Export of Commodities under Capitalism, a major form of economic link between countries produced by the international capitalist division of labour (see Division of Labour, Capitalist International). Compared with the slave-owning and the feudal systems, capitalism greatly expands the scale of commodity exports as one of the ways of attaining the ultimate goal of capitalist production— maximal profits. To do this, the capitalist countries export commodities even if requirements of the domestic market are a long way from being met, provided their sale abroad results in higher profits. Under imperialism, commodity export is closely connected with the export of capital, and in certain instances serves as its prerequisite, as a means of maintaining 135 or establishing domination by monopoly capital of the highly developed countries of the economy of the developing countries. Imperialist monopolies try to sell their goods at high monopoly prices, and mould the export to enhance the technical and economic dependence of the newlyfree countries on major capitalist powers. Commodity export is also extensively used by the capitalist’powers as a means of political pressure, since, when purchasing the goods they need, the young states have to comply with certain conditions of a noneconomic nature. Commodity export under capitalism is a graphic manifestation of the heightening competitive struggle. A country’s share of world capitalist exports is an important indicator of its economic strength. Since the war, the biggest capitalist world exporter has been the USA. However, its share of the overall export of commodities from the capitalist countries is steadily declining: from 18 per cent in 1950 to 15.4 per cent in 1970 and 12 per cent in 1980. The share of several other capitalist countries, Japan and the FRG in particular, is correspondingly growing. The share of the EEC countries and Japan in the capitalist states’ export reached 43 per cent in 1980, as compared with 30 per cent in 1950. Imperialist competitive struggle for profitable commodity exports is becoming more and more fierce as the territorial borders of the world capitalist market (see World Market, Capitalist) are shrinking, and inter- imperialist contradictions growing more acute.