Summaries This article applies value‐chain analysis to an agricultural ‘commodity’, which is in the process of significant change in final product markets. By focusing on the capacity of value‐chain analysis to map input‐output relations, and by identifying power asymmetries along the chain, it is possible to analyse the factors explaining inter‐country distributional outcomes in this sector. A major conclusion is that we are witnessing a simultaneous process of power concentration in importing countries and power deconcentration in producing countries. It is hypothesised that similar trends can be observed in other agricultural‐based value chains.