The CCRED Blog
On this page you will find links to blogs from CCRED on a wide range of topics.
#ThinkingAheadSA
This blog presents ideas and policy suggestions for the South African economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reena das Nair
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed numerous limits and constraints within our food system, and what the consequences can be for ordinary people as well as the businesses active in the food economy. What opportunities are there to overcome these through innovations in technology, operations, business models and approaches? How do legal and regulatory requirements encourage or constrain these innovations? Are there new ways of thinking and new models emerging because of the pandemic that give us a sense of what the future might bring?
Shingie Chisoro-Dube, Namhla Landani, and Simon Roberts
COVID-19 is leading to widespread questioning of food systems and the ways in which efficiency and competitiveness have been understood. While industries have been massively disrupted, there are some such as citrus which have been resilient. With appropriate interventions, there is growth even under COVID-19 and further strong potential beyond the crisis. The Innovation and Inclusion in Agro-processing Project has set out four key measures to support local capabilities and greater inclusion of small and medium growers in export markets, with creation of substantial new jobs.
Andrew Bowman and Reena das Nair
COVID-19 is prompting widespread questioning of food systems and the ways efficiency and competitiveness have been previously understood (Ruben et al, 2020; IPES-Food, 2020; Farley & Scherr, 2020). Recent decades have seen increasing concentration among powerful large firms, the growth of complex global value chains underpinned by just-in-time systems, and pressure to deliver lower prices, higher levels of processing and greater convenience alongside retail supermarketisation. This creates challenges ranging from ecological sustainability to public health.
Reena das Nair and Aarti Krishnan
Restrictions on movement, curfews, remote working and social distancing in the transition from lockdown is changing the way consumers access food. This will be the reality for a prolonged period to prevent new waves of virus infections in South Africa. Low-income consumers in township, peri-urban and rural areas are particularly vulnerable, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in food systems, like growers, processors, wholesalers, retailers (both formal and informal), fast-food outlets and restaurants, are at risk if they cannot rapidly adapt to changing consumption patterns.
Teboho Bosiu
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unfortunate wakeup call regarding the state of enterprise funding in South Africa, although the crisis also presents a unique opportunity for development finance to play a critical role in reviving economic activity and achieving structural transformation in the economy. To do this, the forms and nature of funding need to change to align with what the evidence suggests businesses actually need to be sustainable.
Jason F Bell
The COVID-19 pandemic will have an immediate and long-lasting economic impact on the South African economy in the coming months. We need to collectively consider how to rapidly reopen and safely ramp up production in the economy’s already struggling manufacturing sector, post the lockdown. The economic disruption caused by the pandemic presents some opportunities to restructure production systems and for export growth and import substitution, which must be explored. The reopening of the economy will not be business as usual, and, notably, the pandemic has had a significant negative impact on manufacturing activity in many leading manufacturing economies such as China.
Reena das Nair
The formal supermarket chains are not the main lifeline for many small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) producing and processing food. These SMEs primarily sell through alternative routes to market such as independent wholesalers, cash and carrys, independent retailers, informal spaza shops, street vendors or directly to consumers within communities. These SMEs, who are already vulnerable in our food production system, will struggle to survive if they and their alternative routes to market are not supported during this time.
Digital Industrial Policy
This blog presents policy briefs on issues relating to industrial policy and digitalisation.
Simon Roberts and Thando Vilakazi
There is a range of changes relating to the digitalization of economic activity and the growing importance of digital platforms (including online platforms) which pose fundamental challenges to the existing set of rules for markets under economic regulation, competition law and industrial policy. The Industrial Development Think Tank, housed at CCRED, UJ, convened the first Expert Panel meeting on 22 July 2019 to assess and prioritise the key issues facing South Africa with regard to regulating digital platforms in the interests of inclusive growth.[1] The deliberations and reports from the panel will feed into the Presidential 4IR Commission’s theme on legal and regulatory frameworks, in which competition and data ownership are sub-themes.
Julius Nyamwena and Pamela Mondliwa
On 1st July 2020, the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”) came into effect after being introduced in 2014. POPIA positions South Africa in the mainstream of relatively well-developed data protection laws, regulating the collection, processing, and sharing of personal information. These controls over the use of personal data are but one aspect of data governance that countries around the world are implementing.
