Traceability of Agri‐Food Products: The Key to Conscious Trade

Globalization and growing concerns about sustainability have led to improvements in product traceability, quality, and sustainability. Traceability contributes to environmental protection and supports sustainable development by fostering transparency in agricultural practices and encouraging the responsible use of resources. This study examines the effects of traceability‐related Nontariff measures (NTMs) on international trade, focusing on origin and processing traceability in the agricultural sector, with specific analyses in the meat, fruit, and fisheries sectors. We analyze trade flows across 53 exporting and 56 importing countries, using a structural gravity model and Poisson pseudo‐maximum likelihood estimation with high‐dimensional fixed effects, covering 2081 agricultural products from 2012 to 2021. The results show that origin traceability NTMs enhance the trade of fruits, fisheries, and all agri‐food products, whereas processing traceability NTMs may restrict trade unless combined with origin traceability measures. The interaction between both types of NTMs generally has a positive effect, reducing costs and adding value. Nevertheless, this effect varies by income level: high‐income countries imposing both measures on low‐income exporters hamper trade (for all products and fruits), whereas origin traceability promotes trade among similar‐income countries (except for meat between high‐income nations). Simultaneous adoption benefits overall trade for lower‐ and middle‐income countries. These findings highlight that traceability effects depend on the sector, requirement type, and trade partners’ economic profiles.