REUTERS: UK
Bird flu threat ruffling shuttlecock feathers
Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:55 AM GMT
By Catherine Hornby
LONDON (Reuters) - The feathers of the badminton world are being
ruffled by the threat of bird flu.
Shortages of goose feathers in China and tightened manufacturing regulations are
pushing up prices of shuttlecocks, the feathered projectiles hit over the net in
badminton.
The H5N1 epidemic has added to long-term concerns about the supply chain of
feathers because it has led to the culling or deaths of some 200 million birds since late
2003.
"It (bird flu) has put more pressure on the whole
situation that was straining already," a spokesman
for Yonex, the world's largest badminton equipment
supplier, told Reuters.
Shuttlecocks are traditionally made from 16 goose feathers, which are taken from
under the same bird's wing and then cleaned, cut and attached to a base of
Portuguese cork.
"The price of a cut feather in the last six months has increased quite dramatically,
somewhere in excess of 50 percent," Ian Little, owner of badminton retailer and
wholesaler Yehlex said.
Feather shuttlecocks rather than the plastic variety are used by
professional badminton players because of their lighter weight,
accuracy and the way they move through the air with a "peak and
drop" effect that the plastics cannot match.
The retail price of a championship grade feather shuttlecock is currently nearly one
pound, but the rising cost of the feathers is set to push up prices.
Another spokesman for Yonex said that the prices of their shuttlecocks had increased
by around 20 to 25 percent, effective March, and Yehlex said it also plans to raise
prices.
The Yonex spokesmen agreed that the rising prices were partly due to increased
regulation and monitoring of the feathers during manufacture.
"We have had to increase the price, and that's due to processes that have had to be
put into manufacturing to make sure that the feathers are okay...it has made the
process more complicated," one Yonex spokesman said.
The price increases are yet to have their full impact on badminton clubs, who tend to
buy their shuttlecocks in bulk at the beginning of the season.
"It will hit clubs with a bigger bill at the beginning of next season. Most clubs order their
shuttles around July and August. It will start to hit them then," said Eric Brown, chief
executive of Badminton England.
The majority of shuttlecocks are produced in China, in factories, which either cut and
clean the feathers themselves or buy in feathers prepared by feather farmers.
Changing dietary habits in China have also contributed to the growing shortages of
goose feathers.
"Chinese people nowadays are tending to move away from eating goose to eating duck
and that has affected the farming of goose feathers," Little of Yehlex said.
Natural problems such as droughts and floods in various parts of China over the last
few years have also led to a shortage of birds.
Increased labour costs and a growing internal market for shuttlecocks in China have
added strain to prices.
"China has also started consuming shuttles now... so this has put a new pressure on
the supply of feathers, a whole new market has opened up, as the Chinese start to
consume their own products as opposed to just exporting" one Yonex spokesman said.
The International Badminton Federation said they were encouraging research into
developing more advanced plastic copies resembling the feather shuttlecocks, which
could be used in the event of a serious shortage.
"We're trying to move towards plastic shuttlecocks... we're hoping to find an alternative
as soon as possible," a spokeswoman for the
federation in Kuala Lumpur said.
(Additional reporting by Sonia Oxley)
Elasticity of the shuttlecocks made of goose feather for the Hong Kong Badminton Team
Elasticity of demand
The elasticity of demand of the shuttlecocks made of goose feather for the Hong
Kong Badminton Team is inelastic because they do not have close substitutes
as the news mentioned, “their lighter weight, accuracy and the way they move
through the air with a "peak and drop" effect that the plastics cannot match”. So
although there are plastics shuttlecocks, the Hong Kong Badminton Team still
need to buy the shuttlecocks that made of goose feather, so even the price of the
shuttlecocks made of goose feather increase, the Team still have to stick to them,
so there will be just a small percentage drop in quantity demanded.
Also, the shuttlecocks made of goose feather are the necessities for the team, so
the demand for them is inelastic because the team cannot practise without them.
Elasticity of supply
The elasticity of supply of the shuttlecocks made of goose feather is inelastic
because it is not flexible for the producers to change their output since it is not
easy for the producers to find more input since it needs time for the goose to
grow up in order to cut their feathers. So even if the price increases, producers
cannot increase the output (shuttlecocks made of goose feather) easily, so
resulting in a smaller percentage increase in quantity supplied.
Also, the resources are not highly mobile, producers cannot get extra resources
(goose feather) easily to increase output and also the production of shuttlecocks
requires specialized skills and equipment, so the output of them cannot be
increased easily, so the supply is inelastic.
Type of production
The production of making the shuttlecock is a secondary production
because it is a process of turning raw materials (goose feathers) into
finished goods (shuttlecocks).
It depends on the primary production (farmers to grow goose) to provide
raw material (goose feather) to it and depends on the tertiary production to
provide service to sell the shuttlecocks for it.
Specialization
The production of making the shuttlecocks made of goose feather
practises complex specialization, which means some workers are
specialized in a particular sub process/stage in producing the shuttlecock.
(i.e. some workers are specialized in cutting the goose feather, some are
specialized in cleaning them and some are specialized in combining them
into a shuttlecock)
Except practising specialization, what can the shuttlecock producers do in
order to increase the labour productivity?
The producers can provide better welfare (e.g. medical subsidies) to the
workers in order to raise their motivation to work, also they can provide a
better working condition to the workers, recruit more well-trained workers
and provide more high-quality capital goods (e.g. machines)
What factors of production are included in the production of producing the
shuttlecocks made of goose feather?
1.) Labour: The production needs workers for cleaning and cutting the
goose feather and to control the machines, so they are the human effort
used in production.
2.) Capital: Private capital:
 Fixed capital:
-Machines that use in making the shuttlecocks
-Factory buildings
Working capital: - raw materials: goose feather
Liquid capital: Money
Human capital: the skills and talents of the workers
P
S2
S1
P2
GAIN
P1
L
O
S
S
D
Q
Q2
Q1
Shuttlecocks made of goose feather
The bird flu, the natural disasters like droughts and floods
had led to a smaller supply of gooses and along with the
increased labour cost, the cost of production increases, so
this led to the decrease in supply (S1S2) and the demand
remains unchanged, so the decrease in supply will lead to
the increase in price (P1P2) and decrease in quantity
transacted (Q1Q2).
And because as mentioned, the demand is inelastic, so the
percentage increase in price is larger than the percentage
decreased in quantity transacted, so the gain in total revenue
is larger than the loss in total revenue. Therefore, the total
revenue rises.