Selected Countries and Regions, 2019

TABLE 3.4 Average most-Favored-nation Unweighted tariffs on Agricultural Products in Selected Countries and regions, 2019

Country or region Meat and offal Dairy, eggs, and natural honey

Edible vegetables, roots, and tubers Edible fruits and nuts Cereals

WTO agricultural

Brazil China India United States

9.94 14.92 8.87 10.54 5.06 10.09 18.24 13.54 10.97 18 11.69 12.97 32.12 33.85 31.59 35.76 32.31 36.24 4.22 12.66 8.59 3.43 1.53 7.03

EU27

5.18 5.34 8.67 East Asia and Pacific 7.01 6.85 6.36 6.88 1.44 6.09 7.02 2.9 6.23

latin America and Caribbean 16.44 15.80 13.83 18.32 7.05 13.06

middle East and north Africa 22.34 14.95 14.85 16.87 4.31 18.07

South Asia 21.52 24.04 20.74 24.22 17.89 22.39 Sub-Saharan Africa 21.84 18.89 17.22 17.15 8.42 14.49

Source: World Integrated Trade Solution. Note: WTO = World Trade Organization. EU27 = 27 European Union member countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

for both imports and exports; arbitrary sanitary and phytosanitary standards not based on scientific evidence; and customs and other import procedures that are slow, costly, and excessive—are major challenges for agricultural exporters in many regions. These barriers raise food prices, undermine food quality, affect food availability, and impose extra burdens on small businesses.

One of the biggest risks for food security in food-importing countries during times of crisis is the imposition of export restrictions by exporting countries. In previous global crises such as the financial crisis of 2008/09, producing nations resorted to limits on food exports that hurt consumers around the world. Without some form of international agreement, this issue will occur again in future crises and will likely become more critical, given the way in which climate change affects patterns of production and trade. Limits on export quantities are set despite the clear consensus among economists that export restrictions and precautionary purchases of food by a small number of key countries can lead to a rapid rise in global prices and severe shortages in other countries. Hence, some form of coordination and discipline is needed when such policies are adopted.

Economic theory and substantial empirical analysis over a long period of experience with export restraints show that export restrictions by large producers increase the volatility of supply and prices. Export restraints by large agricultural producers limit overall supply in the global economy, which reduces the availability of products in countries that need them the most: low-income countries with substantial levels of poverty and limited or no capacity to increase their own production.5 While, in the short run, limits on exports may result in lower domestic

prices and a higher domestic supply of food products in the countries imposing those measures, they reduce the incentives to invest in food production and can reduce supply in the long run, not only at the global level but also in those exportrestricting countries. These types of measures may provoke retaliatory measures that further disrupt global markets and possibly make it even harder for poor countries to procure essential supplies.

The following measures can help to protect low-income countries from export restrictions that limit access to critical food and other essential products in food production, such as seeds and fertilizers: • Increase information and transparency and monitoring. Decisions on export restrictions are influenced by perceived risks and the fear of domestic shortages.

Moreover, politically well-connected domestic actors who benefit from export restrictions, such as food processors, may also seek to affect such decisions.

Policy makers require data and information that allow them to assess these risks accurately and the capacity to mitigate them, both domestically and through coordination with other countries. Improved information on global markets and greater transparency and information sharing can help to limit panic-driven policy decisions and contribute to more informed and coordinated responses that avoid price surges. Information on global food stocks, for example, is crucial for policy makers trying to assess the risk of impending food shortages. Indeed, the lack of reliable data on stocks of grains and oilseeds and deficiencies in the monitoring of food prices undoubtedly exacerbated the export restrictions that destabilized global food markets during the global financial crisis of 2007/08.

Subsequent investments by the G-20 countries in food information systems have improved the quality of information available to policy makers and may have tempered the use of export restrictions on food during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.6 Transparency and information sharing will become even more important as climate change induces greater variability in production and heightened uncertainty. • Increase cooperation on trade issues that are critical for health and food security.

The risk that producing countries might impose export restrictions may be sufficient to dissuade importing countries from fully liberalizing tariffs. In fact, the use of export restrictions by a small number of countries has fomented the view that other countries should increase their tariff protection and enhance support for domestic production through other means. This approach limits the overall global market for food, lowering investment and employment in farms in the large producing countries and increasing volatility at the global level. Ideally, it would form the basis for an agreement among producing countries to ban the use of export restrictions in return for tariff liberalization by importing countries. Such an agreement would reduce policy uncertainty and the risks associated with global markets in essential products.

Some economies have taken steps within existing regional agreements to deepen cooperation on trade in essential products. New Zealand and Singapore have committed to remove customs duties and refrain from imposing export restrictions on 124 essential goods, including food and health care products.7 In early 2020, a group of 22 World Trade Organization (WTO) members committed not to restrict agricultural exports and agreed that emergency measures related to agriculture and agricultural