Marketing of primary commodities

Abstract

This is a very broad subject, but I have chosen this subject for my address because it is of vital interest to the developing world. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that our future prosperity, or otherwise, could very well depend on how we handle this issue. Up till now, it has been considered as only natural that while the prices of the manufactured goods produced mainly by the industrial countries are fixed by the manufacturers, or sellers, the prices of raw materials, or primary commodities as they are sometimes called, and these are largely produced by the developing countries, are fixed by the buyers, the bulk of whom are the industrial countries. In short, the industrial countries get the best of both worlds. They fix the prices of the manufactured goods which they sell to the developing world and they also fix the prices of the primary commodities which they buy from the developing world. For them, it is a case of heads I win, tails you lose.