The agronomist in charge of canola seed production for a major seed-producing and marketing company is wondering if the forecast for production of seed #1234 for 2008, made by the head office, is a little too low'. The sales of seed #1234, in thousand tones, for the past eight years are shown below. The company regularly improves its seeds, and has recently introduced a new' seed. Given the life-cycle decline in the sales of #1234, the head office’s 2008 forecast sales for #1234 is 10 percent lower than 2007 sales. Fit an appropriate model to the data and forecast sales of# 1234 in 2008. Do you agree with the head office’s forecast? Explain. (L03 & 4)
Year # 1 234 sales
2000………….................0.1
2001………….................2.1
2002………….................2.8
2003………….................3.1
2004………….................3.9
2005………….................3.7
2006………….................3.5
2007………….................3.4
2008