Decades of falling commodity prices have impoverished rural communities throughout the world. Keeping supply and demand in balance is key to stabilizing prices, yet commodity production does not respond to market forces.

Low world prices do not increase demand and shrink stocks, leading to a price rise. Instead, desperate farmers increase their production to make ends meet, lowering prices further—and agribusiness cartels expand their global reach, driving more and more farmers off the land by dumping below-cost products in their local markets.

UNCTAD XI
June 13-18, 2004
São Paulo, Brazil
iatp.org/unctadxi

A project of

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy