畜産物市場の初期形態と展開規定

日本における畜産物市場の展開は明治期以降であるが、その原型は畜産物の商品性と経営資本の蓄積で規定される。商品性の基本は可分割性と保存性であり、資本は単位投入額の規模である。鶏卵は畜産物の中では最も可分割性 保存性に富み、零細資本でも飼養ができる。その原型が庭先養鶏であり、そこでは農民的局地市場が形成される。牛乳は保存性に欠け ビン詰等の加工工程も加わるので、資本の投入単位額が大きい。酪農の原型である市乳酪戯は、企業的局地市場を形成し、遠隔地酪農はメーカー資本が介入する管理市場として出発する。肥育牛、養豚は、食肉消費者の購買単位量が小さいのに反して枝肉量が大きいため、都市市場と結合せざるをえない。枝肉流通に商人資本が介入し、閉鎖的市場となるのである。上述の市場構造は、経営資本の蓄積と畜産業の発展、政府の市場介入等で、商人資本が排除され、不完全競争市場が完全競争市場へと再編される。それが商業資本、加工メーカー等による寡占的競争市場へと展開し、また農協小売資本との直結、大型スーパーによる市場再編へと動くのである。生産者のかような市場への対応行動は、1)商品銘柄の革新、2)飼養技術の革新、3)経営の革新、4)流通経路・市場の開発、5)マネージリアル マーケテイングの活動である。

As far as the period after the Meiji era is concerned, at its begining marketing of animal products was formed in conlpliance with the properties of products as a public commodity and the amount of investment needed. The former factor depends basically on the divisibility and the preservation possibilities of the products. The latter is the capital needed for marketing and production.

1) Eggs are the most divisible and preservable of all the animal products. Also, hens can be kept with small finantial burdens. The initial form of laying hen farming is just to keep several hens free in the house and the yeard, and then to peddle eggs. Therefore, the characteristic of this farming is a locally limited marlcet.

2) Milk too is a very divisible goods, yet it is less presel-vable than eggs. For this reason a dairy man will try to find a location for his farm in the suburbs. Furthermore, a larger amount of initial investment is required, in fact a certain number of cows is needed to supply milk steadily all the year round. A barn relevant to the size of farm is necessary. Processing facilities such as bottle fillers are required too. Therefore practically the local market is held only by the milk enterprises. As for milk used for processing, such farm are usually situated in a more remote region. In fact the processing enterprise is mostry separated from milk production enterprises, because in this case a larger amount of capital is needed techniques are more specialized, calling for a new means of marketing. Thus the processor comes to intervene between the dairy farmer and the consumer, the farmers become conditioned by the processor's nlarket control.

3) Carcass of beef and pork has to be cut up promptly and sliced in portions. This is a crucial process in the meat market in regard to the unit of quantity at which the consumer buys and of the retailing before taint. For this reason, living animals are transported from the farm to the city. The slaughtering and dressing processes are all performed in the city. In this situation middlemen have greater influence in the meat market than the breeders themselves. For them usually the size of livestock keeping is small, and it is but a side-job of the farm household.

The initial marketing examined above has been modernized frorn imperfect competition to perfect one by farmers' grousing financial gains and by the encouragement of the government, trying to eliminate the middlemen. However, oligopolistic competition results from entrance of powerful commercial and processing companies. On the other hand, to simplify the market course, a supermarket directly aligns with a large scale farm or an agricultural cooperative. In addition, through its expansion the supermarket comes nearer to the buyer's market through the corelation of the supermarket and the producer. This transition is further supported by the technical development of transportation and preservation.