Previous Page  176 / 213 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 176 / 213 Next Page
Page Background

Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies

To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade

164

With regards to the top import agricultural products from the OIC markets, the case study

countries present a diverse set of commodities as well. Similar to the top export items, it is

possible to observe the potential product divisions selected in Section 3.4 of the report for

promoting intra-OIC trade. For example, oil seeds for Turkey; feeding stuff for animals for

Morocco; and sugar for Chad are among the potential products for the promotion of intra-OIC

trade. The Gambia, Brazil and Thailand’s top import products do not include any of these

selected potential products.

The export markets and import markets within the OIC present a diverse set as well. It seems

that geography plays a large role in selection of export markets. For instance, judged by the top

5 markets, Turkey exports to Iraq, Syria, S. Arabia, Iran, Sudan; Morocco exports to Turkey,

Lebanon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Syria; the Gambia exports to Turkey, Lebanon, Cote d’Ivoire,

Mauritania, Syria; Chad exports to Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bahrein, Egypt; Thailand exports

to Malaysia, Indonesia, Benin, Nigeria, S. Arabia; and Brazil exports to S. Arabia, Iran, Egypt, UAE,

Indonesia. The selected countries’ major export and import markets are non-OIC countries

where the share of the non-OIC countries in exports range from 62% to 93% in 2016. The share

of non-OIC countries in OIC imports presents a similar picture where the non-OIC share in case

study countries’ import of top 5 agricultural products range from 45% to 98% in 2016.

Agricultural trade policies

The review of agricultural trade policy measures indicates that, while countries generally

lowered the applied tariff rates they impose in agricultural products in recent decades, there

still are cases where high average applied tariff rates are observed for certain product divisions

and products. For their top export products, the countries are faced with high tariff rates in the

OIC market. For example, Turkey faces high tariff rates for beverages and tobacco exports in the

OIC market. Morocco faces high tariff rates for its sugar exports since sugar is highly protected

in the OIC markets along with oil seeds where Chad is faced with high tariff rates from the OIC

countries. Consistent with the discussion in Chapter 3 of the report, the highest tariff protection

in the OIC market is for oil seeds and sugar. Thailand is also impacted by the high tariff rates on

sugar in the OIC market. There is a significant room for reducing the tariff rates on oil seeds and

sugar.

Among the case study countries, there has been a reduction in tariff rates applied to the top

imports originating from the OIC countries. For example, Turkey reduced tariff rates for coffee,

oil seeds, vegetables & fruits; Morocco reduced tariff rates for vegetables and fruits, oils, fats,

waxes, coffee, beverages and tobacco; the Gambia reduced tariff rates for beverages and tobacco;

Chad reduced tariff rates for coffee, cereals, misc. products. Although the tariff reduction is a

good sign for trade integration and promotion of free trade, the OIC countries’ reduction in

already high tariff lines is still in need for closer examination. On the contrary, the two non-OIC

countries, Thailand and Brazil have already low levels of tariff protection where they reduced

their tariff rates even more drastically.

The NTMs in certain product groups such as animals and vegetables are observed to have

extremely high coverage ratios, e.g., larger than 95% or 99%, indicating that almost the entirety

of trade in these products is affected by the existing NTMs.

The analysis of the trade agreement matrix along with the preferential tariffs and top trade

partners show that not all case study countries are highly integrated with their top trade

partners. The number of preferential trade agreements across the OIC countries is vast as

demonstrated in previous sections of this report. For example, the number of preferential trade

agreements with the OIC countries is 8, 16, 11, 2 for Turkey, Morocco, the Gambia and Chad. The