IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v49y2018i1p97-109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harmonization of food trade standards and regulations in ASEAN: the case of Malaysia's food imports

Author

Listed:
  • Evelyn S. Devadason
  • VGR Chandran
  • Kaliappa Kalirajan

Abstract

Regulatory heterogeneity continues to be identified as a challenge for food trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the progress of harmonization of food standards among member states remains slow. Using a new and comprehensive database on nontariff measures (NTMs), this article examines the coverage, frequency, and diversity of NTMs for the food sector in Malaysia, and then estimates their impact on food imports from ASEAN. The food sector in Malaysia is found to be highly regulated, dominated by technical measures, namely, labeling for sanitary and phytosanitary and technical barriers to trade reasons, product quality, and restricted substances. The empirical results subsequently verify that, overall, technical measures are import restrictive. This article therefore contends that harmonization of food standards and regulations at the regional level is important for enhancing trade. However, building common ground for food safety regulations should be NTM†and sector†specific, to realize progress in terms of regulatory convergence. This is particularly true for the food sector, since complete harmonization is not practical and not politically feasible.

Suggested Citation

  • Evelyn S. Devadason & VGR Chandran & Kaliappa Kalirajan, 2018. "Harmonization of food trade standards and regulations in ASEAN: the case of Malaysia's food imports," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(1), pages 97-109, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:49:y:2018:i:1:p:97-109
    DOI: 10.1111/agec.12398
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12398
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/agec.12398?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hiau LooiKee & Alessandro Nicita & Marcelo Olarreaga, 2009. "Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(534), pages 172-199, January.
    2. Disdier, Anne-Celia & Fontagne, Lionel & Mimouni, Mondher, 2008. "AJAE Appendix: The Impact of Regulations on Agricultural Trade: Evidence from the SPS and TBT Agreements," American Journal of Agricultural Economics APPENDICES, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 1-7.
    3. Zahoor Ul Haq & Karl Meilke & John Cranfield, 2013. "Selection bias in a gravity model of agrifood trade," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 40(2), pages 331-360, March.
    4. Niven Winchester & Marie-Luise Rau & Christian Goetz & Bruno Larue & Tsunehiro Otsuki & Karl Shutes & Christine Wieck & Heloisa L. Burnquist & Maurício J. Pinto de Souza & Rosane Nunes de Faria, 2012. "The Impact of Regulatory Heterogeneity on Agri-food Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(8), pages 973-993, August.
    5. Malouche, Mariem & Reyes, José-Daniel & Fouad, Amir, 2013. "Making Trade Policy More Transparent: A New Database of Non-Tariff Measures," World Bank - Economic Premise, The World Bank, issue 128, pages 1-7, November.
    6. George Philippidis & Helena Resano-Ezcaray & Ana I. Sanjuán-López, 2013. "Capturing zero-trade values in gravity equations of trade: an analysis of protectionism in agro-food sectors," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(2), pages 141-159, March.
    7. Mangelsdorf, Axel & Portugal-Perez, Alberto & Wilson, John S., 2012. "Food standards and exports: evidence for China," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 507-526, July.
    8. Baller, Silja, 2007. "Trade effects of regional standards liberalization : a heterogeneous firms approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4124, The World Bank.
    9. Hooker, Neal H., 1999. "Food safety regulation and trade in food products," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 653-668, December.
    10. Jongwanich, Juthathip, 2009. "The impact of food safety standards on processed food exports from developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 447-457, October.
    11. Johan Swinnen, 2016. "Economics and politics of food standards, trade, and development," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 7-19, November.
    12. Chunlai Chen & Jun Yang & Christopher Findlay, 2008. "Measuring the Effect of Food Safety Standards on China’s Agricultural Exports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 144(1), pages 83-106, April.
    13. Otsuki, Tsunehiro & S. Wilson, John, 2003. "Food Safety and Trade: Winners and Losers in a Non-Harmonized World," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 18, pages 266-287.
    14. Martijn Burger & Frank van Oort & Gert-Jan Linders, 2009. "On the Specification of the Gravity Model of Trade: Zeros, Excess Zeros and Zero-inflated Estimation," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 167-190.
    15. Unnevehr, Laurian J., 2000. "Food safety issues and fresh food product exports from LDCs," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 231-240, September.
    16. Unknown, 2003. "International Trade And Food Safety: Economic Theory And Case Studies," Agricultural Economic Reports 33941, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Lin Sun & Michael R. Reed, 2010. "Impacts of Free Trade Agreements on Agricultural Trade Creation and Trade Diversion," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1351-1363.
    18. Tsunehiro Otsuki & John S. Wilson, 2001. "What price precaution? European harmonisation of aflatoxin regulations and African groundnut exports," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 28(3), pages 263-284, October.
    19. Shepherd, Ben, 2007. "Product standards, harmonization, and trade : evidence from the extensive margin," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4390, The World Bank.
    20. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2006. "The Log of Gravity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 641-658, November.
    21. Nicodème Nimenya & Pascal-Firmin Ndimira & Bruno Henry de Frahan, 2012. "Tariff equivalents of nontariff measures: the case of European horticultural and fish imports from African countries," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 43(6), pages 635-653, November.
