Matters of Scale - Food Concentrates
Share of world's top 100 national (as GDP) and corporate (as revenues) economies that are corporations, 2003
| 51 |
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| |
Rank of Belgium among top 100 economies, 2003
| 18 |
Belgian GDP, 2003
| $248 billion |
|
| |
Rank of Wal-Mart among top 100 economies, 2003
| 19 |
Wal-Mart revenues, 2003
| $247 billion |
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| |
Worldwide revenues of seed companies, 2002
| $23 billion |
Percent of total accounted for by the top 10 companies
| 31 |
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| |
Worldwide revenues of agrichemical companies, 2002
| $27.8 billion |
Percent of total accounted for by the top 10 companies
| 80 |
|
| |
Worldwide revenues of the top 30 food retailers, 2001
| $1 trillion+ |
Percent of total accounted for by the top 10 companies
| 57 |
|
| |
Percent of total accounted for by the biggest food retailer, Wal-Mart
| 21 |
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| |
Number of 33 U.S. food processing industries in which consolidation from 1973 through 1992 led to lower consumer prices
| 4 |
Number in which the effect was zero or unknown
| 6 |
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| |
Number in which it led to higher prices
| 23 |
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| |
Retail price of bread made from one bushel of wheat in Canada, 1975
| $30 |
Farmers’ price for one bushel of wheat in Saskatoon, Canada, 1975
| $3 |
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| |
Retail price of bread made from one bushel of wheat, 1999
| $90 |
Farmers’ price for one bushel of wheat, Saskatoon, Canada, 1999
| $3 |
|
| |
Percent of total price-fixing fines worldwide paid by food and agriculture cartels in recent years
| 85 |
Number in which the effect was zero or unknown
| 6 |
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| |
Sources: Size and rank of economies, and agricultural industry revenues and shares: ETC Group, “Oligopoly, Inc.” (Communiqué #82); food industry consolidation’s effect on prices: A.M. Azzam, “The Effect of Concentration in the Food Processing Industry on Food Prices,” Center for Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization, University of Nebraska/Lincoln; bread and wheat prices: National Farmers Union (Canada), “The Farm Business, EU Subsidies, and Agribusiness Market Power.”