METHODS FOR BUYING FOOD

Abstract

The study mentions the most important ways of trading agricultural products and food, the methods provided by the producer (farmer) or intermediary to the final consumer (the buyer). Each of these methods have advantages and disadvantages which are described in this study. Some of them are functioning very well in Romania, but some others are in a beginning phase. At each countries level there are various methods to organize the agricultural and food market. For each methods there are some adjusting organisms, which are adjusting the markets and the trading methods for agricultural and food products. The contemporary international trade is at a modernization phase. Our country must focus on those trading methods which are practiced in the developed countries. For agricultural and food products we must take into consideration the following trading methods: Retail trading; Trading via marketing cooperatives; Trading via wholesale markets; Trading via commodity exchange. Conclusions The participant to the operations from the commodity exchanges are, generally, from the following categories: •Dealers, producers and consumers, which are selling or buying goods, with immediate delivery and cash payment; •Producers, consumers, dealers, banks, which are investing in goods to be delivered at a deadline; •Dealers, producers, consumers, which are using the commodity exchange to realize “hedge operations” in order to avoid the price fluctuations between the contract date and the delivery date; •Speculators, which are risking their money to obtain a profit.