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Global Value Chains in a Postcrisis World
cases we explore the impact of this market shift on the standards intensity of production and in the intercountry division of labor in the GVC. The Thai Cassava GVC Cassava is cultivated widely all over the globe because it grows on poor-quality land and is relatively drought resistant, thus serving as a food crop of last resort in many countries. But it is also an important intermediate product channeled into the animal feed, bioethanol (biofuel), and starch markets. Since raw cassava is poisonous to humans, bulky, and perishable, cassava is usually traded in processed form. In 2008, global trade in cassava products was $1.124 billion and although Brazil and Nigeria were the largest producers, Thailand was the world’s largest cassava exporter (see figure 8.1), accounting for around 80 percent of global trade in both major product families ($910 million) (Comtrade 2009). Cassava plays an important role in the Thai economy. In 2007, it was the second most important crop after rice in terms of value and the third after sugarcane and rice in terms of volume (FAOSTAT Nov. 2009). At $948 million in 2007, combined dried cassava and cassava starch exports were its third biggest agricultural export after rubber and rice (FAOSTAT 2009). Unlike the case with other major Figure 8.1 Thailand’s Share in World Cassava Exports, 1961–2007 100 90 80
percent
70 60 50 40 30 20 10
19 6 19 1 63 19 6 19 5 6 19 7 69 19 7 19 1 73 19 7 19 5 7 19 7 7 19 9 81 19 8 19 3 8 19 5 87 19 8 19 9 91 19 9 19 3 9 19 5 9 19 7 99 20 0 20 1 0 20 3 0 20 5 07
0 year starch Source: FAOSTAT Agriculture TradeSTAT 2009.
dried cassava