DETERMINATION OF THE SURCHARGE THAT CONSUMERS ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR AN ORGANIC CHEESE IN SPAIN

Consumer requirements for preferably new, quality products with health guarantees are causing competitive adaptation by agro-food businesses. In this sense, cheese-producing enterprises are immersed in restructuring to adapt to the new scene. To assure the greatest possible success in this process it is advisable to determine what the preferences of cheese consumers are. In searching for the answer to this question, 420 surveys were made on regular food shoppers for at-home consumption in the metropolitan area of Madrid (Spain). Treatment of this data consisted in using the Conjoint Analysis technique and maximum willingness to pay. Results show that the main differentiating element for cheese is origin and the maximum willing to pay for an organic cheese with respect a conventional one is 15.42%.