supplier when supply disruptions occur with the consideration of liquidated damages. Based on the procurement costs difference between retailers and competitors, we studied the optimal sourcing and pricing strategies under two types of Stackelberg game and one type of Nash game. We find that the Nash Equilibrium leads lower selling prices for retailers and larger purchases from cost suppliers compared to the Stackelberg game, but with the increase of retailer’s market potential, retailers gradually depend on stable suppliers. We also find that liquidated damages can have a significant impact on retailers’ decisions. Specifically, when the probability of disruption is high, retailers will mainly rely on stable suppliers in the presence of no liquidated damages, while in the case of liquidated damages, retailers will instead rely on cost suppliers. Furthermore, as liquidated damages increase, retailers prefer to source from cost suppliers and use very high price adjustments to account for supply disruptions. Especially when the risk of disruption is high, retailers rely mainly on cost suppliers and super high price adjustments. This highlights the critical role of liquidated damages on retailers’ optimal pricing and sourcing strategies.

Financial leasing in Palestine “Prospects & Obstacle”

The study aims to test the impact of financial leasing on the financial performance of financial leasing institutions in Palestine during the period between 2015 and 2021, the study examines the prospects and obstacles of financial leasing in Palestine. in an attempt to show the regulations of financial leasing in enhancing financial performance indicators represented by the rate of return on deposits, rate of return on ownership, rate of return on investment and rate of return on available assets. Financial leasing is a contract finance agreement that allows companies to sell goods, such as medical equipment, vehicles, and machinery, without having to pay the full price of the purchased goods. These regulations form Capital Market Authority (CAM) in Palestine that provides access to goods and services that maybe it is expensive to purchase. However, there are several obstacles to the growth of financial leasing in Palestine, including the lack of roles and regulations, the limited of supplying leasing products, and the lack of access to finance the contracts. The study concludes that while financial leasing can provide businesses in Palestine with the necessary financing to obtain the required goods and services, the current lack of a regulatory environment and the limited access to financing and leasing products are major obstacles to its growth. The purpose of the study is to find out the obstacles of financial leasing in Palestine, to understand the potential for this type of financing, and to the challenges that must be overcome for it to become more widely available. The paper begins by providing an overview of financial leasing and its benefits in Palestine. It then discusses the major obstacles to the growth of financial leasing in Palestine, including the lack of regulations and laws, the limited supply of leasing products, and the lack of access to financing. Finally, the paper outlines potential solutions for overcoming these obstacles and promoting the growth of financial leasing in Palestine. The study intends to analyze the influence of financial leasing on the financial performance of Palestinian financial leasing institutions between 2015 and 2021. It also examines the opportunities and challenges of financial leasing in Palestine. to demonstrate the regulations of financial leasing in improving financial performance measures such as the rate of return on deposits, rate of return on ownership, rate of return on investment, and rate of return on available assets. Financial leasing is a type of contract finance agreement that allows businesses to sell things like medical equipment, automobiles, and machinery without having to pay the full purchase price. In Palestine, these regulations create the Capital Market Authority (CAM) [1], which gives access to goods.

임차인이 지상물매수청구권을 행사한 경우, 석명의무와 동시이행항변권의 관계에 관한 연구

The supreme court case 94DA34265 (hereinafter referred to as ‘The Case’) says that in a lawsuit in which the lessor of land claims removal of ground facilities and delivery of the site against the lessee, if the lessee exercises the right to demand for the ground facilities purchase, the court has duty to elucidate whether the lessor is willing to demand delivery of the ground facilities at the same time as payment of the purchase price. (Hereinafter, elucidation above is referred to as ‘elucidation of simultaneous per- formance).
 At the basis of The Case, there appears to be an idea that if the lessor's claim changes to delivery of ground facilities, a judgment ordering simultaneous performance should be issued.
 However, according to majority opinion and precedent, for a judgment ordering simul- taneous performance to be issued, the lessee must file a plea of simultaneous performance. And the lessee's exercise of right to demand for purchase does not include a plea of simultaneous performance. Therefore, the idea that a judgment ordering simultaneous performance should be issued when the lessor's claim is changed to delivery of ground facilities is not valid. On the other hand, according to the minority theory that a ruling ordering simultaneous performance is possible even without a plea of simultaneous performance, the above idea is valid.
 According to the above majority opinion and precedent, elucidation of simultaneous performance is illegal as it exceeds the limits of the elucidation event. This is because the court indirectly informs the lessee of the existence of a plea of simultaneous performance by providing an elucidation of simultaneous performance to the lessor. On the other hand, according to the minority theory, the elucidation of simultaneous performance is not illegal because the outcome of the lawsuit is not affected even if the court informs the lessee of the existence of the plea of simultaneous performance.
 However, following the minority theory does not mean that elucidation of simultaneous performance is the court's duty. If the lessor requests delivery of ground facilities and the lessee's plea of simultaneous performance is acknowledged, the court may make a ruling upholding part of the claim. The court is not obligated to ensure that all claims are accepted through elucidation.
 In the end, The Case's position that elucidation of simultaneous performance is the court's duty is not valid, regardless of whether by majority or minority theory.

