Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

3.0 Main producing countries on
the international market
3.1 Introduction: Groundnut and groundnut
products in trade
Groundnut trade on international markets accounts for a mere 4-6% of total
world production; the vast majority of world groundnut production serves
subsistence needs and domestic market requirements.
Moreover, exports of edible groundnut are concentrated among only a
few countries of origin – most notably China, the United States, Argentina
and India – between which relative market shares have changed considerably
over the past 30 years (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Trend in the world edible groundnut export market share, major
exporters, 1972-98.
Source: Peanut Trade and the World Trade Organization
This section briefly describes the recent and current export production
of these four main countries of origin, as well as South Africa. Of these
countries, Argentina and South Africa may be considered as particularly
export-oriented, while the domestic market share is generally first priority for
China, the US and India.
While the role of trade regulations including tariffs, duties and quotas
will be touched upon, a concise summary of regulatory trade policies may be
found in Appendix 3, Current trade and domestic policies on groundnut
(2003).
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