Heterogeneous firms and trade costs: a reading of French access to European agro-food market

This article offers a new reading of intra-European trade based on recent developments in new international economics (Melitz, 2003; Chaney, 2008). These models take the heterogeneity of firms into account and offer a micro-economic analysis of the process of selection at work for firms entering markets. An exporting firm has to bear certain specific costs to break into a market, and only sufficiently productive firms are able to do so. Using individual data for French agro-food firms and the distribution of their exports across European markets, this article shows that access conditions to the various European markets are not identical for French firms: the Belgian market would seem to be a natural extension of the French market, whereas the markets of small, distant countries (Austria, Finland or Sweden) are the least accessible. Econometric analysis based on analysis both of the firm selection process and of the value of their exports shows that the standard geographical variables (distance, country size) affecting the single European market still play a major role in the choice of export markets. Results also reveal that there are still remaining trade costs at entry to the different European markets; but these trade frictions don’t matter to all firms in the same way. The higher the firm experience, the lower the impact of trade costs.firm heterogeneity, trade costs, European Integration., International Relations/Trade,

Trade and Transport Modes, A Differentiated Impact of Distance

International Relations/Trade,

EU market access for Mediterranean fruit and vegetables: A gravity model assessment

Since 1995, a liberalization process - the so- called Barcelona Process - has begun in the Mediterranean area. It aims at establishing a free trade area for 2010 in the Mediterranean Basin. For the moment the full liberalization concerns industrial product s trade whereas agriculture remains sensitive. Among agricultural product s, the fruit and vegetables (F&V) sector is essential for Mediterranean countries and the EU is their first trading partner. In this context, two questions arise: Firstly, to what extent protection influence trade for the med countries, compared to the other countries? Secondly, what would be the impacts of a greater liberalization on F&V trade between the EU and Mediterranean Countries? Our model, based on the new development s of gravity equation focuses on the difficulties faced by the Mediterranean countries to enter on the EU market, compared to the other EU partners, considering the relative impact of the different trade costs. It is estimated at the product level, in a sector with a huge specificity: some product s may be very perishable and thus particularly time sensitive. The Mediterranean basin appears as a highly heterogeneous country bloc. Beside the actual level of preferences allowed by the EU, two main elements vary according to the exporting country: its tariff sensitivity and its "non- tariff" trade resistance. Thus, with respect to the Euromed liberalization, the higher the tariff sensitivity the higher the impact of liberalization on trade and this impact can be limited by a high trade resistance (NTB, logistic constraints...).Fruit and Vegetables, EU-Med agreement, gravity models, transport cost, tariffs, International Relations/Trade, Marketing,

Euromediterranean agreements: which advantages for Mediterranean countries in fruit and vegetables sector?

This article measures the advantage granted by the European Union to different Mediterranean countries in the fruit and vegetables sector in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements. The advantage of each country are evaluated by calculating the value of the preferential margins, which compares the amount of the customs duties paid by an exporting country with the amount of the duties this country would have paid if it had not enjoyed tariff preferences. The situation of the Mediterranean countries appears to be highly unequal in terms of the advantages granted by the EU in the fruit and vegetables sector. The progress of bilateral negotiations and the export structure in each country explain the significant variations in preferential margins from one Mediterranean country to the next. These results allow us to discuss the potential impacts of a liberalisation of fruit and vegetable trade within the Euro-Mediterranean zone.Euromediterranean agreements, preferential margin, fruit and vegetables, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Echanges intra-firme et intégration européenne : le cas des firmes multinationales de l'agro-alimentaire

La firme multinationale (FMN), par définition, contrôle un ensemble de filiales localisées dans différents pays. Elle dispose ainsi de la capacité d'internaliser une partie de ses échanges internationaux au sein d'un marché interne à son organisation (échanges intra-firme). De ce fait, ces échanges intra-firme (EIF) deviennent-ils la norme des échanges internationaux dans le contexte de globalisation croissante des firmes et de régionalisation des économies ? Ils se sont en tout cas très fortement développés dans le secteur agro-alimentaire. Un tiers des échanges internationaux de la France en produits agricoles et alimentaires était réalisé à l'intérieur des firmes multinationales en 1999. Ainsi, loin de générer une substitution entre production et échanges, la constitution des FMN conduit à une transformation dans la nature des échanges, dont les déterminants peuvent différer de ceux réalisés directement sur le marché.

History matters for the export decision and the volume exported: Firm-level evidence from French agri-food firms

