MIEC Project TA03 Cockles by Jovan Chang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i Group Project (15%) en-us 2018-11-15 06:07:10 UTC 2025-03-14 03:29:05 UTC hello@padlet.com Warm the cockles of my heart jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316669390 A cockle is an edible, marine bivalve mollusc. Although many small edible bivalves are loosely called cockles, true cockles are species in the family Cardiidae. True cockles live in sandy, sheltered beaches throughout the world. The distinctive rounded shells are bilaterally symmetrical, and are heart-shaped when viewed from the end. Numerous radial, evenly spaced ribs are a feature of the shell in most but not all genera (for an exception, see the genus Laevicardium, the egg cockles, which have very smooth shells).
 ]]> 2018-12-26 06:09:41 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316669390 Chosen Article: victoria_kxh https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316669462 - Five years ago, cockles cost Mr Lam Chan Wah around S$1.50 to S$2 per kg, but now it cost S$4.50 per kg due to the decreasing supply.

- Mr Lam Chan Wah says there have been more customers even as the cockle supply has decreased.

-  In 2013, Singapore imported 2,720 tonnes of cockles from Malaysia. However, it fallen to 1,700 tonnes last year.

- Mr Halim Mat Sa’ad from Kuala Juru in Penang. He has been in the business for 20 years, and he went from catching 250 kg of cockles per day in 2014 to 50 kg at most now.

]]> 2018-12-26 06:11:34 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316669462 Why cockles? jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316669599 Majority of the members in our group have once came across an article on Channel News Asia regarding the shortage of cockles - causing us to unequivocally decide to use cockles for this project. 
As it is also something that all of us love consuming, we felt that it would be a good idea to conduct research on something that we are all interested in. ]]> 2018-12-26 06:14:20 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316669599 Price Elasticity of Demand jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670860 The relevant determinant of price elasticity of demand is necessity vs luxury.

The change in price of cockles is price inelastic, which means the increase in price will not affect the quantity demanded for cockles.

Many people across the world such as Singaporeans and Thailand citizens view cockles as an essential ingredient to their dishes - causing demand for this ingredient to remain consistent even though price has increased drastically.]]> 2018-12-26 07:06:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670860 Demand & Supply jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670864 Demand
The main Non-Price Determinants of Demand is Number of Buyers.

Changes in demand varies from one part of the world to another. However, the general consensus is that demand does not fluctuate greatly due to the lack of substitutes of cockles. Many countries such as Thailand and Singapore view cockles as a necessity in many of their traditional dishes - causing the demand for cockles to remain constant, or decrease only by a little, even though price of cockles has increased greatly.

Supply
The main non-price determinants of Supply is Number of Sellers.

Due to the limited number of authorised producers of cockles, the supply of cockles has declined due to a decrease in number of sellers. 

The decline in supply can be attributed to various causes such as pollution, over-harvesting and destruction of natural production grounds such as mudflats across the world.]]> 2018-12-26 07:06:35 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670864 Price Elasticity of Demand victoria_kxh https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670875 Determinant of Price Elasticity of Demand = Necessity v Luxury

- It shows us how much more or less of a good buyer buys when there is a change in price of the good.

- As cockles are one of the key ingredients of Singapore delicacies such as laksa and char kway teow, the price increase in cockles will lead to a subsequent price increase in these food as well.

- However, as people love to eat laksa and char kway teow, they would not mind paying a higher price for it. We can conclude that cockles is a necessary ingredient in the cooking of certain dishes, which makes it price inelastic to a certain extent.

- As cockles are determined to be price inelastic in Singapore's context, the change in price would not result in a major change in quantity demanded - thereby causing an increase in the price of cockles sold. ]]> 2018-12-26 07:06:51 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670875 Chosen Article: limwangshen20111 https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670967 - In this article, it was emphasized that the production of cockles is very dependent on the cleanliness of the environment it is produced in. 

- As a result, due to pollution occurring in every area of the world, major suppliers and producers over the world reached a consensus that the increase in price of cockles due to the declining supply is inevitable. 

- However, the different major suppliers and producers such as South Korea has started to export to developed countries such as Australia and United States in an attempt to help out. In February 2018, they also obtained Halal certification with the desire to boost their export numbers, especially to Asian countries as well as other regions.

- South Korea is the only producer that is certified to export blood cockle overseas. They own a 300-hectare blood cockle farm with a maximum daily picking capacity of 25MT. Their cockles are priced higher than other countries’ as they are known for having the cockles with best quality. 

