Trader concentration impedes sustainable food systems
- Jul 29, 2025
- 1 min read
High food price inflation and volatile food prices impact food security. While food price inflation has been attributed to extreme weather events and the Russia-Ukraine war, global commodity prices account for less than half of food price inflation in the USA and EU, and an even smaller proportion in low-income countries.
Rather, to understand food price inflation, other factors such as the high levels of concentration and the exercise of market power, need to be understood. In this paper, From global to regional: trader concentration, sustainable food systems in Africa and the importance of competition policy, researchers from CCRED assess market structure and market outcomes in the agriculture and food supply chain at the global, regional and national levels to understand the implications.
Addressing the negative effects of market concentration on international markets is an important step towards addressing hunger and improving food security in the context of climate change. For this reason, competition authorities have a key role in collecting and analysing firm-specific information, enforcing measures to combat anti-competitive conduct, and providing objective expert advice to governments to ensure markets work better.
