Wholesale Market Research Articles

Strategic interaction between wholesale and ancillary service markets

In electricity markets, ancillary services (AS) are vital to ensuring system reliability through the instantaneous balancing of supply and demand. An important current policy question is whether AS markets clear simultaneously or sequentially with wholesale markets. We develop a model to study the strategic implications of market timing. We demonstrate that a strategic incentive to reduce AS and, consequently, lower marginal cost in the wholesale market arises when markets clear sequentially. Using data from Alberta, we find that the strategic effect has a small impact on wholesale outcomes but a large impact on the AS market.

Field Experiment for a Prequalification Scheme for a Distribution System Operator on Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations

The purpose of this paper is to summarize and share the field experiment results of KEPCO’s project consortium to create a TSO-DSO-DERA interaction scheme. The field experiment was conducted based on the prequalification algorithm proposed in previous research from the same consortium, and was designed to verify the validity of the algorithm under realistic grid conditions. In addition, during the course of the field experiment, it was found that points that were missed or not given much importance in the existing prequalification algorithm could affect the completeness of the overall system, and then practical improvements were made to improve this. The demonstration results confirm that the proposed algorithm is effective in real-world grid environments and can help DSOs to ensure the reliability of the distribution system while supporting DERA’s participation in the wholesale market using the proposed prequalification scheme.

Analysing price trends of Bahera (Terminalia bellerica) in Central India

Present study examined the market prices of Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb. commonly known as ‘Bahera,’ occurring naturally in central Indian forests. It is native to several Asian countries and is widely used in traditional medicinal systems like Ayurveda, Unani, and Chinese medicine and also has extensive pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. Various parts of the tree, particularly its fruits, are utilized to treat a range of health conditions, including hepatitis, bronchitis and skin issues. In the present study wholesale market rates were collected in selected markets and its price trends were analyzed over a 12-year period (2010-2021) in Central India. This analysis revealed intriguing insights into pricing dynamics, regional variations, and temporal fluctuations, emphasizing the economic significance of Bahera in the region. Variability in pricing was also observed, with markets like Dhamtari, Betul, and Shivpuri exhibiting higher price fluctuations, while markets like Katni, Mandla, and Sheopur remained relatively stable. These findings shed light on the complex interplay of economic and market-related factors that influence Bahera’s pricing trends in Central India.

Food system resilience tested

At the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many warned that the resilience of the global, industrial food system would be tested. We conducted regular interviews in 2020 with key actors at the Ontario Food Terminal, North America’s third largest produce wholesale market, to better understand urban food system resilience in the first year of the Pandemic. How major wholesale marketplaces, such as the Ontario Food Terminal, fare during emergencies is key to understanding urban food system resilience, as these institutions connect farms to cities. Widescale interruptions to the supply of fresh produce did not take place at the Terminal despite challenges. We present data from the frontlines, documenting the challenges participants faced and their adaptive capacity. We find that food system resilience was rooted in pre-existing relationships, the adaptability of actors in produce supply chains, and worker stress and effort. We caution that, even though the system displayed resiliency, this does not mean that it is inherently resilient. We highlight vulnerabilities in the status quo and raise a red flag around the future ability of the system to withstand shocks. We conclude that, because the system resilience we document depends on people, the well-being of humans in the system is key to resilience of the food system itself.

A Customer-Centric Distributed Data-Driven Stochastic Coordination Method for Residential PV and BESS

An aggregation scheme is an effective transactive manner of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) spreading across distribution networks. Distributed approach locally achieves cost minimization of an aggregator and customers. The uncertainties of wholesale market price and rooftop PV output will impact on aggregator's scheduling decision and each customer's cost, while solar energy fluctuation can cause an overvoltage problem in distribution networks. However, the probability distributions of these uncertainties always have errors, even in emerging data-based methods. There is no stochastic method using real data with an out-of-sample guarantee suitable for this distributed approach so far to help an aggregator avoid price risk and manage customers' energy against solar energy fluctuation. To address these unsolved issues, we propose a data-driven Wasserstein distributionally robust formulation of the aggregator's agent and customer's agent respectively. The Wasserstein metric is employed to construct the Wasserstein ambiguity set. The mathematical models are then reformulated equivalently to convex programming respectively so that the operating model can be solved by the off-the-shelf solver. To improve the efficiency of the distributed solving framework, an alternating optimization procedure (AOP) process is proposed to overcome the issue caused by binary variables in the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). The proposed operation framework is verified on the modified IEEE 33-bus distribution network and realistic single-feeder LV network.

