The Brussels Development Briefing n. 58 on “Africa’s Agriculture Trade in a changing environment” organised by CTA, the European Commission/EuropeAid, the ACP Secretariat, IFPRI, Concord and BMZ/GIZ was held on Wednesday 23 October 2019 (9h00-13h00) at Hotel Sofitel Brussels Europe, Place Jourdan 1, 1040 Brussels. The briefing brought various perspectives and experiences around the new trends and opportunities in intra-Africa trade in the context of free trade agreements and regional integration. It also showed Africa trade within the broader global trade picture and with the EU as one of the main trade partners. Experts presented trends and prospects of regional trade in Africa in the light of new policy developments as well as Africa’s recent performance in different markets. It also featured successes and innovative models in regional trade across regions in Africa and lessons learned for upscaling and expanding regional trade.

1. Africa-EU trade relations in
agriculture / agrifood
Cécile BILLAUX
European Commission – DG Trade
Brussels Briefing, 23 October 2019

2. The EU is still Africa’s first aid,
trade and investment partner

3. The Africa-Europe Alliance for
Sustainable Investment and Jobs
Defines 4 key strands:
3
4 Task Forces
(including the Task
Force on Rural Africa):

4. Far-reaching access to the EU market

6. FTA Implementation Report 2019
https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=2071

7. EPA benefits for agriculture
Market access
EPAs give better market access to EU
and ACP exporters alike, based on
asymmetrical liberalization.
Safeguard
mechanisms
EPAs provide adequate
safeguard mechanisms,
allowing ACP countries
to take measures when
their markets are
distorted by EU exports.
Supporting
programmes
EPAs are supported by
various other EU policies
contributing to ACP
countries’ development,
such as the External
Investment Plan, Aid for
Trade,…
Platforms for dialogue
EPAs provide platforms for
dialogue through the
implementation committees.
As such, they promote
information exchange,
knowledge transfer and
cooperation between the EU
and ACP countries
Regional integration
EPAs have flexible rules
of origin and allow for
cumulation. As a result,
they promote regional
value chain development
and encourage intra-ACP
trade.

8. EPA and Sub-Saharan Africa’s
agricultural exports
Agriculture still
dominates exports…
•Agriculture accounts for
27% of EPA partners
exports (20% SSA
average)
•52% increase in EPA
partner’s agricultural
exports to the EU over the
past 10 years (46% SSA
average)
•Main products: cocoa
(raw and processed),
fish, tobacco, grapes,
bananas, oranges
..and local value
addition is increasing…
•Local processing is
advancing, for example:
•Cocoa paste, butter and
powder
•Prepared and preserved
fruits and vegetables and
nuts
•Spirits and wine
•Processed and preserved
fish, especially tuna
…even though some
traditional commodities
are struggling
•Bananas from Cameroon:
strong competition from
Latin America
•Sugar from Mauritius,
Eswatini, Zimbabwe: slow
recuperation from sugar
quota shock + low world
market prices but EU
world imports are higher
than EU exports

9. Some successes (I)
Grapes from Namibia
• From 2015 to 2018, grape exports to
the EU increased by 35% to 26,000
tons a year
• Export earnings increased by 30% to
€65 million
• The sector provides more than 6,000
permanent and around 10,000
seasonal jobs
Baby vegetables from Eswatini
• Economy dominated by sugar but
slowly diversifying – baby vegetables
as a high value opportunity
• Widely known and produced in Eswatini
by >1,500 farmers
• Exports to South Africa and the EU,
round 5 tonnes/year, €2.4 million
in value, tendency upwards

10. Processed cocoa from Cameroon, Cote
d’Ivoire and Ghana
Since 2008
• Exports of cocoa paste, butter and
powder increased by 136%
• Continous growth, more resistent to
price fluctuations that affect beans
• Share of processed cocoa in the value
of total cocoa exports increased from
27% to 34%
Some successes (II)
Cancer fighting plants from
Madagascar
• Endemic periwinkle has been identified
as possessing cancer-fighing
ingredients
• 5,000 local farmers benefit today
already from investment by French
pharma company Pierre Fabre
• EPA helps to put biodiversity in value
while supporting to protect it

11. How do EPAs relate to AfCFTA?
“Building on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
implementation, the long-term perspective is to create a
comprehensive continent-to-continent free trade area between both
continents. Economic Partnership Agreements, Free Trade
Agreements, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade
Areas for North Africa, and other trade regimes with the EU should
be exploited to the greatest extent, as building blocks to the
benefit of the AfCFTA.”
(EU-Africa Alliance Communication, September 2018)
EPAs as political, economic and technical building blocks
 Partnership: communication and cooperation platforms
 A strong development dimension and building EPA partners’
capacity and competitiveness
 Experience/expertise/tools to negotiate/implement key technical
provisions
 Regional economic integration -> AfCFTA

12. Task Force Rural Africa – EU-Africa
Union joint recommendations
• AU-EU Agribusiness Platform
• AU-EU Agriculture Ministerial
Conference
• Implementation of the AU
Continental Strategy on Gis
• Cooperation programme among AU
EU farmers organisations
• Capacity building for SPS
• Multi-stakeholder dialogue … to
tackle issues relating to food
imports and foreign direct
investment going into African
countries

13. Next steps of the EU trade partnership
with Africa?
1. EPA Implementation
2. Deepening and widening of EPAs:
3. Promote EPA signature/ratification
4. Ensure synergies with AfCFTA
5. Implement recommendations of Task Force on
Rural Africa