Commodity Trade and Finance

15 Soft commodities Soft commodities Having discussed the main demand and supply determinants of agricultural products, and the markets for grains, we are now moving on to a set of minor agricultural commodities, which enter international trade quite frequently: coffee, sugar and cocoa. Apart from their obvious differences - in terms of production and consumption - from grains, these commodities are also special because they are almost exclusively produced in developing countries 1 and are central to the economies of those countries.