ABSTRACT
This chapter sheds some light on the latter group of phenomena by looking at important stylized facts of the structure and the evolution of some specific commodity markets. It explains the events in a broader historical perspective by focusing on the international dimension of the modern commodity industry, and in particular on the recent trade pattern that has emerged among different countries and world regions. The chapter focuses on three main dimensions that characterize the commodity sector. First, uses publicly available datasets to understand to which extent individual markets are globally integrated, looking at volumes of exports and production. Second, examines the direction of commodity trade flows between different geographical regions, in order to identify which countries can be described as world suppliers or consumers with respect to important commodity products. Third, also examines the supply concentration of commodity markets, which represents an important feature of market structure.
