2.7 TRADE INTENSITY FOR NTAEs

Tables 2.11 summarizes the intensity of trade for selected fruits by developing country region on average between 1997 and 2001. This is calculated by taking the percentage of each region's production^[13] which is exported. A composite figure is also presented for all developing countries' exports. Taken overall, developing countries export less than 10 percent of fruit produced. Exports as a percentage of production tend to be highest among the high value counter-seasonal fruits - grapes, pears and strawberries - than for the lower value, indigenous tropical fruits for which there is also a strong local market. By far the greatest degree of export-orientation is in Central and in South America. These two regions export between 20 percent and 50 percent of their production of apples, melons, grapes, pears, pineapples and strawberries.

Table 2.11: Regional production vs. regional exports - percentage of fruit production exported, average 1997-2001

Source: FAOSTAT
1/ Not specified elsewhere.

Table 2.12 summarizes the trade intensity for selected vegetables exported from developing country regions. With the exception of onions and shallots, developing countries export less than 5 percent of vegetables produced. At the regional level, the Central American/Caribbean and South American regions are more heavily export orientated. This is particularly marked for high value crops such as asparagus and aubergines where, for example, 75 percent and 80 percent, respectively, of Central American production is exported. The trade intensity is also high (over 20 percent) for onions/shallots, green peas, green beans and tomatoes from the same region.

Table 2.12: Regional production vs. regional exports - percentage of vegetable production exported, average 1997-2001

Source: FAOSTAT

Typically, the Far East region tends to be a very large producer of many of the selected fruits and vegetables, but a relatively small exporter. In the case of apples, for example, Far East countries account for an estimated 70 percent of developing country production, but export less than 2 percent. The same is true for mangoes, where three quarters of the developing country production is in the Far East, but the region as a whole accounts for less than 1 percent of total developing country exports. It is also true for pears (85 percent produced versus only 2 percent exported), and for many of the other fruits, including pineapples, tropical fresh fruits and cantaloupes/melons.

A very similar pattern emerges in the case of vegetables. The major producer of asparagus is the Far East region, but the export trade is dominated by the much smaller scale producers in Central and South America. The same is true for green beans - the Far East is the largest producer but exports less than one percent - and for cabbages, where the Far East accounts for 90 percent of developing countries' production but exports less than 0.5 percent.

The reason for the more export-orientated nature of fruit and vegetable production in Central and South America, and also in Africa, is partly the limited demand within local markets (certainly in contrast to the much larger local markets available to Far East producers), and also the traditional trading links with the United States and Europe, which have created off-shore markets of major importance.