CURRENT ACTIVITIES
ERS Supports Pacific Economic Cooperation Council
Over a number of years, ERS has
had an ongoing role in providing information and
analytical support for the Pacific Economic Cooperation
Council (PECC). When applicable to its mission,
ERS strives to assist PECC in its program of work,
which aims to enhance cooperation and policy coordination
in areas including trade, investment, and all major
industrial sectors in the Asia-Pacific region. Past
ERS contributions have focused on food retailing,
transportation infrastructure, urban population
growth, and water scarcity. More recently, ERS economist
Jean Buzby gave a presentation on private and public
cooperation in raising food safety standards at
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Food Safety
Cooperation Seminar in Gyeongju, South Korea. The
contribution of the private sector in improving
food safety will become increasingly important given
the trends towards stricter supply chain management,
growth in international trade, and industry consolidation.
Public and private sector cooperation in food safety
can go a long way in strengthening food safety,
encouraging harmonization with international food
standards, and facilitating and promoting international
food trade. Jean
Buzby
New Trade Model
Researchers from ERS and Pennsylvania
State University have collaborated to develop a
new trade model. The ERS-Pennsylvania State University
Trade model is an applied partial-equilibrium, multiple-commodity,
multiregion model of agricultural policy and trade.
It is a gross trade model that accounts for exports
and imports of each commodity in every identified
region. Currently, there are 12 countries/regions
and 35 commodities included in the framework. The
model, called the Partial Equilibrium Agricultural
Trade Simulator (PEATsim), is available for public
use and comment at trade.aers.psu.edu.
Richard Stillman
ERS Forecasting Retail Food Prices in 2006
Comstock
As part of the ongoing ERS research
focus on retail food prices and the impact of energy,
transportation, and other operating costs on retail
price changes, ERS economists Ephraim Leibtag and
David Torgerson participated in the Food Institute's
first annual “What's Ahead for 2006”
conference. The focus of the conference was to estimate
the impact of recent cost increases on the food
market system and to interact with food industry
decisionmakers to develop solutions to deal with
increasing production costs. ERS researchers discussed
recent trends in retail food markets, projections
of retail food price inflation for 2006, and the
recent increase in energy prices and the impact
of those changes on food manufacturers. Ephraim
Leibtag
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