Analysis of Agri-Food Trade Structures

To Promote Agri-Food Trade Networks

In the Islamic Countries

Figure 3: World Exports of Agricultural Products, 1995-2016, by Category, Billion USD

Source:

UN Comtrade; and Authors’ calculations.

The agricultural raw materials and fish products titles only contain one section each, so their

performance over recent decades is already accurately summarized in Figure 3. However, the

agri-food products title contains four sections, so it is important to break the aggregate figures

in Figure 3 out into their component parts. Figure 4 presents results. The bulk of world exports

under this heading are accounted for by section 0 (food and live animals), followed by section 1

(beverages and tobacco), section 22 (oil seeds and oleaginous fruits), and finally section 4

(animal and vegetable oils, fats, and waxes). However, the composition by section varies

considerably over time. In 1995, the breakdown is 76.8% food and live animals, 14.6%

beverages and tobacco, 5.3% animal and vegetable oils, fats, and waxes, and 3.4% oil seeds and

oleaginous fruits. By 2016, however, these percentages have changed to 75.4%, 12.1%, 6.0%,

and 6.5% respectively. At the level of world exports, there is therefore evidence that within the

agri-food products category, dynamism is chiefly located in oil seeds and oleaginous fruits, and

animal and vegetable fats, oils, and waxes. Changes in the relative makeup of this category have

not been radical over recent decades, but secular trends are nonetheless apparent, which have

implications for product specialization by individual countries. The key finding is that the

relative importance of food and live animals is falling over time, as is the case for beverages and

tobacco. However, the relative importance of oils and fats is increasing over time. In other words,

demand is shifting towards the latter two product groups, which means that trade growth is

relatively more rapid. Countries that are specialized in those product groups therefore

experience benefits linked to more rapid export expansion than countries that are specialized

in the first group of sectors.

200

400

600

800

1.000

1.200

1.400

1.600

1.800

Agri-Food Products

Agricultural Raw Materials

Fish Products