Consider how multinationals have dealt with Third World commodities
and natural resources. In both cases, they have used the resources of
their host countries to enhance profits and standards of living in the West.
The commodity trade is dominated by a handful of global companies. For
example, about six companies in each group control between 85 and 90
percent of the global wheat trade, 75 percent of crude oil, and 95 percent
of iron ore. The market structure has had a powerful impact on world
prices, and Third World producers have seen real commodity export
values drop below 1930 levels. Between 1980 and 1990, it is estimated that
this involved the equivalent of a $300 billion transfer of funds from poor
Third World countries to the developed nations. Until pressured by host
governments to do so, multinational corporations used to conduct little
refining or processing of raw products in the country of extraction. The
materials were exported in a raw state, ofte-':1 at considerable profit
but with little benefit to the host country either financially or in terms of
economic development.