Regional Production Adjustment to Import Competition: Evidence from the French Agro‐Industry

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of increasing imports on the reallocation of agrifood production across regions within countries. From French data for the period 1995–2002, we show that regional agrifood production adjusts differently to increasing imports according to the region where the agrifood firms are located. Even though proximity to consumers is important, an increase in agrifood imports does not increase agrifood production with a high demand but makes low‐wage regions more attractive. In addition, an increase in imports of agricultural products processed by agrifood firms leads to the reallocation of agrifood production away from regions with good agricultural access and toward those with limited access to agricultural products.

Does input trade liberalization boost downstream firms' exports? Theory and firm-level evidence

“…Product price gaps between EU and world market levels have declined substantially. For example, between 1995 and 2002, tariff barriers for agricultural products at European borders decreased by 30% and French imports of agricultural commodities increased by 25% (Bagoulla et al, 2010). Note also agricultural tariffs vary greatly with respect to agricultural commodities.…”

“…Indeed, in the last two decades, tariff barriers at European borders for agricultural products which are mainly processed by the agrifood firms decreased considerably. For example, between 1995 and 2002, tariff barriers for agricultural products at European borders decreased by 30% and French imports of agricultural commodities increased by 25% (Bagoulla et al, 2010). Second, we can identify the main agricultural products purchased by the agri-food firms at a very disaggregated level and, in turn, calculate tariffs applied to the inputs they process.…”

Spécialisation territoriale et concentration des productions animales européennes : état des lieux et facteurs explicatifs

“…Selon la théorie de l'avantage comparatif développée en 1817 par Ricardo, chaque nation ou région a intérêt à se spécialiser dans la production où elle possède l'avantage le plus élevé ou le désavantage le moins prononcé vis-à-vis des autres (Ricardo 1817 Depuis les travaux menés en 1826 par Von Thünen jusqu'à la nouvelle économie géographique développée par Paul Krugman en 1991, la localisation des producteurs est déterminée par les coûts d'accès à la localisation des fournisseurs et des débouchés (Krugman 1991). Dans les filières agro-alimentaires, les relations entre les différents maillons sont un facteur puissant d'agglomération des activités (Bagoulla et al 2010). L'agglomération de la production est un processus de long terme pour partie dû aux gains qui existent pour les exploitations à se localiser à proximité de leurs clients (industries d'aval) et de leurs fournisseurs (industries d'amont) -et réciproquementpour bénéficier d'économies d'échelle au niveau des entreprises et du territoire.…”

Local Food, Urbanization, and Transport‐related Greenhouse Gas Emissions

“…In addition, because of agglomeration economies and fierce competition over land, only firms with high value‐added per unit of land can operate profitably in the most urbanized regions, thus displacing lower value‐added activities further away from urban centers. This may have important implications for the agricultural and food sectors, which are among the largest users of freight transportation and which products often need to be transported from farm gates to storage and/or processing facilities before being shipped to urban centers (Bagoulla et al, ; Casavant et al., ).…”