MARKET ACCESS FOR HIGH-VALUE FOODS

Market access remains a major impediment for expansion of global trade in high-value foods, particularly processed foods. Countries use tariffs and other measures that effectively stimulate imports of relatively unprocessed agricultural commodities at the expense of processed products. Tariff escalation, in which tariffs rise with the level of processing, discourages trade in high-value foods, and trade remedy measures, such as antidumping duties, are concentrated among high-value products. Globalization has provided countries with easier access to capital and technology needed to produce processed food, further affecting trade patterns and markets for high-value foods. A uniform cut in tariffs increases trade in high-value foods more than trade in raw agricultural commodities and improves real wages in developing and developed countries.Food trade, processed food, high-value foods, tariff, tariff escalation, trade remedy measures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, safeguard measures, revealed comparative advantage, trade complementarities, International Relations/Trade,

Processed foods and the nutrition transition: evidence from Asia

This paper elucidates the role of processed foods and beverages in the ‘nutrition transition’ underway in Asia. Processed foods tend to be high in nutrients associated with obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases: refined sugar, salt, saturated and trans-fats. This paper identifies the most significant ‘product vectors’ for these nutrients and describes changes in their consumption in a selection of Asian countries. Sugar, salt and fat consumption from processed foods has plateaued in high-income countries, but has rapidly increased in the lower– middle and upper–middle-income countries. Relative to sugar and salt, fat consumption in the upper–middle- and lower–middle-income countries is converging most rapidly with that of high-income countries. Carbonated soft drinks, baked goods, and oils and fats are the most significant vectors for sugar, salt and fat respectively. At the regional level there appears to be convergence in consumption patterns of processed foods, but country-level divergences including high levels of consumption of oils and fats in Malaysia, and soft drinks in the Philippines and Thailand. This analysis suggests that more action is needed by policy-makers to prevent or mitigate processed food consumption. Comprehensive policy and regulatory approaches are most likely to be effective in achieving these goals

Differences in WTP and Consumer Demand for Organic and Non-GM Fresh and Processed Foods

Auction experiments were used to examine demand and premium differences between organic, non-GM (genetically modified), and conventional versions for two pairs of fresh and processed foods. Results showed processed foods had greater substitutability among the versions than fresh products. Conventional versions were the least price sensitive, while non-GM versions were the most sensitive. Significant premium differences were found between fresh and processed foods for sweet corn and tortilla chips, but not for potatoes and potato chips. Results from random effects models mirrored these findings. In general, the extent of premium differences between fresh and processed versions appears dependent on the food product.auction experiments, willingness to pay, organic, non-GM, fresh, processed food, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

PROCESSED FOOD TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT UNDER NAFTA

Trade in processed food products is rapidly growing. Trade with Canada and Mexico has especially been growing since free trade agreements have been implemented. The U.S. presence in the processed food industry in other countries through foreign direct investment (FDI) is also large and has been expanding. The relationship between trade and FDI is uncertain and subject to much debate. Japan and Canada are the largest importers of processed foods from the United States, followed by Mexico and Korea. Canada is the leading exporter of food products to the United States, followed by France, Mexico, and Italy. Canada and Mexico have, in recent years, become increasingly important trading partners in processed foods. Results from this study do not conclusively indicate any type of relationship between FDI and trade. Trade in processed foods also appears to be mostly insensitive to the exchange rate. Some of the increase in trade flows can be explained by growth in real GDP. Trade liberalization may also explain the increase in trade flows. Free trade agreements have positively influenced U.S. FDI in Canada and Mexico. Labor cost and inflation in the host country also influences U.S. FDI.trade, processed foods, foreign direct investment, Canada, Mexico, International Relations/Trade,

Supermarket purchases and the dietary patterns of households in Guatemala:

"Very limited empirical analyses are done on evaluating how changes in the retail environment affect diet and health status of consumers, especially in developing countries. The major objective of this study is to shed some light on some of these neglected but crucial issues. The study examines the impact of supermarket purchases on dietary practices (defined as the calorie share of different food groups) of Guatemalan households using the 2000 Guatemalan household survey. I use an instrumental variable method to take into account the potential endogeneity of the supermarket-purchase variable in the calorie share equations.... The results of the study reveal that supermarket purchases increase the share that highly and partially processed food items, such as pastries, cookies, crackers, chocolate, ice cream, and so forth, make of total calories, at the expense of staple food items such as corn and beans. Since most processed foods contain disproportionately high amounts of added fat, sugar, and salt, and since supermarkets are expanding rapidly, different policy measures should be developed to ensure that supermarkets have a "healthier" impact on diets." from Authors' AbstractSupermarkets, Health and nutrition, Calorie share, Diet quality, Staple foods, Household behavior, Processed foods, Energy dense foods, Energy dilute foods, Instrumental variable method,

TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR U.S. PROCESSED FOOD FIRMS IN CHINA

This research examines the relationship between U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports of processed foods to China and identifies management strategies to enhance U.S. competitiveness. Two-stage least-squares empirical econometric results from a simultaneous equation system indicate that there exists a strong complementary relationship between U.S exports and FDI into China. Therefore, the appropriate managerial strategy to access Chinese processed foods markets is to increase overall business activity, both FDI and exports into China.Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

The proportion of differently processed foods in the diet of Croatian school-aged children and its impact on daily energy and nutrient intake

In countries around the world, a dietary shift is observed in which the consumption of highly processed foods increases over unprocessed or minimally processed foods. The objective of this study was to observe the proportion of processed foods in the diet of school-aged children and to assess how this relates to sex, weight status and school meal consumption. The aim was to assess the impact of processed foods on overall diet quality in terms of ultra-processed foods contribution to total daily energy intake. Dietary intake was observed from dietary records for three non-consecutive days of 168 children (50.6% boys) aged 8.3 ± 0.5 years. All foods and beverages were classified into four groups according to NOVA food classification system. The contribution of each NOVA food group to total daily energy intake was calculated and the mean nutrient intake of children divided into terciles according to total daily energy intake from ultra-processed foods was compared. Anthropometric measurements were performed according to standard protocols, while sex and age z-scores were obtained using AnthroPlus software. Results show that unprocessed or minimally processed foods (38.1% kcal) and ultra-processed foods (38.1% kcal) had the highest proportion of dietary intake. There was no difference in NOVA food groups intake by sex or weight status, while number of school meals may contribute to the intake of processed culinary ingredients. Children who had higher energy intake from ultra-processed foods had lower intake of animal proteins (p=0.009), polyunsaturated fatty acids (p=0.014), vitamin A (p=0.027) and most minerals, but higher intake of carbohydrates (p=0.014) and copper (p=0.014) compared to children with lower energy intake from ultra-processed foods. In conclusion, school-aged children had equal share of energy from unprocessed or minimally processed foods and from ultra-processed foods. Higher share of energy from ultra-process foods may contribute to poor overall nutrition

INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE IN PROCESSED FOODS: PATTERNS AND CURIOSITIES

International Relations/Trade,