In addition to POPIA, South Africa needs an overarching data governance policy framework. A comprehensive data governance policy includes guidelines and laws to address data security, cybersecurity and cybercrime; the cross-border flow of personal and non-personal data; ownership of data; access to data, markets and platforms; and algorithm accountability.
Jason F Bell and Pamela Mondliwa
There is a clear message amongst South African policymakers about the need to build a more resilient and sustainable economy in light of the impacts of COVID-19. The details on South Africa’s plans to build such an economy are still emerging. Globally, it is commonly understood that climate change and environmental sustainability are important aspects of building resilience and sustainability. As such, it is important that South Africa’s post-COVID-19 economy is greener. At the same time, the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and increased digitalisation of economic activity mean that 4IR and green economy strategies may need to be combined or design so that they are mutually reinforcing.
Thando Vilakazi
In March 2020, the Industrial Development Think Tank (IDTT), housed at CCRED at the University of Johannesburg, convened a second meeting of South African policy makers and local and international experts on digital platforms and economic development. The focus was to identify concrete policy options for South Africa in order to benefit from the rise of digital platforms.
A key implication of digitalisation is that value increasingly resides in data, which necessitates a different approach to regulation for digital markets. We note that the COVID-19 pandemic makes online, virtual and delivery platforms even more important, along with the appropriate policy framework. It also presents opportunities to rapidly shape the evolution of digital markets now for more inclusive outcomes in future.
Rory Macmillan
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) depend on the effective exploitation of data across numerous sectors. The wide host of issues relating to how data is to be governed in society today, whether globally, regionally or nationally is referred to here as data governance – a framework of policies, laws, regulations and processes that enable, guide, sometimes limit, and hold market participants accountable for, the collection, use and sharing of data.
Thando Vilakazi
Too little of the discourse on an economic growth strategy for South Africa has focused on addressing barriers to entry and putting in place mechanisms for ensuring effective participation of black-owned firms and small and medium enterprises in established value chains. The focus from the President’s office has mainly been on raising investment commitments from large enterprises as was demonstrated by last year’s investment summit outcomes.
Lorenza Monaco, Jason F Bell and Julius Nyamwena
If South Africa aims to build technologically competitive niches and deepen the automotive supply chain, a suggested option is to explore the potential for technological upgrading and localisation in plastic auto components. In this regard, looking at the path followed by Thailand can certainly provide interesting lessons.
Shingie Chisoro
Opening an exhibition on the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) at Parliament recently, the Minister of Science and Technology, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, stressed that South Africa plans to use the 4IR opportunities to deal with poverty, unemployment and inequality – but also that the country needs new skills for the new industries and markets that will emerge. A point in case is the fruit sector which, as a high-value and labour-intensive industry with high export potential, is central to agriculture’s contribution to economic growth.
Simon Roberts and Nimrod Zalk
The recent focus on the price and quality of data services in SA has been on their impact on consumers. These prices are high. For example, mobile prepaid prices from the major networks, at close to R150/GB, are about three times higher than in countries such as Kenya, and disruptive local entrants have not managed to significantly dent these rates.
Sha’ista Goga
The rise of online retail internationally has raised an apocalyptic spectre of empty malls, dying city centres, local factory closures and rising unemployment. It also evokes images of a de-personalised landscape in which electronic orders are processed at automated warehouses and boxes of goods on conveyor belts in China are shipped directly to mailboxes around the world. This, while the international tech giants that facilitate transactions, profit without paying income tax.
Anthony Black
Until quite recently, the automotive industry was characterised by relatively mature, established technologies. With the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) and more recently the prospect of self-driving cars, the sector is now at the cutting edge of global technological developments. The advent of electric vehicles is set to have a dramatic effect, not just on automotive manufacturing, but on industry more widely and on a range of other sectors such as energy and transport. This policy brief assesses the position with regard to the diffusion of EV technology, its impact and the questions that it raises for policy makers.
