TRADE REFORM AND THE PROSPECTS FOR PROCESSED FOOD EXPORTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper draws attention to the relative neglect of the consequences of barriers to processed food exports from developing countries in the literature examining the effects on these countries of agricultural trade liberalisation. These barriers are of three kinds: trade policy barriers; differing health, food safety and environmental standards; and, barriers arising from the evolving market structure in food processing and distribution in developed country markets. The paper discusses the likely significance of the gains to developing countries from reduction of tariffs on processed food commodities and examines the consequences of the EU single market programme for developing country food exports.     

GAINS FROM TRADE IN INTERMEDIATE INPUTS IN THE UK FOOD SYSTEM

In this paper we report estimates of the specialisation gains associated with trade in intermediate agricultural and food inputs. A Vertically Integrated Sectors (VIS) modelling approach is employed to compare the levels of factors required to produce imported intermediate inputs domestically with those required to produce the “compensating” exports needed to purchase the imported intermediates. On the basis of the 1979 UK input-output tables, an average of 10.6 per cent fewer factors would have been required in agriculture and 2.2 per cent fewer in food processing with trade in intermediate inputs than without. The results support the view that the promotion of domestic production of agricultural inputs via import substitution would be costly.     

FOOD,TECHNOLOGY AND EMPLOYMENT: THE FARM-LEVEL POST-HARVEST SYSTEM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The prevention of food loss in the farm-level post-harvest system has become an objective of food policy in many developing countries. This objective is founded on the allegations that food losses are high, that technology is available to prevent or reduce these losses and that, as a consequence, hungry people will be less hungry. This paper first reviews the development of this policy objective. It then goes on to argue that this formulation of post-harvest policy is inaccurate and frequently misleading. Evidence on the levels of food loss under traditional practices, and on the costs and benefits of technical change, show that at farm level cost reduction is the chief influence on technological choice; from a social perspective, employment and hence income distribution considerations are often the decisive factor in evaluating new techniques.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORLD PRICE INSTABILITY AND THE PRICES FARMERS RECEIVE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

World prices for agricultural commodities are traditionally unstable, but they were particularly turbulent during the late 1970s and early 1980s. This paper uses available post-War data on individual commodity prices to test whether world price instability is increasing, and to examine its impact on the prices producers receive in developing countries. It is found that the recent turbulence was more a statistical fluke than the beginning of any longer-term increase in market instability. Further, while the variability in world prices has been almost entirely transmitted to developing countries in the dollar value of their export unit values, it has not been fully transmitted to average producer prices. Real exchange rates, domestic marketing arrangements and government intervention have acted to buffer price movements for producers in many developing countries.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION VARIABILITY: POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper examines whether there is increased inter-year instability in food consumption at the national level, and to what extent this is attributable to increased instability of food production in the wake of adoption of modern agricultural technology. The data analysed indicates that increased production instability does translate into increased fluctuations in consumption. Nevertheless, year-to-year consumption variability among the sample of 38 countries has declined during the past 25 years. This is attributed to improved stocking operations and trade practices which accompany economic growth. Nevertheless, food insecurity, as measured in terms of fluctuations around trend levels of consumption, does remain a problem, especially among the poor. Therefore, policy options to reduce consumption instability are outlined.     

石油石化企业境外上市应注意的几个问题

1999年以来,几家中资公司(包括中国海洋石油总公司)境外发行股票受挫,给正在酝酿境外上市的石油石化企业带来了一些启示.本文提出了石油石化企业境外上市应注意的几个问题.     

TRADE AND WELFARE EFFECTS OF EC ACCESSION ON THE UK AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY INDUSTRIES

The aim of this paper is to assess the effects of accession to the EC on the UK agricultural input industries using a technique commonly applied to examining the effects of accession on the manufacturing sector, the main emphasis being on trade patterns. Some attempt is made to differentiate between the effects of market-widening and of the CAP, and an assessment of the welfare implications is given. The results indicate that the effect of market-widening on the input industries was more important than the effect of the CAP and that the net loss of trade diversion was slightly outweighed by the benefits of export expansion     

LIBERALISING OECD AGRICULTURAL POLICIES IN THE URUGUAY ROUND: EFFECTS ON TRADE AND WELFARE

A dynamic, stochastic, multi-commodity model of world food markets is used to estimate the effects of liberalising agricultural policies in industrial countries. The effects on international and domestic prices, on trade volumes and on economic welfare of a phased liberalisation of industrial-country policies between 1988 and 1992 are compared with the effects of a similar hypothetical liberalisation in the early 1980s. The results suggest that, because of the dramatic increase in agricultural protection during the 1980s, the effects of a liberalisation under the Uruguay Round would be, in real terms, more than double those that would have resulted from a similar liberalisation a decade earlier. Major gainers are consumers in Western Europe and Japan and farmers in developing countries. But the cost to tax-payers in Western Europe is also escalating, not to mention the burden on non-agricultural producers in those countries whose competitiveness is reduced by farm policies. These domestic pressures from treasuries and from producers of non-farm products, together with greater international pressure for reform from agricultural-exporting countries, have raised the probability of at least some liberalisation during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations.     

