A hedonic analysis of apple prices and product quality characteristics in British Columbia

The quality and market characteristics of apples have important implications for the merchandising strategy of packers and marketers. A hedonic price function relating apple prices to product and market quality characteristics is estimated for British Columbia over three marketing years (1994-96). The results indicate that grade, cultivar, storage and marketing season are the most significant variables influencing apple prices. The results show that price discounts and premiums for quality characteristic are relative larger for the linear model than for the log-linear or power-transformed models.