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oligopsony

/ˌɑlɪˈgɑpsəni/
IPA guide

Other forms: oligopsonies

An oligopsony is a market where many people are selling a product, but only a few are buying it. In farming, for instance, thousands of small farmers may have only a few giant supermarket chains to sell their products to.

Oligopsony stems from the Greek oligoi, meaning "few," and opsonia, "to buy." In an oligopsony, the buyers control the market. Because there are so many sellers competing for the business of so few buyers, the buyers can dictate low prices. It is the functional opposite of an oligopoly, in which a few sellers control the market for a product that a lot of people are buying.

Definitions of oligopsony
  1. noun
    a market where many sellers compete for only a few buyers, allowing the buyers to influence prices
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