배추의 가락시장 물류체계 선진화 과제와 발전 방안

Kimchi is the most traditional side dish, and a staple food for the average Korean table. Cabbage, the primary ingredient for Kimchi, is consequently the most widely consumed vegetable in Korea. It holds a pivitol role in the nation’s food culture and deeply influences the dietary habits of its citizens, both at home and when dining out. The distribution of cabbage in wholesale markets traditionally involved harvesting them from the fields, packaging them in bulk bags, loading them onto general cargo vehicles, and then transporting them to Garak Market. Once there, the cabbages often remained at auction sites for extended periods until they were sold. This led to various issues, such as diminished product value, increased market congestion, distribution delays, and escalating logistical costs. Furthermore, given that cabbages direct to Garak Market constitutes 24.2% of the nation’s total wholesale market volumes, there’s a pressing need to refine and modernize its logistical system. Considering these challenges, the government plans to initiate an online wholesale market for agricultural products by the end of 2023. This will also involve introducing an electronic delivery system intended to be rolled out gradually across all national public wholesale markets. However, for this endeavor to succeed, the preliminary steps of palletizing wholesale market products in essential.
 This research delves into the distribution and logistics of cabbage from its cultivation to the wholesale market. It pinpoints issues in the current logistics practices and evaluates the economic viability of pallet shipping and unloading. With a B/C Ratio of 1.31, the analysis confirms its economic feasibility. The study champions the advancement of palletization in wholesale markets, which is projected to enhance the logistical efficiency significantly, aligning with the government’s drive to digitalize and modernize the nation’s public wholesale markets.

Research Note: Factors influencing highly pathogenic avian influenza preventive behavior among live poultry market vendors

In China, fresh food has always been a top priority and live poultry has been a staple in the diet for thousands of years. As a result, the live poultry market (LPM) remains a popular and important source for purchasing live poultry among the public. However, LPMs also play a crucial role in spreading and retaining highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) due to the high poultry movement and trade volume. Therefore, the preventive behavior of LPM vendors is essential in blocking the transmission of HPAI and reducing occupational exposure. Based on the health belief model, this study utilized structural equation modeling to examine the effect of risk perceptions on preventive behavior among vendors in the live poultry wholesale market (wLPM) and the live poultry retail market (rLPM) in Guangdong Province. The results indicated that perceived severity and perceived benefits positively influenced the wLPM vendors' ability to adopt preventive behavior (i.e., self-efficacy) while perceived barriers negatively affected self-efficacy in both wLPM and rLPM. Moreover, cues to action positively mediated the relationship between perceived severity, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy of wLPM and rLPM vendors. Cues to action also positively mediated the effect of perceived susceptibility among wLPM vendors. To promote preventive behavior among vendors, the market management companies and the government must provide timely and effective HPAI information through various channels and develop differentiated health campaigns according to the market types to raise vendors' awareness about HPAI.

The Economics of Marketing the Cucumber Crop in Salah al-Din Governorate, Tikrit district, as a model for The Summer Production Season 2021

