The WWW, along with email, are simple forms of information technology which have become easily accessible through the Internet. They offer great sources of up-to-date information and data-sets of all kinds. They allow you to get in contact, communicate and exchange information in electronic form. Of particular interest are the increasing number of web sites which pertain to agriculture and notably to markets. You may find quotes on futures within 10 minutes of their actual calls, and you may also find outlook reports on specific commodities for the years to come.
This web site serves as a guide to these different sources on market information presently available on the Internet (see note below). These sources may be daily, weekly, monthly or yearly reports, outlook reports, commodity reports or quotes from different exchanges. These reports may also be set up so that you may receive them directly into your email. Also, you may choose to take part in discussion groups. Other web sites are of great value and offer hundreds of links to related sites. A few of these sites are presented here.
This guide may be of use to agricultural economists, market information analysts, librarians, and others who are interested in market information. Although the web site concentrates partly on grains, many of the same references to web sites in this virtual library refer to many other types of commodities that may be of interest. Certain commodities were chosen to help market specialists in Africa gain pertinent market information on these commodities rapidly through the Internet. Miscellaneous types of information-related web sites have also been included in this guide which may help outlook purposes such as up-to-date weather and through electronic mail.
Note: The WWW evolves rapidly and new web sites are created every day. Web sites may also disappear, change address (URL) or content. Please note that the many references to web addresses in this paper were prepared beginning August 26, 1996.