Country‐Specific Determinants of Horizontal and Vertical Intra‐industry Agri‐food Trade: The Case of the EU New Member States

Intra‐industry trade (IIT) has become a widespread phenomenon with a growing role in international trade, though agricultural trade is usually neglected in empirical works. This article identifies the determinants of horizontal and vertical intra‐industry agri‐food trade between New Member States (NMS) and the EU‐27 in 1999–2010, by applying static and dynamic models with different specifications to panel data. Results show that IIT is mainly of a vertical nature in the NMS, though the majority of NMS export low quality agri‐food products to EU‐27 markets. Factor endowments are negatively related to agri‐food horizontal intra‐industry trade (HIIT), but positively to vertical intra‐industry trade (VIIT). Economic size is positively and significantly related to both types of IIT, while distance and IIT are found to be negatively related in both cases. Results also suggest that HIIT and VIIT are greater if a New Member State exports agri‐food products to another NMS while EU accession has had positive and significant impacts on both HIIT and VIIT, suggesting that economic integration fosters IIT.     

Old and new partners: Similarity and competition in the EU foreign agri-food trade

This paper analyses the trade relationships among the EU-15 members and some emerging partners: the NMS, Turkey and China. The EU expansion to include 10 new countries has modified quite remarkably the features of agri-food trade in Europe. Some of the NMS, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, significantly contribute to the international agri-food trade and, since the beginning of the process of EU accession, they have modified dramatically the exchanges with the EU-15. More recently, other countries such as Turkey and China have established new relationships with the EU. Turkey is a large Mediterranean country and, as a candidate to the EU accession, enjoys a differential treatment in the agri-food trade relationships with the EU. China can be considered as a new international competitor, growing at faster pace after having joined the WTO and increasing its agri-food trade exchanges with the EU. The analysis will focus on the measurement of the similarity of the agri-food exports of Italy and the remaining EU-15 member States with the new partners entering the EU-15 market. It will be carried out with the support of three different indicators: the export structure similarity index (ES), the product similarity index (PSI) and the quality similarity index (QSI), using the Eurostat database with an eight “digit” merchandize disaggregation and with reference only to agri-food exchanges. Results will indicate that there is little similarity, especially when a comparison is made between the exports of the EU-15 countries to the EU market. Moreover, quality remains a crucial factor for Italian and European agri-food products when competing with external products.     

Vertically Differentiated Trade and Differences in Factor Endowment: The Case of Agri‐Food Products between Hungary and the EU

The paper investigates the relationship between factor endowment and vertical intraindustry trade (IIT)in agri‐food products between Hungary and the EU. Intra‐industry trade is separated into its horizontal and vertical components on the basis of differences in unit values. Three different approaches to measuring IIT are employed and these are then tested using panel regression models. Results show vertical type trade is predominant in total IIT for agri‐food products. In order to achieve more general results, we consider different types of productive factors: land, human and physical capital. Using Flam and Helpman type vertically differentiated trade models, we find a positive relationship between factor endowment and vertical IIT. More importantly, using a measure of IIT that reflects the level of trade produces better regression results than those based on the degree or share of IIT.     

Drivers of vertical intra‐industry trade: the case of the Hungarian agri‐food sector

This article investigates the drivers of vertical intra‐industry trade (VIIT) in Hungarian agri‐food trade with the European Union (EU). It identifies three possible ways to measure intra‐industry trade (IIT) flows (GHM, FF, and N methods) and defines six hypotheses to test for the drivers of VIIT with three panel data models (static, dynamic, and FEVD). The results suggest that factor endowments are negatively, while economic size is positively and significantly related to VIIT. Distance and VIIT were found to be negatively related as is commonly the case in the standard gravity model. It was also found that VIIT is greater if a New Member State (NMS) is exporting agri‐food produce to an NMS, while EU accession has ambiguously influenced the share of VIIT. In general, it seems that our results are independent from model estimations and interestingly they do not differ considerably as we a priori expected. Moreover, our results seem surprisingly robust across various measurements of ITT.     

