Articles
THE CONSUMPTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
On material and non material, on financial and physical ones.
It is depending on the standard of living of the country and even of the region, on the income of the families or persons, on the growth or decrease in income, on the family size and age, on the prices, on the own and cross price elasticity of demand for certain commodities, on the common behaviour, on habits, employment, on the commodity structure and changes in it, on the personal and social preferences, on the taste, on new fashions, etc.
The Engel’s law concerning food consumption seems to be valid not only in the developed countries but also in the developing ones; though with different efficiency.
The ratio spent on food of the family budget is strongly decreasing in the expenditure of households of the developed countries.
Recently it has decreased to about 20 per cent in average in the most developed ones.
The income elasticities of food items are generally under 1 similarly to the price elasticities.
In the developing countries the ratio spent on food is much higher and the decrease of it is much lower than in the developed ones.
But there are great differences between the different income groups, not only in the developing but also in the developed countries.
For instance, recently in Sweden the low income families were spending one third of their total family expenditure to food items, while the high income groups only less than 25 per cent of it and in the United Kingdom 21 and 15 per cent were the respective figures.
In Hungary about 30 per cent of the total expenditure of the population was spent on food in 1975, but only 26 per cent in the highest wage and salary earners income strata and 48 per cent in the lowest ones.
At the same time in the developing countries yet more than 50 per cent of the total expenditure of the population was spent on food.
In South- and South-East Asia even more, e.g. in Indonesia more than 70 per cent in country average (but only two third in the high income groups) and in India more than 60 per cent.
While the elasticity of demand for food is generally low in the developed countries, it is much higher in the developing ones mainly in the low income groups.
E.g. the coefficient is more than 1 for cereals in India in the rural areas.