供应短缺

service sector

soft commodity

currency movement

In the case of some "temperate" agricultural products, such as the grains, on the other hand,there is a particularly severe glut of supplies, and world market prices are continuing to decline under the influence of a price-cutting war between the US and EEC. The US is also setting out this year to arrest the decline in its exports of soya beans, cotton, tobacco and rice—with potentially devastating consequences for many producers of these commodities in the Third World.

For most people involved in the production and trading of“soft" or agricultural commodities,this is proving to be a grim decade. Prices are in many cases at,or near,historic lows in real terms as markets struggle to cope with floods of surplus produce. And-with most soothsayers forecasting flat, or still lower, prices-the markets themselves have lost much of their allure. Speculators who profited handsomely from the price volatility of the 1970s have deserted soft commodities for the newer excitement of financial futures or the security and big yields afforded by the equity and money markets. What are "soft commodities" ?

For most people involved in the production and trading of“soft" or agricultural commodities,this is proving to be a grim decade. Prices are in many cases at,or near,historic lows in real terms as markets struggle to cope with floods of surplus produce. And-with most soothsayers forecasting flat, or still lower, prices-the markets themselves have lost much of their allure. Speculators who profited handsomely from the price volatility of the 1970s have deserted soft commodities for the newer excitement of financial futures or the security and big yields afforded by the equity and money markets. What does "flat" mean?

For most people involved in the production and trading of“soft" or agricultural commodities,this is proving to be a grim decade. Prices are in many cases at,or near,historic lows in real terms as markets struggle to cope with floods of surplus produce. And-with most soothsayers forecasting flat, or still lower, prices-the markets themselves have lost much of their allure. Speculators who profited handsomely from the price volatility of the 1970s have deserted soft commodities for the newer excitement of financial futures or the security and big yields afforded by the equity and money markets. What is speculators' newer excitement after deserting soft commodities?

(To convince bottlers that the new products can match or exceed the sales of existing brands without heavy discounting or couponing, Coca-cola and PepsiCo will have to cut back on special promotion, then ply the bottlers with the resulting sales data. But their most useful tactic will be to offer the bottlers generous cooperative advertising deals on the new sodas, and extra money to promote the old ones. Bottlers may come in for a little arm-twisting as well. “It is often very subtle,” says an industry executive who prefers not to be named. “The Coca-cola representative will say ‘That decision is not going to sit very well in Atlanta’or something like that.”)What is the implication of “resulting” here?

(To convince bottlers that the new products can match or exceed the sales of existing brands without heavy discounting or couponing, Coca-cola and PepsiCo will have to cut back on special promotion, then ply the bottlers with the resulting sales data. But their most useful tactic will be to offer the bottlers generous cooperative advertising deals on the new sodas, and extra money to promote the old ones. Bottlers may come in for a little arm-twisting as well. “It is often very subtle,” says an industry executive who prefers not to be named. “The Coca-cola representative will say ‘That decision is not going to sit very well in Atlanta’or something like that.”)Whose decision is “that decision”?