Effects of Non-Tariff Measures on Fruit Exports from Afghanistan: A Gravity Analysis

Abstract

Introduction :

Agriculture sector plays an important portion in the Afghan economy. Agricultural exports contributed to 78.24% of the total exports and 21.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Afghanistan in 2018. Fruits are the major exportable products among agriculture products in Afghanistan and fruit sector has been identified as one of the economic drivers in the country. Grapes, nuts, figs, and dry fruits contribute to 87% of the total earning of fruit export in the year 2018 and they contributed 57.8% of agriculture exports in 2018. The values of exports of fresh fruits have increased more than eightfold over past decade. The USA was the leading global importer of the fruits followed by Germany, Netherlands, and France, while Afghan fruits were mainly exported to India followed by Pakistan, China, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates in 2018.

Even though a reduction in average applied tariff rates for agriculture products exported from Afghanistan has been noted, the Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) 9 facing Afghanistan have been increasing over time. UNESCAP (2015) indicated that Afghan agricultural exports have been struggling to meet Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) standards abroad and suffered delays at the border owing to inefficient or inadequate inspection regimes and facilities. Empirical evidence of previous studies with respect to the effects of NTMs however are mixed. More recently, Timini and Conesa

9 The NTMs are defined as policy measures, other than ordinary customs tariffs, that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices, or both. However, NTMs are important for health and environmental protection, such as sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures and technical barriers to trade.

(2019)showed positive effect of NTMs on Chinese exports while Sandaruwan et al (2020) showed negative effects of NTMs on seafood exports from Sri Lanka. An evaluation of effects of NTMs on export of fruits from Afghanistan hence is timely.