Market Structure and Efficiency in Agricultural Value Chains: Deep Dives in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic

Joint World Bank and FAO report examining how market structure, price formation and transmission, costs, margins, logistics, and information asymmetries affect the efficiency of two value chains: white maize in El Salvador and bananas in the Dominican Republic. In 2022 and 2023, food price inflation reached or exceeded 10 percent in six Central American countries; white maize prices remained more than 40 percent above their 2021 levels, while red and black bean prices increased by 40 to 90 percent. In El Salvador, about 340,000 smallholder farmers supply a largely informal domestic chain, while the four largest firms accounted for more than 80 percent of white maize imports from 2019 onward. The report proposes productive alliances, insurance against production and price risks, participatory planning, targeted financial support for vulnerable consumers, market information systems, extension and technical assistance, and investment in transport, storage, processing, and marketing to improve market access, productivity, incomes, competitiveness, food affordability, and food security.