ABSTRACT
The second decade of the XXI century has experienced the development of meat substitutes. The origin of this niche is said to emerge from environmental concerns. One of the market leaders in this infant industry is Beyond Meat company. The study aims to identify the impact of the capital markets and media coverage for an infant industry, such as meat alternatives, on the example of Beyond Meat. A sizeable portion of the investment in this new branch of the food sector came from the capital markets, which expect a return on their investment. The Beyond Meat case suggests that these substantial investments did not bring expected returns, which several factors, such as the post-COVID bear market and lack of demand for meat substitute products, could have caused. Thus, despite awareness campaigns, so far, the company has experienced losses. The development of this market niche acted contrary to what was expected. The market failings correlate with the loss of interest of the retail investors, which was attempted to be measured by this research. As a proxy for the retail investor interest, Google Trends Index was used and compared to the stock prices (a method often described as a Buzz Indicator).
ABSTRACT
Agriculture is a sector in which economic policy has an exceptionally significant influence. The paper aims to identify, discuss, and assess the actions taken by the Polish state (government) concerning agriculture in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. We use data on state aid for agriculture in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic from the European Commission, the National Bank of Poland (NBP), and the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARMA). The research period covers 2020-2021. Polish state has taken several measures concerning agriculture to limit the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These anti-COVID-19 state measures covered: e.g. aid for farms at risk of losing liquidity, intervention purchases of agricultural products, subsidies to interest rates on banking loans, loans, guarantees and loan sureties, subsidies for the costs of employee salaries, allowances for rent or lease, subsidies or repayable assistance, exemption for farmers from paying social security contributions, children care benefits, sick benefits for the quarantine period. Public financial aid for agriculture with the highest value (2/3 of the aid for farmers) came from the RDP 2014-2020 program, i.e., EUR 270 million. Moreover, under state aid, ARMA implemented three programs with approximately a total value. EUR 135 million, i.e., financial aid for agricultural producers facing liquidity losses due to restrictions on the agricultural market, financial aid for the holders of chrysanthemums who have suffered losses due to market restrictions, and financial aid to pig producers. More than 90% of the submitted applications were approved as part of the national state aid. Such a large percentage of accepted applications, both from the RDP 2014-2020 and state programs, resulted from the willingness of the Polish state to help farmers quickly.
ABSTRACT
Agricultural commodities strengthened their position on the financial and commodity market during the 21st century. At the same time, however, the agricultural-oriented commodity market has been suffering due to a high degree of price fluctuation. Significant price fluctuations are typical in this respect, especially in times of uncertainty and periods of financial market crises. In this sector, sugar belongs among key commodities. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant increase in financial market uncertainty, including commodity markets. The new coronavirus affected both supply and demand on the sugar market. Such a situation resulted in significant changes in the area of production offered and especially in relation to the development of available sugar stocks. The aim of the paper is to define the impact of uncertainty on the stock market in relation to sugar price development in the period of COVID-19 crisis. The subject of the analysis is thus the development of sugar price on the one hand in the context of the financial market uncertainty and the development of the COVID-19 pandemic on the other hand. Sugar prices are represented by the S&P GSCI Sugar index, while the VIX index is used to indicate uncertainty in stock markets. To examine the changes in the relationship between sugar prices and stock market uncertainty, a regression model with a sequential Bai-Perron test of structural breaks in a thirty-year perspective is used. The results of the analysis proved the existence of a significant and negative relationship between sugar prices and the expected volatility of stock markets since the global financial crisis. Furthermore, the Granger causality test evaluates the causal relationships between sugar prices and the VIX index during the new coronavirus pandemic. The results of the analysis proved that the uncertainty in the stock market has been negatively affecting sugar prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The aim of the paper is to assess changes in mobility in public transport in Poland, as a consequence of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse the problem from the country and regional (voivodeships) perspective. The data come from Google COVID19 Community Mobility Reports, the Ministry of Health of Poland, and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. The research covers the period between 2 March and 19 July 2020. The obtained results show that there is negative but insignificant relationship between human mobility changes in public transport and the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Poland. The strength and statistical significance of the correlation varies substantially across voivodeships. As far as the relationship between changes in mobility in public transport and the stringency of Polish government's anti-COVID-19 policy is concerned, the results confirm a strong, negative and significant correlation between analysed variables at the national and regional level. Moreover, based on one factor variance analysis (ANOVA) and the Tukey's honest significance test (Tukey's HSD test) we indicate that there are significant differences observed regarding the changes in mobility in public transport depending on the level of stringency of anti-COVID-19 regulation policy both in Poland and all voivodeships. The results might indicate that the forced lockdown to contain the development of the COVID-19 pandemic has effectively contributed to social distancing in public transport in Poland and that government restrictions, rather than a local epidemic status, induce a greater decrease in mobility.
ABSTRACT
The recent outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has made a significant impact on the global financial markets. The aim of this paper is to assess the short-term reaction of the Visegrad countries' financial markets to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Visegrad Group is a political alliance of four Central European countries, namely Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The financial assessment is based on the EUR/CZK, EUR/HUF, and EUR/PLN exchange rates and the major blue-chip stock market indices, that is Prague PX, Budapest BUX, Warsaw WIG20, and Bratislava SAX. It is evident that the ongoing pandemic has changed the expectations of the financial market participants about the future value of exchange rates in the Visegrad countries. This study indicates that, as a consequence of COVID-19, higher probability has been attached to the large depreciation of the Czech koruna (CZK), the Hungarian forint (HUF), and the Polish zloty (PLN) than to their large appreciation. Moreover, based on the TGARCH model, the positive and significant correlation between the number of reported COVID-19 cases and the exchange rates has been confirmed, implying that the ongoing pandemic has resulted in the depreciation of the Visegrad currencies. Additionally, the result of the TGARCH model reveals that there is a significant and negative link between the Visegrad stock market indices and the COVID-19 spread. © 2020 by the authors.