Published Online:September 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Supply Chain Management
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJSCM030925
DOI:10.71329/IUPJSCM/2025.22.3.60-77
Author Name:Sreereshma S R, A S Dileep and V S Santhosh
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Management
Download Format:PDF
Pages:60-77
The coffee supply chain, critical to rural livelihoods and export economies, continues to face persistent inefficiencies in information flow, price communication, and negotiation equity. This study explores how different actors in the coffee supply chain in Kerala state, India, perceive price transparency and bargaining power, and how these perceptions influence trust, satisfaction, and negotiation outcomes among key actors, namely farmers, processors, and traders. Using a structured survey of 150 respondents and applying ANOVA, Chi-square tests, and linear regression models, the study identifies significant disparities among various groups. Farmers report consistently lower levels of transparency perception and negotiation confidence, while traders, positioned closer to the market, demonstrate higher trust, satisfaction, and access to real-time information. Regression results confirm that price transparency significantly enhances trust, satisfaction, and negotiation confidence. The findings reveal entrenched information asymmetries that reinforce power imbalances, particularly against smallholder farmers. The study contributes to agri-supply chain literature by adopting a multi-actor lens and linking transparency to relational governance. It further emphasizes the need for targeted interventions such as actor-specific digital tools, cooperative strengthening, and localized price communication strategies to enhance fairness, efficiency, and inclusivity within agricultural markets.
Agricultural supply chains are complex systems consisting of production, processing, transportation, and distribution of food and other products (Stock & Boyer, 2009). This i s distinct from industrial supply chains due to the high degree of perishability, seasonality,