Pamela Mondliwa and Lorenza Monaco
The major disruptive technological changes in the plastic industry can be distinguished in terms of digitalisation, materials science, additive manufacturing even while we recognise that their effects are closely inter-related. These changes taken together are transforming the plastics factory. This transformation has implications not only for process and production efficiency, but also the landscape of international competition by allowing smaller manufacturers to achieve the market access and technological capabilities that previously could only be attained by medium-to-larger players.[3]
John Stuart and Anthony Black
The Cape Town ICT sector is a globalised and leading services sector within Africa. Many firms in the sector – not just the large multinationals – have international investors, clients, financiers, suppliers and partners. The sector is more than the sum of its parts because it serves as a localised hub of diverse enterprises, a skill pool, financier support, local and provincial government support and a strong physical infrastructure. It is the fastest growing services sector in the Western Cape.
Justin Barnes and Mbongeni Ndlovu
The Yellow Metals industry is undergoing profound transformation. Rapid technology advances such as telematics and remote monitoring, hybrid powertrain technology, and autonomous vehicles have recently emerged to challenge the status quo. Furthermore, the combination of technology advances and increasing refinement of customer preferences is leading to a fundamental shift in the industry’s commercial model: from the selling of products to the provision of Internet of Things (IoT) enabled heavy transport equipment services.
Robert Stewart
The terms digitalisation, “Industry 4.0” or “factory of the future” are used interchangeably to broadly describe the increasing potential to integrate the parts of the manufacturing value chain with the aid of digitalisation. There are multiple ways to approach this topic and this briefing document describes these disruptions in relation to the Clothing and Textile (C&T) industries through five interconnected themes: increasing data availability through object linked sensors; object interconnectivity providing large data sets and associated powerful business analytics; the application of artificial intelligence to big data to enable machine learning and responsiveness; new materials availability and capability; and finally the increasing use of additive technologies and robotics capable of working either autonomously or with human collaborators.
Sha’ista Goga and Anthea Paelo
The purchase of goods or services over the internet, is changing the nature of retailing. This is commonly referred to as e-commerce or online retail. It has benefitted consumers by providing increased choice and variety. However, the alternative business models and lower cost structures have led to concern over the scale, dominance and market power of the largest e-commerce giants, notably Amazon and Alibaba, and implications for other businesses.
Justin Barnes and John White
The global chemicals sector grew at a healthy 6% on average over the period 2006 to 2015. However, China contributed most of this growth, growing at an average 18% per year. As a result, its share of global chemicals production grew from 13% to 37%. Capital investment within the global chemicals industry is fully aligned with this trend, with 73% deployed in Asia-Pacific in 2013, up from already dominant 54% in 2006.[3] The rise and now dominance of China in the chemicals manufacturing sector is significant for the future of the sector globally.
Justin Barnes and Lisa Higginson
The food processing industry is predominantly characterised by high production volumes and low profit margins. Rising regulatory pressure, commodity price increases, more demanding consumer expectations and economic uncertainties are driving large food companies to search for new ways to optimise manufacturing processes and access new markets with a variety of new products. Digital technologies are emerging as a major opportunity to ameliorate these challenges.
Shingie Chisoro Dube and Reena Das Nair
Strong performance of the South African fruit industry coupled with strong growth in global demand has meant the industry is the central focus for agriculture-led growth. This growth is dependent on applying major advances in technology to underpin sustainable growth of the fruit sector in what can be termed the ‘industrialisation of freshness’.
Justin Barnes
The automotive industry’s technology direction is the focus of huge attention and substantial hype, much of which has been created by recent government announcements denouncing the future of the internal combustion engine (ICE), and the banning of such vehicles within governed time frames: The United Kingdom[2] and France by 2040[3], and Norway even sooner - by 2025[4].
Lauralyn Kaziboni, Maria Nkhonjera, and Simon Roberts
Integrated machinery, equipment and electronic control systems are key industries for digitalisation and related technology changes, and combine a range of sophisticated and complex technologies. South Africa’s machinery and equipment sector has a developed industrial base and encompasses the manufacture of machinery such as mineral-processing equipment, pumps, valves and earthmoving equipment. Machinery, equipment and electronic control systems have strong backward linkages to the metal products industries.
