Experts, representatives of competition authorities, and international organizations met at UNCTAD headquarters in Geneva to discuss competition in the global grain trade. The meeting resulted in the establishment of a BRICS project task force that will prepare the first joint sector inquiry into the global grain trade. The initiative was presented by the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre, Higher School of Economics (HSE University).
The BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre organized the discussion, "Promoting Competition in Global Grain Trade: A Joint BRICS Effort," as part of the 23rd Session of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy in Geneva. The event included a closed meeting of the BRICS Competition Authorities Working Group on Food Markets, followed by an open panel discussion bringing together researchers, academics, and representatives of international organizations.
The discussion focused on developments in competition in the global grain trade, as well as the growing role of finance and digitalization in the sector. Participants examined ways to make global grain markets more transparent and predictable. The discussion was informed by the findings of a report prepared by the BRICS Competition Centre, first presented at the 9th BRICS International Competition Conference held in Cape Town last year.
Task Force for the Sector Inquiry into the Grain Market
The planned sector inquiry will be the first joint assessment of competition in the global grain market conducted by BRICS competition authorities under the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation signed in 2016. The conceptual framework and proposed structure of the inquiry were developed by the BRICS Competition Centre and presented at the February 2026 meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Food Markets.
Following the meeting, the participants established a dedicated project task force to carry out the inquiry. The task force will be co-chaired by Diogo Thomson, President, Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), and Mahmoud Momtaz, Chairperson, Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA).
Diogo Thomson welcomed the initiative and expressed hope that the study's findings would be presented at the next BRICS International Competition Conference, scheduled to take place in Brazil in September 2027.
"CADE is currently the only competition authority in the BRICS that has completed merger reviews of digital platforms TRACT and Covantis. I am pleased that this issue receives significant attention in the BRICS Competition Centre's report. I believe our joint sector inquiry will allow us to deepen our understanding of the digitalization of global grain supply chains and draw conclusions that will help protect and promote competition in this area,"
he said.
Mahmoud Momtaz noted that one of the report's key findings is the disproportionately large role played by global trading companies in international grain markets.
"We face a paradoxical situation in which farmers in countries such as Brazil and Russia receive insufficient returns for their work, while consumers in Egypt pay excessively high prices for bread. Where does the margin accumulate, and who captures disproportionate profits along global grain value chains? These are the questions our sector inquiry should answer,"
he said.
Momtaz also proposed developing a shared AI-based digital tool for monitoring grain prices across BRICS countries as part of the joint inquiry. Defining the technical parameters of this initiative, he said, should become one of the priorities of the newly established task force.
"Such a tool would provide timely access to the information needed to analyze the global grain market and would serve as an important complement to the joint sector inquiry,"
he added.
Practical Steps Toward the BRICS Grain Exchange
Hardin Ratshisusu, Deputy Commissioner, South African Competition Commission, described the proposed sectoral study as an important step in implementing the BRICS Grain Exchange initiative, endorsed by BRICS leaders in the Kazan Declaration (2024) and the Rio de Janeiro Declaration (2025).
"A Grain Exchange, if designed according to pro-competitive principles and in line with international competition best practices, could become a powerful instrument for transforming the global grain market by improving its transparency and predictability. Developing a BRICS Grain Exchange on this basis is a task that should be undertaken by our competition authorities to ensure the effective implementation of the commitments made by the leaders of our countries,"
Ratshisusu said.
Alexey Ivanov, Director, BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre, Professor, HSE University Faculty of Law, argued that BRICS competition authorities could play a central role in designing the institutional architecture of the BRICS Grain Exchange, ensuring that it promotes market transparency and competitive market development.
Ivanov also proposed the establishment of an interdisciplinary UN working group bringing together expertise in competition policy, trade, agriculture, and development to develop a comprehensive approach to food market governance. He recalled that, during the plenary session of the V Russian Grain Forum held in May — with the participation of the Ministers of Trade of Egypt and Agriculture of Russia — he outlined the institutional and policy prerequisites for successfully launching a pro-competitive BRICS Grain Exchange.
Mr.Yin Jie, Deputy Director General, Antimonopoly Department I, SAMR, emphasized the importance of the sector inquiry for strengthening BRICS cooperation in competition policy and welcomed the decision to hold the next meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Food Markets in Beijing this September alongside the China Fair Competition Forum.
