Brokerage in the Transborder Cattle Trade: Semi-formal Trade, Risks and Inequality of Power

Abstract

This research article is part of a broader study of the transborder semi-formal cattle trade from Mae Sot to Chiang Rai. Though the cattle trade has been increasingly booming since 2013, the uncertainty resulting from its semi-formality has increased the bargaining power of various brokers in the brokerage system and pushing farmers to bear the bigger risks. This paper focuses on explaining the characteristics of the network of transborder cattle trade. This paper considers the important characteristics that the broker. The aim of this article is that the broker system is important for the process of transborder cattle trading in which the broker acts as a network link between various actors. By dividing brokers into different types according to the chain of trade, types of broker have the highest bargaining power and control over the trading process. Brokers representing the Chinese buyers gain their bargaining power on the monopoly of export routes, contact and pricing. Their long-term experiences in the border situations have brought about the power to control the valorization process over the other actors. The imbalance of power in the cattle trade pushes other actors, such as farmers, into a disadvantageous position and it became the bearers of the highest risk of cross-border cattle trade.