Maize

Maize is the plant, and corn is the kernel or grain, but corn can refer to kernels of different plants, not just maize. In some countries, including North America, maize and corn are used interchangeably, but this is not the case in most parts of the world. In general, use maize when referring to the crop.

Market

Where buyers and sellers come together to trade. Markets can be viewed as social arrangements that allow buyers and sellers to discover information or carry out a voluntary exchange of goods or services. Markets are normally physical locations, but not always. Transactions can occur on the phone, over the internet, through intermediaries, etc. Commodities (e.g., crops and food), livestock and labor can be exchanged through markets.

Market actor

Someone who is active in the market such as traders, wholesalers, transporters, storeowners, consumers, etc. A market actor is equivalent to market participant.

Market calendar

Depicts the availability of a commodity or a group of commodities in the market over the calendar year.

Market catchments

The areas from which commodities or labor is sourced and brought into a particular market or the market system as a whole. These areas usually include key production zones that have significant marketable surpluses.

Market centers

Physical locations where buyers and sellers meet and exchange.

Market chain

A group of people or organizations that direct the flow of commodities from production to consumers. Market chains are usually vertical.

Market conduct

Refers to the patterns of behavior that traders and other market participants adopt to affect or adjust to the markets in which they sell or buy.

Market efficiency

A situation where price differences for a specific product that are compared in different places or points in time are equal to the transfer costs.

Market failure

Result when the price of a good or service does not reflect the true costs of producing and consuming the good or service. The existence of a market failure implies some inefficiency in the market. A market failure is not the same as a market shortfall.

Market integration

The ease at which prices are transmitted from one market to another and is usually measured by the degree of correlation between prices in different markets. Generally, a high correlation implies more integration. Integration implies a relationship, but not necessarily causality.

Market margin

The difference between the price paid by consumers and that obtained by producers. Margins can be calculated all along the market chain and each margin reflects the value added at that level of the market chain.

Market networks

Describes commodity flows and points of exchange from production to the final consumer. The emphasis of market networks is on spatial and exchange relationships.

Market performance

Refers to the extent to which markets result in outcomes that are deemed good or preferred by society. Market performance refers to how well the market fulfills certain social and private objectives.

Market shortfall

1. With respect to market availability: Refers to a food gap where requirements exceed supply.

2. With respect to a particular market: Where there is a scarcity of a commodity and demand exceeds supply.

Market structure

Consists of the relatively stable features of the market that influence the rivalry among the buyers and sellers operating in a market. May refer to the number and size distribution of buyers and sellers, the degree of product differentiation and the ease of entry of new firms into an industry.

Market system

Includes the whole commodity distribution system from production to consumption. A market system describes key linkages between the different stages in a commodity’s distribution such as producer‐wholesaler, wholesaler‐ food processor or storeowner‐consumer. It also describes the spatial and functional relationships between markets and market actors. A market system is spread over a geographic area, which can be small such as just a few villages that exchange among themselves, or very large and spread across a country, group of countries or over the entire world.

Marketable surplus

The excess product which is made available after meeting producer needs (seed, home consumption, animal feed, in kind labor payments and transfers). It is important to note that many producers sell product without fulfilling their complete food requirements: they rely on the sale of product for cash income and resort to the market to access a portion of their food requirements.

Marketing margin

The difference between the prices observed at different points in the supply chain when quantities are expressed in comparable its of a commodity.

Marketing margin share

The difference between two prices at different levels of the market, expressed as a ratio. For example, the difference between the retail price and producer price divided by the retail price. Therefore, marketing margin share can also be thought of as the marketing margin expressed as a ratio. Marketing margin shares can be calculated all along the market chain, and each margin reflects the proportion of the value added at that level of the market chain.

Marketing season

The period of time during which agricultural output is sold, typically extending from one harvest period to the next. It is the same as the consumption season.

Meridional

In meteorology, a flow, average, or functional variation taken in a direction that is parallel to a line of longitude, along a meridian, northerly or southerly.

Minimal

IPC phase 1. Households are able to meet essential food and non-food needs without engaging in atypical and unsustainable strategies to access food and income.

See International Phase Classification (IPC).

Minimum efficient firm size

The level of output which corresponds to the lowest cost of producing a product relative to the quantity demanded in the market.

Monopoly

A market with only one seller or controlled by one seller.

Monopsony

A market with only one buyer or controlled by one buyer.

Monsoon

A thermally driven wind arising from differential heating between a land mass and the adjacent ocean that reverses its direction seasonally.

Most likely (ML)

A near term projection for the next three months.

Most Likely 1 (ML1)

The first projection period (the first four months) within an eight-month scenario.

Most Likely 2 (ML2)

The second projection period (the second four months) within an eight-month scenario.