The European Union's safeguard for rice imports from Cambodia and Myanmar

Abstract

Following a substantial increase in 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 progressive liberalization over three years. To estimate the impact of safeguard duties, this paper uses a sample of milled rice imports from 28 EU importers during 2017–20 and adopts a 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.