Las cuatro grandes empresas comercializadoras y los precios internacionales de los alimentos

Four major traders of food grains: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, (called the ABCD), control most of the international trade in cereals and grains, and have great influence on determining international prices food. More than a century old, they constitute a most peculiar group of companies. With a low profile, they have changed very little in its long existence. They are among the largest companies worldwide, but are traditionally family-owned firms. In addition to trading, transport and storage activities, they participate in the financing of agricultural production, through the delivery of technology packages and inputs (seeds, fertilizers and agrochemicals); their subsidiaries in numerous countries consume most of the commodities they sell, so their prices are rather transfer prices. They use their own trains and ships to transport the grains; storage is made in their own storage facilities. They are livestock and poultry producers, have great importance in the production of animal feed and biofuel markets; and are owners or lessees of land. They are also financial institutions active in the derivatives markets.