The Utilisation of EU and Us Trade Preferences for Developing Countries in the Agri-Food Sector

34 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2007

See all articles by Jean-Christophe Bureau

Jean-Christophe Bureau

AgroParisTech-INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research)

Raja Chakir

French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) - UMR Economie Publique

Jacques Gallezot

National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) - Applied Economics Laboratory; Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Info. Internationales (CEPII)

Date Written: December 2006

Abstract

We calculate various indicators of the utilisation of preferences granted to developing countries by the EU and the US in the agricultural, food and fisheries sector. We conclude that only a very small proportion of the imports eligible to these preferences is actually exported outside a preferential regime. The rate of utilisation is therefore high. However, the flow of imports from poorest countries remains very limited in spite of rather generous tariff preferences, which leads to question the overall impact of the preferential agreements. In addition, preferential regimes overlap, and in such cases some regimes are systematically preferred to others. We use econometric estimates of the (latent) cost of using a given preference in order to explain why particular regimes are used. We focus on possible explanations, such as the cumulation rules (that restrict the use of materials originating from other countries), fixed administrative costs, and differences in the preferential margin.

Keywords: Non Reciprocal Preferences, Trade and Development, Rules of Origin

JEL Classification: F13

Suggested Citation

Bureau, Jean-Christophe and Chakir, Raja and Gallezot, Jacques, The Utilisation of EU and Us Trade Preferences for Developing Countries in the Agri-Food Sector (December 2006). IIIS Discussion Paper No.193, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=958016 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.958016

Jean-Christophe Bureau (Contact Author)

AgroParisTech-INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research) ( email )

BP1 Economie
INRA-AgroParisTech
78850 Grignon, 78850
France

HOME PAGE: http://perso.club-internet.fr/jcbureau

Raja Chakir

French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) - UMR Economie Publique ( email )

Centre de Grignon
BP01
Thiverval-Grignon, 78850
France

Jacques Gallezot

National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) - Applied Economics Laboratory ( email )

France

Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Info. Internationales (CEPII)

9 rue Georges Pitard
Paris Cedex 15, F-75015
France

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