Institutional quality and the duration of agri-food trade flows

Recent trade disruptions and their consequences on supply chains show the importance of stable trade relations for exporters' economic planning and importers' supply security. Both instability in trading partners' economic and institutional environment and differences between them are likely to exacerbate these disruptions. We investigate the role of exporters' institutional quality (IQ) and its similarity with importers' IQ in the stability of trade links. We focus on the trade links of agri-food products exported from sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to the European Union (EU-28) and consider three dimensions of IQ: ‘government selection, monitoring, and replacement’; ‘efficiency of policy formulation and implementation’; and ‘respect of citizens and state for institutions’. Using a discrete-time duration model, we show that the duration of SSA exports to the EU-28 increases with higher exporters' IQ and similarity of trading partners' IQ. The strongest impact of exporters' IQ is associated with ‘government selection, monitoring, and replacement’. In terms of the similarity of trading partners, ‘respect of citizens and state for institutions’ has the largest impact on trade durations. Our findings suggest that the improvement of countries' IQ may boost the stability of trade relationships. Moreover, the similarity of IQs between trading partners supports the stability of trade links and should be carefully considered when establishing new trade relations.     

木质林产品贸易格局的社会网络分析

基于2001—2018年区域全面经济伙伴关系协定(RCEP)成员国的木质林产品进出口贸易数据,采用社会网络方法分析RCEP成员国之间的木质林产品贸易网络格局。研究表明:RCEP成员国之间的木质林产品贸易联系比较紧密且贸易关系日益复杂;RCEP成员国之间的木质林产品贸易网络正向着最优的网络形态发展且木质林产品贸易往来趋于平衡;RCEP成员国之间签署、生效和升级自由贸易协定会加强RCEP成员国之间的木质林产品贸易关系;截至2018年,中国的木质林产品贸易地位已取代日本在RCEP木质林产品贸易网络中的核心位置,成为唯一的核心国家。因此,中国一方面要重视RCEP成员国的木质林产品市场,以此为契机促进更高水平的对外开放,推进全球贸易自由化;另一方面,中国木质林产品要依托质量、品牌、技术、管理创新等提高产品附加值,通过高质量发展来提高价值链分工地位,通过实施双循环战略实现国内国际双循环相互促进,提升国际竞争力,进而获取较高的贸易利得,确保中国木质林产品贸易的健康和可持续发展。     

中国-欧盟木质林产品贸易影响因素的实证分析

基于UNcomtrade数据库整理的数据,分析中国与欧盟木质林产品贸易状况,利用扩展的引力模型识别中国与欧盟木质林产品贸易的关键影响因素。研究结果表明:中国与欧盟木质林产品贸易在2000²008年间处于增长阶段;但2008年受全球金融危机的不利影响,中国出口所占比例持续下降,贸易顺差呈缩小趋势,市场集中度与产品集中度均较高;国内生产总值、森林资源禀赋差异、劳动力资源禀赋差异、欧盟东扩及海岸线等因素对中国与欧盟木质林产品贸易具有显著的促进作用,而相对距离、汇率、金融危机等因素却起着显著的抑制作用。     

Regional trade agreements and trade in agri-food products: evidence for the European Union from gravity modeling using disaggregated data

The proliferation of regional trade agreements in recent years has intensified the debate on the desirability of these agreements in themselves and their coexistence with multilateral free trade under the WTO. This study contributes to this debate by analyzing trade creation and trade diversion effects of the European Union on trade flows of six major agri‐food products from 1985 to 2000. An extended gravity model is estimated employing pooled data and generalized least squares methods. The results show that the developments in the EU since the mid‐1980s have served to boost agri‐food trade significantly among the members. Some of the growth in intra‐EU trade in agri‐food products came at the expense of nonmembers as the EU reduced the degree of relative openness to trade with nonmembers during this period and diverted trade from the rest of the world into the intra‐EU channels.     

Re‐evaluating the Harbinson Proposal – Prospects for the EU25: A Note

In this study, we use the Harbinson Proposal and July Framework to compare a ‘likely’ Doha scenario with a realistic baseline. The novelty of this study is that we focus exclusively on the trade‐led welfare impacts in selected EU member states. The important features of this note are the: (i) usage of the latest Global Trade Analysis Project (version 6) data; (ii) focus on EU25 regions incorporating all major Common Agricultural Policy instruments and reforms; and (iii) inclusion of binding tariff overhangs into the Harbinson tariff reductions. Results show the damping effects of tariff‐binding overhangs on welfare outcomes. This and other factors which limit the gains to liberalisation mean that the EU25 only realises 10% of its long‐run welfare gain potential, as defined by complete liberalisation.     

