Medidas sanitárias e fitossanitárias e seus efeitos nas importações mundias agrícolas.

Abstract

Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS) can be either trade barriers or trade facilitators, because they can raise production costs and/or reduce information asymmetries between countries and increase demand. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess their impact on world agricultural products’ imports, between 2000 and 2016, and whether their effects differ for the countries considered advanced and emerging, using a gravity model. The results showed that regular SPS measures generated significant and positive effects for both advanced and emerging countries’ exports, although to a lesser extent for the former. One possible explanation for this result is that standardization increases consumer confidence in products, as well as reducing information asymmetries. As a consequence, demands have increased relatively more than adequacy costs. With respect to the difference between advanced and emerging, this can be explained by the fact that products from advanced countries would already be more reliable than those from emerging countries, with less information gain. Therefore, the results showed the importance of the SPS agreement, not only to safeguard the quality of products and the safety of consumers and the environment, but also to stimulate international trade in agricultural goods.