Most international trade is in chilled frozen meat, in the form of cuts further processed products only account for about 10 per cent of world trade but world demand is increasing for further processed convenience products.

Meat products a

(average per capita) Products Measurement Meat

In spite of increased consumer demand for convenience products, the world market in further processed poultry meat products is small, amounting to only about 150,000 tons per annum, but this seems likely to rise in future.

Many other agricultural products and processed agricultural products obtain only a partial reduction of the MFN duties.

Market entry is generally more difficult for processed products than for raw materials owing to the more complex and exacting requirements that exporters must comply with for processed products.

There is also a strong tendency of tariff escalation for processed products.

For example, this is the case for bovine meat, sheep and goat and other meat and meat products major cereals, such as rice, wheat and rye as well as for several fruit, vegetable and food industry products.

410. Seasonal shortage of food is most of all felt in respect to fruit and fruit products (51.3 per cent), vegetables and vegetable products (38.0 per cent) and, in every fourth household, meat and poultry, meat products and fish and fish products.

Sometimes countries set national norms above accepted international requirements covering areas such as food safety, animal disease, product composition (e.g. in further processed meat products), packaging, labelling and presentation and shortening of acceptable shelf life (which can place imported products at a disadvantage especially for chilled items).

Further competition is also emerging from Eastern Europe for some temperate zone processed products.

Success in tapping markets, particularly for processed products, depends on many factors apart from protectionism. These include quality requirements, labelling and health regulations for processed products, as well as the need for market information and contacts.

Most households considered as partially satisfied their requirements for meat products (55.6 per cent), meat and poultry (54.2 per cent), giblets (40.4 per cent), fish and fish products (53.3 per cent) and fruit and fruit products (50.8 per cent).

407. Compared to 1992 there was a decrease in consumption of meat products (51.8 per cent), meat and poultry (49.6 per cent), fish and fish products (46.1 per cent), confectionery products (44.4 per cent), fruit and fruit products (39.9 per cent) and butter (33.5 per cent).

This poses considerable challenges, given the difficulty of identifying the sources of processed timber products.

(4) meat and meat products that have not been inspected by the veterinary health service or have failed to pass such inspection

Moreover, a levy is applied to take account of added sugar contained in certain processed products.

This change in composition was due largely to growth in the trade of prepared cereal products, processed vegetables and fruit and other edible products and preparations See OECD, Committee for Agriculture, The Uruguay Round and Processed Agricultural Products, OECD 1997 (AGR CA(96)23 3), pp. 3 9.

However, certain processed fruit and vegetable products will continue to face higher tariffs and seasonal import duties.

And the bad fats are things like trans fatty acids and processed food and saturated fats, which we find in meat.

4. Whilst one of the principal focuses was on the expansion of trade in processed food products, which could provide new export opportunities for developing countries, it was recognized that the domestic market also constituted a source of demand for processed food products.

This rebate amounts for example to 16 per cent of the rate applicable to sugar and its products, to various canned meat products, certain milk products and butter, etc.

It has taken some developing countries' exporters of meat products two years to get approval.

Thus, for example, imports of processed agricultural products into the OECD grew by 5.4 per cent over the 1990s as against 2 per cent for unprocessed products.

Increased emphasis placed on rigorous quality control for processed products is one factor which makes exporting of such products considerably more difficult than that of raw material.

However, LDCs continue to face peak MFN rates for beef and other meat products, sugar and sugar products, various fruits and fruit juices, etc.

To seek to improve market access and reliability of supply for primary products and the processed products thereof, bearing in mind the needs and interests of developing countries

Unfortunately, recent data do not yet allow up to date global trade data disaggregation by processed and unprocessed products.

Current opportunities for export in processed products covered in this report are identified principally in three groups of countries.

Can South South trade in semi processed goods for further processing, and in partially processed goods for processing into final agro industry related products, be translated into enhanced income to primary producers?

There are also several special laws that regulate such areas as fish products, milk, meat and poultry.

A consequence is the lack of branding, which can be an effective method of creating niche markets for processed meat at the international level.

There is only a small trade in further processed beef products such as corned beef, other canned cooked products, and smaller volumes of frozen cooked products which are demanded particularly in the EU and the United States.

The United States market has been particularly innovative in inventing fast food processed fish products such as the salmon burger, a low fat hamburger containing seaweed, and other fish products.

Sanitary and phytosanitary regulations in major developed countries prevent the importation of such products as beef, chicken and other meat products, groundnuts and many food industry products from several developing countries with export potential.

These all require raw materials or basic processed horticultural products as inputs and have long established supply relationships with producer countries.

World trade in further processed pigmeat products is especially concentrated, with the EU accounting for 60 per cent of world exports.

Households maintained on unearned income other than pensions most often expressed the opinion that their requirements were completely unsatisfied for mineral water and other non alcoholic drinks (27.6 per cent), confectionery products (24.6 per cent), fruit and fruit products (22.4 per cent), fish and fish products (22.4 per cent), meat products (21.6 per cent), meat and poultry (20.9 per cent) and butter (19.4 per cent).

If assurances are not given that the imported fish or fishery products have been processed under conditions that are equivalent to those required of domestic processors, the products will be denied entry.

This implies in turn for exporters that access to exports for processed industrial products becomes more difficult, and that vertical diversification of production for exports of higher value added products is slowed down.

If such a category was too small for the Harmonized System, it was typically combined with the further processed forms of those products.

The share of processed products in total OECD food imports increased from 23 per cent (1980 82) to 29 per cent (1990 92).

Traditionally, Japanese consumers have been reluctant to purchase imported processed fish, although there is a demand for processed products including dried squid, fried and steam boiled eel fillets, dried seaweed, flavoured herring roe, fish eyes, stomachs, and fried skipjack.

However, partial data covering earlier periods seem to indicate, for some product groups, a faster growth rate in the trade of processed food products.

Market information and contacts are particularly important for exporting processed cocoa products because they are generally tailored to the needs of an individual customer.