The market is a fairly large-scale concept. So, there is a foreign exchange, investment, financial market. But nevertheless, the most popular in the whole series today remains commodity. We will analyze this market in detail in this article. We give its definition, consider the structure, get acquainted with the most important performance indicators, and give a classification of such markets.
Definition
The commodity market is an area of commodity exchange. A more common definition: economic activity, a system of economic relations, organizational ties aimed at promoting products from the manufacturer to the final buyer.
The commodity market is the sphere of commodity exchange, which is necessarily distinguished by the relation in the form of sale of products. This is the name of the location of economic activity, where exactly the sale of goods takes place.
Compound elements
A commodity market is a combination of three main elements: population demand, product prices and product supply. We characterize them separately.
Demand is the general solvent need of citizens of the state. This element will fully determine the needs of consumers in conjunction with the monetary value that they are able to give for the goods.
Price is a specific monetary expression of the value of products on the market. In this case, the cost will differ from the price for a number of factors:
- Value expression of money. It will be directly affected by the value of gold, through which the value of goods is ultimately expressed.
- The amount of money in circulation that does not correspond to the amount of gold replacing them.
- Consumer value and product quality. It is consumer properties that will determine the price ratio between certain goods, their varieties and types.
- The conditions for the sale of products directly depend on fluctuations in supply and demand, affecting market changes in prices.
Product offer will be determined by mass products sent by the manufacturer for sale. Three main sources stand out here - these are import purchases, mass production of domestic goods and stocks of products in warehouses.
Factors Affecting Price
Having examined the concept of a commodity market, we dwell in more detail on its most ambitious element - price. This is the value that a number of factors form. Economists break them into two orders.
First Order Factors:
- The state of the monetary sphere. This refers to the exchange rate, as well as the purchasing power of the money itself.
- Price regulation. Both state and monopolistic regulation.
- The ratio of supply and demand in the commodity market.
- The price of production. The value is affected by both the profit and production costs.
Second order factors are the following:
- The established relationship between the consumer and the supplier of the goods.
- Terms of payments.
- Price franking.
- Product quality.
- Volumes of deliveries.
Key performance indicators
The activity of the commodity market will be determined by a set of several indicators. Among the most important are the following:
- Product market capacity. Here we understand the maximum sales volumes of certain products in specific conditions - with a certain solvency of demand, product supply and retail prices.
- The dynamics of the development of the commodity market. Tracked across multiple industries. When combined, they form a single commodity market of the state.
- The degree of market diversification. This is the degree of coverage of a particular variety of goods of ethnic, solvent, geographical ability of citizens of the state.
- The quality of the goods sold. The parameter will be determined by the combination of product properties. When analyzing the product market, it becomes clear that buyers have higher requirements for the following indicators: safety of both packaging and consumption of this product, compliance with environmental standards, compliance with labeling, and after-sales service.
- Product competitiveness. The ability of a particular product to meet the requirements that are relevant in the market for a certain period of time is implied.
Geographic classification
This is a classification based on the geographical location of commodity market entities. Separate markets of regions are distinguished, which are combined into systems of individual states or their groupings according to the same geographical principle. Commodity aspects will not be relevant here.
So, the global product market includes the following categories:
- Latin American markets.
- African markets.
- Markets of Oceania and Australia.
- Markets of Western Europe.
- Asian markets.
- Markets of Russia and Eastern Europe.
- Markets of North America.
- Markets of the Middle East.
Classification by product line
Another classification of commodity market entities is also widespread. This is a separation by product line:
- Finished goods. These are markets for equipment and machinery, industrial and household products, and other finished products.
- Semi-finished products and raw materials. The category includes markets for industrial raw materials, fuels, forestry and agricultural products.
- Services Again, three main subcategories: markets for transport services, scientific inventions, and other services.
These are far from final categories and subcategories. Inside themselves they will be divided into smaller ones. So, the market of industrial raw materials is the following markets:
- become;
- platinum;
- steel pipe;
- Nickel
- medicines:
- diamonds;
- precious metals and much more.