The importance of the cucumber crop is highlighted because it is important from a nutritional and health point of view for humans because of its importance in the economy. A random sample was selected for this research estimated at.(75) farmers from the producers of the cucumber crop in Salah al-Din Governorate - Tikrit district. Moreover, the Data was taken from farmers using a questionnaire form. Information about The merchants was taken from the wholesale market in the Tikrit district using (34) A questionnaire, as well as collecting (46) From the retailers' forms. The results showed that the commission rate increased to (5%) of the product prices, and this is the reason for the high price of the product among retailers. The share of the product from consumer spending for the cucumber crop has reached (49.46%). As for the wholesaler's share of consumer spending for the crop under study (18.53%). As for the retailer's share of consumer spending for the crop under study (32%). As for the mediators’ share of the consumer’s dinar for the crop under study (50.53%). The results showed that the marketing margin between the wholesalers' stage and the product was (27.25%) dinars/kg. In comparison, the relative margin for the wholesalers and retailers stage amounted to (32%) and the margin between the retailers stage and product (50(. The study showed a rise in the profits of the retailer from the margin, as it ranked first, as it reached an average of the cucumber crop of about (218.44 dinars - kg), while the profit for the wholesaler amounted to about (132.57 dinars/ kg The product profits amounted to about (98.655) dinars - kg. The researcher recommended working to provide production requirements and agricultural marketing requirements for the cucumber crop with good quality and appropriate prices, which have an effective role in reducing production and marketing costs. Key Words: The Economics, Marketing, Cucumber Crop.

Permission or Prohibition of Vertical Integration: the Experience of the Russian Freight Rail and Power Industry

Despite the presence of a positive effect from the development of competition, confirmed both in theory and in practice, in a crisis, priorities can be given to short-term effects of the financial stability of a business. The authors analyzed the state of the industries of electricity generation and freight rail transportation in terms of their vertical integration model and financial results of companies, including an assessment of the cost of the latter's business. The choice of industries is justified by the absence of vertically integrated companies in the first industry and their presence in the second, which allows us to analyze the causes and consequences of allowing vertical integration for companies in backbone industries. The results of the analysis of financial multipliers show that in the case of vertical integration of railway companies with an infrastructure organization, there is no “premium” to the value of the business relative to non-integrated companies. This leads to the conclusion that integrated companies in the industry do not receive unconditional advantages over nonintegrated players. At the same time, vertical integration and competition are not connected by an unambiguous causal relationship, however, the experience of the studied industries demonstrates that vertical integration may not hinder the development of competition in the industry. We assume that a further increase in the level of competition in the electricity market can be ensured by separating assets in the formed wholesale market, even if the ban on vertical integration is lifted.

The impacts of COVID-19 on seafood prices in Japan: A comparison between cheap and luxury products.

Like many other countries, the economy and society of Japan have been severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the fishery sector particularly seafood is no exception. Among seafood, since luxury seafood is more commonly consumed at restaurants it has a higher possibility of getting affected by the pandemic compared with cheap popular seafood for the masses. Considering this motivation, this study investigates the variations in the COVID-19 impact on luxury and cheap seafood prices in the Tokyo Toyosu wholesale market. Using the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag model (NARDL), the study identifies that an increase in the hours of stay-at-home during the initial stage of the pandemic is causing a negative influence on both cheap and luxury seafood prices and that this negative impact was severer in the luxury seafood prices. The study also finds a positive influence from the hours of stay-at-home on some cheap popular seafood like horse mackerel and sardine during the third state of emergency (SOE) where at least most of the elderly people have received their first vaccine dose but the negative impact from the SOE measure remained on luxury seafood. It is evident from the findings that the luxury seafood market is heavily dependent on the restaurant sector, which will likely suffer adverse effects when human mobility is restricted. In the event of a pandemic like COVID-19, policymakers should stabilize the price and provide subsidies to the luxury seafood stakeholders.

