Nontraditional Agricultural Exports (NTAEs)

Nontraditional agricultural exports (NTAEs) are agricultural products that have not previously been consumed or planted as cash crops in a country. NTAEs include fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, and spices. NTAEs are growing in importance globally because of their economic value; they make up the overwhelming majority of trade taking place in the horticultural and floricultural sectors of both producer and consumer countries. Fruits, vegetables, and flowers have formed the bulk of this new trade. Traditional agricultural exports (TAEs) vary from country to country as do the value of NTAEs. However, NTAEs are growing in great volume and value while TAEs are growing at stable rates. For example, between 1997 and 2001, soybean and sugar exports from Brazil, which are TAEs, grew 55 percent. In this same time period, however, Brazilian NTAEs of cantaloupes, grapes, mangos, and other crops grew 145 percent.

In recent years, most agricultural production in Central America and the Caribbean has been consumed locally. However, new crops of NTAEs in these areas have grown enormously. For example, the production of asparagus, eggplants, onions, shallots, green peas, green beans, and tomatoes have exploded in volume and value as trade items. Many of the NTAEs produced today are not traditional foods in the areas in which they are produced. This means that these foods are exported to urban markets in some of the wealthier, industrialized countries of the Northern Hemisphere. The positive result is that Third World countries have a new source of income that does not compete with foods consumed locally.

East Asia is a region new to the production of NTAEs. Historically Japan, Korea, China, and the Philippines have been large producers of fruits and vegetables for local consumption. However, great volumes of fruits such as pineapples, cantaloupes, citrus fruits, and vegetables such as asparagus are now being grown for export.

Countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, are great producers of mangos, which were once not considered a fruit for the wider market. However, the introduction of the mango into colder regions of the world has created a new export market; as a result, a common and traditional fruit has become a new NTAE.

In Central and South America, many new crops that were never grown in the area before are now being grown as NTAEs. NTAEs have a limited market appeal in these regions. As a result, trade links between these nations and the United States and Europe are growing exponentially. The impact of NTAE production in Central America is noteworthy as local farmers have profited from the growth significantly. For example, Mayan Indians, who had no exports previously, are growing broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, and berries in the Guatemalan central highlands.

Researchers have studied the production of NTAEs and have found that despite some problems, local farmers are positive about the opportunity to produce for export. South America is now a growing center of NTAEs that are counter-seasonal. Apples, pears, grapes, and other fruits are grown in the spring-summer-autumn, which is opposite to the autumn-winter-spring of the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, many traditional foods consumed in the Northern Hemisphere are available fresh during normally off-seasons. The health benefits of fresh produce available counter-seasonally is a significant factor in their marketability.

...