International prices of grains increased sharply again in October, driven by reduced production prospects, tighter inventories and strong import demand. By contrast, international prices of rice fell further with the start of the main crop harvests and lacklustre demand. In East Africa, prices of coarse grains followed mixed trends in October, tracking seasonal patterns. In most countries, prices were around or below their year-earlier levels, except in the Sudan and...

The Major Tropical Fruits Statistical compendium, issued once a year, contains information on global trade in mangoes, pineapples, avocados and papayas. Its sources include information provided by FAO member nations, traders, news bulletins and the opinions of commodity specialists and represents the most authoritative and up-to-date source of information on the world tropical fruit economy.

The In Brief version of the FAO flagship publication, The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020, contains the key messages and main points from the publication and is aimed at the media, policy makers and a more general public.

International grain prices registered strong increases in September on production concerns and diminishing inventories, while international rice prices fell across the board amid slowdown in export demand and sales as well as the approaching main harvests in the Northern Hemisphere. In East Africa, prices of coarse grains generally increased in September following seasonal patterns. In most countries, prices were around their year-earlier levels, except in the Sudan and South Sudan,...

This Technical Report includes: • A policy note with: 1) a short review of the literature on the state-of-art methodologies for computing indicators for global value chain (GVC) participation, positioning and vertical specialization; and 2) a mapping and short analysis of agriculture and food GVCs by world region. • A Data set, in Excel format, that includes time series of GVC indicators computed at country/industry level for the period from 1990 to...

Farmer participation in agricultural markets is of major importance for rural economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. This paper discusses market failures and constraints in agriculture in low-income countries, focusing on how these failures and constraints affect small farmers, input sellers and output buyers. It then explores innovative models implemented to address these challenges, including: out- grower schemes; input bundling programmes; decommodification through quality product differentiation; information and...

This paper reviews competition issues in agro-food value chains, including forms of governance and organization, concentration and market power and private standards implications. The paper discusses different value chains in food and agriculture and analyses how services and technologies are embedded in the final value and assesses the share of the different value chain segments. It analyses the nature of competition along the value chain and the interactions of participants;...

Since the 1990s, technological advancements, growing incomes, increased trade, and urbanization have significantly impacted consumption patterns. Worldwide, there is growing evidence of some convergence of diets being facilitated by rapid changes in global food systems including the increasing market share held by supermarkets at all income levels. The formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the emergence and rapid spread of the Internet have also played important roles in...

Over the last decade, increasing international fragmentation of production has affected both trade and production: these activities have become increasingly organized around what is commonly referred to as global value chains (GVCs). Increased fragmentation has brought with it challenges of tracing and measuring international divisions of labor, value-added, and so forth. In fact, conventional measures of trade only measure the gross value of exchanges between partners. They are not able...