For producers and buyers weighing which certification moves trade, a new independent study – “Voluntary sustainability standards and trading-up in tropical agrifood commodities” – offers a clear answer.
Researchers at KU Leuven analyzed a decade of bilateral trade data across 10 voluntary sustainability standards and seven tropical commodities, covering 83 exporting and 149 importing countries, to test whether certification measurably improves market access. Published in Nature Communications, the peer-reviewed study finds that it does, and for GLOBALG.A.P. specifically, the effect is among the strongest of any standard studied.
Trust remains the foundation of trade
Among the 10 standards examined, GLOBALG.A.P. stood out. A one-percentage-point increase in GLOBALG.A.P. certified production area is associated with a three to four percent rise in bilateral trade volume – one of the strongest effects in the study, matched only by ProTerra and RSPO.
That builds on earlier research focused specifically on GLOBALG.A.P., which found the standard effective at boosting trade when trading partners differ widely in governance capacity. This new, broader study confirms that pattern holds true across most of the ten standards examined.
The Deutscher Fruchthandelsverband e.V.’s (DFHV – German Fruit Trade Association) own coverage reached a similar conclusion for horticulture: Certification helps producers reach export markets that would otherwise be harder to access, precisely because it gives trading partners a reason to trust each other without having to build that trust from scratch.
As Wouter Conradie, CCO of Agraya GmbH, commented: “We are pleased to see independent research highlighting the role that certification can play in building trust and supporting market access in global supply chains. These findings reinforce our commitment to working with producers, supply chain partners, and stakeholders around the world to promote transparent, credible, and widely accessible certification standards.”
Assurance at scale
Part of the reason comes down to how GLOBALG.A.P. standards are built. They are developed through open public consultation involving producers, buyers, certification bodies, and other stakeholders across the value chain, rather than handed down in isolation, so the requirements reflect market realities as much as farm-level ones.
Rigorous requirements in flagship GLOBALG.A.P. standards center not only on food safety and production processes, but also cover key topics such as the environment, workers’ health, safety, and welfare, and traceability – the kind of assurance buyers and importers can act on directly. And the system is checked, not just claimed. All standards are audited by accredited and independent certification bodies, while the Agraya Integrity Program, established in 2008 as the first of its kind in food certification, logs on average 400 days of integrity assessments each year, including onsite visits carried out by a dedicated team of assessors to monitor standard implementation and audit consistency worldwide.
What that trust and reliability adds to practice is scale. At the end of 2025, more than 190,000 producers across 138 countries operated under GLOBALG.A.P. certification for fruit and vegetables, covering over 4.5 million hectares of plant production.
Independent research such as this contributes to a broader understanding of how certification supports global trade. For Agraya, it reinforces the importance of continuing to develop practical, credible solutions that create value for producers and supply chain partners alike.
Related links
- Explore how GLOBALG.A.P. solutions can support your business
- Understand more about our impact areas and claims
- Learn how to get GLOBALG.A.P. certification