Occurrence of Anisakis larvae in Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) sold in the city of Marrakesh, Morocco

Human anisakidosis is a parasitic infection caused by the ingestion of nematode larvae of the Anisakidae family contained in various organs of fish and cephalopods consumed raw or undercooked. The aim of this work was to detect and identify morphologically and genetically (PCR and sequencing) the nematode larvae present in both flesh and abdominal cavity of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) which are widely consumed by the population of Marrakesh. For this purpose, 299 fish were purchased at the wholesale market in refrigerated conditions. They were originated from seven different landing ports along the Atlantic coast (Agadir, Dakhla, El Jadida, Essaouira, Mohammedia, Safi and Sidi Ifni). The fishes were analyzed from November 2017 to December 2019, and 4815 larvae were detected out of 294 positive horse mackerel. This resulted in a prevalence of 98.33% and a mean intensity of 16.38 larvae per fish. Horse mackerel from Mohammedia, El Jadida, Safi, Essaouira, Agadir and Sidi Ifni were more infested than those from Dakhla with a mean intensity of 25.29, 21.33, 18.88, 16.15, 15.90 and 13.86 larvae per fish, respectively, while that from Dakhla was the least infested with a mean intensity of 11.83. These results could be explained by the availability of primary intermediate hosts of Anisakis spp., such as crustaceans (shrimps), which are more abundant in the northern Moroccan Atlantic coast. Furthermore, we have recorded a higher infection in fish during warm seasons (spring and summer) than during cold ones. We also have noticed that as the distance from the fishing area increased, the larvae had more time to migrate from the abdominal cavity to the muscles. All detected larvae were identified morphologically as Anisakis type I and genetically as Anisakis simplex sensu stricto. Statistical analysis showed that the intensity of infection by Anisakis L3 larvae was positively correlated with the weight of horse mackerel and that origin had no impact on fish parasitism.

Regional persistence of the energy efficiency gap: Evidence from England and Wales

The pursuit of reducing imported energy dependence via energy efficiency measures has become crucial to achieving sustainability goals, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and minimising reliance on imported energy. Despite the significant heterogeneity of energy dependence across regions, heavy reliance on energy imports can expose countries to energy security risks that impact wholesale market energy prices and global energy security, especially in periods of geopolitical conflict. Recent geopolitical conflicts and pent-up demand from post-pandemic recovery have caused global energy prices to rise, leading to high inflation and a severe cost-of-living crisis worldwide. The existence of persistent patterns of energy efficiency gap can quickly exacerbate the associated environmental and economic losses caused by energy price shocks. This paper aims to provide robust empirical evidence of the existence of patterns of persistence of the energy efficiency gap and analyses cross-sectional heterogeneity in such persistence. In a large sample of 18,361,088 domestic dwellings across England and Wales, this study incorporates observable cross-sectional heterogeneous factors, such as socioeconomic conditions, regional characteristics, and structural constraints, to understand the potential barriers preventing residents from adjusting their energy efficiency ratings and their energy efficiency gaps. Notably, the study finds that the energy efficiency gap exhibits an average high degree of persistence of almost 50%, a finding that is statistically and economically significant across all of the LSOAs in England and Wales. The study also finds significant evidence of cross-sectional heterogeneity. This analysis is unique, both in terms of methodology and the subject of investigation, as it is the first empirical analysis that investigates regional patterns of persistence of the energy efficiency gap across England and Wales with such a large degree of granularity. The findings of this study contribute to the scarce academic literature in the field and provide valuable information for designing effective policies that can help achieve energy security and climate change goals while tackling growing socioeconomic inequalities.

Monitoring the Italian transposition of the EU regulation concerning renewable energy communities and the relevant policies for battery storage

This paper deals with the transposition of the European Union (EU) Directive concerning Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) into the Italian legislation. The methodology aims at identifying those national provisions which do not comply with the EU legislation. Consequently, long and onerous infringement procedures may ultimately limit the development of RECs. Moreover, the proposed methodology quantifies the economic value of national policies concerning the participation of storage assets in RECs. Three policy options are compared against the case without flexible assets. To do so, ad-hoc mixed-integer linear programming optimization problems are developed. The assessment is based on the formulation of three key performance indicators, concerning the revenues and costs of the REC. The main data sources in the work are the actual Italian Wholesale Market prices and the price incentives introduced by relevant Italian authorities to support the operation of the RECs. Results indicate an incorrect transposition of the fundamental rights of the EU law. These concern a significant alteration of the membership criteria for prospective RECs and the introduction of external third-parties, which may bypass fundamental requirements set out in the EU law. Numerical results call for a profound revision of the policy options for battery storage in RECs since the envisaged configurations introduce structural limits to the REC's revenues This work can support researchers and policy makers at both national and EU-level in developing policy options and techno-economic measures that foster the development of new RECs.

