BARTER TERMS OF TRADE IN LATVIAN TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES AND PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS

Abstract

Since early nineties, Latvia has remained a net importer of agri-food products. At the same time, both exports and imports of agricultural commodities and processed food products has consistently grown, with total trade turnover increasing. The objective of the study is to determine the trends in development of barter terms of trade in Latvian agricultural commodities and food products. To reach the research objective, barter terms of trade indices were compiled with various levels of data aggregation over the period from 2002 to 2012. The research results in general show consistently higher terms of trade in agricultural commodities in comparison with terms of trade in processed food products. The differences exist between the terms of trade for the same products or product groups depending upon the level of aggregation. Trends in development of barter terms of trade indices for agricultural commodities and processed food products are different. In general, barter terms of trade for whole agri-food sector is not deteriorating. Key words: international trade, barter terms of trade, agricultural commodities, processed food products. JEL CODES: F60, Q17 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v14i3.865