    22. Schuster, Monica & Maertens, Miet, 2015. "The Impact of Private Food Standards on Developing Countries’ Export Performance: An Analysis of Asparagus Firms in Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 208-221.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo & Emilia Lamonaca, 2022. "Standards and regulatory cooperation in regional trade agreements: What the effects on trade?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 1682-1701, December.
    2. Jihyun Eum, 2023. "Non‐tariff measures along global value chains: evidence from ASEAN countries," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 37(2), pages 27-53, November.
    3. Vickie Siew Hoon Yew & Abul Quasem Al-Amin & Evelyn S. Devadason, 2020. "Labour Market Effects of Non-tariff Measures: A Computable General Equilibrium for the Food Processing Sector in Malaysia," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(3), pages 629-656, September.
    4. Qizhong Yang & Tsunehiro Otsuki, 2020. "Heterogeneous Impact of Non-Tariff Measures through the Global Value Chains: Empirical Evidence from China," OSIPP Discussion Paper 20E004, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santeramo, Fabio G., 2017. "On Non-Tariff Measures and Changes in Trade Routes: From North-North to South-South Trade?," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 263493, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Adrián Rabadán & Ángela Triguero, 2021. "Influence of food safety standards on trade: Evidence from the pistachio sector," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 489-514, July.
    3. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo & Emilia Lamonaca, 2019. "The Effects of Non‐tariff Measures on Agri‐food Trade: A Review and Meta‐analysis of Empirical Evidence," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 595-617, September.
    4. Melo, Oscar & Engler, Alejandra & Nahuehual, Laura & Cofre, Gabriela & Barrena, José, 2014. "Do Sanitary, Phytosanitary, and Quality-related Standards Affect International Trade? Evidence from Chilean Fruit Exports," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 350-359.
    5. Annalisa Zezza & Federica Demaria & Maria Rosaria Pupo d'Andrea & Jo Swinnen & Giulia Meloni & Senne Vandevelde & Alessandro Olper & Daniele Curzi & Valentina Raimondi & Sophie Drogue, 2018. "Research for AGRI Committee - Agricultural trade: assessing reciprocity of standards," Working Papers hal-02787948, HAL.
    6. John C. Beghin & Miet Maertens & Johan Swinnen, 2017. "Nontariff Measures and Standards in Trade and Global Value Chains," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: John Christopher Beghin (ed.), Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 2, pages 13-38, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Olayinka Idowu Kareem, 2014. "The European Union Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Africa’s Exports," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/98, European University Institute.
    8. Drogué, Sophie & DeMaria, Federica, 2012. "Pesticide residues and trade, the apple of discord?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 641-649.
    9. Boza, Sofía, 2013. "Assessing the impact of sanitary, phytosanitary and technical requirements on food and agricultural trade: what does current research tell us?," Papers 926, World Trade Institute.
    10. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo & Emilia Lamonaca, 2019. "On the impact of non-tariff measures on trade performances of the African agri-food sector," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(4), pages 389-406, October.
    11. Bo Xiong & John Beghin, 2017. "Disentangling Demand-Enhancing And Trade-Cost Effects Of Maximum Residue Regulations," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: John Christopher Beghin (ed.), Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 6, pages 105-108, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Eyal RONEN, 2017. "Quantifying the trade effects of NTMs: A review of the empirical literature," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 263-274, September.
    13. José Manuel Álvarez Zárate (Editor), 2016. "¿Hacia dónde va América Latina respecto al derecho económico internacional?," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 860, March.
    14. Ronen, Eyal, 2017. "The Trade-Enhancing Effect Of Non-Tariff Measures On Virgin Olive Oil," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 5(3), July.
    15. Yuan Li & John C. Beghin, 2017. "A meta-analysis of estimates of the impact of technical barriers to trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: John Christopher Beghin (ed.), Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 4, pages 63-77, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. Kareem, Fatima Olanike & Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2016. "Fitting the Gravity Model when Zero Trade Flows are Frequent: a Comparison of Estimation Techniques using Africa's Trade Data," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 230588, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    17. John C. Beghin & Miet Maertens & Johan Swinnen, 2017. "Nontariff Measures and Standards in Trade and Global Value Chains," World Scientific Book Chapters,in: Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 2, pages 13-38 World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Pramila Crivelli & Jasmin Groeschl, 2016. "The Impact of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on Market Entry and Trade Flows," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 444-473, March.
    19. Dela-Dem Doe Fiankor & Insa Flachsbarth & Amjad Masood & Bernhard Brümmer, 2020. "Does GlobalGAP certification promote agrifood exports? [Standards as barriers versus standards as catalysts: assessing the impact of HACCP implementation on US seafood imports]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 247-272.
    20. Muhammad ISHAQ & Qing PING & Zahoorul HAQ & Chongguang LI & Chen TONG, 2016. "Maximum residue limits and agrifood exports of China: choosing the best estimation technique," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 62(2), pages 78-92.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:49:y:2018:i:1:p:97-109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.