Do Agricultural Commodity Prices Respond to Bans against Bioengineered Crops?

Abstract

Bans against bioengineered food ingredients by major food companies have been broadly reported and have been often taken to signal demand shifts away from commodities in favor of identity‐preserved non‐bioengineered crops. Yet, the impacts of such bans have not been quantified and, indeed, the market size for non‐bioengineered crops remains unknown. We tested whether either the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures prices (commodity) or the Tokyo Grain Exchange non‐GMO soybean futures prices (identity preserved market) responded to firm bans of bioengineered food ingredients. Neither the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures prices nor the Tokyo Grain Exchange non‐GMO soybean futures prices respond to bans.