For example, you can consider the fuel market. Inside, it will be divided into smaller markets. The most significant of them is oil and oil products. This is the so-called "joint" category of goods. The fact is that products from this category are obtained only in the production of other types of goods.
Monopolization restriction
Limitations of commodity markets are determined by a combination of conditions that determine the features of their functioning. The degree of monopolization of the market plays an important role here. The following varieties are highlighted in this field:
- Monopoly. There is one seller and an unlimited number of consumers on the market.
- Monopsony. A single buyer has an unlimited number of sellers.
- Oligopsony. A limited number of sellers work in the market with an unlimited number of buyers.
- Polypoly, polypsony. Market conditions that bring it closer to perfect unlimited competition.
Types of monopolistic market
So, the boundaries of the commodity market are primarily set by monopoly. In this case, its most important factor is the actual concentration of the product supply. Here the commodity market can be represented in three varieties:
- Monopolistic. The market will actually be dominated by a single supplier.
- Oligopolistic. The market is actually represented by a small group of large sellers.
- Atomistic. It is determined by the low concentration of offers of specific products, which leads to intense competition in the market.
It should be noted that this is a rather abstract classification. In the real market, there are several functional forms of both monopolization itself and competition.
Relations between sellers and consumers
The conditions for the functioning of the market can be more accurately divided on the basis of differences in the relationship between its two main participants - sellers and buyers. It also allows you to determine the features of monopolization, state regulation of a particular market segment, methods and forms of supply of goods.
From here, the commodity market is usually divided into two sectors:
- Open. These are short-term transactions, wholesale domestic trade, free market. The latter is further divided into the spot market, exchange trading and the black market.
- Closed. This sector includes commercial long-term, intra-company and sub-deliveries, as well as special and countertrade.
Below we present a more detailed description of the sectors of the commodity market.
Closed sector
The closed sector acts as that part of the market where counterparties will interact through relationships that are not distinguished by a purely commercial nature.
Imagine the main segments of the closed sector of the commodity market:
- Intrafirm deliveries. This includes the turnover between head and subsidiary branches, branches of one large-scale corporation.
- Sub-deliveries of independent companies related to medium and small. Here they are contractors of larger monopolies within the framework of specialization and cooperation.
- Special trade, which is the supply of products under assistance programs, special intergovernmental agreements.
- Countertrade, covering export related transactions.
Open sector
The open sector of the commodity market, logically, seems to be the opposite of the above. This is the name of the set of market segments that are interconnected by relations that are only commercial in nature.
What constitutes a commodity open market? These are the following segments:
- Short term deals. These operations are distinguished from others by their urgency. As a rule, they are concluded for a limited period - up to 1-1.5 years.
- Trade from retail to wholesale.
- Free market operations. This concept refers to a trading market where there are no restrictions on free competition. Moreover, such a phenomenon cannot be called purely positive. After all, the free market is not only spot and exchange trading, but also all those illegal, criminal purchase and sale schemes that are united by one concept - the “black market”.
Separately, commercial long-term transactions should be addressed. They can not be attributed to either the closed or open sectors of the trading market. Rather, they occupy an intermediate position in this classification. This is a form of exchange of goods, which, in the first place, is characterized by long-term commercial relations - from 2 to 25 years. Long-term commercial transactions determine the forms of economic preferential relations. Trade here is conducted only on the basis of commercial contracts, involving long-term cooperation between the seller and the buyer.
The commodity market, even if it is itself a kind of market in general, is a rather large-format category. This shows both its classification and analysis of the structure. The product market is divided into closed and open sectors. Graduated by geographic, commodity-industry characteristic. Classification by the level of monopolization will also say a lot about it. Most importantly, it is this market that acts as a field for commodity exchange. Which is embodied purely in the implementation of various contracts for the sale of services, raw materials, finished products, scientific inventions, machines and so on.