Soybean, Corn: Impact, Emerging Markets, Trade Flows

Fundamental Factors Affecting Soybean and Corn

Modified fundamentals affect soybean and corn. Originally from the USA, they currently cover 8% of the cultivated area in the world. They spread to developed countries with serious and uncertain social and health consequences. The largest producers are the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and China.

Implications

• Environmental: Loss of biodiversity, deforestation.
• Health: Uncertain global consequences.
• Economic: Dependence on purchasing seeds and herbicides from multinationals, impoverishment of small farmers.

Emerging Spaces (Characterization and Delimitation)

• High global importance (share of GDP): The majority are within the top 20 of the world's largest economies.
• Rapid industrialization.
• Increasing participation in international trade of commodities, energy sources, and/or industrial products.
• Strong attraction of external investment (FDI) and foreign corporate capital.
• National companies operating with external leadership.
• No political influence in your area.
• Participation in many regional integration processes or, in the long term, no integration into international agencies (reinforcing its presence in international strategies).

Commercial Flows

Bank credit is losing ground in these flows. FDI grows unevenly, but preferentially in certain regions (especially in Asia, Latin America, and South Africa). Its growth is parallel to the privatization processes. Investment gains importance in relative terms, it has significant speculative fluctuations and a dynamic and challenging territorial organization.

The structure of the flow of capital towards developing countries has varied significantly. Until the Second World War, private capital overlooked these countries. From then until 1970, public capital dominated. Since 1970, with petrodollars, private flows increased (2/3 bank loans for state or public enterprises: debt). Then, the financial market created new products (government bonds) and bank loans or credits declined. Public flows have declined since then, from 16% in the seventies to 6.4% in the nineties. Within these flows is the ODA (Official Development Assistance).