IDENTIFYING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Any action taken must start from an understanding of the market, and must work back from this to production.

The first step in establishing a sustainable buyer-seller partnership is therefore to establish the level of demand for the product, and to confirm that this demand will not disappear at least in the short term.

"Demand for the product" means both
Demand for the raw material grown by the farmer and
Demand for the end product sold by the company.

In the case of raw materials, farmers must be able to sell what they produce, at an attractive price, which gives profits, competitive with other uses of their land and labour.

In the case of the end product, the exporter must be able to sell all it produces at a price sufficient to cover raw material costs and other overheads with sufficient profit margin for owner or shareholder payouts.

Many developing countries, usually through their Ministries of Agriculture, run market information services which indicate current local prices and sales volumes of horticultural commodities. These are a useful aid to farmers and traders in deciding what crops to grow and where and when to sell them. Several international organisations run more generalised market information services which are useful for long term production planning eg:
International Trade Centre
Comite Liaison Europe Afrique Caraib Pacifique
Food and Agriculture Organisation
Fresh Produce Consortium