The Role of Export Restrictions in Agricultural Trade

Abstract

During the last global downturn, which took place in a period of rising commodity prices, both the academia and global leaders warned about the risk of a protectionist reaction to the crisis, which would in turn decrease trade volumes and deepen the crisis. In spite of this, several protectionist measures were taken during the period. Export restrictions, which comprise export taxes, export bans, export license requirements, and price reference for exports, among other policies, were among the measures more frequently applied. There is evidence that these measures may have exacerbated the food price spike. However, the existing studies do not distinguish between the different export restrictive measures, consider export restriction and import promotion policies altogether, or focus only on few agricultural goods. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap and make a comprehensive analysis of the role of export restrictions and import promoting policies on agricultural prices during the food crisis. To do so, we built a comprehensive database, which includes information on export restrictions applied in the agriculture sector by all countries in the world in the period 2005-2015. Our database includes information on products affected (at HS6 level), duration of the measure, type of measure, and justification. A preliminary analysis of information included in our database shows that in the period 2005-2015, 32 countries took 293 measures that introduced some form of export restriction, that increased restrictions already in place, or that extended measures already in place. The main agricultural sectors affected by export restrictions were cereals, oilseeds, vegetables, milling products, raw hides, live animals, and sugar; and the main measures applied were export bans (28.7% of total measures), export quotas (25.3%), and export taxes (20.8%). On average, export taxes last longer (4.8 years), whereas export bans are more frequently applied shorter periods of time.