Factors that determine the price of game

Abstract

Today, approximately 50 years after the first game farm was established in South Africa, the game industry has grown significantly, and is growing still. There are roughly 9000 game farms and they make a large contribution to both the tourism industry and nature conservation. The price of the majority of game species in South Africa shows an upward trend since 1990. Lately, a number of species, such as roan antelope, reedbuck, white springbok, black wildebeest, grey rhebuck and white rhinoceros have seen significant increases in value. The price increases can be attributed to a number of factors. The factors include the growth in the number of game farms, that in turn is driven by the growth of the tourism industry in South Africa, coupled with the growth of trophy hunting and increased demand for game meat products. Farmers have diversified into game farming in areas that are otherwise not suitable for cattle or crop farming. These increases in demand has, however, to some extent been met by the success of game breeding programmes (specifically of endangered and rare species). The question that comes to mind is which factors have the most significant impact on the price of game. Answers to this will help game farm owners to manage the fluctuation in game prices better. Based on the above the aim of this paper is to determine to what extent the above-mentioned factors have an influence on the price of game and which factors have the most significant impact. Panel data consisting of the price of different game species, number of game farms, number of tourist arrivals and the number of trophies hunters were analysed for the years 1996-2001. A regression analysis is undertaken to identify the determinants of the price of game in South Africa. The above-mentioned factors explain the movement in the price of game, specifically that the demand factors have a significant influence on the price. Therefore an increase in the number of trophy and bittong hunters as well as demand for game farms impacts significantly on the price of game.