Pôles internationaux, tensions alimentaires et stratégies d'adaptation

A description of the role and function of merchants requires an objective analysis of the nature of the relationship between the various economic agents - producers and consumers on the one hand, merchants on the other. - The difficulties met by the buyers concern the cost and certainty of supplies. They may lead to serious risks in addition to the traditional risks run by industrialists in production or sales. The latter will therefore seek to reduce these risks by attempts at internal organization, and by trying to pass on to other economic agents the risks they cannot avoid. What do such risks involve for the merchant ? To support the logistic risk the seller must have a certain infrastructure at his disposal, a well-organized distribution network ensuring continuous delivery in spite of hitches of all kinds. The commercial risk can be negotiated by means of the conditional market, an irreplaceable tool. Only firms specializing in the management of such risks and equipped to do so can establish a sort of « bridge » between the various risks and choose when and how to intervene on the market. But these firms must have sufficient size, experience and means of action to intervene on the international markets. The difficulties met in planned economies show the advantages our economic communities gain from these market mechanisms and how well they can adjust. The economic efficiency of the grain market is a model envied by many other more vulnerable branches.