Hedonic demand analysis for beef in Benin Metropolis

The study examined hedonic demand analysis for beef in Benin metropolis. To achieve this, the consumers’ implicit demand for beef within the framework of a hedonic analysis, and the implicit or shadow price of beef were examined. Primary data were used to generate information for the study and were collected with the use of a wellstructured questionnaire using the simple random sampling technique to obtain data from one hundred and seventy (170) respondents. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics used were frequency counts, mean, standard deviation and percentages, while the inferential statistics employed the correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. The results of the descriptive statistics showed that more than half (54.1%) of the consumers were female household heads, who were married, in the age bracket of 40-59 years, of medium-size household family, and mainly civil servants within income bracket of N60000-79000. The results of the Hedonic analysis showed that, with an average unit price of N836.57 for beef, a consumer is strongly willing to pay additional N229.27 for beef with good taste, N227.10 for neat beef, N163.05 for beef of ‘proper’ processing style and N380.21 for fresh beef in the study area. Similarly, the consumer is willing to pay additionalN110.70 for beef which is properly packaged and N139.11 for beef  processed in a hygienic environment in the study area, though not with the same degree of willing as for taste, neatness and freshness. Thus a consumer will willingly pay about twice the normal price for a Kg of beef in the study area. However, other consumers who are keen on the modern processing style for beef production will pay an additional N163.05 per Kg which amounts to about N1700.00 per Kg of beef while others who possibly value modern processing style, in addition to well-packaged beef from a hygienic environment, will pay additional N249.81 per Kg which amounts to N1900.00 per Kg of beef. KEY WORDS : Hedonic, Verimax, Beef, Eigenvectors, Price