2014 Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy Regional integration and value chains in a challenging external environment 2014 Alicia Bárcena Executive Secretary Antonio Prado Deputy Executive Secretary Osvaldo Rosales Chief, Division of International Trade and Integration Ricardo Pérez Chief, Publications and Web Services Division Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy is the annual report prepared by the Division of International Trade and Integration of ECLAC. The ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean, the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico and the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) assisted with the preparation of this year’s edition. The production of the report was overseen by Osvaldo Rosales, Chief of the Division of International Trade and Integration. Keiji Inoue, Senior Economic Affairs Officer of the Division, was responsible for its technical coordination. The following staff members of the Commission assisted in the preparation and drafting of the chapters: José Elías Durán, Sebastián Herreros, Sheldon McLean, Nanno Mulder and Dayna Zaclicever. The authors are grateful for contributions made to the work by Sebastián Castresana, Carlos D’Elía, Myriam Echeverría, Alfonso Finot, Tania García-Millán, René Hernández, Antoine Le Squeren, Jorge Mario Martínez, José Carlos Mattos, Javier Meneses, Yoshimichi Murakami, Nahuel Oddone, Ramón Padilla and Gustavo Zanabria. Notes The following symbols have been used in the tables in this publication: • Three dots (…) indicate that data are not available or are not separately reported. • A dash (-) indicates that the amount is nil or negligible. • A comma (,) is used to indicate decimals. • The word “dollars” refers to United States dollars, unless otherwise specified. United Nations publication ISBN: 978-92-1-121868-8 (print and PDF) ISBN: 978-92-1-056940-8 (ePub) ISSN: 1680-8657 LC/G.2625-P • Sales No: E.14.II.G.5 Copyright © United Nations, October 2014. All rights reserved. Printed in Santiago, Chile • 14-20692 This publication should be cited as: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy, 2014 (LC/G.2625-P), Santiago, Chile, 2014. Applications for the right to reproduce this work are welcome and should be sent to the Secretary of the Publications Board, United Nations Headquarters, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and inform the United Nations of such reproduction. Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................7 Summary ................................................................................................................................................................9 Chapter I Adverse impacts of the international environment on Latin American trade ........................................................25 A. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................27 B. Slow growth in the three main developed economies .................................................................................28 C. Slowdown in the emerging economies ........................................................................................................34 1. General trends .......................................................................................................................................34 2. China ....................................................................................................................................................35 3. Other emerging economies ...................................................................................................................39 D. Recent trends and future prospects in international trade and trade negotiations .........................................39 1. Global trade ..........................................................................................................................................39 2. The World Trade Organization ...............................................................................................................41 3. The Trans-Pacific Partnership ..................................................................................................................43 4. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ................................................................................44 5. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ..............................................................................45 E. Trade in Latin America and The Caribbean ..................................................................................................45 1. Foreign trade in the first half of 2014 .....................................................................................................45 2. Foreign trade growth projections for 2014 .............................................................................................48 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................52 Chapter II Participation and upgrading in global value chains ..............................................................................................55 A. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................57 B. Participation of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in global and regional value chains .............................................................................................................58 C. Value chains: governance, innovation and upgrading .................................................................................66 1. Methodology for studying the business dynamic of value chains ..........................................................66 2. The experience of four Central American value chains ..........................................................................67 3. Costa Rica: upgrading in the offshore services chain .............................................................................71 4. Mexico’s participation in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry ..............................................................................................................73 D. SME participation in value chains ...............................................................................................................75 1. General considerations .........................................................................................................................75 2. The dairy product chain in Costa Rica ...................................................................................................75 3. The cocoa chain in Ecuador ..................................................................................................................76 E. SME access to financing in value chains......................................................................................................77 1. General considerations .........................................................................................................................77 2. The agrifood industry in Argentina .........................................................................................................78 3. The furniture industry in the Serra Gaúcha cluster, Brazil .......................................................................79 F. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................80 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................81 Chapter III The contribution of regional integration to production integration ......................................................................83 A. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................85 B. The importance of the regional space for production integration and structural change...............................85 C. The role of an integrated regional market in fostering production linkages ..................................................91 Contents 3 Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) D. The centrality of industrial policy ................................................................................................................96 E. Conclusions ..............................................................................................................................................103 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................................105 Chapter IV Fostering regional integration in the Caribbean to strengthen external trade relations ......................................107 A. Special characteristics pose a challenge to subregional integration