Commodity Marketing and Generic Promotion

Suggests some ways of overcoming large and unpredictable fluctuations in demand and prices of food commodities. Proposes, in order to maintain some equilibrium, there must be a“buyer of the last resort” – a mechanism for fixing a floor to the price of a product, or temporarily increasing supplies or damping demand in order to keep an upper limit. States that fresh produce conforms to few of the basic assumptions of classical marketing theory, and has an inherent tendency towards market instability. Concludes that commodity marketing faces problems unknown in a manufacturing industry and the essential skill lies in understanding the distributors and consumers, and successfully communicating with them.