Commodity Policy

Commodity policy in Global Commerce Policy

In this regard, a definition of this issue is as follows: the part of trade policy dealing with governmental actions affecting international trade in commodities. The entries on trade policy are here. Its principal objectives are to secure fair and remunerative returns to producers and reliable and competitive supplies to consumers. Neither of these aims can be defined objectively. Commodities have always been classified by some as needing special measures because of unpredictable supply and demand fluctuations and the attendant price changes and export income fluctuations. The entries on trade policy in the Encyclopedia are here. One reason for this is that in some commodities relatively small changes in supply and demand can lead to considerable price fluctuations. The entries on trade policy are here. In other cases, particularly agricultural products, the livelihood of large population segments is to a greater or lesser extent influenced by developments in the market. Governments tend to be alert to such concerns and to seek ways and means to alleviate them. Modern international commodity policy began with the drafting of the Havana Charter which essentially favoured free- market principles. The draft Charter allowed the creation of international commodity agreements (ICAs) with price and trade controls, called intergovernmental control agreements, only if normal market forces were unable to deal rapidly with adjustments between production and consumption, and widespread unemployment in connection with a primary commodity was either happening or expected to happen. The free-market principle was, however, compromised in many ways as drafting proceeded to permit, for example, government planning by those who saw a need for it. Developing countries were allowed to maintain import restrictions to protect domestic industries. The entries on trade policy are here. In the end, the Havana Charter did not enter into force. The entries on trade policy are here. In 1947, ECOSOC established an Interim Co-ordinating Committee for International Commodity Arrangements (ICCICA) with a mandate to convene commodity study groups and to recommend calling conferences to negotiate commodity arrangements. Several ICAs with stabilization mechanisms were negotiated under its auspices. The Haberler Report, prepared under GATT auspices in 1958, gave cautious support to the conclusion of international commodity agreements and limited compensatory financing schemes. When UNCTAD was established in 1964, ICCICA ™s functions were transferred to it. This was followed in the early 1970s by proposals for a New International Economic Order which envisaged a massive transfer of resources to developing countries, partly through commodity arrangements and schemes to deal with export earnings shortfalls. The entries on trade policy in the Encyclopedia are here. UNCTAD was from the beginning much more interventionist in its views of commodity policy, and at UNCTAD IV (1976) it developed the Integrated Programme for Commodities and the Common Fund for Commodities. These are mechanisms to regulate and stabilize international commodity trade through buffer stocks and compensatory financing. Sober assessments of the issues attaching to international commodities trade from the mid-1980s onwards cast increasing doubt on the merits of large-scale market intervention, both from the producer and consumer perspective. The consensus view appears to have returned to basically free-market principles which limit international cooperation to the promotion of transparency mechanisms and the financing of research and development to make commodities more attractive to manufacturers and users. See also compensatory financing arrangements and single commodity producers.[1]

Commodity policyin the wold Encyclopedia

For an introductory overview on international trade policy, see this entry.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Dictionary of Trade Policy, “Commodity policy” entry (OAS)

See Also