Support for the efforts of BRICS competition authorities to create more level competitive conditions in the global grain market was also expressed by Hilman Pujana, Vice Chairperson, Indonesia Competition Commission, who participated in the Working Group meeting, as well as by Eunice Hamavhwa, Executive Director, Competition and Consumer Protection Commission of Zambia; Willard Mwemba, Chief Executive Officer, COMESA Competition Commission; and Maksim Yermalovich, Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, Eurasian Economic Commission. Rémi Lang, Officer in charge of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch, UNCTAD, also expressed strong support for the proposed sectoral study and pledged UNCTAD's assistance in its implementation.
Maksim Yermalovich noted that the proposed sector inquiry would require new approaches to data collection and analysis. In his view, artificial intelligence tools capable of processing large volumes of publicly available information could make an important contribution by improving understanding of market dynamics.
"We are ready to join the newly established project team and contribute to the implementation of this initiative. The Eurasian Economic Commission has accumulated substantial experience in analysing food markets, and we are prepared to build on this expertise in the joint inquiry together with the BRICS Competition Centre."
Ruslan Dzhaliukov, Deputy Head, Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS Russia), stressed that the success of the initiative would depend on further strengthening cooperation among BRICS competition authorities.
"Cooperation among BRICS countries in the field of competition continues to expand and is already delivering tangible practical results. We work together in socially significant sectors, including digital markets, agri-food value chains, and pharmaceuticals, while actively exchanging experience. Meetings such as today's provide an important opportunity to review the progress of our joint projects. I am confident that this cooperation will continue to deepen."
Willard Mwemba, Chief Executive Officer of the COMESA Competition Commission, highlighted the importance of engaging governments in efforts to strengthen competition in food markets.
"Government policies themselves often give rise to anti-competitive practices, patterns of market behaviour, and market structures. These policies are rarely intended to restrict competition; on the contrary, they are usually adopted with positive objectives in mind. However, competition considerations are often overlooked during the policymaking process because competition specialists are not involved. The key challenge, therefore, is how to engage governments in addressing these issues."
Mwemba also pointed to limited institutional resources as another major challenge.
"We all recognise that our resources are finite. That is precisely why it is essential to pool our efforts and work together."
Sophia Murphy, Executive Director, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (United States), endorsed this view, emphasizing that competition policy should be considered in conjunction with trade, investment, and other areas of public policy. She argued that greater policy coherence and integration are essential, as competition cannot be effectively promoted in isolation from other economic policy instruments. At the same time, without a well-functioning competitive environment, many other policy and economic measures are also unlikely to achieve their intended objectives.
Claudio Lombardi, Professor, University of Aberdeen School of Law (United Kingdom), argued that several issues deserve particular attention, including how to develop a balancing, self-correcting role for the competition authorities of the BRICS+ countries, how to address persistent information gaps, and how to overcome the fragmentation that arises when competition authorities collect and analyse market data independently rather than through cooperation.
"Only by working together can competition authorities achieve meaningful results,"
he said.
Frédéric Jenny, former long-serving Chair of the OECD Competition Committee, Professor at ESSEC Business School (France), highly commended the work of the BRICS Competition Centre in analysing competition in the global grain trade.
"This project demonstrates that BRICS competition authorities are becoming drivers of change in global competition law and policy, rather than simply following initiatives developed by advanced economies, as one might have expected. There are very few examples worldwide of such promising cooperation among competition authorities. In my view, the decision to pursue a joint sector inquiry and to focus on the global grain trade — a subject of both considerable social importance and significant methodological interest — has been central to the success of this collaboration."
In closing, Irina Atrokhova, Deputy Director of the BRICS Competition Centre, highlighted the importance of UNCTAD as an international platform for advancing cooperation.
"It is important for us that BRICS cooperation continues within the UNCTAD framework. This platform supports professional dialogue, facilitates the exchange of best practices, and strengthens international cooperation in competition policy. The BRICS Competition Centre highly values UNCTAD's efforts to sustain this collaboration. We believe that multilateral mechanisms under the auspices of the United Nations play an essential role in building trust and developing balanced responses to contemporary challenges."
