jp8589 WRI.qxd - World Resources Institute

AFRICAN COUNTRIES’ DEPENDENCE ON SINGLE-COMMODITY EXPORTS
PERCENT SHARE OF
Country
Malawi
Sao Tome and Principe
Burundi
Kenya
Commodity
Tobacco leaves
Cocoa beans
Coffee
Tea
Gross National
Income
23.8
16.9
7.2
6.5
Total Merchandise
Exports
59
69
75
26
Total Agricultural
Exports
74
97
83
42
Many developing nations depend
heavily on agricultural exports.
These nations are susceptible to
fluctuations in prices for the
commodities they export, and are
hurt by subsidies and dumping in
these markets by developed nations.
Guinea-Bissau
Cashew nuts
6.3
48
91
Chad
Cotton
5.7
37
71
Ethiopia
Coffee
5.4
62
69
Burkina Faso
Cotton
4.9
39
77
Source: FAO 2002
FAIR TRADE?
U.S. COTTON SUBSIDIES AND THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OF SELECTED COTTON-EXPORTING COUNTRIES, 2003
Billions of Dollars
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
25,000
farmers
U.S .Cotton
Subsidies
4.0 million
people
Central
African
Republic
Source: Environmental Working Group 2005
5.1 million
people
9.1 million
people
7.1 million
people
13.8 million
people
13.8 million
people
Togo Chad Benin Mali Burkina
Faso
Annual subsidies for 142,000 cotton growers
in the United States have averaged $3 billion
in recent years. Eighty-five percent of these
subsidies go to 25,000 farmers. This is roughly
comparable in size to the entire economy of some
African countries dependent on cotton exports.
Country populations in 2003 are shown above
each bar.
negotiating global trade agreements. The WTO offers some
advantages for developing countries in that each country has an
equal vote, so developing countries comprise the largest group.
Still, the world’s largest trading nations have historically
dominated the WTO’s trade negotiations. That may be starting
to shift, as shown by the coordinated action taken by developing
nations at the WTO’s meeting in Cancun in 2003, where
they refused to back down from their demands (CAFOD 2003).
Nonetheless, wealthy nations continue to hold enormous trade
advantages. Using export credit agencies, they invest millions
of dollars each year to build markets for their own exports
(Maurer 2003:13). They also pursue bilateral trade agreements
with individual or small groups of developing nations. In bilateral
negotiations with strong trading powers such as the United
States or the European Union, developing countries have a
much weaker negotiating position than at the WTO.
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