Contradictory impact of the natural forest closing policy and sanitary–phytosanitary measures on the export of non-timber forest products: a case study of Vietnam

Abstract

The gravity model was used in this paper to clarify the influencing factors of the export value of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for Vietnam from 2003 to 2017. The estimates of this model indicate the importance of the size of economies, distance, common borders, exchange rates, average forest area, the natural forest closing (NFC) policy of the Vietnamese government, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, and the interaction of SPS and importers’ GDP (SPS–GDP) as determinants of Vietnam’s NTFP exports. The main result of this study is the distinct and contradictory effects of the NFC policy and SPS measures. While the NFC policy increases the value of Vietnam’s NTFP exports, SPS measures significantly decrease the exportation. Using the SPS–GDP interaction variable yields a noticeable result: the negative impact of SPS on NTFP trade decreases with increasing income of NTFP importers. Furthermore, the NFC needs to continue to implement policies to increase investments in the NTFP trade and increase the quality of NTFPs from planting, to harvesting, to processing to meet the requirements of future importers. The findings offer several implications both in theory and in practice for trade policies and economic development theory based on Vietnam’s forest resources.