Category: Regions

Can Movement up the Cocoa Value Chain be the Key to Poverty Elimination in the Cocoa Sector?

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Summary
Expanding value added cocoa processing in Ghana, alongside the promotion of cocoa farmer ownership in value added processing enterprises, offers real potential for alleviating poverty in the cocoa farming sector and supporting intergenerational renewal of the cocoa farming community. A no deal Brexit could offer substantial opportunities for expanding Ghanaian value added cocoa product exports to the UK if existing duty free-quota free access can be extended, in a context where a no-deal Brexit would see a re-imposition of standard MFN duties on imports of value added cocoa products from EU27 cocoa processing enterprises. Read more “Can Movement up the Cocoa Value Chain be the Key to Poverty Elimination in the Cocoa Sector?”

Misleading Information on Brexit and the Cocoa Sector Misses the Point on Trade Issues Faced

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Summary
Misleading information posted on pro-Brexit websites on EU tariffs on African cocoa product exports is distracting attention away from real issues which need to be addressed under a no-deal Brexit scenario if the current strong trend in growth in African exports of value added cocoa products is not to be halted and ever reversed. This includes the importance of the UK government taking urgent steps to avert any disruption of commercial relations arising from the threat of a possible loss of existing duty free access for value added cocoa products to the UK market as a result of the ongoing messy Brexit process.  This requires a clear UK government policy commitment to taking whatever steps necessary to ensure continued DFQF access for African value added cocoa product exports. It also requires a clear policy commitment form the UK to: maintaining in place existing MFN tariffs on imports of value added cocoa products; ensuring full pan-African cumulation under the rules of origin applied under any future UK-only trade agreements; the establishment of investment support instruments to facilitate continued movement up the cocoa value chain in Africa to serve the UK. Read more “Misleading Information on Brexit and the Cocoa Sector Misses the Point on Trade Issues Faced”

Tunisian Citrus Black Spot outbreak linked to Infected planting materials not trade in citrus fruit

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Summary
Confirmation of citrus black spot infections on imports of fruit from Tunisia is being linked to the illegal importation of infected planting materials. While the outbreak suggests the infection can take root in Mediterranean production zones, it has no impact on the debate on whether trade in citrus fruit from South Africa can be a vector for disease transmission to citrus growing areas of the EU. The European Commission should continue to resist Spanish citrus producer pressure to include the Phyllosticta citricarpa infection as a ‘priority quarantine pest’, since its inclusion would carry serious trade consequences for ACP citrus exporters. Read more “Tunisian Citrus Black Spot outbreak linked to Infected planting materials not trade in citrus fruit”

The EU Mercosur Agreement Part 4 Will the Mercosur Agreement Pose a Threat to Belizean Orange Juice Exports?

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Summary
Spanish citrus producers are concerned the new Mercosur trade agreement could flood the EU market with frozen orange juice concentrate.  This potentially impacts on frozen orange juice exporters from Belize and South African, with this being of particular concern to Belize where these exports constituted 1.3% of total exports to the EU in 2018. The conclusion of the Mercosur agreement could give added importance to exploiting the ‘rolled-over’ CARIFORUM-UK ‘Continuity Agreement’, given the potential trade disruptions which could arise from a ‘no-deal’ Brexit for the export of reconstituted orange juice and domestic EU27 orange juice to the UK. Read more “The EU Mercosur Agreement Part 4 Will the Mercosur Agreement Pose a Threat to Belizean Orange Juice Exports?”

The EU-Mercosur Agreement Part 3: Will the Mercosur Agreement Pose a Threat to the Stability of EU27 Banana Markets

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Summary
EU banana producers have expressed fears over the impact any EU-Mercosur banana tariff concessions could have on the level of banana imports from Brazil. Based on recent trends in EU banana imports in response to tariff reductions these fears have solid foundations. However from an ACP perspective such fears should not be overstated with the likely market effects of increased Brazilian banana exports to the EU needing to be seen in the context of all the wider sources of pressure on the EU market position of ACP banana exporters. Individual ACP banana exporters will need to evaluate the specific implications of any new Mercosur agreement tariff concessions for the particular EU banana market components they serve. Where necessary enhanced marketing and product differentiation strategies will need to be set in place in order to maintain their current export trade to the EU. However, it needs to be recognized this will not be possible for all existing ACP banana exporters. Read more “The EU-Mercosur Agreement Part 3: Will the Mercosur Agreement Pose a Threat to the Stability of EU27 Banana Markets”

Ghanaian Banana Exporters Spell Out Implications of Loss of DFQF Access to UK Market

