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Africa: Commodity Dependence
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AfricaFocus (Washington, DC)
ANALYSIS
11 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Washington, DC
"We are living in a confusing time in the history of commodity markets. Commodity prices are currently high. Yet producers in Africa and other parts of the developing world do not seem to be benefiting from these high prices. ... The rich industrialised North has set the rules of the game, but instead of holding its producers accountable to those rules, it is distorting markets in their favour. Meanwhile, African producers whose governments have accepted to play by the rules are losing out.- - Dede Amanor-Wilks, ActionAid International
The issue of commodities and development, notes Amanor-Wilks, is far more complicated than just the price levels. And it is further complicated by the new phenomenon of competition for use of agricultural products for fuel. The bottom-line for commoditydependent countries, including many in Africa, is the lack of control and predictability, as prices fluctuate and commodity markets are increasingly monopolized by large-scale companies.
Without some kind of check on markets and large producers, she notes, the chances for breaking reliance on commodities and entering higher-value sectors of production are very low.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from a statement at a side-session of the Accra meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The full report on which this is based is a joint publication by Action Aid and the South Centre, available at http://www.southcentre.org/publications/CommodityReport/AA_SC_Commodity_Report.pdf
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin sent out today contains a statement by Yash Tandon, director of the South Centre, also presented at the meeting in Accra.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on related issues, see http://www.africafocus.org/tradexp.php and
http://www.africafocus.org/agexp.php
Sudan Justice and Equality Movement / Darfur Background
Sudanese Government Bombs Villages in Darfur
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, May 6, 2008
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=78072
Justice and Equality Movement website
http://www.sudanjem.com/en/index.php
Wikipedia Article on May 10, 2008 Attack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_invasion_of_Khartoum_and_Omdurman
Short, well-informed book by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A New History of a Long War
Zed Books, 2nd edition, 2008
At amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/45evg2
At amazon.co.uk http://tinyurl.com/4rwwub
Zimbabwe Updates
Morgan Tsvangirai Press Statement, May 10, 2008
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/949
Hunger Drives Post-Election Violence
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, May 9, 2008
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805091048.html
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Baseline Conditions for Runoff Election, May 4, 2008
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/hr/080504zlhr.asp
Charlie Cobb, Jr. Interview with Chenjerai Hove, May 7, 2008
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070997.html
African Emergency Summit on Zimbabwe
Civil Society Groups meet in Dar es Salaam, April 21, 2008 http://www.osisa.org/node/11097
South Bulletin: Reflections and Foresights
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South Centre is an Intergovernmental Organization and Think Tank of Developing Countries
1 May 2008, Issue 14
African Commodities: How Corporatization Squeezed Out Producers?
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