Commodity markets

The general run of agricultural commodities is produced under competitive conditions by relatively small-scale cultivators scattered over a large area. The final purchasers are also scattered, and centres of consumption are distant from regions of production. The dealer, therefore, since he is indispensable, is in a stronger economic position than the seller. This situation is markedly true when the producer is a peasant who lacks both commercial knowledge and finance so that he is obliged to sell as soon as his harvest comes in; it is true also, though to a lesser extent, of the capitalist plantation for which the only source of earnings is a particular specialized product. In this kind of business, both demand and supply are said to be inelastic in the short run—that is, a fall in price does not have much effect in increasing purchases and a rise in price cannot quickly increase supplies. Supplies are subject to natural variations, weather conditions, pests, and so forth; and demand varies with the level of activity in the centres of industry and with changes in tastes and technical requirements. Under a regime of unregulated competition such markets are, therefore, tormented with continual fluctuations in prices and volume of business. Though dealers may mitigate this to some extent by building up stocks when prices are low and releasing them when demand is high, such buying and selling often turns into speculation, which tends to exacerbate the fluctuations.

The behaviour of primary commodity markets is a serious matter when whole communities depend upon a single commodity for income or for employment and wages. The agricultural communities that form part of an industrial economy are therefore generally sheltered from the operation of supply and demand by government regulations of various types, price supports, or tariff protection. Though some attempts have been made to control world commodity markets, these are generally more talk than performance. Some nations, Australia for example, have been able to make enough profit from primary commodity exports to attract capital into the development of industry; but most of the so-called developing countries find their export earnings insecure and insufficient. Their spokesmen complain that the world market system operates in favour of the industrialized nations.

Joan Violet Robinson