Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 73

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 2018
generally prevents members from discriminating
against trading partners, but tariffs can be
reduced or removed as part of free-trade
agreements or to facilitate market access for
developing countries through the application of
preferential tariff regimes such as the
Generalized System of Preferences. In developed
countries, which depend on imports to satisf y
domestic consumption, tariffs on fish are rather
low, albeit with a few exceptions (i.e. for some
value-added products or selected species).
Developed countries are thus able to export to
other developed countries (which accounted for
about 78 percent of the exports of fish and fish
products of developed countries in 2016), and
developing countries are able to expand their
exports by supplying markets in developed
countries without facing prohibitive customs
duties (although they may face market access
issues related to non-tariff measures). For some
specific products, such as canned tuna, tariff rate
quotas are applied, whereby a certain quantit y
per year may be imported at a reduced tariff. The
widespread reduction of import tariffs has been a
major driver of the expansion in international
trade over the past 25 years. On the other hand,
many developing countries still apply high tariffs
for fish and fish products, ref lecting fiscal or
protective policies, which can limit interregional
trade. Thanks to regional and bilateral trade
agreements, tariffs are bound to fall further over
time, even in developing countries, with some
exceptions in least developed countries.
more recent years, particularly since the 2008 –
2009 financial crisis. In 2016 and, according to
preliminar y fig ures, also in 2017, developing
countr y exports made up approximately 54
percent of the total value and about 59 percent of
the total quantit y (in live weight equivalent) of
exports of fish and fish products. Both as a source
of export revenue and as a provider of
employment, trade in fish and fish products
represents an important contributor to economic
growth in these countries. However, some studies
indicate that benefits are unevenly distributed
along the value chain, with small-scale producers
receiving proportionally smaller economic benefit
than processors and retailers (Bjorndal, Child
and Lem, 2014). In 2016, fish exports of
developing countries were valued at USD 76
billion, and their net fish export revenues
(exports minus imports) reached USD 37 billion,
higher than those of other agricultural
commodities (such as meat, tobacco, rice and
sugar) combined.
In 2016, the average unit value of imports of fish
and fish products by developing countries was
USD 2.4 per kilogram, while the corresponding
fig ure for developed countries was USD 5.1. Thus
while the import volumes of the two groups were
comparable, developed countries accounted for
about 71 percent of global import value in 2016
and, according to preliminar y data, also in 2017.
This discrepancy is in large part explained by the
role of income levels in determining the t ypes of
products that consumers demand, in addition to
different habits in food consumption. Another
factor driving down the unit value of developing-
countr y imports is the extent of processing and
re-export activities in these regions. However, as
the middle-class urban demographic expands in
emerging markets, demand for more expensive
fish items such as salmon and shrimp is also
growing, and as a result the unit value gap
between developed and developing countr y fish
imports is narrowing.
Regional trade agreements are reciprocal trade
agreements establishing preferential terms of
trade among two or more trading partners in the
same geographic region. They have been
important drivers of global trade expansion in
the past several decades and apply to a large
proportion of global trade, also for fish and fish
products. Regional trade agreements have
contributed to the increased regionalization of
fish trade since the 1990s, with regional trade
f lows increasing faster than external trade
f lows. In developing regions, rising incomes and
the associated increase in fish consumption are
also important factors behind the
regionalization trend. As demand strengthens
in neighbouring countries, exports previously
destined for developed markets are redirected to
regional partners. »
Tariffs are among the most widely utilized trade
policy tools and are important determinants of
global trade f lows. Tariffs are used to generate
income and to protect domestic industries and
are t ypically higher for processed products than
for raw materials. The World Trade Organization
( W TO) principle of most-favoured nations
| 57 |