Zusammenfassung:
The price volatility of agricultural commodities assumes critical importance in the context of the ongoing debate regarding agricultural trade liberalisation in India. The arguments against agricultural trade liberalisation are often based on the issue of larger volatility in international markets. In order to make informed judgements about this crucial aspect of agriculture, which has implications for the entire economy, it is essential to study the volatility patterns in international and domestic markets in a comparative framework. The present study by CSC Sekhar is an attempt in this direction. The study, using monthly price data, finds little evidence to show that the international agricultural prices are uniformly more variable than the domestic prices. The study shows that the intra-year variability is higher in domestic markets while the inter-year variability is higher in the international markets. The current bound rates ofduty are generally found adequate in this study except in case of soybean oil and sugar.