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

Abstract

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. Copyright (c) 2010 International Association of Agricultural Economists.

The Morphology of Multiple Household Family Farms

“…Frontier protection has been progressively dismantled by virtue of the successive Euro‐Mediterranean Trade Agreements (see García Álvarez‐Coque et al . ); in the case of green pepper, custom duties charged to Morocco and other competitors were completely eliminated in 2003. In terms of public support, the First Pillar payments linked to horticulture have never been comparable to the subsidies received by other agricultural products.…”

The entry price threshold in EU agriculture: Deterrent or barrier?

“…The working of the EPS is well known and widely analyzed by several authors (e.g. Swimbank and Ritson, 1995;Cioffi and dell'Aquila, 2004;Emlinger, Jacquet and Lozza, 2008;Goetz and Grethe, 2009;Emingler, Lozza and Jacquet, 2010;Garcia, Gomez and Villanueva, 2010;Goetz and Grethe, 2010), but a consensus on its effectiveness is still lacking. Furthermore, while «entry prices for many products are probably not protective, and could readily be abolished» (Swinbank, 2011), it is also likely they produce (still unclear) distortive effects deserving further investigations (Winchester, 2011;Li and Beghin, forthcoming).…”

“…Goetz and Grethe (2009) by mean of a multivariate statistic analysis approach showed that the relevance of the EPS is not homogeneous among different products and origins, being wider for more perishable products and for neighbouring partner countries. Garcia Alvarez Coque et al (2010) found that the removal of the EPS or reduction of the Trigger Entry Price would have moderate impact on prices of European domestic products.…”

El sector agroalimentario marroquí y la liberalización del comercio

“…Por lo tanto, no sería razonable restringir la apertura solo a los sectores industriales (García Álvarez Coque et al, (2012a); García Álvarez Coque y Jordán Galduf (2006).…”