BRICS have the world's largest grain traders in their sights

The BRICS group of countries are some of the biggest sellers and buyers of grain. They have launched a joint inquiry into potential monopolies in the global grain trade. On July 9, competition authorities from the BRICS group met at a closed meeting in Geneva at the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) headquarters. The objective of the meeting was to tackle the market dominance of the biggest players in the global grain trade: ADM, Bunge, COFCO, Cargill and LDC (known collectively as ABCD+). The issue is of strategic importance for the BRICS countries as they account for around 44% of global grain production and 25% of grain consumption. What is BRICS? BRICS are a loose grouping of 11 emerging markets comprising Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Together they make up half of the world’s population and a quarter of the global economy. It was established in 2006 on the margins of the United Nations ...