Also, it detailed how US and EC farm trade policies have depressed world prices, particularly for sugar, and devastated the Dominican Republic economy, one of the world's more efficient producers of sugar cane. After the 1980's collapse of primary commodity prices, LDCs have increasingly turned to manufacturing exports to become more profitable. The share of manufacturing in their total exports has steadily risen from 10 percent in 1955, to 20 percent in 1965, to 55 percent in 1990. Although such results are significant, formidable trade barriers by industrialized countries remain a huge obstacle to development. Such barriers take the form of tariffs, quotas, voluntary export restraints and other protectionist measures.
Many tariffs escalate with the extent of processing performed by the exporting country.
For example, leather products have a higher tariff than unprocessed leather, and the average industrial country tariff on processed fruits is double that of the fresh fruits. For rubber, leather, paper, cotton, jute and iron, such escalations are the most pronounced. As a result, more than 70 percent of meat, fish and vegetable exports of LDCs are primary products. Textiles and clothing constitute one of the most important Third World commodity groups, comprising about 25 percent of manufactured exports. However, the Multi-Fiber Arrangements controlled much of this trade by imposing bilateral quota limits on LDC exports.