- As demand remains somewhat consistent and supply of the cockles are limited now, prices inevitably increases.

]]> 2018-12-26 07:11:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316670967 Law of Supply jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316771844 - The most important factor is the price of the goods itself.
- There exists a direct relationship between the price of the good and the quantity supplied.

Non-Price Determinants of Supply
- Number of Sellers
Having only a limited number of reputable sellers in the market of cockles, price of the cockles produced by sellers with an established reputation are higher than the market's price.

Law of Demand
- The most important factor is the price of the good itself.
- Price and Quantity demanded have an inverse relationship.
Non-Price Determinants of Demand
- Number of buyers
As the global trend in production decreases, the cockle's price will inevitably increase every season which caused the quantity demanded to increase - this results in the demand of cockles remaining consistent, or at worst case decrease just a little as buyers would still demand for cockles knowing that the price of it will increase once again in the near future. This is evident from 'more enquiries from developed countries such as Australia and European countries. These buyers are looking for sustainable Asian suppliers that can provide a high quantity with competitive price to replace the European blood cockles.'

]]> 2018-12-28 03:38:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/316771844 Market Structure jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317157876 Oligopoly
Cockles' market have similar characteristics to an oligopoly market. 

There are many buyers and few sellers, whereby product is relatively similar but with small differences, the market is difficult to enter and the level of quality of information is limited. ]]> 2019-01-03 07:11:11 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317157876 Oligopoly jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317158064 2019-01-03 07:13:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317158064 Chosen Article: jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317158308 - Cockle picking has been banned along the coast between the River Etel and Penthièvre in Morbihan.

- Members of the public have been urged not to eat cockles or other shellfish from the area.

- The department's prefect ordered the ban after it was discovered shellfish have been contaminated with naturally-occurring lipophilic toxins, caused by a bloom in algae due to favourable weather conditions. Eating contaminated products can lead to sickness and diarrhoea.

- The ban, which takes in professional and recreational cockle fishing and picking and came into effect on Thursday, September 7, will be in force until "a satisfactory health situation is restored" the préfecture said in a statement.

]]> 2019-01-03 07:17:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317158308 Demand & Supply jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317158394 Due to the ban of cockle picking, the supply of cockles will decrease, which would lead to the decrease in the number of sellers.
The non-price determinant of supply in this case would be 'Number of Sellers'.

Demand in this scenario would also decrease due to expectations of buyers caused by rumors of the health repercussions of consuming cockles.
The non-price determinant of demand would be 'Expectations of Buyers'.]]> 2019-01-03 07:17:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317158394 What's an Oligopoly? jovanchang https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317365648 An Oligopoly market is one which has the following characteristics:
- Few sellers 
- Product uniformity is similar/ differentiated depending on industry 
- Difficult to enter and exit the market
- Limited information available]]> 2019-01-04 03:12:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317365648 Graph victoria_kxh https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317732414 The supply of cockle decreases, the price of the cockle increases and the quantity decreases. ]]> 2019-01-07 04:13:32 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317732414 Graph victoria_kxh https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317732564 The supply of cockle decreases and the demand of cockle increases, the price of cockle increases and the quantity decreases]]> 2019-01-07 04:15:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/317732564 Why is it Oligopoly? limwangshen20111 https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/319086923 In Article 1 & 3, it is stated that due to pollution of waters and the limitation of cockles which can be harvested, it causes production of cockles to decrease. As a result, due to limitation or unsuitability of resources, there is a decline of number of sellers in this market - which means that there are now very few sellers as compared to before.

In Article 2, it states that the size and quality of cockles will vary from one producer to the other. This is also backed up by the fact that South Korea's cockles are more sought after than other countries'. Thus, this shows that cockles is not a homogeneous product and there is product differentiation to a certain extent in terms of the size, shape, taste and quality of the cockles.

All 3 articles also commonly stated that in order to cultivate cockles, one requires a suitable type of sediment and also large amounts of land. As not many firms or startups have such resources, especially Singapore given their land constraint, there exists a high barrier of entry - once again another characteristic of a oligopoly. 

Lastly, the information of cockles available is limited because of the few sellers in the market. In article 2, it states that there are only a few producers of cockles: from China, Malaysia and South Korea. In addition, it also states that South Korea is the only producer that is certified to export blood cockles overseas. Thus, as cockles do not have any close substitutes, firms in the market have substantial market power and they are able to set prices.]]> 2019-01-10 04:25:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jovanchang/m6jp0jiidx5i/wish/319086923