Structural Transformation
This blog presents policy briefs on structural transformation issues in South Africa written for the IDTT
Antonio Andreoni and Fiona Tregenna
Industrial policymaking is a complex process as it entails the management of multiple interactive measures and instruments (Andreoni, 2016). In his account of the lessons learned from East Asia, Stiglitz (1996) emphasises how the successful industrialisation of these countries can only be understood by analysing their “packages of interactive measures” whereby companies were exposed to different types of internal and external competitive pressures.
Antonio Andreoni and Fiona Tregenna
Over the past two decades, the world economy has undergone profound structural transformations. Despite a number of catching-up economies having registered fast economic growth during this period, world industrial production has remained highly concentrated. Today, fewer than twenty countries control 80% of the world manufacturing value-addition activities. Many low- and middle-income countries are not part of this group of industrialised nations, and indeed many of those countries that have managed to reach middle-income status have shown signs of premature deindustrialisation. South Africa is one of these middle-income countries.
Pamela Mondliwa and Simon Roberts
The South African economy has prematurely de-industrialised with low investment and a shrinking manufacturing sector in relative terms. This is especially so in more sophisticated activities, as reflected in the undiversified export basket.[3] The economy is also characterised by high levels of concentration and barriers to entry and expansion. While profits have been high, investment levels have been low.
Countries develop by changing the structure of the economy to move from sectors of low to high productivity and complexity, and within sectors through upgrading to higher value-added activities. This is a process of structural transformation. South Africa has, however, not made significant progress in transforming its economy in this way and has prematurely de-industrialised. At the same time, the economy remains highly concentrated and unequal.
Zavareh Rustomjee and Lauralyn Kaziboni
The competitiveness of the upstream sector[3] in the metals and machinery value chain has been underpinned by large scale investment in the 1990s to upgrade plant and equipment, supported by investment incentives and Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) investments. However, this advantage has been eroded over time. Upstream firms have been facing financial difficulties in 2016 and 2017 arising from what appears to be a profit maximising or asset stripping approach during the commodity super-cycle between 2002 and 2008.
Ndiadivha Tempia, Maria Nkhonjera, Reena das Nair and Shingie Chisoro
Structural transformation in agro-processing involves developing processing industries to transform raw agricultural inputs into high value-added products (known as sectoral transitioning) and upgrading of technology and productivity within agro-processing (sectoral deepening).[3] Developments in agro-processing industries and their dynamic linkages to other sectors of the economy, such as retail, logistics and packaging are a key source of technology-driven productivity growth and innovation, with direct implications for industrialisation.
Lorenza Monaco, Justin Barnes and Anthony Black
The production of the thousands of components which make up a vehicle comprise the heart of the automotive industry. All host country governments seek to promote greater levels of localisation of parts production. These efforts have a long history in South Africa (SA). The recently announced South African Automotive Masterplan (SAAM) sets ambitious targets in this respect, aiming to raise local content to 60% by 2035. This would represent a substantial increase on current levels of local content which are below 40%.
Anthony Black, Justin Barnes and Lorenza Monaco
The signing in March 2018 of the agreement to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a significant step along the road to full regional integration in Africa. Achieving this long standing objective is critical for industrialisation in the continent and is of particular importance to the development of the automotive industry.
Lauralyn Kaziboni, Zavareh Rustomjee and Ian Steuart
The bias in electricity prices between and among municipalities and Eskom has emerged as an important impediment to the growth of the metals, machinery and equipment value chain. Excessively priced electricity reduces the competitiveness of local cast products, and encourages local machinery and equipment manufacturers to import cast components that can be produced locally.
Pamela Mondliwa and Simon Roberts
South Africa has failed to transform its economy towards the higher productivity and more sophisticated products and services required for economic development. In fact, the structure of the economy in 2018 is much too similar to that inherited in 1994.
Shingie Chisoro, Reena das Nair, and Maria Nkhonjera
Structural transformation of the economy to move productive resources to higher value activities cuts across the traditional boundaries of manufacturing, agriculture and services. This is illustrated by the substantial scope for changes in agriculture to apply more sophisticated technologies to produce higher value crops such as fruits and supply them to markets around the world.
