International cocoa trading arrangements between industrialized and developing countries 1951-1999 : a structural gravity analysis

Using a state of the art structural gravity model, we investigate the impact of various (post-)colonial cocoa trading arrangements on the cocoa trade between developing cocoa producer countries and rich industrial cocoa consumer nations in the time period 1951 to 1999. We find that in particular the trading arrangements of the European (Economic) Community (EEC/EC), such as the Association,Yaoundé and Lomé Agreements, as well as the UNCTAD International Cocoa Agreement, had a measurable positive impact on cocoa trade flows, in contrast to the British Commonwealth partnership or the GATT Generalized System of Preferences. In particular, the Yaoundé Agreement did not only increase the trade between other EEC/EC members and the signatory cocoa producers, but also strengthened the trading relationship between the former colonizer countries and their cocoa producing former colonies, in fact more than offsetting the negative effect of independence.