고랭지 배추 밭떼기거래의 실태와 제도화 방안

A Survey on the Bahtegi Contracts for Alpine Chinese Cabbage in Kangwondo

This paper surveys producers growing alpine Chinese cabbage in Kangwondo to see the features of forward trading with Bahtegi contracts. The price risk is the most concern to these producers. Contract buyers usually deposit security money to sellers when contracting, and pay the remainders when harvesting. Results show that security deposits are averaged 58% of total payments when contracting within one week, and 30~40% when contracting within one to four weeks before harvest. In many cases, the buyers(farm-level collectors) of the contract violate the obligations to buy the Chinese cabbage at pre-determined prices in order to avoid losses when prices plunge. Such violations have been experienced by 28% of sellers. Moreover, sellers have been frequently asked to discount remaining payments when prices down. For one tenth of Bahtegi contracts, payments have been discounted, and the discounted amount is averaged about 20% of the remaining payments. These discounts are concentrated in the years of bad prices. More than 80% of producers supports to prohibit violating Bahtegi contracts. More than half supports not to receive security deposits unless Bahtegi contracts are violated. And 87% of producers are inclined to use more Battegi contracts if they are free from violation. This implies that Bahtegi contracts could be used by more and more producers as a price risk management tool, if there is some legal protection.