Assessing the relationship between commodity chains: Ethanol, corn and chicken meat

Abstract

Energy and food are two issues of fundamental importance in the scenario of global production and consumption. This study seeks to describe, measure and analyze the interrelationship between the results of global commodity chains of corn, ethanol and broiler. We considered the interconnectivity through the chains inputs and outputs within the production of both food and biofuel. Based on the production of the three commodities in the United States and Brazil, the Social Network Analysis (SNA) metrics was used to calculate quantitative indicators of centrality (outdegree and indegree) of the products in relation to each other. The study allowed the identification of degree indices for each product at three different times over a period of twelve years. Results indicated the importance and evolution of the relationship between the outputs of each commodity chain throughout the studied period.