Logistics and product quality in perishable food trade

Growth in trade of perishable foods has significantly increased global access to fresh foods, but important trade-offs arising from perishability are not captured in standard trade models. In this paper, we develop a model of age-related product freshness that places importer logistics choices at the center of the analysis. The model highlights order size and order frequency as key trade margins, alongside the nonlinear pricing that arises from scale economies in trade. Importers determine freshness through their order-size and order-frequency choices, balancing a cost–quality trade-off. This has important implications for understanding the quality effects of growth, innovation, and trade policy. For instance, while innovations in cold-chain technology directly improve freshness, their overall effect depends on importers’ logistics choices, which also influence the carbon emissions associated with perishable trade. Fresh seafood is one of the most successful categories in the global expansion of fresh food trade. Using transaction-level data on Norwegian seafood exports from the world’s largest exporter of fresh seafood, we document that order-size discounts are important. We use the model to evaluate how reductions in perishability and protective tariffs affect trade outcomes and product freshness.