Do Retail Evolution Theories Explain Wholesalers’ Responses in Emerging Economies? Evidence from a Wholesale Market in Northern India

Traditional retail markets, such as wholesale markets, continue to be a significant distribution channel across emerging economies. These channel intermediaries are facing unprecedented changes in their retail environments and responding to them to endure. However, these responses are not adequately captured in the extant literature. This study attempts to fill this gap by documenting the responses of wholesalers in one of the oldest markets in northern India and mapping their responses to theories of retail change. The study uses a qualitative approach consisting of in-depth, semi-structured interviews and direct observations. Five themes, that is, the business-mix shift, business expansion and diversification, additional services, improved infrastructure and use of technology, emerged from the wholesalers’ responses to the changes in the retail environment. These responses can be mapped back to four popular retail change theories. Cumulatively, these theories can explain all the responses by wholesalers; however, none of the retail change theories in isolation is sufficient to explain all responses. This study contributes to understanding the evolution and change of a traditional retail marketing system. It also presents a few interesting questions for future research.

Unlocking renewables amid rentierism: Market constraints to Nigeria's energy transition

Tackling climate change requires a rapid transition to renewable energy (RE). However, resource rents and subsidies present multiple challenges to the energy transition in fossil fuel-rich countries. Here, we analyze the complex but often overlooked constraints to utility-scale RE investment in Nigeria, combining qualitative data from 24 interviews with administrative data from public and private stakeholders. Using the Structure-Conduct-Performance-Regulation (SCPR) framework and the Rentier State Theory (RST), we identify three mutually reinforcing constraints related to stakeholder distrust, a monopolistic wholesale market, and a protracted subsidy regime that impede utility-scale RE investment in Nigeria. Bold policy reforms are needed to promote competition, attract investment, improve the efficiency of the market, and meet the country's clean energy goals.

Co-Optimization of Distributed Renewable Energy and Storage Investment Decisions in a TSO-DSO Coordination Framework

As Distributed Energy Resources (DER) penetration levels and distributed flexibility investments are continuously growing, various smart grid actors need to coordinate their decisions towards optimal DER siting and sizing: First, profit-based Energy Service Providers (ESPs) want to secure their long-term profits and avoid economically unsustainable DER investments. Second, Distribution System Operators (DSOs) need to ensure the reliable operation of their networks in an economically optimal way. Third, Transmission System Operators (TSOs) want to optimally exploit the available “clean” DERs in close collaboration with the downstream DSOs. In this paper, we propose a novel ESP-DSO-TSO coordination scheme to co-optimize distributed renewable energy and storage planning at the distribution network level, while modeling the coordinated TSO-DSO operations. We formulate a bi-level program, the upper-level of which minimizes the DSO's costs, ensuring a minimum rate of return on ESP's investments, while the lower-level models the transmission network-constrained wholesale market. A nested decomposition technique is used to achieve computational tractability. Simulation results showcase a trade-off analysis between sustainable DER investments and system cost minimization and prove that an ESP-DSO-TSO interaction can benefit all involved actors to a certain extent. Finally, the computational efficiency of the proposed nested decomposition algorithm is demonstrated via numerical results.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Vegetable Wholesale Markets in Egypt

