Alexandre Fenelon wrote;

Relative decline in prices of agricultural commodities
> would even worsen terms of trade between rich and poor nations
> (who depend
> -on agricultural exports),

How many Asian nations depend on agricultural exports? Not many. Exports of
agricultural goods are a small part of Indian exports and India's exports
are only about 10-12% of the GDP. Most Asian nations export manufactured
goods and services.

>I would also harm farmers who sell their production (the
> majority of
> -Brazilian farmers produce all of their food plus some small excedents to
be
> sold
> -in the market....I´m surprised by your data on India).

High food prices is the programme of Indian Kulaks.Vast majority of India's
rural poor don't have any surpluses to sell. Either they are farm labourers
working for a wage or their farms are so small and unproductive that they
don't have any surplus food to sell. I suppose Brazil has plenty of land to
cultivate, unlike China and India.

> -I think the question of terms of trade is of utmost importance. The
> unfairness of
> -the international trade system is that third world countries NEED to get
> hard
> -currency,

Many Asian nations seem to have too much of hard currencies; they don't know
what to do with it ! :-)

>so they´re in a situation where they must sell their products by
> very
> -small (or not at all) profits. The end of the almighty dollar would help
a
> lot....
> -so I oppose any policies that result in further deterioration of terms of
> trade.

Profits depend on profit margins and volumes sold. Can you not sell large
quantities at low margin to generate large profits? Further decline of $
would cut into margins.

> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/DH14Dj01.html
>
> China exported 4.07 billion pairs of shoes in 2001, up 2.55 percent from
the
> previous year. But the value of those exports, US$10.1 billion, was an
> increase of only 2.48 percent over 2000. Actual value growth per unit,
then,
> was a negative. Guangdong province is China's largest shoe-making region,
> with annual production at around three billion pairs, accounting for
almost
> a third of the world's total. Assuming the number of Chinese workers
making
> shoes to be constant, Chinese productivity dropped in the shoe industry in
> 2001. The only way productivity could have remained the same or improved
> would have been if the Chinese shoe industry had cut workers, thus
> contributing to China's growing unemployment problem.

But China's FX reserves are $350 bn plus. India's FX reserves are $88 bn.
That gives you relative autonomy in foreign policy, e.g. on Iraq.

Ulhas