food and agriculture organization

Macro Economics Macro Viewpoints

Third Stage Growth in Agri-Business

The run up in food prices this year has, hopefully, shined a bright light on the oligopoly that controls the world’s grain markets. An oligopoly is a market that is controlled by a small number of
producers, which allows them to collaborate and set prices for the market as a whole. OPEC is the most common textbook example. The U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Australia dominate the grain industry.
There is grain production in every country but these four control the vast majority of the export market. That may be about to change and bring new, long-term investment possibilities …