Do Service-oriented Seafood Products Hinder Export Performance? An Insight from Namibia

Abstract

The role of service-oriented seafood products on the export performance of seafood exporting countries is unclear. According to previous studies, the negative or positive effects of service-oriented seafood products on export performance can be attributed to an increase in unprocessed seafood products or increased demand for value addition. This study investigates the implications of service-oriented seafood products on Namibia’s seafood export performance and trade potential. The study employed the gravity model of trade estimated with the Eicker-White robust covariance (PPML) technique on aggregated seafood export data from Namibia to 29 trading partners from 2001 to 2019 and further estimated Namibia’s processed seafood trade potential. This study's findings indicate that Namibia's comparative advantage in seafood export processing boosts export performance despite trade costs, and that consumer preference for service-oriented seafood products enhances export flow. In addition, the study reveals that while Namibia's trade potential with most African trading partners has been exhausted, trade potential exists with its European trading partners and can be used to guide future trade expansion policy.