The power isn't with us....

The theme of global trade continued with a presentation on the power base of world trade.  Our presenter highlighted the historical fact that political power is generally connected to political power.  Today it is still the case. The US today is still the seat of political and economic power and even with the rise of economic growth in the East, the vast amount of wealth sits in the US in comparative terms.

Did you know that between 75-90% of all globally traded grain is sold through four companies.

Our presenter then went on to demonstrate an index of five factors which reflect power: political, corporate, economic, natural resources and natural fuels.  The various trading blocks were calculated to establish a power index.  Not surprisingly the US came tops with a power index of 21.5 then came EU 27 with 19.3. Disappointingly Australasia came out with an index of 9.8; second from bottom and pretty much minnows on a world power basis.

I found this interesting as as NZer's (and the Aussies) we view ourselves as having a level of influence on the world stage and as an exporting nation we think we can (or at least hope) that we can influence the price of commodity products.  This isn't the case at all.  Our challenge as food producers is to read global food trends and meet them.  Our future lies in a proactive approach to producing high quality, safe and environmentally responsibly produced food.