Reports

Discussion Papers

No.832 The European Union’s Safeguard for Rice Imports from Cambodia and Myanmar

by Kiyoyasu Tanaka

January 2022

ABSTRACT

Following the rapid growth of Indica rice imports from Cambodia and Myanmar, the European Union (EU) adopted safeguard measures to reinstate the common-customs tariff rate of 175 euros per ton from 2019, with a progressive liberalization over three years. To estimate the impact of safeguard duties, this paper uses a sample of milled rice imports in 28 EU importers at the monthly level during 2017-2020 and adopts a standard triple differences approach. The results show that safeguard duties have a significantly negative impact on import values and quantity of affected goods, and a significantly positive impact on import prices. Safeguard duties appear to induce trade redirection to other third markets, but produce little substitution effects for EU rice producers.

Keywords: Safeguard, Export, Rice, European Union

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