Augustus appointed a permanent official to oversee the purchase of grains for rome. based on this fact, what can you conclude about roman trade during augustus’s reign? traders were hesitant to buy and sell grains because of war. grains were among the most important traded goods in the empire. pirates had made the sea routes to grain-producing regions of the empire unsafe. the demand for luxury goods among the wealthy decreased after rome became an empire. the roman empire lacked a good road network, making it hard to distribute grains.