Abstract:Market integration shows the degree to which prices in different markets are in motion together. The high degree of market integration indicates the competitiveness of the markets. Market integration also plays a very important role in determining pattern and pace of diversification towards the high value crops. The present research has been undertaken to study the relationship between arrivals and prices of pomegranate, to evaluate the price volatility and co-integration of pomegranate in the selected markets of Maharashtra.
The co-integration of prices of pomegranate was observed for the selected market. It indicated that selected markets are competitive to each other. The pair wise granger causality test of pomegranate price results indicated that the market pairs viz; Mumbai-Nashik, Pune-Mumbai, Nashik-Nagpur, Nagpur-Pune and Nashik-Pune have unidirectional causality. It revealed that a price change in the first market in each pair granger cause the price formation in the second market, whereas the price change in the second market is not feed backed by the price change in the first market. It is concluded that very high price volatility present in selected markets of pomegranate. It should be minimized and needs to protect price security for farming community.