ABSTRACT
In recent years two issues related to primary commodities have come to the fore of the international political agenda. On the one hand, there have been disputes on agricultural income policies, subsidies, protection, and market access in many OECD. On the other hand, almost all International Commodity Agreements (ICAs) have undergone a period of crisis, facing difficulties in the renegotiation process. As far as the first issue, the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) represented the main international forum of discussion. ICAs have been negotiated among governments of producer and consumer nations to reduce volatility in the prices of primary commodities, to sustain long-term producer income, and to provide an adequate (and at reasonable prices), supply to consumers. However, recently existing agreements have faced severe difficulties. In 1993, talks on a new International Coffee Agreement (ICoA) collapsed in March; the International Natural Rubber Organisation (INRO) failed in June to reach an agreement on the renegotiation of the pact. Finally, after having abandoned their attempts to negotiate a pact based on a stock withholding scheme in March 1993, delegates to the International Cocoa Organisation (ICO) planned a purely administrative agreement.