THE IMPACT OF CHANGES IN TRADE POLICY ON DEVELOPING COUNTRY AGRICULTURE*

The Uruguay Round of trade negotiations has attracted much attention in the developing countries. It promises to weaken moves towards bilateral trade agreements, break open trade in temperate agricultural products, and should remove the last vestiges of protection against tropical products – although tariff escalation will remain. Overall, the main gains for the developing world will probably accrue to exporters of temperate products, above all those in Latin America; whilst for some of the poorer countries, losses may occur as the benefits of special and favoured access to the industrialised countries' markets will be eroded.     

北京市无公害农产品、绿色食品和 有机农产品的现状分析和发展对策

无公害农产品、绿色食品和有机食品是目前农产品认证的主要类型。近几年,北京市"三品"发展稳步上升,取得了较好的经济、社会和生态效益。但是也面临一些困难,如生产者的积极性、农户的生产组织形式、生态价值的体现以及品牌公信力的提升等问题。因此,该文提出了启动生态补偿,发展专业合作经济组织,增加投入等对策,以推动"三品"健康持续快速发展,使其生产规模在郊区农产品中比例不断提高,从而促进北京农业向品牌化和生态化提升。     

GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON AGRICULTURE AND AGRICULTURAL PERFORMANCE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUTION

In recent years, new prominence has been assigned to the effects of non-price measures on the performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries. Nevertheless, the contribution of government expenditure to agricultural output growth has not received its due attention. This paper endeavours to estimate the impact of government expenditure (on agriculture) on the performance of the agricultural sector. An inter-country production function is estimated for a sample of thirty-five developing countries, pooling cross-section and time-series data over the 1974-84 period. The influence of instability in government expenditure on agriculture and on agricultural growth is also assessed. The results show that government expenditure policies are of vital importance in influencing the performance of the agricultural sector. It was also found that instability in government expenditure is a deterrent to agricultural output growth.     

中国与RCEP国家农产品进口贸易效率及潜力研究

目的 文章基于2010—2019年中国与区域全面经济伙伴关系协定国家（Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, 以下简称RCEP国家）农产品进口贸易的面板数据,从贸易规模、贸易结构和贸易国别数据切入,研究中国同RCEP国家的农产品进口贸易效率及潜力,为中国与RCEP国家农产品进口贸易的深入发展提出相关政策建议。方法 采用随机前沿引力模型进行实证分析。结果 中国自RCEP国家进口农产品的平均效率为0.54;中国与RCEP国家经济规模、班轮运输连通性指数和货币自由度等因素提升了进口贸易效率,人口规模和贸易自由度等因素阻碍了进口贸易效率的提升;从国别差异看,中国自澳大利亚和新西兰农产品进口贸易潜力和可拓展空间较大;从农产品分类看,4类农产品的进口贸易效率较高;总体而言,进口效率与潜力存在较大的国别异质性,增长拓展空间有待进一步释放。结论 中国应进一步加强同RCEP国家的海陆航基础设施建设等合作,扩大同RCEP国家,特别是贸易效率低下而未来潜力巨大的新西兰等国的农产品进口贸易。     

我国对“一带一路”国家的农产品出口研究*——基于随机前沿贸易引力模型的实证分析

随着"一带一路"倡议的实施,我国对"一带一路"国家的农产品出口贸易总额不断提升。[目的]为了测算我国对"一带一路"国家出口农产品的贸易规模和贸易效率,[方法]文章使用随机前沿贸易引力模型的研究方法,对经济规模因素、人口因素、地理因素等经典变量进行实证分析,并且提取出口贸易效率项来分析制度性因素的影响。[结果]研究结果表明,经济规模、人口规模等社会因素能够正向促进我国对"一带一路"沿线国家的农产品出口规模,而地理距离增加在一定程度上阻碍我国农产品的出口贸易增长。此外,制度性因素在出口贸易效率方面发挥着重大作用,关税水平与贸易效率呈现负相关关系,而贸易促进指数ETI和WTO等制度因素显著提高我国的农产品出口贸易效率。[结论]该文通过测算农产品出口贸易效率可发现我国与"一带一路"沿线国家的农产品贸易存在着巨大的贸易潜力,并且分别在国家层面和区域层面针对研究结果进行分析,发现我国与东南亚的国家贸易效率较高,与印度、俄罗斯等国家存在较大贸易潜力,同时不同区域的贸易效率存在明显的差异性。根据研究结论,该文提出如下建议:促进农业产业结构调整;加强我国的贸易交通基础设施建设;改善我国的对外贸易服务条件;降低我国的市场准入难度。