Beautiful but Costly', 'Small States Face Big Challenges'. ' Global advocacy and analytical work led by. Since their exports are often highly concentrated, the loss of trade preferences for these products (especially rice, sugar and bananas in the EU market, for instance) has had serious implications for their overall export performance. Part 1 of this Review showed small states' share of global trade continues to decline and export-orientationintheireconomies has suffered both absolutely and relative to other groups of global economies.