ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development
1. INTRODUCTION This study of the rice industry of Uruguay is part of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) pilot project on market access for three selected rice exporting countries: Uruguay, the United States and Vietnam. The objective of the project is to build an indicator of market access of the main rice importing countries that would include not only tariffs, but also other barriers that affect market access for agricultural products. Such barriers include sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, technical barriers to trade (TBT), private standards, excise taxes in importing countries and other non-tariff trade barriers. This tool should be of assistance in trade negotiations, giving a clear indication of whether any particular negotiated outcome results in real liberalization.
In the case of Uruguay the three import markets selected are Brazil, the European Union (EU) and Peru. The choice reflects the importance of these markets as well as the different types of barriers to market access faced by exporters. This study received wide support from the private and public sector of Uruguay. The private sector, mainly the Rice Growers Association (ACA), representing the farmers, and the Rice Millers Association (GMA), representing the rice industry, were the primary sources for data collected with respect to prices and costs incurred at various levels of the marketing chain, including processing and transport. This was complemented by official public data on third country markets’ regulations, barriers and distortions.
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