The impact of EU trade preferences on the extensive and intensive margins of agricultural and food products

In this article, we study the trade creation effects of EU preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the agriculture and food sectors for a large sample of developing countries in the period 1990–2006. We investigate the extent to which the PTAs affect trade through the extensive margin—number of exported products—or the intensive margin—volume of existing products. We use a gravity framework in a panel data setting, and different estimators to deal with the issues of zero trade flows and the presence of an upper bound in the dependent variable. The results show that EU PTAs positively affect the extensive margin in agricultural trade, but not in processed foods. As regards the intensive margin, the effect is driven by the role of tariffs alone, whereas the other provisions of PTAs do not exert any other significant impact on agricultural or food products.     

Russian Roulette at the Trade Table: A Specific Factors CGE Analysis of an Agri‐food Import Ban

In the summer of 2014 Russia imposed a ban on most agri‐food products from countries enforcing Ukraine‐related sanctions against Russia. We use a specific factors computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate the short‐run impact of this retaliatory policy. The baseline is carefully designed to isolate the impacts of the ban on the European Union (EU), Russia itself and a selection of key trade partners. The modelling of the ban follows a novel approach, where it is treated as a loss of established trade preferences via reductions in consumer utility in the Armington import function. Not surprisingly, the results indicate that Russia bears the highest income loss (about €3.4 billion) while the EU recovers part of its lost trade through expansion of exports to other markets. An ex‐post comparison between simulation results and observed trade data reveals the model predictions to be broadly accurate, thereby validating the robustness of the modelling approach.     

The Impact of an EU–US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement on Biofuel and Feedstock Markets

We assess the impact of a potential TTIP bilateral free trade agreement on the EU and US bio‐economies (feedstock, biofuels, by‐products, and related competing crops) and major trade partners in these markets. The analysis develops a multi‐market model that incorporates bilateral trade flows (US to EU, EU to US, and similarly with third countries) and is calibrated to the OECD‐FAO baseline for 2013–2022 to account for recent policy decisions. The major policy reforms from a TTIP involve tariff and TRQ liberalisation and their direct contractionary impact on US sugar supply, EU biofuel production, and indirect negative effect on US high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) production. EU sugar and isoglucose production expand along with US ethanol and biodiesel and oilseed crushing. EU sugar would flow to the US, US biofuels and vegetable oil to the EU. We further quantify non‐tariff measures (NTM) affecting these trade flows between the EU and the US. EU oilseed production contracts, and EU crushing expands with improving crushing margins following reduced NTM frictions. Our analysis reveals limited net welfare gains with most net benefits reaped by Brazil and not the two trading partners of the TTIP.     

中国木质家具产业内贸易测度

简要介绍了中国木质家具的贸易状况,利用GL指数、Bruelhart指数和IIT指数对中国木质家具的产业内贸易进行了测算。研究结果显示:中国木质家具贸易存在产业间贸易和产业内贸易2种模式;其中产业间贸易占主导地位,产业内贸易目前维持在很低水平;产业内贸易规模不断增加,发展速度很快。     

Trade effects of geographical indication policy: The EU case

Using a new detailed dataset on country-product information on European Union (EU) Geographical Indications (GIs), we study the impact of this food quality policy on trade margins over the 1996–2014 period. We consider the effect of GIs on both intra- and extra-EU trade margins (extensive and intensive), as well as on export (and import) unit values. Our main results show that GIs affect trade flows differently depending on whether GIs are produced by the exporter or importer country. The presence of GIs in the exporter country systematically exerts a positive trade effect on both the extensive and intensive trade margin. When registered only in the importer country, GIs seem to act weakly as a trade-reducing measure, at least at the intensive trade margin. In addition, GIs positively affect export prices, consistent with the idea that GI products are perceived by consumers as higher quality goods. Importantly, extra-EU trade margins react similarly to those on intra-EU trade. These results have clear and interesting implications concerning the EU strategy of promoting the protection of GIs worldwide.     

