An Analytical Study of extent variations of the food consumption patterns for Saudi Household from Household Expenditure and Income Survey, (2006-2013)

Abstract

Saudi Arabia witnessed many changes and economic changes that affected the incomes of individuals and their level of expenditure on the one hand, and increased their awareness of food and health on the other, resulting in noticeable changes in the food consumption pattern, Therefore, the current study aims to study the extent of the variation in the expenditure of Saudis on different food groups using the last two censuses to household expenditure and income survey in 2006/07, By estimating the expenditure functions of Saudi households during the two census years and then estimating the elasticity of expenditure and the marginal propensity to expend for households for all food groups. In examining the relative importance of expenditure items for Saudi households during the 2006/2007, 2013. In 2006, expenditure on food and drinks ranked second among consumer expenditure items for Saudi households, which amounted to 16.6% of total consumption expenditure in the same year. In 2013, it ranked third among consumer expenditure, which amounted to 16.9%. The average monthly consumption expenditure for Saudi households by regions in Saudi Arabia during 2006 and 2013 was shown to be the highest monthly consumption expenditure for the Saudi households at the level of the regions in Saudi Arabia, followed by the Eastern Region and Makkah Region. Showed that the Saudi family in the Riyadh region has recorded the highest average monthly consumption expenditure for households at the level of regions followed by the eastern region and Medina, The results also reflected the significant increase and relative importance of the Saudis' expenditure on the meat and poultry group, which amounted to 28.6%, 30.6% of the total monthly household food expenditure for Saudi households in 2006 and 2013 respectively, The average monthly household food expenditure for Saudi households increased in 2013 to the bread and cereals group but declined to other groups compared to 2006. In the study of the estimation of the expenditure functions of the Saudi households during the two census years, it was found that the estimated parameters of these functions in linear and logarithmic forms of the food groups are logical both in terms of values and signs according to economic and statistical considerations, Where the effect of the total monthly household consumption expenditure on monthly household expenditure on each food group was significant at a level of 0.01. It was found that all food groups were considered necessaries commodities and this was consistent with the economic logic. The value of the coefficient of selection was shown in the double logarithmic form between 0.82 - 0.97 indicating that about 82-97% of the changes in expenditure on the food groups to the change in household consumption expenditure, and the rest due to other factors. The expenditure elasticities of the different food groups were estimated from the selected expenditure functions. The Saudis' elasticity in expenditure on food and drinks in general was highest in 2013 compared to 2006. The elasticity of expenditure on food and drinks for Saudis was 0.70, 0.68 for the two study periods respectively. In estimating the marginal propensity to expend per food group, the Saudis' tendency to expend more on food during the second period compared with the first period in most of the food groups.