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Determinants of World Demand for U.S. Corn Seeds: The Role of Trade Costs

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  • Jayasinghe, Sampath
  • Beghin, John C.
  • Moschini, GianCarlo

Abstract

The United States is a large net exporter of corn seeds. Seed trade, including corn, has been expanding but its determinants are not well understood. This paper econometrically investigates the determinants of world demand for U.S. corn seeds with a detailed analysis of trade costs impeding exports flows to various markets. Trade costs include costs associated with distance, tariffs, and sanitary-phytosanitary (SPS) regulations imposed by foreign countries on U.S. corn seed exports. SPS policy information comes from the Excerpt data base of USDA-APHIS. The analysis relies on a gravity-like model based on an explicit specification of derived demand for seed by foreign corn producers. A SPS count variable is incorporated as a shifter in the unit cost of seeds faced by foreign users. We use data from 48 countries and for the years 1989 to 2004. We find that all trade costs matter and have had a negative impact on U.S. corn seed exports. Tariffs matter most; followed by SPS measures and distance. An extensive econometric investigation reveals that qualitative results are robust to specification changes, but that sample selection bias is present in log-linear specifications based on seed export levels and approximating zero trade data with a small positive number.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association) in its series 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida with number 6402.

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Date of creation: 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea08:6402

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Keywords: Seeds; corn; SPS; phytosanitary; exports; trade cost; technical barriers; tariffs; TBT.; Crop Production/Industries; International Relations/Trade;

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  1. Everett B. Peterson & David Orden, 2008. "Avocado Pests and Avocado Trade," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 321-335.
  2. Yue, Chengyan & Beghin, John C., 2007. "The Tariff Equivalent and Forgone Trade Effects of Prohibitive Technical Barriers to Trade," 2007 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2007, Portland, Oregon TN 10000, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
  3. Chengyan Yue & John C. Beghin, 2009. "Tariff Equivalent and Forgone Trade Effects of Prohibitive Technical Barriers to Trade," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(4), pages 930-941.
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  5. Chengyan Yue & John C. Beghin & Helen H. Jensen, 2005. "Tariff Equivalent of Technical Barriers to Trade with Imperfect Substitution and Trade Costs," Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) Publications 05-wp383, Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at Iowa State University.
  6. Gabriel J. Felbermayr & Wilhelm Kohler, 2004. "Exploring the Intensive and Extensive Margins of World Trade," CESifo Working Paper Series 1276, CESifo Group Munich.
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  13. John C. Beghin, 2006. "Nontariff Barriers," Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) Publications 06-wp438, Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at Iowa State University.
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  15. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, 2004. "The Seed Industry In U.S. Agriculture: An Exploration Of Data And Information On Crop Seed Markets, Regulation, Industry Structure, And Research And Development," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33671, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
  16. Ghazalian, Pascal & Tamini, Lota & Larue, Bruno & Gervais, Jean-Philippe, 2007. "A Gravity approach to evaluate the significance of trade liberalization in vertically-related goods in the presence of non-tariff barriers," MPRA Paper 2744, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  17. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Caswell, Margriet, 2006. "The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the USA," Economic Information Bulletin 33897, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
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Cited by:
  1. Pramila Crivelli & Jasmin Gröschl, 2012. "The Impact of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on Market Entry and Trade Flows," Ifo Working Paper Series Ifo Working Paper No. 136, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
  2. Cairns, Alexander P. & Meilke, Karl D., 2012. "The Next-11 and the BRICs: Are They the Future Markets for Agrifood Trade?," Trade Policy Briefs 145971, Canadian Agricultural Trade Policy Research Network.
  3. Karov, Vuko & Roberts, Donna & Grant, Jason H. & Peterson, Everett B., 2009. "A Preliminary Empirical Assessment of the Effect of Phytosanitary Regulations on US Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Imports," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49345, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
  4. Li, Yuan & Beghin, John C., 2012. "A meta-analysis of estimates of the impact of technical barriers to trade," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 497-511.
  5. Rickard, Bradley J. & Lei, Lei, 2010. "How important are sanitary and phytosanitary barriers in international markets for fresh fruit?," Working Papers 126974, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
  6. Tran, Nhuong & Wilson, Norbert L.W. & Hite, Diane, 2012. "Choosing the best model in the presence of zero trade: a fish product analysis," 2012: New Rules of Trade?, December 2012, San Diego, California 142790, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
  7. Haq, Zahoor Ul & Meilke, Karl D. & Cranfield, John A.L., 2011. "The Gravity Model and the Problem of Zero`s in Agrifood Trade," Working Papers 116851, Canadian Agricultural Trade Policy Research Network.

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