An importexceeds a "normal" level. This paper identifies various internal and external factors that can contribute to the emergence of agricultural import surges in developing countries and discusses their relevance. External factors play a rather minor role. Internal policies, whether carried...

The EU has notified the WTO of 21 bilateral trade agreements that are currently in force with nonmember countries (WTO, 2005). Under these agreements, the EU grants almost unlimited access to its industrial markets, but only limited preferential access to its agricultural markets for various...

As a pragmatic definition applied throughout this paper, an import surge is considered a situation in which the quantity or value of imports suddenly exceeds a "normal" level. This somewhat loose concept leaves questions as to how "suddenly", "normal" and "excess" should be defined precisely,...