Competition in East Asia's Agricultural Import Market

摘要

Over the past 25 years, growth in agricultural imports in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong has been significant. Growth in imports of high-value products (HVP's) generally exceeded growth in imports of low-value products (LVP's) and often exceeded growth in gross domestic product. The United States was the leading provider of both HVP's and LVP's to those East Asian countries between 1962 and 1986. The bulk of the East Asian countries' imports from the United States have been LVP's, although the share of HVP's in total imports has been rising. The East Asian countries will remain important markets for agricultural imports in the nineties as a result of continued strong economic growth and trade liberalization, both of which will especially benefit HVP imports.