The proliferation of non-tariff measures (NTMs) globally has become a major concern for exporters following on their potential to restrict export. Within this realm, particular attention is to be given to understand NTMs’ impact on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in agribusiness due to: (1) SMEs’ vulnerability compared to multinational corporations; and (2) agricultural industry inclines to have more NTMs because of concern on health and safety. As such, this study aims to determine the impacts of NTMs on export capacity of agri-business smalls in Malaysia. This study adopts qualitative approach. The researchers had conducted face-to-face, semi-structured interview sessions with government officials and selected agribusiness SMEs. The key findings of the study are: (1) NTMs pose additional financial and capacity challenges to agribusiness SMEs; and (2) NTMs not only a concern when exporting agribusiness product to United States of America and European markets, but it is also an issue when exporting to Asia-Pacific and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. This study further reveals that even domestic NTMs act as export barrier to agribusiness SMEs.
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In-Text Citation: (Manaf & Ahamat, 2022)
To Cite this Article: Manaf, N. H. A., & Ahamat, H. (2022). Non-Tariff Measures as Export Barrier: Insights from Malaysia’s Small and Medium Enterprises in Agribusiness. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(9), 1403– 1419.
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