The stand-out sector with the highest average tariffs is the dairy sector (32.3%), followed by sugar and confectionery (27.0%), meats (19.0%) cereals and preparations (17.2%) and fruits and vegetables (13.0%). The dairy sector is interesting because tariffs are usually put in place to protect sectors that are vulnerable to import competition, but the EU dairy sector is a very successful exporter. In fact, the OECD when calculating its producer support estimate for milk in the EU (the single commodity transfer) finds that market price support since 2009 is very low and in many years zero. In other words, contrary to what might be implied by the very high tariffs on dairy products, the price EU milk producers receive is actually very close to the world market price. This is an example of what economists call ‘water in the tariff’ meaning that the tariff is largely redundant – the tariff could be reduced (‘squeezed’) without affecting the market price of the affected commodity.
On the contrary, the tariffs for sugar, meats, cereals and fruits and vegetables do have a protective effect and result in higher prices on the EU market than would exist in the absence of this tariff protection. [..] It is interesting that there are significant tariffs on coffee, tea, cocoa and preparations even though the EU does not produce the raw commodities. Here the protection is designed to protect processing activities in the EU.
Overigens zijn de cijfers gemiddeldes, binnen de productgroepen loopt het tusseen van 0 to 160%. Die marktbescherming gaat samen met hogere productie in Europa, en soms ook met allerlei negatieve effecten (want juist de vervuiling wordt vaak bepaald door de extra productie).
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