La formación de los precios del trigo en España (1820-1869): el contexto internacional

In this article the international wheat market during the middle decades of the nineteenth century is analysed. Our aim is to discover to what extent the ban on importing wheat and wheat flour affected the supply, the agricultural production orientations and the general evolution of the agrarian sector and the Spanish economy as a whole. To this end, domestic and international wheat prices, foreign trade policies and the possible existence of protectionism are reviewed. The picture that emerges is that of an European wheat market in which demand pressures cause a price increase in exporting countries which was offset both by a decrease in transport costs and by the possible effect of the Liberalisation of the trade in this cereal. This reduced the competitiveness of wheat imports and caused, in the Spanish case, a decrease in the opportunity cost of the policy which banned its importation. The consequences of this policy on Spanish agriculture and economy were less relevant than has hitherto been supposed.