Latin American and Caribbean Agri-Food Exports in the Long Run, 1850--2024: New Estimates and Main Findings

Vicente Pinilla, Gema Aparicio, María-Isabel Ayuda, Ignacio Belloc, Pablo Delgado and Raúl Serrano
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Gema Aparicio: Independent Researcher
María-Isabel Ayuda: Universidad de Zaragoza, and Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Economía, Sociedad Digital y Sostenibilidad (IEDIS)
Ignacio Belloc: Universidad de Zaragoza, and Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Economía, Sociedad Digital y Sostenibilidad (IEDIS)
Pablo Delgado: Universidad de Zaragoza and Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2)
Raúl Serrano: Universidad de Zaragoza and Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2)

No 308, Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)

Abstract: This article reconstructs the evolution of Latin American and Caribbean agri-food exports between 1850 and 2024 by developing homogeneous series based on international sources and historical databases. To do so, it combines data from Federico and Tena (2019), the International Institute of Agriculture, the FAO, FAOSTAT, and UN Comtrade, linking different series expressed in constant dollars. The study shows that during the first wave of globalization, the region became deeply integrated into international markets through the export of primary products, although outcomes varied depending on products and regions. The two world wars and the Great Depression generated major external shocks, especially for South America. From the mid-twentieth century onward, import-substitution industrialization policies, international protectionism, and the structure of the export basket reduced Latin America's relative weight in global agri-food trade. Since the 1990s, and especially after 2001, trade liberalization, regional agreements, the rise of Asian demand, particularly from China, technological change, and improved terms of trade drove a new export boom, associated with a degree of reprimarization and unevenly distributed benefits.

Keywords: Latin American Economic History; Agri-food exports; Reprimarization; Latin American Economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 N56 N76 Q17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hes:wpaper:0308

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