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Imports to ill health: Unhealthy food scrutinised as Pacific trade data advances
Pacific trade and public health were in focus for statistics, customs and health officials from across the region late last year, part of broader joint efforts to develop trade data for better policy.
A multilateral, interdisciplinary summit on advancements in Pacific trade data saw subject-matter experts from the Pacific Community (SPC), University of Wollongong, Australia, Pacific statistics offices, customs authorities, health agencies and development partners meet in Fiji in November as the region works together on better trade data for decision-making.
Central to multi-year, cross-agency efforts to transform trade data have been the development of the Pacific Food Trade Database and Pacific Customs Commodity Trade Database, the latter in pilot. The workshop saw officials from Pacific Island countries and territories receive training on use of these two databases, as well as skills development in data software and analysis.
Delegates also developed a policy document relating to unhealthy food imports and their impact on diets and health—an outcome of the cross-sectional participation in the week-long workshop which brought together statistics, customs and health leaders, public services more usually siloed.
The interplay between trade data, trade policy and public health is a fruitful example of how better data can lead to better policy outcomes—core to the Strategic Framework for Pacific Statistics, explains Ms Nilima Lal, Economics Statistics Adviser with SPC’s Statistics for Development Division.
“Access to reliable information is essential to making good decisions,” Ms Lal explains. “Only in understanding trade flows and food systems can governments make informed policy in these areas.
“An interesting debate throughout our panel discussions was how trade data could be used for health or environmental reasons—for example, in shaping tariffs, taxes, subsidies or import restrictions, and the potential positives and pitfalls in this.
“A lot of hard work in regional cooperation—towards harmonised data collection, sharing and a focus on digital technology—has transformed the usefulness of trade data for these kinds of decisions.”
Launched in 2023, the Pacific Food Trade Database is one result of this regional collaboration, delivering improved trade data on 555 food and beverage commodities for 18 countries and territories, including tonnage of imports and exports from 1995 to 2018, supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
With this long time-series, national and regional decisionmakers can review trade trends for specific foods, or groups of foods, to better understand economic and health impacts, and identify what future trade trends are likely to be. For armchair analysis, food trade data are also available as an easy-to-use, interactive dashboard on Pacific Food and Beverage Trade.
Dr Tom Brewer of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong played a lead role in development of the database. He used it to show trends in unhealthy imports at the workshop, highlighting differences across the region, and using the data as a hands-on exercise for attendees in analysis.
Under development is the Pacific Customs Commodity Trade Database—or ‘PACComtrade’—seeking to address the lack of fast international merchandise trade statistics (IMTS) in the region. As well as lag, most official IMTS are not sufficiently disaggregated for well-informed business and policy decisions—on food security, for example, or commodities that cause noncommunicable diseases.
PACComtrade will see customs authorities, rather than statistics agencies, as the source to ensure speedy data. In 2021, a letter of agreement was signed by SPC, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Melanesian Spearhead Group and Oceania Customs Organisation to progress the database work, with it currently being piloted by Vanuatu’s Customs and Inland Revenue Department.
Both databases are hosted on the Pacific Data Hub, a central repository and gateway to the most comprehensive collection of data and information about the Pacific, for the Pacific, supported by New Zealand’s Government.
The importance of the suite of trade data transformation is captured in the region’s cornerstone plan, the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
“The 2050 Strategy has key outcomes related to trade that will need good data,” says Ms Lal.
“These include ‘improved intra-regional trade’ and ‘enhanced healthy lifestyles across all communities.’ Among the proposed measures to track the latter is data on unhealthy foods, which could serve as an important indicator of progress.”
Contact
Ben Campion, Communications Adviser, Statistics for Development, Pacific Community (SPC) | [email protected]
