Impact of Global Trade and Uneven Market Access on other World Societies

Summarised below are some of the ways in which global trade and uneven market access affect the lives of people who are part of agricultural and manufacturing supply chains in developing countries.

Agricultural producer nations

Positive impacts:

Strong economic growth has been seen in some countries with a well-developed agricultural sector, notably Brazil.

Kenya is another EE which achieved average annual economic growth of 6 per cent over the period 2008-13. One-third of Kenya’s GDP is derived from agriculture. 

Negative impacts:

Many aquaculture labourers in Indonesia endure a terrible quality of life. Living in wooden shacks on coastal mudflats, workers maintain prawn ponds (large water-filled hollows dug into the mud).

Farm workers may become exposed to dangerous pesticides.

During past periods of over-production, such as 1995-2000, coffee farmers in Uganda suffered a 75 per cent fall in their income. 

Manufacturing producer nations

Positive impacts

Value is added to raw materials by the manufacturing process. Countries which have moved successfully into the manufacturing sector have often achieved high rates of economic growth over time. They include Japan, China and Asia’s original “tiger economies” (South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan).

Negative impacts

The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2013 led to the deaths of 1,100 textile workers.

It is hard to monitor the working conditions/pay for the workforce of every single supplier that large manufacturing TNCs source from.

The complexity of global trade networks means that many people are producing manufactured goods or parts in poorly-regulated factories and workshops.