Global Effects

Retail is probably as old as civilization itself. From the time that our ancestors bartered grains in exchange for cloth, the idea of retail has been in existance. However, the growth in globalization has led to it being governed by so many diverse factors. A large proportion of everday retail pertains to basic needs like food. I came across a very interesting article in the Boston globe on how the grocery bills are rising in the US due to a multidimensional supply-demand tug-of-war. On on side you have rising oil prices leading to increased transportation and packaging costs which are passed down to the consumers. On the other side you have growing demand for basic food commodities like oil seeds due to economic emergence of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). An interesting fact was cited in this article - "China will import almost 50 percent of the world's oilseeds within a decade, becoming the world's largest importer, according to estimates from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development." I wonder if another green revolution of some sort will be required to dramatically increase productivity so that the growing demand for food commodities can be satiated. At the same time efficiencies in storage and transportation might be required to curb the seeming growing spiral of increasing costs.