Regional Milk Market Integration: Evidence from Central Europe

A well-integrated agricultural market is a precondition for the sustainability of agri-food systems since it contributes to optimal resource and product allocation and encourages specialization according to comparative advantage. This study broadens the previous research on the spatial integration of the milk market with a regional analysis of four countries: Germany, Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia. The empirical analysis was conducted on monthly regional cow’s raw milk prices. The dataset covered the period January 2013 – December 2021. The length of the data sample was determined by the availability of the prices regional data. Agricultural prices were obtained from several sources: the Czech Statistical Office, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, the Polish Statistical Office, and the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food. Since not all prices were available in Euro, monthly exchange rates gained from Eurostat were used to express prices in the same currency (EUR).