DISMANTLING BARRIERS TO REGIONAL INTEGRATION & MARKET ACCESS TO OPTIMIZE MARKET OPPORTUNITIES & FOOD SECURITY 

Barriers to Regional Integration and Market Access in Eastern and Southern Africa vs Food Security in the Region

By Safina T.Kwekwe

and Annastacia W.Kiio

INTRODUCTION Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers( NTBs) are major

issues to deal with while addressing regional integration, market access and food insecurity in the region.

Over time particularly in the last two decades in COMESA and EAC tariffs have either been eliminated or reduced significantly aimed at improving market access.

However, this hasn’t translated to equally improved market entry as the new frontier to deal with is the NTBs.

Trade openness that enables actual market entry is key to regional integration and food security.

INTRODUCTION cont…………..

Trade liberalization and customs co-operation are important specific undertakings by RTAs such as EAC and COMESA member countries

An ideal immediate outcome of such

undertakings would be reduced food insecurity amongst cooperating member countries

Contrary to this, food commodities face higher average tariffs than non food commodities in the region

Intra-regional Protection in Agriculture and Food, Staple Foods and Non-agricultural Products –Table 1

Trade description Simple Ave.

Weighted Ave.

Min Rate

Max Rate

No. of Int'l Peaks

Imports Value ($'000)

Dutiable (%)

specific duty (%)

Agri- foods intra-regional

7.26 10.48 0 75 2048 2,094,735 39.6

4.41Non- agricultural- intra regional

4.7 2.7 0 60 8984 7,774,508 25.1

0.03Intra-region staple foods imports

7.42 28.98 0.00 75.0 206 549,366.7 64.0

0.01

Average tariffs charged on staple foods imports from the region in 2011 - Table 2

Rank Reporter Name

Simple Average

Weighted Average

MinRate

Max Rate

No. of Total Lines

No. of Int’l Peaks

Imports Value (US$’000)

Dutiable Imports(%)

Specific Duty Imports (%)

1 Tanzania 23.70 19.04 0.00 75.00 97 58 14,522.8 60.2 0.000

2 Burundi 20.77 2.21 0.00 75.00 45 23 1,832.6 8.4 0.000

3 Ethiopia 15.93 10.39 4.50 30.00 21 12 3,666.4 100.0 0.000

4 Rwanda 7.87 1.96 0.00 75.00 236 44 33,748.8 3.7 0.000

5 Kenya 6.06 46.27 0.00 75.00 65 8 330,232.6 93.6 0.000

6 Malawi 4.25 1.07 0.00 25.00 129 9 13,217.5 13.5 0.000

7 Zambia 2.70 0.34 0.00 25.00 170 21 44,873.4 2.3 0.000

8 Mozambique

1.57 2.05 0.00 20.00 132 2 46,291.6 32.5 0.000

Key tariff protection measures of the staple foods by the countries include High tariffs (tariff peaks), with the

highest tariffs of 75% being charged by some EAC countries.

Several countries had tariff peaks (tariffs above 15%).

No specific duty- was applied within the year analysed

However, in 2008 Tanzania and Uganda applied some specific duty on some staple food imports.

Tariff EscalationTariff escalation exists in meat,

wheat, maize and the wheat related products (Table 3).

Average tariffs applied on live bovine animals are far less than those applied for the meat of bovine animals whether fresh, chilled or frozen.

Imports of live animals are much larger than those of the bovine meat

Tariff escalation cont….- Table 3

ProductHs code

Product Name S. Av W. Av Min Rate

Max Rate Imports Value (Us $’000)

