Variabilidad de corto plazo en la formación de precios en mercados de haciendas en el Uruguay.

Cattle market can be viewed as a differentiated market, where quality is determined by a set of attributes that completely define the product. There exist price differentials (premiums and discounts) that depend on the specific characteristics of cattle. Market monetary values of the characteristics of interest were estimated using a hedonic price model, involving more than 8,000 lots (454 thousand heads) traded at cattle video auctions. Most of the variables included in the auction catalogs influenced short-time market prices. Nonlinear relationships and interactions among some of the characteristics were also verified. Marketing strategies, such as lot size, order, scale-determined weight, and outstanding lot recommendations, were also relevant in price determination, as well as market conditions measured by season of the sale and current market price levels. Finally, it seems worthy some additional efforts to improve recording of some presumably important characteristics such as presence of horns and health traits, which could not been used in the present research