Federica Demaria

Pesticide residues and trade, the apple of discord?

In this paper we study the impact of the regulations on Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) of pesticides on the trade of apples and pears and related processed products with the aim of understanding how their similarity (or dissimilarity) affect trade. Most studies investigate the impact of sanitary regulations introducing directly in the analysis the MRL put in force in the importing country. They introduce in the analysis the level of the regulation in the importing country without taking into account the rule in force in the exporting country. Rather than focusing on a particular pesticide we take into account the entire list of substances set out by the various regulations. We then build a similarity index and introduce it into a gravity equation to assess the impact of the differences in MRL of pesticides on trade. Results suggest that the differences between regulations matter and may, in some case, hinder trade.

Agro-Food Preferences in the EU's GSP Scheme: An Analysis of Changes between 2004 and 2006.

This article examines the extent to which the 2006 revisions to the EUs Generalised System of Preferences improved market-access opportunities for developing-country agro-food exports. It shows that they resulted in only a slight increase in the percentage preferential margin, but that there has been a significant increase in the value of preferential trade and of the preferential margin enjoyed by exporters. This was accompanied by changes in the ranking of beneficiaries. Countries such as China, Brazil, Argentina, India and South Africa maintained their significant shares of GSP agro-food exports, but other countries such as Thailand and Vietnam have now emerged as major GSP beneficiaries.

EU Trade Regulation for Baby Food: Protecting Health or Trade?

This article explores the effect of European Union (EU) food safety regulations on EU imports of baby food. Pesticides and contaminants contribute to various health problems. Children are more vulnerable to the dangers of pesticides and contaminants because as soon as they start eating solids, they consume a limited number of food items, most of which are fruits and vegetables. To protect the health of the most vulnerable part of the population, the EU regulations stipulate that no more than 0.01 mg/kg of any single pesticide residue is permitted in baby food. In this respect, the EU differs from most of its trading partners, the majority of which do not differentiate food safety regulations according to the age of the consumer. The purpose of this paper is to compare the EU regulations on maximum residue limits of pesticides to those of its major competitors through a severity index. This index is then introduced into a gravity equation to assess the impact on EU imports of baby food. We find that the EU regulation had a negative impact on the volume of trade but a positive one on the probability of setting up new trade relationships.

Trade Impact of European Union Preferences: The Role of Compliance Costs

We explore the effect of European Union (EU) non-reciprocal preferential schemes and the compliance costs they entail on the agricultural import flows from beneficiary countries. Since such costs are heterogeneous and mostly unobservable, we gauge their influence by some estimated proxies, and specify a gravity model that allows for a different preferential margin impact according to the costs level. For a large sample of developing countries in 2002, we find that the costs of compliance seem to play a role in making the schemes work: the lower the costs, the greater the impact of the preferential margins. Moreover, the margin effect seems different across different regimes.