Global trade in agriculture

In today’s world trade is initiated between economic zones. More than ever, societies want goods that are high in quality and as inexpensive as possible. The best way for consumers to achieve that goal is to have local, state, national corporations and governments work together to create an environment for businesses and consumers.

The world is interconnected now more than ever. Social scientists started using the term globalization during the 1930’s to explain how the world was becoming interdependent and to show how the world integrated as one due to the flow of goods and services. The International Monetary Fund and the U.S. National Council on Economic Education stated that International trade has expanded rapidly since World War II, and even more so in the 1990’s due to increased technological aspects. In 1950, total merchandise exports in the world were $58 billion. In 1990 that figure was $3.5 trillion, and in 1997 it was $5.3 trillion. In 1997, world exports grew by over 9.5%, three times greater than world output growth of 3%. Over 3/4 of the world trade is in merchandise or goods-primarily industrial equipment, consumer goods, oil and agricultural products. Almost 1/4 of world trade is in services, mostly in banking, insurance, transport, telecommunication, engineering and tourism. Since the 1950’s, transportation costs, based on cheap oil, as well as communication costs, have steadily declined. This has helped fuel the explosion in global trade. (IMF Center, 2005)

These resources have been made available via a partnership between the Columbus Council on World Affairs and the Ohio Soybean Council.