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Summary
Failure to ensure a basis for continued DFQF access for Ghanaian banana exports to the UK market could result in the loss of supply agreements as a result of the inclusion of ‘delivered duty paid’ requirements in current UK super market tendering arrangements. The UK government urgently needs to decide upon the basis for providing continued DFQF for Ghanaian exports on an interim basis, while the regional complications around concluding  regional West African reciprocal trade agreements, arising from the Nigerian governments reluctance to sign on to such agreement, are resolved. Speedily setting in place the regulatory measures required to ensure continued DFQF access for Ghanaian banana exports can be seen as vital to ensuring successful tenders are made for the current banana supply contracts being placed by UK supermarkets. Read more “Ghanaian Banana Exporters Spell Out Implications of Loss of DFQF Access to UK Market”

No Sign of Enhanced SACU-UK EPA Despite UK High Commissioner Talking Up Opportunities Brexit Will Create

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Summary
The UK High Commissioner to South Africa Nigel Casey has argued Brexit will be good for South Africa since the UK will no longer be tied to EU restrictions. However this will only be the case if the UK takes the necessary steps to remove EU27 driven restrictions on South African exports as an integral part of the conclusion of the initial ‘Continuity Agreement’. This will require modification and extension of the existing EPA provisions where these constitute an obstacle to the full development of South African and wider African export potential in its trade with the UK. This includes addressing issues related to: rules of origin; SPS controls; the removal of quantitative restrictions and, in the short term, trade administration challenges and issues related to the unfair functioning of supply chains. This latter issue needs to be seen in a context where a ‘no-deal’ Brexit is likely to generate substantial additional costs, which under current practices are likely to be passed back down to African exporters.  Read more “No Sign of Enhanced SACU-UK EPA Despite UK High Commissioner Talking Up Opportunities Brexit Will Create”

The EU-Mercosur Agreement Part 1: Overview and Lessons for the ACP

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Summary
The structure of the EU-Mercosur FTA potentially holds important lessons for ACP governments. This is most notably the case in regard to the use of TRQs to carefully manage trade liberalisation in sensitive agro-food sectors. The EU makes extensive use of TRQs under trade agreements with its major agro-food sector trade partners in order to protect the interests of EU farmers, while meeting consumer demand. The contrasts sharply with the use made of TRQs by African governments in trade agreements with their major agro-food sector trade partner, the EU. With the exception of the EU-SADC EPA no other African governments have used TRQs to manage imports from the EU in sensitive agro-food products. In addition the application of tariff standstill commitments to products not subject to tariff reduction commitments under the EU-Mercosur agreement is potentially of concern to ACP governments if this approach is extended to the interpretation and application of EPA commitments. The use of regionalisation arrangements for SPS controls however would usefully be extended to the treatment of certain ACP exports to the EU (e.g. Namibian beef and lamb exports). Finally the ’non-alteration’ rule included in the Mercosur agreement could usefully be taken up and applied in an extended form in the context of a no-deal Brexit under the existing EU-ACP EPAs and rolled over UK-ACP Continuity Agreements. Read more “The EU-Mercosur Agreement Part 1: Overview and Lessons for the ACP”

How Will ABF’s Sugar Sector Strategy Affect UK Import Demand for Sugar from Particular ACP Countries?

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Summary
Under a ‘no-deal’ Brexit while concluding a ‘Continuity Agreement’ with the UK will be essential to preserving duty free-quota free access for non-least developed ACP sugar exporters, the sourcing decisions of Associated British Foods will have an important bearing on which ACP exporters will benefit from the likely increase in UK sugar prices arising from the imposition of standard MFN duties on sugar imports from EU27 countries. Competitive Southern African sugar producers closely associated with the ABF owned Illovo Group will be best placed to take advantage of UK sugar shortages and higher UK sugar prices. For Caribbean and Pacific sugar exporters the sourcing decisions of Tate & Lyle Sugars will be critical, with an important issue being the nature of the contractual arrangements to be set in place to supply sugar to the UK in the new marketing year starting 31st October 2019. Read more “How Will ABF’s Sugar Sector Strategy Affect UK Import Demand for Sugar from Particular ACP Countries?”

Vet Shortages in UK Meat Sector Could Fuel Export Surges to ACP Countries and Delay Imports under a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit

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Summary
The UK meat inspection service depends heavily on veterinarians trained outside the UK. Over 90% of meat sector vets are EU nationals. A ‘no deal’ Brexit could give rise to serious staff shortages in the UK meat inspection service. This could compromise current UK beef and poultry meat exports to EU27 markets. This will be compounded by the application of standard EU 3rd country pre-import certification requirements. This is likely to displace UK meat from EU markets and give rise to export surges to targeted ACP markets. In some ACP countries this could disrupt the functioning of local meat markets and will require appropriate safeguard actions. The shortage of trained vets across the meat sector (including SPS border inspection services) could also adversely impact imports of beef from ACP countries (Namibia and Botswana). This would suggest a need to either intensify current efforts to diversify away from the UK market in their beef trade with the EU or intensify efforts to ‘Brexit-proof’ beef export supply chains from shortages of trained vets and meat inspectors within the UK border protection services. Read more “Vet Shortages in UK Meat Sector Could Fuel Export Surges to ACP Countries and Delay Imports under a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit”