The African Association of Policy Transitions for Growth and Development (AGRODEP) has released its annual report on the state of Africa’s agricultural trade in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic causing food insecurity. many countries and disrupted trade flows, including informal trade between African countries. The Vietnam Trade Office in Algeria translated the above report for interested readers to refer to.
Diversify agricultural export markets
Africa’s agricultural exports grew strongly in emerging countries and experienced rapid growth from 2003 to 2018 with market diversification, increasing exports to Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Countries and other Asian countries including Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan. This diversification led to a gradual decrease in the European Union’s (EU) market share from 45% in 2005-2007 to 36% in 2016-2018.
However, in value terms, imports of African agricultural products of the EU tend to increase continuously despite the decrease in market share and the EU remains the main export market for agricultural products of the continent. Similarly, exports to the United States and markets in Africa also continued to increase in value but their respective market shares (5% and 20%) remained unchanged.
Raw agricultural products still account for a large proportion in the export turnover
Cocoa beans, coconuts, tobacco, coffee, oranges, cotton, sesame seeds, black tea, cocoa powder and fresh grapes are Africa’s 10 most exported agricultural products, accounting for 39% of agricultural exports. production of this region for the period 2016-2018. Compared with the period 2005-2007, there has been clear progress. Once ranked 15th from 2005 to 2007, cashew nuts have risen to second place in the 2016-2018 period. Likewise, sesame seeds increased from 13th to 7th place. Vanilla, flower, and sucrose were also among the promoted items. In contrast, coffee (not roasted and decaffeinated) lost its important position to tobacco, while cotton fell to the 6th instead of 2nd in the 2005-2007 period. Cocoa beans and oranges still maintained the No. 1 and No. 5 position in the ranking of African agricultural exports.
Exports of processed products increased among African countries
The trade flows in the continent are responding to the new trends in regional food demand. Over time, the export of wheat and maize has increased, especially processed foods such as soups, soups and food products made from agricultural products.
Trade in agricultural products within Africa is mainly held by the member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East and South Africa Common Market (Comesa), especially South Africa, Kenya and Egypt. In addition to Côte d’Ivoire, which is a major exporter and Nigeria which is a major importer, West and Central African countries play a minor role in the trade of agricultural products in Africa.
Agricultural trade between African countries is undervalued
The reason that in the past decade (2009-2019), only about 22% of African agricultural trade was in transactions between the countries of this continent (a relatively low percentage compared to other continents). because this activity has been underestimated. The reason is that cross-border informal trade holds many realities: Cross-border trade is in the hands of informal traders who pass through official border gates in small quantities or cross border with checkpoints without checkpoints to avoid cross-border checks and trade by official traders that intentionally reduce the cost of border tariffs by understating or misrepresenting goods or trading. smuggled by avoiding the customs staff. However, the above facts do not diminish the importance of this form of trade. For example, a 2011 study by the Benin Institute for Economic Analysis and Statistics (Insae) estimated that the unofficial trade between Benin and Nigeria was five times higher than the official exports recorded. Informal trade is therefore both an important source of income and also plays a large role in food security. In West Africa, the underground trade accounts for 30% of the total trade in basic foods (US Agency for International Development – Usaid 2015).
The report also emphasizes, “From a political standpoint, the goal of governments in Africa is to rationalize informal trade and discourage this kind of trade.” To do that, governments need to reduce official trade costs by introducing measures to reduce trade barriers, improve the efficiency of customs procedures, and facilitate the exchange of goods. , etc. Several measures have been taken within the framework of regional integration and this trend will increase with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in early 2021.
Vietnam Trade Office in Algeria (Diem Mary, Senegal, Nazareth, Nigeria, and Gambia))
Thu Nga (according to the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
Source: VinaNet