As a result of the rapid growth of microeconometric studies of exporting firms, we know quite a lot about the hysteresis occurring in the current decision of firms to export. Firms entering a foreign market the previous year are more likely to export the current year. This fact is traditionally interpreted as a consequence of sunk export costs at entry to the international market. These costs are for instance the knowledge of foreign markets, the search for new distribution networks, or the compliance with border crossing standards specific to a given market. The specificity of the destination market appears as being of huge importance for the firms. Papers in this field propose to test for the existence of sunk-cost hysteresis by analysing entry and exit patterns in plant-level panel data, whatever the destination market. Roberts and Tybout (1997) or Özler et al. (2009) develop and estimate a dynamic discrete-choice model of the plant’s current exporting status in Colombia or Turkey respectively. Only a few studies have accounted either for the destination of the exports or for the volume exported. Blanes-Cristobal et al. (2008) show that previous experience on a market has a positive impact on the probability of current export on this market. Das et al. (2007) consider both the decision to export and the value exported in a dynamic model. They show that entry costs on international markets (whatever the destination market) are substantial. The questions addressed by this study are: Are sunk costs a feature of the firm's export behavior (decision and volume) and do they vary across export markets? A multivariate dynamic panel model of French agribusiness firms' exports to two aggregate markets (EU and Rest of the World) is specified. The model accounts for both zero level and positively skewed exports by adopting the Cragg (1971) logarithmic Tobit model. Unobserved firm-level heterogeneity is accounted for by introducing random effects which may be correlated across export markets. The initial conditions problem is treated by assuming that a component of the unobserved firm effect is conditional on initial values and exogenous variables (Wooldridge, 2005). As a consequence the degree of structural state dependence can be estimated for each export market. Previous export experience in both markets is hypothesized to impact both the decision to export and the level of exports in each market.dynamic tobit model, French agri-food firms, exports, destination markets, Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Does Input Trade Liberalization Boost Downstream Firms Exports? Evidence from the French Agrofood Sector

intermediate good, heterogeneous firms, agrifood sector, trade liberalization., Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

ZNAČILNOSTI TRGOVINE S KMETIJSKIMI IN ŽIVILSKIMI PROIZVODI: PRIMERJAVA SLOVENIJE Z OSTALIMI NOVIMI ČLANICAMI EVROPSKE UNIJE

The comparative analysis of trade with agricultural and food products of ten EU new member states (NMS), with emphasis on Slovenia, has been conducted at a highly disaggregated level. Slovenia has always been the net importer of agricultural and food products, and the same goes for the majority of ten NMS in the period analysed. For the purpose of assessing the similarities in their export structure, the export similarity index “S” has been used. By its use no significant overlap of export structures between NMS is revealed, but the slightly increase in resemblance is observed from 1999 to 2003, indicating the simultaneous restructuring of NMS’ agri-food sectors. Another indicator introduced in this comparative analysis is Revealed Comparative Advantage “RCA”, measuring competitiveness through major groups of products. Slovenia has the comparative advantage in comparison with the rest of new member states in following groups of products: meat, dairy products, beverages and others.V prispevku analiziramo trgovino s kmetijskimi in živilskimi proizvodi novih članic Evropske Unije. Analiza je narejena na dezagregirani ravni podatkov po posameznih proizvodih. Slovenija je, tako kot večina desetih novih članic EU, tradicionalna neto uvoznica hrane. Za prikaz skupnih značilnosti izvoza obravnavanih držav je uporabljen “izvozni indeks” S [8]. Z uporabo indeksa S je nakazana precej različna struktura izvoza kmetijskih in živilskih proizvodov, vendar pa le-ta s časom počasi, a vztrajno vse bolj sovpada in nakazuje na obstoječe podobne procese prestrukturiranja agro-živilskih sektorjev v novih EU članicah. S pomočjo analize izvoza so prav tako opredeljene komparativne prednosti Slovenije za nekatere skupine proizvodov (meso, mlečni proizvodi, pijače in ostalo)

Libéralisation du commerce euro-méditerranéen : Les tarifs douaniers ne sont pas le principal frein aux importations européennes de fruits et légumes

Alors que la libéralisation du commerce des produits industriels est déjà largement entamée l’ouverture des marchés reste encore limitée dans le secteur agricole. Les enjeux de la libéralisation des échanges agricoles sont variables d’une rive à l’autre de la Méditerranée. Pour les pays du sud et de l’est de la Méditerranée, les deux principaux enjeux sont la protection des marchés de produits de base et l’amélioration de l’accès au marché européen des produits d’exportation que sont les fruits et légumes. Les producteurs européens, de leur côté, redoutent une exacerbation de la concurrence méditerranéenne dans ce même secteur sensible aux crises et relativement peu soutenu par la Politique agricole commune. La question de l’accès au marché de l’Union européenne (UE) pour les fruits et légumes méditerranéens est d’autant plus sensible que l’UE constitue le principal débouché des exportations horticoles de ces pays. L’analyse des protections tarifaires appliquées par l’UE aux importations de fruits et légumes révèle que les pays méditerranéens bénéficient déjà de préférences importantes sur le marché européen par rapport aux autres pays exportateurs. L’estimation d’un modèle économétrique montre par ailleurs que la protection douanière n’est pas le seul déterminant des échanges. La baisse des tarifs serait loin d’éliminer la totalité des freins aux échanges.

Private Requirements by European Retailers : Impact on French Exporters

Based on recent development of international economics, this paper aims to evaluate in what extent private standards impact trade, and more precisely trade of French agrifood firms. Our paper explores an original "handmade" database identifying French agri‐food firms which are certified with the International Food Standard – IFS– and/or the British Retail Consortium standard – BRC. From this dataset, one can analyse the characteristics and the export behaviour of certified firms compared to that of the non certified ones. First we look at the productivity of the firms; second, we look at export behaviour of the firms: does a certification such as BRC imply export orientation of the firm? Then we propose the stimation of Chaney’s model (2008) to test for the impact of certification on trade costs faced by certified firms to access EU markets. Our preliminary results show that certification clearly impacts French firms. In the case of BRC certification, we especially show that French certified firms significantly decrease their fixed costs to access EU markets