Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies

To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade



support farmers and improve agricultural productivity, to provide consumers with

stable and affordable food supply



guarantee EU farmers a reasonable living



help tackling climate change and the sustainability of natural resources



protect rural areas and landscapes across the EU



keep the rural economy alive promoting jobs in farming, agri-foods industries and

associated sectors

This is how EU is actually a leading global actor in agricultural trade as seen above, despite the

fact that its members are mostly developed, industrialized countries, with a leading role in the

global trade of services.

2.3. Global Agricultural Trade Policy Measures

Global agricultural products trade is influenced by trade policy measures applied by all

countries.

In 2016, more than two third of EU-28 agricultural trade has been realized within the Union

(Figure 2. 10). Half of NAFTA’s trade took place within the bloc. For the rest of the three blocs,

the intra-group trade is much less considerable than EU-28 and NAFTA, the highest share of one

third being within OIC.

Figure 2. 10 Share of Intraregional Trade in Agricultural Products, %, 2016

Source: ITC Macmap, CEPII BACI, Eurostat RAMON, UN Comtrade, UN Trade Statistics, and authors’

calculations

Figure 2. 11 displays the evolution of the trade agreements since the mid-20

century. The

number of agreements shown by the grey bar is the number of joining an RTA per year which

started to increase in the beginning of 90’s (left axis). The total number of countries joining an

RTA and notifying the WTO

(cumulative notifications shown by the yellow line) is actually

almost 500 (right axis).

Table 2.4 shows ad valorem equivalent of the average tariff rates in percentage applied by the

major trading blocs and the OIC for the three agricultural categories and differentiating between

the tariffs applied within the group of the ones applied to third countries.

WTO Members joining an RTA are obliged to notify it to the WTO, under related articles: Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 or

the Enabling Clause for RTAs covering trade in goods, or Article V of the GATS for RTAs covering trade in services. In case of

RTAs covering both goods and services, two notifications are required. The notification should be made after the ratification

of the RTA and before the application of preferential treatment.

NAFTA

MERCOSUR

ASEAN

EU-28

OIC