ETC News: Oligopoly, Inc. 2005 - Report on Corporate Power

[Guest guest]

" ETC Group " <etc

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:59:31 -0500

ETC Group: ETC News: Oligopoly, Inc. 2005 - Report on

Corporate Power

 

 

 

 

 

ETC Group

News Release

16 December 2005

www.etcgroup.org

 

 

ETC Group Releases New Report

on Corporate Power, Oligopoly, Inc. 2005

 

As governments at the 6th WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong bristle with

the thorny politics of trade, the report that ETC Group releases

today, Oligopoly, Inc. 2005, serves as a reminder that what looks

like buying and selling between countries is most often the

redistribution of capital among subsidiaries of the same parent

multinational corporation.

 

ETC Group's new report is available at www.etcgroup.org

 

In Oligopoly, Inc. 2005 ETC Group revisits the sectors analyzed in

Oligopoly, Inc. 2003 and finds that corporate concentration - not

only in food and agriculture, but in all sectors related to the

products and processes of life - has increased remarkably since the

last review two years ago. Since then:

* the world's top 10 seed companies have increased their control from

one-third to one-half of the global seed trade

* the top 10 biotech enterprises have raised their share from just

over half to nearly three-quarters of world biotech sales

* the market share of the top 10 pesticide manufacturers rose

modestly, from 80 to 84%, but industry analysts predict that only

three companies will survive the next decade

* The top 10 pharmaceutical companies control almost 59% market share

of the world's leading 98 drug firms (previously the top 10 accounted

for 53% market share of 118 companies)

 

Hope Shand, ETC Group's research director, observes, " It comes as no

surprise that corporate concentration has increased dramatically

since ETC Group's Oligopoly, Inc. 2003 report. The trend line is

distressing and the predictions of new mergers and greater

concentration are alarming. What we are witnessing is ever more

concentrated control over every aspect of life. "

 

As the input-ers and the output-ers battle for survival and

supremacy, ETC Group's report shows that a subterranean struggle is

underway at the nano-scale to control the fundamental building blocks

of life and nature. Corporate investment in nanobiotechnology (or,

synthetic biology) could give ultimate control to a very different

set of corporate actors. In the coming decades, nano-scale

technologies, particularly synthetic biology, could make geography,

raw materials, and even labour, irrelevant.

 

ETC Group's executive director Pat Mooney explains, " In a very real

sense, technology is poised to surpass trade as the defining feature

of comparative advantage in the 21st century. While corporate

concentration dominates commodity trade, proprietary technologies

spanning multiple industrial sectors are the royal flush - the

winning hand that beats all. The message for Hong Kong is clear:

Technology Trumps Trade. " In particular, countries in the global

South need to consider both corporate concentration and emerging

technology trends to avoid dead-end trade deals.

 

On December 12th in Hong Kong, ETC Group reported on a study prepared

for the South Centre that looks at the potential impact of new nano-

scale technologies on Commodity Dependent Developing Countries and

argues that " technology will trump trade " in the 21st century. The

report can be downloaded from www.southcentre.org.

 

 

For more information:

 

Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter (USA)

tel: +1 (919) 960-5223

hope

kjo

 

Pat Mooney (Ottawa)

tel: +1 (613) 241-2267

etc

 

Silvia Ribeiro (Mexico)

tel: +52 55 55 632 664

silvia

 

 

The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, ETC Group,

is dedicated to the conservation and sustainable advancement of

cultural and ecological diversity and human rights. ETC Group is also

a member of the Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation

Programme (CBDC). The CBDC is a collaborative experimental initiative

involving civil society organizations and public research

institutions in 14 countries. The CBDC is dedicated to the

exploration of community-directed programmes to strengthen the

conservation and enhancement of agricultural biological diversity.

CBDC website is www.cbdcprogram.org All ETC Group publications are

available on our website: www.etcgroup.org

_____________

ETC Group mailing list

http://lists.etcgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/etcgroup