Meat products0102 Live bovine animals. 2.82 2.18 0.00 25.00 13,269.4200202 Meat of bovine animals,

frozen.9.44 10.29 0.00 25.00 1,113.545

0201 Meat of bovine animals, fresh or chilled.

12.25 7.15 0.00 30.01 2,182.796

Maize 100590 Other (maize-other than

seed)9.77 46.15 0.00 50.00 330,979.409

110220 Maize (corn) flour 10.43 14.92 0.00 50.00 2,606.122Rice100610 Rice in the husk (paddy or

rough)6.54 0.00 0.00 75.00 11,601.852

100620 Husked (brown) rice 13.33 0.03 0.00 75.00 2,086.572100640 Broken rice 17.37 1.62 0.00 75.00 3,159.890100630 Semi-milled or wholly

milled rice, whether or not 17.80 0.37 0.00 75.00 12,898.517

NTBs As a result of trade liberalization

undertaken in the region the use of tariffs for protection in trade has reduced and NTBs have replaced them as major barriers to trade

Today NTBs are more common and more difficult to deal with.

Moreover, NTBs keep on changing in nature

After the known ones are addressed new ones emerge where the old NTBs are replaced with more innovative ones

Common NTBs in the Region in detailsNo classification of non-tariff

barrierNTB identified by COMESA, EAC and SADC Tripartite Coordination Mechanism*

1 Government participation in trade and restrictive practices tolerated by governments

restrictive single channel marketing, varying trade regulations, non-acceptance of certificates and trade documentation, cumbersome visa requirements, national food security restrictions, transiting procedures, road blocks, business registration and licensing. “Buy National ” policy

2 Customs and administrative entry procedures (licensing)

Non-standard customs documentation and administrative procedures

cumbersome licensing of export and import licensing/permit Clearance delays at the customs, lack of transparency and consistence at the customs, arbitrary processing and bureaucratic processes and documentation

requirements for the consignments

3Trade policy

Misuse of rules of origin, export taxes or export subsidies import licenses, import quotas, import monopolies, production subsidies and state trading.

Common NTBs in the Region in details cont…….

No. classification of non-tariff barrier

NTB identified by COMESA, EAC and SADC Tripartite Coordination Mechanism*

4 Technical Barriers to Trade duplicated functions of agencies involved in quality, quantity of dutiable import or export.

5 Sanitary and Phyto sanitary Measures (SPS)

quality inspection procedures

6 Specific limitations unnecessary import bans and quotas import and export quota temporally bans on selected products

7 Charges on Exports other restrictive charges which are non export or import duty,

charges in roads and border tolls8

Poor infrastructure Poor physical infrastructure (roads, railways, and

inefficient existing ones), lack of capacity to handle large volumes and transit

traffic, lack of adequate functional storage and warehouse

facilities.

9 Other Incorrect tariff classifications

Some emerging NTBsCongestion, and delays especially in issuing

bonds at the bordersRequirement for transporters to have

introductory lettersUn-harmonized Standards in the EAC in spite

the Standards, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing (SQMT) law in place

Food safety issues In name of Food security- export bansTransit transport requirementDuplication of roles and responsibilities within

institutions dealing with NTBs within the Partner States is a barrier itself

Some recent trade related measures in some EAC countries

Country

Measure Products affected

Burundi Import taxes waiver (May and December, 2012)

Cassava flour, maize flour, wheat flour, beans, rice, potatoes, fish and palm oil

Kenya GMO labelling requirement (regulations, 2012)*1

Quota on imports from COMESA

Maize

Sugar

Banning importation of GMO foods*2

All GMO foods

Tanzania

Temporally ban of exports in 2011

Maize

1 Kenya gazette supplement No. 17 of 2012, legal notice no. 40*2 Directive by Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation 10 Dec 2012 (Mbithi and Kiio,2012)

ConclusionNTBs often lead to price collapse in

surplus areas during high production seasons and price hikes in food deficit areas during low periods leading to limited availability and access to food.

To address food insecurity, there is need to encourage open cross-border trade by reducing and ultimately eliminating barriers to trade in the region.

Dismantling trade barriers to achieve trade liberalization (including abolishment of both tariffs and NTBs) is one of the most sought solutions to the issue of food insecurity in this region.

Master QuestionHow do we address the

emerging, ever changing, smart, new NTBs and how do we ensure that no new ones emerge or at least minimize the emerging NTBs?

THANK YOU