Category: Regions

New scheduled air services open up opportunities for expanded Ghanaian fresh fruit exports to EU

epamonitoring

 

Summary
New scheduled airline services between Accra and Paris could open up new opportunities for high value horticultural exports from Ghana to France. However sustainable development of such opportunities will be critically influenced by the competitiveness of freight rates offered.  Given the history of price collusion among scheduled airline on European freight service routes, this is an area where the European Commission will need to maintain close scrutiny. Read more “New scheduled air services open up opportunities for expanded Ghanaian fresh fruit exports to EU”

UK NGOs call for new gold standard UK unilateral preferential trade arrangement

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Summary
UK NGOs are critical of proposals to transpose current EU reciprocal trade arrangements into bilateral UK trade deals with ACP countries. UK NGOs favour a new ‘gold standard’ of unilateral non-reciprocal trade preferences which extends beyond current such arrangements. However it is difficult to see how such non-reciprocal trade arrangements can be reconciled with the UK governments’ over-riding preoccupation with maintaining and expanding access for UK exporters to non-EU markets via bilateral UK free trade agreements Read more “UK NGOs call for new gold standard UK unilateral preferential trade arrangement”

What are the implications for ACP sugar producers of Tate & Lyle Sugars expectations on UK sugar sector policy post-Brexit?

epamonitoring

Summary
Tate & Lyle Sugars continues to put pressure on the UK government to use Brexit to level the playing field between beet processors and cane sugar refiners,  by removing import duties on raw cane sugar. The adoption of such a UK sugar trade policy would carry serious consequences for ACP sugar exporters to the UK market, undermining their competitive position as suppliers to the UK market and driving many out of the UK market. Trilateral customs cooperation arrangements could however be put in place, on a transitional basis, to minimise disruption of current supply chains which serve EU27 markets through the UK, not only in the sugar sector but beyond. Read more “What are the implications for ACP sugar producers of Tate & Lyle Sugars expectations on UK sugar sector policy post-Brexit?”

What are the implications for the ACP of the UK’s formal application to leave the EU and the EU27s initial response?

epamonitoring

 

Summary
The European Council has indicated it expects the UK to honour its international commitments entered into while the UK was part of the EU. However, it is unclear whether this also applies to the long standing preferential access enjoyed by ACP countries to the UK market under EU agreements dating back 42 years. The UK favours ‘grandfathering’ reciprocal preferences from day 1 of BREXIT, but this is likely to face challenges from WTO members.

The EU27s openness to ‘transitional arrangements’ could help ACP governments in lobbying for temporary arrangements which avoid any loss of ACP preferences on the UK market from 30 March 2019. It also offers scope for dialogue on avoiding disruption of ACP agro-food sector supply chains operating through the UK into EU27 markets (and visa-a-versa).

The agro-food sector is likely to be a particularly difficult area of UK/EU27 negotiations, with implications for ACP exporters which may need to be addressed both bilaterally (between the ACP and UK and between the ACP and EU27) and on a trilateral basis (ACP/UK/EU27). Read more “What are the implications for the ACP of the UK’s formal application to leave the EU and the EU27s initial response?”

The Belize potato market crisis: Sharing policy experience on sustaining local production in small ACP economies

epamonitoring

Summary
The current crisis in the Belize potato sector is a problem common in many small ACP economies, where efforts are made to sustain and develop local horticulture production in the context of competing production from much larger neighbouring economies. A sharing of policy experience on how to effectively manage imports, so as to leave market space for local production  could usefully be shared across ACP countries. Namibia’s horticultural sector policy experience which has successfully used public policy tools to strengthen the functioning of local horticulture supply chains would appear to be particularly relevant for the Belize potato sector and beyond (with this horticulture  experience now being rolled out across all sectors of the Namibian economy via a Retail Sector Charter) Read more “The Belize potato market crisis: Sharing policy experience on sustaining local production in small ACP economies”

Reconciling Ghana’s agricultural development plans with EPA commitments

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Summary
The government of Ghana is looking to create 1.5 million new jobs in agriculture in the next 2 years. Calls have been made to direct bank financing into agricultural investments. Yet systemic weaknesses beyond the agricultural sector need to be addressed if sourcing of local agricultural products is to increase. Policy interventions may also be needed to strengthen the functioning of local agricultural supply chains, with policy experiences elsewhere in Africa potentially holding important lessons. Read more “Reconciling Ghana’s agricultural development plans with EPA commitments”

Capacity constraints and complexities of ‘grandfathering’  highlighted by Parliament Report

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Summary
There is a lack clarity on the legal possibilities for ‘grandfathering’ existing reciprocal preferential trade arrangements into bilateral deals with the UK. There are also serious human resource capacity constraints on the UK governments ability to simultaneously negotiate more than a handful of free trade area agreements. This is likely to require a prioritisation of UK FTA negotiations, with smaller ACP countries potentially being left out in the cold. This suggest a need for a coordinated ACP initiative to establish a joint ACP-DIT working group to explore

a) the establishment of transitional unilateral arrangements to prevent any disruption of current ACP access to the UK market and

b) simplified modalities for refitting existing EPAs into bilateral trade agreements with the UK, including the addition of a range of necessary ‘EPA+’ elements. Read more “Capacity constraints and complexities of ‘grandfathering’  highlighted by Parliament Report”

Namibia’s Retail Sector Charter and the Strengthening of Local Supply Chains

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Summary
In 2016 the Namibian government built on the successful Horticulture Development Initiative by launching a Retail Sector Charter, aimed at promoting increased procurement of locally grown or manufactured goods. The Horticulture Development Initiative, through its Namibian Market Share Promotion Scheme, had seen over a 10 year period an expansion of local sourcing of horticulture products from 5% of local consumption to around 50%. The Retail Sector Charter is a multifaceted plan aimed at progressively raising local procurement from 6% of purchases of all retailers, traders and hospitality sector enterprises to 20%.  In its implementation the Retail Sector Charter draws on the experience of the UK Groceries Code Adjudicator. Read more “Namibia’s Retail Sector Charter and the Strengthening of Local Supply Chains”

Britain’s continued commitment to Africa post Brexit asserted in context of global drive for free trade

epamonitoring

Summary
The UK government sees clear commercial benefits in avoiding a disruptive cliff edge in trade relations with Africa, particularly South Africa, the UK’s gateway to Africa. There has been a surge of UK Ministerial visits to Africa. The UK appears diplomatic open to refitting EU EPAs into bilateral deals with the UK. The UK’s Africa focus risks leaving Caribbean and Pacific ACP countries out in the cold. The ACP group collectively will need to capitalize on the UK’s commercial interest in Africa to ensure existing preferential access to the UK is extended for all ACP countries from day 1 of the UK’s departure from the EU. Existing reciprocal arrangements can subsequently be refitted, with appropriate adjustments. Read more “Britain’s continued commitment to Africa post Brexit asserted in context of global drive for free trade”

The ACP and the increasing importance of exports to Polish poultry sector growth

epamonitoring

Summary
Sub-Saharan African markets are of growing importance to the Polish poultry sector. The granting of a health certificate for exports to South Africa will see this importance increase. While EU governments in ‘new’ member states commonly complain they gain little from the relationship with the ACP, the strong expansion of their agro-food exports to ACP countries belies this compliant. Without ACP markets, Polish poultry sector growth would be slower. Read more “The ACP and the increasing importance of exports to Polish poultry sector growth”