Teboho Bosiu, Sumayya Goga, and Simon Roberts
The extreme concentration of ownership and control within the South African economy, with a small number of large firms dominating most sectors remains one of the country’s greatest economic challenges. Debates about whether or not these companies are ‘hoarding cash’ or business is on an ‘investment strike’ miss the point.
Competition Review
This review analyses developments in competition policy and jurisprudence throughout the African continent.
In the past year, various countries in SADC have considered amendments to their competition laws. Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have amended or are proposing amendments to their competition laws in order to make the legislations more applicable to their economic and social contexts. These developments are consistent with a shift in developing countries from transplanting aspects of their competition laws from international frameworks, to a focus on using competition policy as a tool for addressing particular challenges within their local economies.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in May 2018 made a decision to have the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA) methodology for regulating piped-gas prices reviewed. The natural gas market has seen rapid expansion over recent years, growing as an alternative source of energy in South Africa and the southern African region. Gas is a key source of energy for both industrial and residential use. In the market for piped-gas, Sasol is the dominant supplier and importer of piped gas transmitted from Mozambique.
There have been widespread calls for data costs in South Africa to be reduced in recent years. In 2018, the entry of a new competitor, Rain, shows how increased competition in South Africa’s telecommunications industry can reduce data costs and increase innovation. Since 2013, the price of a 1GB data bundle has not fallen below R149 (with the exception of Telkom Mobile).
In 2017, the South African Reserve Bank issued three new banking licences to Discovery, Bank Zero and TymeDigital. These are the first licences issued to new banks in more than a decade since the issuing of a bank licence to Finbond Mutual bank in 2001. In the State of the Nation address in 2018, the South African president hailed this as an opportunity to ensure competitive rivalry in a highly concentrated sector. However, the potential for entrants to bring disruptive competition with substantial benefits to consumers needs to be assessed in the context of challenges in the banking industry in South Africa.
Part of the focus of the proposed amendments to the Competition Act is on preventing creeping concentration. Creeping concentration results from a series of mergers and acquisitions that individually do not raise market power substantially, but do so collectively. Firms can increase market share through mergers and acquisitions, and consequently increase market power and concentration in markets.
The recent collapse of Steinhoff International Holdings (“Steinhoff”), a global retail giant, raises concerns around the interest and strategies of large corporates. Steinhoff has sparked controversy over “accounting irregularities”, which cost the retail giant R282 billion in stock market value.
The provision of mobile money services has been a dynamic and fast-growing sector in Africa. Beyond money transfer, the industry in different countries has evolved to provide additional services such as bill and merchant payments as well as financial services such as credit, insurance and savings. In East Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have at least one mobile money provider offering a savings and credit facility.
In the developing world, disease and poverty are interdependent making access to essential medicines at affordable prices even more critical. 80% of the two billion people worldwide without access to essential medicines live in low income countries. As such, competitive rivalry in the pharmaceutical industry can improve access to medicines by reducing prices and through motivating brand companies to challenge existing patent drugs and create new and improved medicines. Furthermore, upon expiration of patent drugs, competition encourages generic companies to provide less expensive alternatives of medicines.
On 29 August 2017, the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) approved with conditions the proposed acquisition of Associated Vehicle Assemblers Limited (AVA) by Simba Corporation Limited (Simba Corp). The approved merger sees the acquisition of an additional 50% of the shares in AVA which were previously controlled by Marshalls East Africa Limited (Marshalls).
One of the world’s largest brewing houses, Heineken, has taken a step towards a larger share of the South African beer market with the acquisition of the local black owned craft brewer, Soweto Gold, in October 2017. This development comes just months after Heineken bought out the Stellenbosch-based brewery, Stellenbrau. The mergers mean that the brands can now be marketed to a global customer base. While this may be good for the respective owners of the acquired firms, the transactions reflect the challenges faced by Soweto Gold and other small brewers in accessing routes to market on their own.
Most countries in Southern Africa are net importers of products from South Africa and are therefore likely to be subject to South African cartels. Imports from South Africa cut across sectors including food, capital equipment, construction materials, energy, plastics and chemical products. Moreover regional markets are closely linked through the presence of South African companies in the rest of the region. This article expands on an earlier article in this Review on the possible impacts of some of the South African cartels on the region, as part of CCRED’s monitoring of competition case developments and the evolution of enforcement in the region.
