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The primary sector of industry generally involves the conversion of natural resources into primary products. Most products from this sector are considered raw materials for other industries. Major businesses in this sector include agriculture, agribusiness, fishing, forestry and all mining and quarrying industries.
The downstream manufacturing industries that aggregate, pack, package, purify or process the raw materials close to the primary producers are normally considered part of this sector, especially if the raw material is unsuitable for sale or difficult to transport long distances.
Primary industry is found in larger amounts in poorer countrys, typicaly LEDC's, for instance there are high levels of animal husbandry in Africa but lower levels of animal husbandry in Japan.
Mining was a common and wide spread industry in South Wales and this is a good case study when studying how an economy can come to rely on one form of business.
However in MEDC's primary industry becomes more developed and more high-tech, for instance the mechanization of arable farming opposed to hand picking and planting. In America in the corn belt combine harvesters pick the corn, spray systems distribute large amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides thus proving that the more developed an ecconomy is, the higher the capital that is invested into expansion is.
Groups of MEDC's develop primary industry even further due to the excess wealth. For instance EU subsidies in Europe provide buffers for the fluctuating inflation rates and prices of agricultural produce.
See also
"Primary sector of industry"