"Trick or trade": a Halloween #tradeXpresso Lungo

Another Halloween celebration is just around the corner. On the evening of Halloween, children embark on a shared "trick or treat" adventure and bring a touch of colour to the streets. Few children and, most likely, few parents realise that Halloween is another symbol of a “small world”, a world where we are linked by similar values and intricate trade flows.

Regardless of the chosen Halloween costume (a Mexican calavera, a Dracula outfit, a zombie or simply a pumpkin head), the young trick-or-treaters are the embodiment of a globalised world, interconnected by curiosity and appreciation for each other’s traditions. Take the candy offerings, for example. The children’s tote bags contain a random mix of American candies (Reese’s or Wonka Nerds ), plenty of Belgian chocolates (obviously), French Carambar , and even some Naruto Ichiraku Ramen Candy , an iconic Japanese brand turned into noodle candy by an American company. It would not surprise anyone to see kids enjoying this “sweet globalisation”, chewing seamlessly one culture with another, while speaking French, English, Spanish, Polish or Italian between themselves.

While children have, for once, a good excuse for their “candy passion”, I am more intrigued by the Jack-o’-lanterns, the highlight of any good Halloween story. This brings me to pumpkins. Halloween is also a “pumpkin passion”. Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants took the Halloween lantern tradition to North America. The ancient Celtic belief was that the carved face and a burning light placed inside the lantern welcomes home the spirits of our ancestors. Initially, Halloween lanterns were made out of a turnip, but when the Irish brought Halloween to America they adapted the tradition and went for pumpkins instead.

Over time, Halloween became a global celebration, with tens of countries worldwide having different degrees of addiction to candies, pumpkins, and spider web decorations. Hence, to celebrate Halloween properly the world needs a lot of pumpkins. The UK has a comparative advantage, both in the Halloween tradition and in growing pumpkins. Before Brexit, Spalding (a little-known town in Lincolnshire) was Europe's pumpkin capital. ?But, nowadays, the European champion of pumpkin trade is Spain (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The main suppliers of pumpkins for the EU market

Spain is the source of 57% of all the imported pumpkins in Europe, with several other EU and third countries making up the rest. Pumpkin is an interesting product to explain trade facts. With its high weight-to-value ratio, pumpkins are a perfect illustration for one fundamental trade variable: distance. As Figure 1 indicates, the closer to the European customer, the easier it is to trade in pumpkins.

But pumpkins can illustrate well another key driver of global trade flows: product diversification and the consumers' "love of variety ". Pumpkins are a common fruit in Europe, with strong traditions in many European countries. But, the cucurbita family (squashes, pumpkins, marrows and gourds in English, calabazas and zapallos in Spanish, or citrouille and potiron in French) have hundreds of variants in terms of shape, size, taste and colour. We like to enjoy the taste of different pumpkins, which leaves plenty of room for the so-called "intra-industry" trade. Europe is, at the same time, a big exporter and importer of pumpkins. Like imports, Europe's pumpkin exports are also governed by distance: more than 90% of EU pumpkin exports go to the UK and Switzerland, our close neighbours.

Importing and exporting pumpkins at the same time therefore demonstrates once again that we can't possibly produce everything, i.e. every pumpkin variety, in one place. And because of this logic, we see trade in pumpkins with remote countries as well. Such trade flows are especially lucrative when there is a "price premium" attached to pumpkins, such as organic pumpkins.

Figure 2. Main sources of EU imports of organic pumpkins

In a previous #tradeXpresso Lungo, I looked into some detail at the importance of trade in organic products for many countries. Using the same approach as here , we can trace the sourcing of EU imports of organic pumpkins. Unlike "regular" pumpkins that come from countries nearby, the biggest suppliers of premium organic pumpkins are more diverse geographically (Figure 2).

So whether you like organic pumpkins or regular ones, I hope I persuaded you that, for a good Halloween party, trade is an important factor. Sure, you may or may not celebrate the Halloween tradition yourself. But, just like trade, Halloween has proven that in a world where boundaries are blurred and cultures intertwined, we could find a common ground that transcends our differences. If you don't fancy a Dracula mask for this coming Halloween, maybe we can settle for a slice of organic pumpkin pie.