Evaluation of Rice Quality based on Consumer Utility in Korea : Conjoint Model Approach

Qauality improvement is the most crucial factor in sustaining the domestic cultivation of rice. The importance of sensory quality became more pronounced among the other types of quality characteristics. The conjoint analysis procedure examined the joint effect of four attributes of rice on the ordering of overall rice quality. Among all four attributes, texture was the most influential factor to the Korean standard of cooking quality and explained about 34.28% of the utility of cooked rice, while taste and appearance accounted for 28.31% and 27.03%, respectively. Market-share differences between high and low quality rice was much greater than price differences.