Exploring user satisfaction and improvement priorities in electric vehicle segments

This study is the first to explore satisfaction and asymmetry in full- and mini-sized electric vehicles (Mini EVs). An integrated framework, SI Gap-ML-IG (Satisfaction Importance Gap-Machine Learning-Importance Grid), is proposed to identify factor attributes, asymmetric effects, and improvement priorities. The SI Gap reveals a large difference between user perception and expectation. Five machine learning algorithms and a traditional linear regression are then compared, and numerical results show that Random Forest is the most suitable method for predicting overall satisfaction and extracting derived importance. Improvements in noise isolation and actual range are shown to be urgently needed for both EV segments. For Mini EVs, three additional factors—safety, comfort, and purchase subsidy—need improving. For full-size EVs, improvements are needed in delivery time, charging queue time, and purchase price. These findings provide new insights and policy implications for the EV industry and government policymakers.

ANALISIS PEMASARAN DAN STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN USAHA NILAM (Pogostemon Cablin Bentha) DI KABUPATEN KONAWE SELATAN

The problem often faced by patchouli farmers is in the marketing process of their products. In general, when marketing patchouli in South Konawe Regency, farmers collaborate through marketing institutions or intermediary traders to market their products. Basically, the high marketing costs cause many farmers to depend on marketing institutions that are able to provide facilities such as transportation and the needs that farmers need to market their products. The aim of this research is to determine and analyze marketing channels, differences in share margins, and marketing efficiency of patchouli plants in South Konawe Regency. The research design used was descriptive quantitative. The respondents for this research consisted of patchouli farmers and traders. The sampling technique was carried out using purposive sampling technique. The data analysis used is calculating the share margin, margin and marketing efficiency. Then descriptive qualitative data analysis was used using SWOT analysis. The research results show that the marketing channels for patchouli oil that have been formed are: Patchouli Farmers to Small Traders to Large Traders to Consumers (Industry). The calculation results show that the Share Margin value is 61.03%, meaning that the determination of the selling price made by farmers is included in the efficient category. It is said to be efficient if the farmer's selling price is more than or equal to 40% of the purchase price at the exporter level. The marketing efficiency value is 15.59%. The smaller efficiency value indicates that the use of existing marketing channels in the research area can be said to be more efficient because of the lower ratio of total marketing costs to selling prices to final consumers. The strategies that need to be implemented are maximizing the productivity of patchouli farming, increasing farmers' knowledge and education, production facilities and infrastructure as well as increasing cultivation and post-harvest technology facilities, utilizing the level of productivity of patchouli as an export crop to earn more income, taking advantage of the large number of productive farmers who are still farming. patchouli, controlling prices from the government so that there are no price games, increasing education, knowledge and experience and skills of farmers in applying cultivation technology, and increasing the number of technological facilities for processing products to meet quality standards set by traders/industry and also be able to reduce the risks that arise due to fluctuating price competition.

A Dynamic Model for an Optimal Consumption Tax Rate

Following Ramsey, the existing literature on optimal taxation only compares the pre and the post-tax market equilibriums in order to account for the efficiency losses. However, when the government imposes an ad valorem tax on the consumer, the buyer's price jumps to the pre-tax equilibrium price plus the amount of the tax, and the supply and the demand of the taxed commodity then adjust over time to bring the new post-tax market equilibrium. The existing literature does not take into account the efficiency losses during the adjustment process while computing the optimal ad valorem taxes. This paper shows how adjustment process influences the optimal ad valorem taxes, minimizing the efficiency losses (output and/ or consumption lost) during the dynamic adjustment process as well as the post-tax market equilibrium. (JEL H20, H21, H22)

Anti-CGRP mAbs for the Preventive Treatment of Migraine: An Overview Review and a Cost Saving Analysis in the Global Scenario.