Domestic Support and Border Measures for Processed Horticultural Products

In horticultural markets, trade barriers often apply to the processed products whereas domestic support applies to farm-produced raw commodities. Here we assess the effects of such trade barriers and domestic support by simulating the effects of policy reform on global processing tomato markets, which are faced with modest processed product tariffs and high domestic support in the European Union (EU). Both protection and EU subsidy drive down world welfare, but we find that reducing import tariffs for tomato products would yield greater effects on markets and larger welfare impacts outside Europe than would reductions in EU domestic support.     

Measuring the Trade Restrictiveness of Domestic Support using the EU Common Agricultural Policy as an Example

We develop an index that measures the overall trade effects of domestic support payments. Our index is based on the Mercantilist Trade Restrictiveness Index (MTRI) and is capable of analysing the development of the trade restrictiveness of domestic support payments over time and across countries. It facilitates the evaluation of agricultural policy reforms introducing changes in the composition of domestic support payments. We conduct this analysis with a computable general equilibrium model that is extended to depict detailed agricultural policies using the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (EU) as an example. For the representation of agricultural policies, we updated the underlying database by incorporating detailed EU domestic support payments taken from the OECD Producer Support Estimate (PSE) tables and reconcile PSE data with the WTO classification scheme. Our index confirms a decrease in trade distortion stemming from the implementation of decoupled support in the EU. In addition, the trade-equivalent protection rate shows that the trade restrictiveness of domestic support payments depends on the assumptions made with regard to the degree of decoupling of those payments.     

Seasonal protection of F&V imports in the EU: impacts of the entry price system

The measures of border protection applied by the European Union (EU) to imports of fruits and vegetables (FV) are complex and usually not well represented in trade models, not only because of the range of instruments still constraining trade, but also because of product differentiation and seasonality in these products. This article assesses the impact of eliminating entry price (EP) constraints applied to a group of FV products. The proposed model is of a partial equilibrium nature and takes seasonality into account. We have applied the model to imports of tomatoes, cucumbers, clementines, and table grapes. Trade impacts of eliminating EP are significant for particular origins, during specific seasons, most notably for Moroccan tomatoes. The volumes and prices of products originating in the EU experience moderate reductions.     

Potential Impacts of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) on the Fresh Vegetable and Beef Trade

ABSTRACT

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) negotiations influence the global economic position of both the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.). Agricultural issues are an important part of the negotiation. There have been several analyses of the aggregate impacts of a T-TIP agreement. This report analyzes the commodity impacts on trade for fresh vegetables and beef. Vegetables represent the situation where the U.S. is a growing net importer and the EU has substantial potential for expanding exports to the U.S. in this highly competitive marketplace. Beef represents the situation where sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions on hormone use in production have prohibited consumer choices from being revealed in the marketplace for both the EU and the U.S. The authors provide insight into where the comparative advantages lie in freer trade situations.     

世界水产品贸易变动分析

论文利用FAO渔业统计数据及COMTRADE数据并经整理,分析了1996～2010年世界水产品贸易,结果表明：世界水产品的进口市场主要在发达国家,而出口市场则为广大的发展中国家;生鲜水产品仍然占据着重要地位,水产深加工品的贸易地位不断上升,而初加工品的地位不断下滑;世界水产品进口市场集中度在不断下降;日本在世界水产品进口中的比重在不断下降,欧盟则不断上升,中国在世界水产品出口市场中的地位在不断上升,但出口的增速则在下降。最后．提出促进中国水产品出口的政策建议。     

Trade liberalisation and greenhouse gas emissions: the case of dairying in the European Union and New Zealand*

The link between trade and the environment has aroused considerable interest both in terms of the impact of trade liberalisation on the environment, and also the impact of environmental policy on production and trade. Of key environmental concern at present is global warming and its association with greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture is a sector of the economy that both contributes to, and will be affected by, climate change. This paper models the impact of agricultural trade liberalisation on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture around the world, focusing particularly on the effects on New Zealand, a small economy highly dependent on agricultural trade. A partial equilibrium agricultural multicountry, multicommodity trade model is used for the analysis, extended to include physical production systems and their greenhouse gas emissions. Two simulations are performed: removal of agricultural policies in the EU and in all OECD countries. The results indicate that although producer returns in New Zealand increase, greenhouse gas emissions also increase significantly. EU producers face lower returns but also lower greenhouse gas emissions.