The North African wheat market, accounting for about 12 percent of world wheat imports, is growing rapidly and has become the focus of fierce competition between U.S. and European Community wheat suppliers. Demand is.driven by heavy consumer subsidies, rapid population growth, and high per-capita wheat consumption. The world wheat market structure is oligopolistic (with few sellers), and concessional credit is the principal tactic of supplier rivalry. Because credit permeates the North African market, the real economic cost of wheat to importing nations is much lower than the nominal price; discount coefficients of 0.36 to 0.80 are typical in recent years.