This study seeks to explore the conditions under which producer cartels organized by primary producing countries to increase real external purchasing power (income terms of trade) can most effectively achieve their objectives. / To this effect, conventional cartel theory is expanded so as to include the impact of the major institutional factors, with emphasis on centre-periphery (North-South) relationships, the roles played by governments of producing and consuming countries, by transnational enterprises as well as the particular conditions of supply and demand of various commodities. This framework is applied to bauxite, coffee and sugar industries, because each presents unique characteristics. As a principal focus of this study, a comparative analysis of these commodities is undertaken. / The analysis demonstrates that a bauxite cartel has the potential to gain large monopoly profits, but the evidence is against the long run profitability and stability of coffee and sugar cartels. The differences in the characteristics of the primary commodities differentiate the behaviour of cartels and the expected outcomes. Ultimately, the benefits of successful cartels will have to be measured by how the financial gains are used to transform internal structures, eliminate poverty, and promote social justice. As well as being useful for the study of primary commodity cartels in general, this analysis can also aid policy makers concerned with producer cartels.