This study analyses the role of intermediaries in Tanzania’s agricultural exports intensive margins in international markets, using annualized firm level customs transactions data at the HS6-code product level, export mode and by city and destination country from 2010 to 2020. Together with gravity information, this study applies the panel gravity-PPML model that is estimated at the firm level serially.
The study reveals that foreign export intermediaries yield the strongest effect on the intensive margins of domestic direct agricultural exports. The results also suggest that the highest export spillover impact from foreign export intermediaries on the domestic direct exporters is the product-destination markets-specific pair. Considering the series of proxy variables for institutional quality of the destination markets, the study uncovers that export intermediaries are vital for increased domestic agricultural exports. The result further registers that the significance of export intermediaries increases as the institutional quality of the destination markets becomes weak, leading to increased domestic direct agricultural exports when intermediaries are operational.