of apples. Economic theory holds that a market characterized hy many 

 huyers and sellers would indicate a uniform price with little or no 

 "higgling" present. From the writer's experience, however, it would 

 seem that this is not true on small markets where producers, whole- 

 salers and retailers are all in direct contact and "higgling" is the "order 

 of the day." This discrimination has heen diminishing during the past 

 few years as small local markets have heen disappearing. The construc- 

 tion of modern marketing facilities in large cities and "regional" facili- 

 ties for groups of smaller cities has resulted in bringing many huyers 

 and sellers together and has created an atmosphere where a standard 

 price for products is more possible. In large city markets, shipping 

 centers, and fruit auctions, there is very little chance of discrimination 

 between identical lots of apples. 



Since processors of apples are not nearly so numerous as wholesalers 

 of fresh apples, a relatively small number of buyers can lie expected 

 at the processor buying level. As growers in some areas produce mainly 

 for the processing market, this may result in a lessening of the com- 

 petitive aspects of certain markets. Any grower has the alternative, how- 

 ever, of selling on the fresh market. Although processors are usually 

 few in number and purchase in large quantities, the competitive aspects 

 of the market are not interferred with as much as if the processing and 

 fresh markets were separated at the farm level. Since practically all 

 varieties can be moved into either outlet, the prices of apples for these 

 two portions of the market will not be allowed to differ Ijy much more 

 than the relative differences in harvesting and handling costs at the 

 farm for the two segments of the market. 



A Relatively Competitive Market 



In general, it can be stated that competitive conditions do exist on a 

 city market or fruit auction selling lots of apples which are identical 

 as to quality and variety and origin. On a market containing apples of 

 manv different grades which were produced in various areas we move 

 away from the above conditions for a competitive market. 



The major obstacles to a competitive market concern the homo- 

 geneity of the product itself. If analysis is confined to identical lots of 

 apples that are produced in a single region, competitive conditions 

 exist. The degree of competition existing on a given market, therefore, 

 is determined largely by: (1) the number of different grades of apples 

 and the quantity of apples within each single grade, and (2) the num- 

 ber of regions shipping apples into the given market. 



Competition Between Producing Regions 



The keenest competition between apple producing areas occurs on 

 fresh markets in deficit areas. Since it is not economically feasible to 

 ship apples for processing any great distance, interregional competition 

 on processing markets is usually slight. In addition, over time, the in- 

 stitutional framework of the processing industry has been estal)lished 

 in such a manner that interregional movement of fresh apples for pro- 

 cessing use is unnecessary. 



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