ARCADIA 2017 - Africa and the Global Commodity Markets

In  2016,  the  countenance  of  Africa  emerged  slightly  reas-sured. While global growth has remained fairly dull, with sluggish  international  trade  and  economic  packages  on  the continent continuing to fail, the rebound of prices for many  commodities  along  with  a  sustained  investment  dynamics   have   somewhat   dispersed   the   threatening   clouds  that  had  obscured  its  economic  horizon  in  2015.  A  slight improvement therefore, but which should not make us forget  that  the  macroeconomic  performance  of  Africa  has  been  disappointing  and  that  the  heterogeneity  of  the  continent  remains  so,  both in terms of the economic performance of the countries it comprises and the conjuncture of the various commodities markets (agricultural, mineral,  energy)  to  which  it  is  exposed.  2016  has  also  been  marked  by  major  political  and  geopolitical  events  whose  consequences  cannot  be  neglected.  Africa  and  the  Global  Commodity  Markets  is  a  means  of  grasping  the  reality  of  the  cocoa  and  coffee  markets,  iron  ore,  oil,  gas,  copper  and  phosphates  in  the  same  light,  while  keenly  observing  the  structural  changes  of  the  continent.  It  means  being  able  to  appreciate  the  economic  development  of  many  African  countries  without  forget-ting the importance of the economic, logistic or human challenges that the continent as a whole still has to face. It also means being able to mul-tiply  and  cross-reference  analyses,  whether  they  are  economic,  legal,  financial,  or  geopolitical:  the  very  approach  that  the  Arcadia  report  is  trying to develop.The  Annual  Report  on  Commodity  Analytics  and  Dynamics  in  Africa(Arcadia)  is  written  by  some  thirty  international  experts  under  the  su-pervision  of  Philippe  Chalmin,  Professor  at  Paris  Dauphine  University  (France)   and   Yves   Jégourel,   Associate   Professor   at   the   University   Bordeaux (France) and Senior Fellow at the OCP Policy Center (Morocco). The  Arcadia  report  is  part  of  a  collaboration  between  CyclOpe  and  the  OCP Policy Center.