Komla Bissi - Trade and Coffee in Africa

1. G25 AFRICAN COFFEE SUMMIT
AfCFTA Value Chains, Trade and Coffee Sector Development in Africa
AfCFTA Secretariat
Komla Bissi, Senior Adviser on Agriculture Value Chains

2. Background
The landmark of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) coming into force
on 30th May 2019 and start of trading on January 2021
AfCFTA affords an opportunity for the continent to recommit itself to transformative
industrialization.
 By building a unified market of 1.3 billion people with a potential GDP of US$3.4
trillion across the 55 member states of the AU,
The free trade area creates economies of scale and facilitates significant investment in
manufacturing across the continent
The Article 3, of the AfCFTA Agreement aims to promote industrial development
through diversification and regional value chain development, agricultural development
and food security.

3. Progress on Implementation
54 signatories to the Agreement, except one of the AU member states,
Since 31 March 2022, 43 African countries have deposited their instruments of
ratification with more expected to do so in the coming weeks and months.
It is our wish to have all the AU Member States become State Parties in order to
have the AfCFTA operating at full capacity to yield maximum benefits.
The non-ratifications are due to procedural reasons in some countries, and we
continue to engage and provide the needed support
The Phase I which is almost concluded established the Protocols on Trade in
Goods, Trade in Services, and Dispute Settlement.
The good news is that currently, agreement has been reached on 87.7% of tariff
lines, which, means that we have now defined for each of them what constitutes
the minimum African content for a product to be traded among countries of the
continent on the basis of preferences

4. Progress cntd
 44 tariff offers receive and technically verified representing 80% of AU membership,
46 countries have submitted their Schedules of specific commitments, also technically
verified.
The authorities have, therefore, decided that the agreement reached so far on the rules of
origin, along with the technically verified offers, should form the basis for the start of
commercially meaningful trading in goods and services, under the AfCFTA, across the
continent, without any more delay.
In this regard, we are in the process of publishing what we call the AfCFTA Tariff Book which
will include rules of origin and the customs procedures that apply to products.
Traders will be able to identify in that tariff book their specific products, know what rules of
origin apply to each product and associated tariffs
Phase II of the AfCFTA negotiations will cover trade related issues namely, Investment,
Competition Policy, intellectual property rights (IPRs), digital trade (e-Commerce) and women
and youth in trade, and are at various stages of development.

5. • In its mission to support member states with
the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement
and recognizing the importance of the private
sector,
• The AfCFTA Secretariat developed an inclusive
private sector strategy to boost regional trade
on the continent.
• Opens an opportunity to empower Africa’s
private sector, particularly its economic
engines – youth, women-led businesses and
SMEs – to leverage new market access
opportunities for economic growth and job
creation.
• Initial value chains included Agriculture and
agro processing, automotive, transport and
logistics as well as pharmaceutical
• Support to coffee value chains development
prioritised

6. 6
20% of total imports goods
and services from ROW
AfCFTA Private Sector Strategy
Goods
47
11
32
37
Imports from rest of the
world, Bn USD, 2018
i Value of trade High Medium Low
~$130bn
Sector
Services
Feasibility1
ii
Econ.
growth
iii Inclusivity
iv
Value chains were first
filtered for high value of
trade, then assessed for
feasibility, economic growth
potential, and inclusivity
(including participation of
women, youth, SMEs and
environmental
sustainability)
Within value chains, further
narrowed down the focus
for intra-Africa trade (e.g.,
within processed foods,
focused on meat and fish
worth ~$9bn)
PRELIMINARY
Good/service
Agriculture and agro-processing2 including
processed foods (~$13bn including ~$9bn for
meat and fish) – primary focus, cereals (~$22b),
vegetable oils (~$7bn) and cane/beet sugar (~$5bn)
Others =Coffee, cocoa, tea
Automotive and vehicle parts3 including motor
cars and vehicles (~$18bn) – primary focus,
vehicles to transport goods (~$5b), parts and
accessories (~$5bn) and pneumatic
tires (~$4bn)
Pharmaceuticalsincluding medicaments (e.g.,
antibiotics, insulin)
Transportation, logistics and distribution4
including freight transport
Detailed next page

7. AfCFTA Private Sector Strategy Expected Impacts
• Agriculture sector and food systems remains the backbone of African
economies and a priority for AfCFTA agenda.
• Agro-processing has ~$50bn of imports annually and ranks high for economic
growth, employment and inclusivity.
• According to the AfCFTA Private Sector Plan, opportunities provided in
agriculture and agro processing offers the highest potential toward
achievement of the AfCFTA objectives.
• Interventions in combined these value chains have the potential to add more
$11billion p.a. in production and >$5billion p.a. in intra-Africa trade – more
than double the current contribution of these value chains to intra-Africa
trade.
• This increase in production and trade could create ~700,000 jobs, with ~55%
focused on youth and women.

8. Areas of cooperation under the MOU, Regional and Continental
Levels through the following areas:
• Market access and strengthening of regional coffee value
chain
• Remove trade barriers
• Increase value addition
• Price stabilization, African Coffee Exchange
• Capacity building and training
• Regional trade policies and regulations
• Alignment of coffee trade policies and regulations
within the continent.
• Private Sector Development
• Promote private sector investment in coffee value chains
including such as African Organization for Standardization (ARSO),
Investors, technology providers : Buhler Group
• Data collection and statistics
Progress on Coffee Trade Development

9. Partnerships
9
Technology Service
TOTAL SOLUTION
Training , Product Development Market Development
African Milling School
Nairobi, Kenya
Trade facilitation between
producing and consuming
countries e.g Ethiopia –South
Africa
Innovative Coffee processing solutions
Finance

10. Komla.Bissi@au-afcfta.org>