COVID-19 Pandemic and Vegetable Wholesale Markets in Egypt

Electricity pricing challenges in future renewables-dominant power systems

Economy-wide decarbonization will require electric power systems to rely heavily on variable renewable energy (VRE, mainly wind and solar generation), which has near zero marginal operating costs, and energy storage. We have modeled optimized, deeply decarbonized power systems in three US regions at mid-century under a wide range of plausible cost and technology assumptions. The shadow marginal values of energy (MVEs) from these optimizations approximate the wholesale spot prices of energy in simplified hypothetical competitive energy-only wholesale markets in which revenues earned by selling energy in wholesale electricity markets should be sufficient to cover all capital and operating costs. A very robust result is that under carbon constraints, very low MVEs occur much more frequently than in today's wholesale markets, and very high prices are also more frequent than today. Revenues from a relatively small number of high MVE periods are required to fully cover VRE capital and operating costs, while storage charges and discharges in many hours. In an ideal, efficient regime, a competitive energy-only wholesale market without price caps would minimize total system costs, and retail rates equal to wholesale spot prices would fully cover those costs and induce efficient demand behavior. Real power systems depart significantly from this ideal: price caps are used frequently in wholesale markets, capacity payments from organized capacity markets or bilateral contracts are relied on to supplement energy market revenues to enable full cost recovery, and most customers face retail rates that do not reflect variations in marginal operating costs. The greater volatility of future decarbonized wholesale markets will increase the costs of such politically attractive departures from the ideal regime.

Integrating flexibility and energy local markets with wholesale balancing responsibilities in the context of renewable energy communities

Prosumers can organize themselves in collective self-consumption (CSC) structures and renewable energy communities (RECs) to share energy they produce locally. In addition, through their contracted balancing responsible party (BRP), i.e., retailer and aggregator, they could become flexibility providers for system services to solve, for example, local grid constraints. Since CSC and REC structures are progressively being regulated in many countries, local energy markets (LEMs) and local flexibility markets (LFMs) to be developed with these structures should find the way to comply with existing CSC rules to settle energy transactions and flexibility activation, both, locally and with the wholesale markets (WSMs) settlement, and the existing barriers and regulatory improvements should be identified to allow future implementations. Indeed, the integration of local and WSMs is still a matter of development, demanding innovative solutions, one of the main issues being, for example, the impact of the flexibility activation by one BRP into another BRP’s expected delivery commitment in the WSM. This work proposes innovative designs for LEM and LFM based on common CSC rules of existing regulations, and a conceptual approach to integrate them together and with the WSM balancing responsibilities of the BRPs involved, identifying existing regulatory barriers. While many LEMs in the literature operate as WSMs, with future markets and delivery commitments for prosumers, we propose the use of a post-delivery LEM that can be cleared even after the delivery of energy, which strongly simplifies prosumers participation avoiding the need of these a priori unrealistic commitments. The business model, the main roles involved, and the contractual framework to connect the BRPs while allowing prosumers to freely contract the BRP of their choice for both energy supply and flexibility provision are described and can serve as a guide for future regulatory improvement of the common regulatory frameworks.

Analyzing the existing value chains of fruits and vegetables in selected upazilas of Bangladesh

Reducing postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables is a major pathway to food and nutrition security in Bangladesh. A survey was conducted in 30 selected upazilas of Bangladesh from February to October 2021 to explore the nature and magnitude of postharvest losses. This study assessed the knowledge gap, attitudes and practices of the value chain’s key actors, and the status of market opportunities in the country. A total of 515 farmers and 295 traders were interviewed from selected upazilas of the country. The findings of this study revealed that 50-70% of growers showed a positive attitude toward good agriculture practices (GAP), maturity indices, and the role of good packaging in keeping the products safe for consumers. More than 41% of farmers aggregated their harvested commodities beside the field on direct soil contact under open sunlight. Only 27% of farmers and traders washed fruits and vegetables before marketing, of which 32% used unsafe water found in the canal or ditches. On average, 86.91% of farmers and traders sorted out their products before marketing for a better price. More than 56% of farmers and traders used jute or nylon sac for packaging fresh fruit and vegetables. Nevertheless, only 20.2% of farmers and 24.41% of traders used plastic crates as packaging containers. Generally, the farmer used different local vehicles, including three-wheeler van, rickshaw, bi-cycle, tempo, etc. In contrast, the traders transported their produce to the wholesale market using a truck and pick-up van. The average postharvest losses were estimated 12.5% at the farm level, whereas 6.7% at trader’s level up to the wholesale market. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 13(1): 123-130, June 2023