Regional Production Adjustment to Import Competition: Evidence from the French Agro-Industry

This paper aims at evaluating the impact of increasing imports on the reallocation of agrifood production across regions within countries. From French data for the period 1995-2002, we show that regional agri-food production adjusts differently to increasing imports according to the region where the agri-food firms are located. More precisely, even though proximity to consumers significantly shapes the spatial distribution of agri-food production, an increase in agri-food imports does not make regions with a high demand more attractive but makes low-wage regions more attractive. In addition, an increase in imports of agricultural products processed by agri-food firms leads to the reallocation of agri-food production from regions with good access to agricultural products towards those withlimited access.