Tangermann (2011), the World Bank (2012b) and OECD (2010) explain in detail the complexity of each of these design-related and practical decisions and provide some suggestions on how to tackle them. That is, the nature of buffer stocks is such that the government is limited in the amount it can sell or buy. If a country' is faced with a few consecutive years of low availability and high prices, then it will exhaust its buffer stock. Once the buffer stock is depleted, it loses its capability to lower prices.