The local rooibos market in South Africa comprises 8 large processing firms which account for approximately 90% of the market, with Rooibos Limited controlling 60% of the market. Similar to other processing firms, Rooibos Limited purchases large quantities of tea from commercial farmers and processes it into bulk tea which is subsequently sold to packaging firms to pack into finished products. A case against Rooibos Limited has recently been referred to the Competition Tribunal alleging exclusionary abuse of dominance in contravention of section 8(d)(i) of the Competition Act.
A summary of some of the major mergers, acquisitions and enforcement cases in the region.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are key drivers of inclusive growth in the South African economy, contributing about 55% to the gross domestic product, while their contribution towards employment is as high as 60%. In addition, small firms and new entrants enhance competition within different economic sectors, resulting in lower prices and greater variety for consumers, as well as dynamic and productive efficiencies.
The South African Competition Commission has been very successful in uncovering cartels, with a large number of settlements over the past 10 years. It should be noted that settlements typically involve an admission on the part of the companies involved. Given the regional scope of many companies’ activities across southern Africa this begs the question as to whether these cartels affected neighbouring countries and should also be prosecuted in these countries.
The Competition Commission of South Africa’s land-based public passenger transport market inquiry, which commenced in June 2017, addresses a range of questions including issues with intermodal transport links. The inquiry relates to excessive short distance passenger transport fares charged by buses, peak season long distance bus fares, operational subsidies disadvantaging operators that are not subsidised, and restricting particular providers to operate in specific areas and routes. The issues to be considered cut across several public transport modes. The inquiry coincides with the Gauteng provincial government’s plan to expand its high speed train, Gautrain, into two of Gauteng’s largest townships.
Firm competitiveness can be understood as the ability to provide products and services at least as efficiently and effectively as competitors. At the industry level, international competitiveness is the ability of domestic firms to achieve sustained success against foreign competitors such as in terms of unit labour costs and relative productivity. Competitiveness is critical if a country’s firms are to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the regional and international economy. Furthermore, it can stimulate industrialisation and economic growth which subsequently promotes job creation, higher productivity and innovation.
In the first quarter of 2017 the COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) assessed its first restrictive business practice complaint. The case relates to the exclusive award of marketing and media rights for the main regional football competitions on the African continent.
The world population is expected to reach ten billion by 2050, which has implications for food security in the context of climate change. In the recent $43 billion acquisition of Syngenta, a global seed company, by ChemChina, a chemicals company, the CEO of ChemChina notes that the merger was driven by China’s need to secure future food supply, given the country’s history of famines. This strategy highlights the importance of access to seeds as a key input in agricultural production. This article looks at the implications of increased consolidation in the global seed industry on access to seed and food security.
In April 2017, the COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) conditionally approved a large merger between Brasseries Internationales Holdings (BIH) Ltd and Carlsberg Malawi Ltd (Carlsberg). BIH is the holding company of Castel Group, a French beverages company. The second party to the merger, Carlsberg, is a beverages manufacturer participating solely in the Malawian market in Africa. The merger spans four countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
DStv Media Sales (Pty) Ltd (DMS) was recently found to have been involved in anti-competitive behaviour and has admitted to price fixing as well as fixing trading conditions. This comes after an investigation by the Competition Commission of South Africa which commenced in November 2011 where it was concluded that, through a company called Media Credit Co-Ordinators (MCC), associated media agencies were offered discounts for early settlement of their accounts of 16.5% for payments made within 45 days whereas non-member agencies were only given a 15% discount.
A summary of some of the major mergers, acquisitions and enforcement cases in the region
The manufacturing sector plays a pivotal role in the development and growth of an economy due to its forward and backward linkages with other sectors. Economic activity in Johannesburg can also lead to benefits across southern Africa (“the region”) where firms inJohannesburg are key suppliers.
Andrew Bowman and Reena das Nair
COVID-19 has prompted widespread discussion of the resilience of food systems and how efficiency and competitiveness have been previously understood. Recent decades have seen the growth of increasingly complex food value chains. These are underpinned by just-in-time delivery systems, a growing share of food products sold through supermarkets, and increasing concentration of ownership among powerful, large food manufacturers.