UN Comtrade

The level of protection in commodity trade has been low, except for agricultural products.

Commodity trade requires a great deal of organized information.

When slavery was abolished, the terms of partnership with Western colonizers changed from trade in slaves to trade in commodities.

For some commodities, potential trade dynamism is not visible in international statistics.

The representative of China emphasized the importance of financing trade in commodities.

This requires action by developing country governments and by the international community.

Also, stronger institutions supporting commodity finance (collateral management agencies, commodity exchanges) are needed, and UNCTAD has been instrumental in setting up several such entities.

The trade of African countries is still dominated by commodities, which are subject to volatile price movements beyond their control.

Commodities

The starting point for this development was the creation of the Statistic Division application for maintenance and dissemination of detailed commodity trade statistics, namely, the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade).

It is also assisting in the development of South South banking sector links as a means to facilitate South South commodity trade.

On commodity finance, UNCTAD gave several training courses in Egypt and Tunisia during 2004.

Commodities on the Rise

Commodities

For many commodity dependent developing countries, the negative impact of commodity finance related market entry barriers needed to be addressed.

57 236. Commodities

58 204. Commodities

61 190. Commodities

59 224. Commodities

55 183. Commodities

Latin America s Commodity Windfall

Item 3 Commodities and development

One suggestion was to include commodity finance within corporate social responsibility programmes of multinational companies and to take account of commodity issues during the Fifth UN Conference to Review the Set of Principles and Rules on RBPs.

When slavery was abolished, the terms of partnership with Western colonizers changed from trade in slaves to trade in commodities. After independence in the early 1960 s, during the Cold War, they played the West against the Soviet bloc for the same purpose.

When the Kru began trading with Europeans, they initially traded in commodities, but later they actively participated in the African slave trade.

Examples include the UN Comtrade Internet version, and online analytical tools developed by the World Bank and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

To achieve stable conditions in commodity trade, including avoidance of excessive price fluctuations, at levels which would

Commodity prices fell, too.

Improving the Management of the Commodity Sector

When slavery was abolished in the mid nineteenth century, the terms of these rulers partnership with Western colonizers changed from trade in slaves to trade in commodities.

We emphasize the need to address the impact of weak and volatile commodity prices and support the efforts of commodity dependent countries to restructure, diversify and strengthen the competitiveness of their commodity sectors.

Poverty alleviation 991.4 991.4 83.1 1 074.5

The support to stabilization of commodity prices through the financing of buffer stocks, as foreseen in the Agreement, has not become operational.

Recycling commodity revenue and managing macro level commodity related risks

(b) Continuing the diversification of the commodity sector and enhancing its competitiveness in developing countries that are heavily dependent on commodities

International commodity markets are under stress.

Of course, not all commodities are equal.

The Silver Lining in High Commodity Prices

Expert Meeting on Dynamic and New Sectors of World Trade

Expert Meeting on Methodologies, Classifications, Quantification and Development Impacts of

Expert Meeting on Strengthening Participation of Developing Countries in Dynamic and

Conclusion 17

He also expressed appreciation for the secretariat's analysis of commodity finance mechanisms and to development partners for their support for such schemes in Asia.

Aside from importing basic goods, China exports manufactured goods throughout the region.