Objectives: Migraine is a neurological disease with a high frequency of incidence. The new monoclonal antibodies selective for the calcitonin gene-related peptide and its ligand (anti-CGRP mAbs) have been marketed both in the USA and EU based on the positive efficacy results in the prevention of migraine. This search has been carried out with the aim of collecting real-world evidence on the effectiveness of anti-CGRP mAbs, performing a cost-savings analysis, and comparing performances among anti-CGRP mAbs medicines marketed in the American and European market. Methods: The literature review has been performed in PubMed database on 31 December 2022; the cost of the unitary dose of anti-CGRP mAbs has been extracted consulting an American national database. Results: The results confirm efficacy and good tolerability of anti-CGRP mAbs, determining a difference in the purchase price. In fact, all extracted studies showed a protective risk factor exposure in monthly migraine days reduction for all the anti-CGRP mAbs, whereas the cost analysis showed that using eptinezumab, in a quarter there is a cost saving of at least $425 per patient, compared with the other anti-CGRP mAbs. Conclusions: With equal efficacy and equal safety, anti-CGRP mAbs should be prescribed also regard to the cost established at the negotiation, making sure to guarantee the best treatment to the patients, but at the same time impacting as little as possible to the healthcare services resources.

Simple Chemical and Cholinesterase Methods for the Detection of Nerve Agents Using Optical Evaluation.

The extreme toxicity of nerve agents and the broad spectrum of their physical and chemical properties, enabling the use of these agents in a variety of tactical situations, is a continuing challenge in maintaining the knowledge and capability to detect them, as well as in finding new effective methods. Despite significant advances in the instrumentation of the analysis of nerve agents, relatively simple methods based on the evaluation of colour signals (absorption and fluorescence), in particular those using the cholinesterase reaction, continue to be of importance. This review provides a brief presentation of the current status of these simple methods, with an emphasis on military applications, and illustrates the high interest of the professional community in their further development. At the same time, it also contains some peculiarities (high reliability and durability, resistance to extreme climatic conditions, work in deployed means of protection, low purchase prices, economic availability especially in a state of war, etc.) that the authors believe research and development of simple methods and means for the detection of nerve agents should respect.

DETERMINANTS OF PURCHASE PRICES OF APPLES FOR PROCESSING IN POLAND

The aim of the study was to identify the significant determinants of the level of purchase prices of apples for processing in Poland. The subject of the research is purchase prices of apples for processing published in the semi-annual Fruit and Vegetable Market by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute. The study showed that the purchase prices of apples for processing in Poland were significantly influenced by the export prices of apples, the volume of the export of concentrated apple juice, and the export prices of concentrated apple juice. The increase in the export prices of apples may be caused by the growing demand for Polish apples on foreign markets, which may result in lower availability of apples for processing. Therefore, the increase in the export prices of apples was accompanied by the increase in the purchase prices of these fruits for processing. The volume of export of concentrated apple juice depends on the volume of production of this processed product, which is influenced by the volume of apples harvested in Poland. The volume of apples harvested is negatively correlated with the purchase prices of apples for processing. Therefore, the increase in the export of concentrated apple juice was accompanied by relatively low purchase prices of apples for processing. The level of export prices of concentrated apple juice was strongly related to the level of purchase prices of apples for processing and the increase of purchase prices of apples was accompanied by an increase in export prices of concentrated apple juice.

Cost–Benefit Evaluation of Walnut and Jujube Orchards under Fruit Tree–Crop Intercropping Conditions in Southern Xinjiang

Fruit planting plays an essential role in achieving zero hunger, ensuring food security, and increasing the income of local people. As one of China’s principal fruit-planting areas, southern Xinjiang possesses more than 80% of the total fruit-planting areas of Xinjiang. However, the spatial distribution, extent, and types of fruit trees remain unknown, generating uncertainty in calculating the economic benefits of orchards in this area. In this paper, we used walnut and jujube orchards under fruit tree–crop intercropping conditions in the Hotan Oasis in southern Xinjiang as the research object. Walnut and jujube orchards were precisely characterized using object-oriented and decision tree classification methods. Then, the economic benefits for farmers were estimated based on field surveys and statistical data. From 2003 to 2020, the area of jujube orchards rapidly increased from 1.91 × 103 ha to 33.59 × 103 ha, while that of walnut orchards steadily increased from 18.05 × 103 ha to 40.24 × 103 ha. The expansion areas of walnut orchards were mainly transformed from other orchards in the oasis, while the expansion areas of jujube orchards mainly originated from newly cultivated land in the desert. The increases in areas and yields largely offset the increase in planting costs and the decrease in purchase prices, resulting in an increasing trend in the total net income of the orchards. From 2003 to 2020, the total net income of walnut orchards increased by 68.96%, and the total net income of jujube orchards significantly increased by 23.37 times. However, the output/input ratios of walnut orchards under intercropping conditions were approximately two times higher than those of jujube orchards under monocropping conditions. The increase in investment slightly offset the decreases in yields and purchase prices, resulting in increases of 5.24% and 18.64% in the output/input ratios of walnuts and jujubes, respectively, in orchards exhibiting standardized cultivation. In the future, it is necessary to significantly expand the area of orchards involving standardized cultivation and improve the yield and quality of fruits, thereby increasing the yields and income levels of local farmers.