The relation between the price of primary goods and that of manufactures has long intrigued economists. The relationship is known as the “terms of trade” and may be defined as the ratio of the average price of a country’s or a group of countries’ exports to the average price of its imports. The long-range trend of the terms of trade between primary products and manufactures has been the subject of diametrically opposed conclusions: some theorists hold that the trend is favourable to the less-developed countries, others that it is unfavourable. Faulty statistical material and methods in various countries are responsible for this lack of agreement.
Any comparison of the terms of trade over a long period of time is very difficult and may be misleading because the structure of trade changes, as does the quality of the groups of goods studied. Many economists believe that the terms of trade were adverse for less-developed countries from 1870 to 1938. They point to the fact that as developed countries become more technologically advanced there is a tendency for them to require relatively less in the way of primary products. A downward influence is thus exercised on primary product prices. Another factor is that in the industrial countries the benefits of progress find expression not in lower prices but in higher wages. This, together with inflationary pressures, means that prices of manufactured goods produced by the developed countries tend to rise steadily. There is thus a tendency, it is argued, for the less-developed countries to receive relatively less for what they have to sell and to have to pay more for what they need to buy. But the statistical problems posed by any attempt to verify this hypothesis are considerable. The countries selected, the relative weight assigned to the various goods, changes in transport costs, and the fact that the quality of manufactured goods has improved much more than that of primary goods make the statistics unreliable. There is also the problem that the terms of trade between primary commodities and manufactures do not necessarily coincide with the terms of trade between less-developed and industrial areas.
Even if it were established that the terms of trade have moved against the less-developed, largely primary-producing countries, this would not necessarily mean that their balance-of-payments situation has been adversely affected. A decline in the terms of trade may in fact improve a country’s balance-of-payments, because, although the prices of that country’s exports have fallen, it may, as a consequence of this fall in price, be able to sell a far larger quantity. Total revenue from exports may thus increase. Similarly, although imports may become more expensive, the result may be that the country’s demand for imports drops very steeply, so that less is spent on them than when they were cheaper.
These problems make it extremely difficult to generalize about the effects of commodity price changes on the economic situation of one or a group of countries.
Prices usually vary widely in commodity markets, not only in the short run but also in the long run. In the short run there are frequent changes in supply because of varying climatic conditions (for agricultural products) and because of political and other events on the international scene (such as the closure of the Suez Canal) and in individual countries (such as strikes). As a rule, price changes do not give rise in the short run to substantial changes in the supply of or demand for primary goods (low elasticity of supply and demand). Business cycles in the importing countries, however, have an influence on demand. Market conditions differ, of course, from product to product. In the case of sugar and wheat, demand is fairly stable, but supply is not; as regards tin, and, indeed, the majority of metals, the converse is true. In the case of industrial commodities, such as cotton, there are fluctuations in both supply and demand.
In the long run the extent of changes in demand and supply is usually greater. A considerable and sustained price increase, for example, may result in a fall in demand and the appearance of substitute products. After a number of years, supply may increase in response to a higher level of demand reflected by higher prices. The length of time required to adjust supply to demand varies from commodity to commodity. Tree crops, for example, need a long growth period, and mineral reserves are tapped only if expectations about the price trend are favourable.
