CARBS – It's the latest news. The acronym is due to Citigroup and brings together the world's largest commodity providers: with a share that fluctuates from a quarter to half of the total global production of each raw material. Overall they own a quantity of commodities quantifiable for 60 trillion dollars – at the level of current quotations. Their stock markets have followed the cycle of these assets and since 2003 have more than doubled their overall weight and increased by more than 20 times the value of the volumes traded daily. The real value of their currencies against the dollar has almost doubled. Finally, the accumulated reserves of hard currency exceeded a total of 1000 billion dollars.
Canada – The North American country has immense reserves of oil, gas, potash and uranium. Commodities represent 74% of exports and 17% of GDP. The only flaw is their main trading partner, the United States, whose slowdown threatens to jeopardize Canadian exports.
Australia – It is the world's largest producer of iron ore and coal, which together account for nearly a tenth of Australia's GDP. However, in the stock markets, commodities represent only a small part, 37%, so they have not decisively influenced the performance of the main indices.
Russia – Commodities represent 92% of Russian exports. Total assets in raw materials exceed the GDP by 13 times: the highest value among all Carbs. But Moscow also boasts a negative record: the highest public debt/GDP ratio (85%). The most important raw materials: oil, gas and palladium.
Brazil – The South American country grew on the wave of the commodity boom, but is now suffering from it. In fact, Brasilie suffers from the so-called “dutch disease", Or the decline of the manufacturing sector as a result of overexploitation in natural resources. But it must be recognized that the economic policy implemented by Lula and continued by Dilma Rousseff was also cautious and brought the desired results.
South Africa – It is the country that boasts the seniority right in the exploitation of commodities. The South Africa among the Carbs, it is the one that has grown the least, +2,9% in 2011. It has 10% of the world's reserves of gold and diamonds, 40% of chromium and 80% of platinum. But the difficulties in the precious metals sector, on which it is still too dependent, has forced the Government to review its strategies, trying to encourage iron ore and coal where Chinese demand plays an important role (in the midst of a boom in infrastructure construction ).
BRICS – They are the emerging countries, so called by the chief economist of Goldman Sachs eleven years ago. They share high growth rates, large investments in research and development and the accumulation of large monetary reserves. Not to be underestimated though differences, from the political structure to the demographic trend, which seem to prevail in recent times. Brazil is struggling and achieving good results in eradicating poverty, the same cannot be said of India. Russia is strongly linked to the European trend, while South Africa, China and India are concentrated on the new center of trade: the Pacific.
China – It is important to dwell on the Asian giant. It continues to be the economy growing at the highest rate, +9,2% in 2011. But above all, the fate of the Carbs depends on its performance. Its share of demand for oil is 11%, hovers around 20% for some grains, and exceeds 40% for most industrial metals.
CIVETS – The name is due to Michael Geoghegan, the former CEO of the American group Hsbc. Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Türkiye and South Africa they are those countries for which a sparkling growth is expected in the future. They share a high youth population rate, fairly sophisticated financial systems, maturing stock markets and above all their economies are not based on the exploitation of a single resource. In short, the civets seem to have all the credentials to dominate the world scene in the coming years.
