News from TRALAC

Taku Fundira, Researcher at tralac comments on capacity building at tralac.

Last week (March 30 to April 3), tralac hosted a team of analysts from three from the National Department of Agriculture (DoA), one from the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) and from the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) to examine the South Africa/SACU agricultural trading relationship with Brazil and Argentina.

A preliminary analysis reveals that for 2008 Brazil imported a total of US$ 174 billion worth of products. Of this only 0.4 percent originated from South Africa. In terms of agricultural products Brazil imported approximately US$ 8 billion worth with imports from South Africa constituting a mere 0.1 percent (US$ 8 million) of Brazil’s total agricultural imports. On imports, South Africa is ranked overall as Brazil’s number 33 trading partner while in terms of agricultural trade, South Africa is ranked 27th import partner of Brazil.

Over the same review period, the main agricultural imports of Brazil include; Wheat and wheat products (26%); Malt, Not Roasted (6%); Kidney Beans & White Pea Beans, Dri Shel, Inc Seed (3%) and Wine,(2%). Main products originating from South Africa include; Liqueurs and Cordials (31%); Industrial Fatty Alcohols (24%); Wine (13%) and Grapes, Dried (Including Raisins) (12%). These accounted for about 80 percent of Brazil imports from South Africa.

Below are some of the comments that were made by the participants:


International Trade in Agriculture has different dynamics, challenges and is significant for development and growth of developing economies as well as in creating employment and poverty reduction. In platforms such as the “Geek week” one gets to learn more about environment, the contribution and the impact of Agricultural Trade in the World economy. It was an eye opener for me and great learning curve to be part of this great initiative organized by tralac. These kinds of interactions and exploration are crucial in weighing and giving one clear picture of the industry. This is the missing link in the value chain of Trade in South Africa and in developing nations. Moses Sibanyoni, (National Department of Agriculture)
It has been a very exciting and challenging trade analysis week. One of the key aspects achieved through this GEEK Week has been the relationship that has been created between TRALAC, NAMC, DTI and DoA International Trade. The second aspect was learning how TRALAC and NAMC conduct their analysis. As the DTI Agro-Processing Sector we are looking forward for a consistent and sustainable working relationship between these institutions so as to share information and knowledge. This was a good chance to learn on how to do magic with numbers. It was a good work. Mr. Modise Moloi, (the Department of Trade and Industry (dti))
The Greek week has been such a great week with so much exposure, interacting with different knowledgeable people (networking), and a learning curve. We were looking at the potential trade between Brazil and South Africa, I looked specifically on trade reconciliation, I was provided with data on South Africa agricultural exports against Brazil agricultural imports and had to reconcile for every HS line to determine the significance of the difference between the two different datasets. I have learned beyond my expectations, writing skills, analytical skills and presenting data in a more attractive manner in less than week. An eye opener on what is possible to achieve and the experience acquired will take my career and me personally to another level. It’s an opportunity I will take if I get another chance. Lehlogonolo Magagane, (National Department of Agriculture)

The output for the analysis conducted during the data analysis week will be produced as a Working paper soon.

Tell us what you think...
Back to top

Special Features
Potsdam Spring Dialogues Conference, 27-28 March 2009: JB Cronjé, Researcher at tralac, participated in a panel discussion on “Regional Approaches to Trade and Development” from a perspective of the southern African region. Read more here...


The Africa-China update for 2009 is now available. Over the past three years tralac has been monitoring the trading relationship between Africa and China. Here we provide the updated trade statistics for the period from December 1995 to December 2008 inclusive. Read more on our Trade Data page.
tralac MEDIA LIBRARY. View a new interview with Professor Debra Steger from the University of Ottawa. She comments on the progress of the Doha Round.
Download the latest Weekly Customs, Excise, Tariff and Trade Remedy Summary Notification.
Back to top

News
EU must liberalise services, agriculture, says WTO
The European Union (EU) should liberalise services further and open its agriculture market in order to achieve a robust recovery and sustained growth, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said yesterday.

World Bank Group launches trade finance programme
The World Bank Group has announced the launch of the Global Trade Liquidity Programme to support trade in developing markets and address the shortage of trade finance resulting from the global financial crisis.

US committed to Doha deal
The United States is committed to concluding the Doha round of world trade talks and President Barack Obama has been keenly engaged in the negotiations, World Trade Organisation (WTO) head Pascal Lamy said on Friday.

Africa must overcome regional barriers [Opinion]
Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) heard pleas in London last week to reverse growing protectionism and to open their markets unconditionally to the poorest countries. More promises were made to provide aid for Africa, but the continent “could get bigger and faster gains by allowing regional free trade between neighbours”, writes Michael Cook, former UK High Commissioner to Uganda.

G20 Leaders’ Statement: Global plan for recovery and reform
According to an official communiqué released after the meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders in London yesterday, the world economy is facing the “greatest challenge… in modern times”. “A global crisis requires a global solution”, it was stated.

UK presses US to clarify stance on trade talks
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pressed the United States to clarify its position on global trade talks. Speaking yesterday on the eve of the G20 summit, Brown said that US President Barack Obama’s new administration had asked for time “in the next few weeks” to review its position on the stalled Doha Round.



Back to top

Events
Potsdam Spring Dialogues Conference, 27-28 March 2009: JB Cronjé, Researcher at tralac, participated in a panel discussion on “Regional Approaches to Trade and Development” from a perspective of the southern African region. Read more here...


Capacity building at tralac: 30 March to 3 April 2009. Read more here...
New book launched in Cape Town on 30 March 2009: Monitoring Regional Integration in Southern Africa Yearbook 2008.

Back to top

Publications
New Trade Brief by Colin McCarthy on the global financial and economic crisis and its impact on Sub-Saharan economies. Read more here...
New Working Paper by Ron Sandrey and Hans Grinsted Jensen on SACU, China and India: the implication of FTAs for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS). Read more here...
Monitoring Regional Integration in Southern Africa Yearbook 2008:
The 2008 collection of papers reviews the developments in the Southern African region, hoping to stimulate debate about regional integration matters at a time when important decisions for the region’s longer-term future are being taken. Read more here... (Printed copies can be obtained from tralac. Click here and send us your full contact and delivery details and number of books you require.)
CALL FOR PAPERS: Monitoring Regional Integration in Southern Africa Yearbook 2009: The announcement in October 2008 that the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) have agreed to establish a Tripartite Free Trade Area is but one important development on the regional integration front in east and southern Africa. The 2009 Monitoring Regional Integration in Southern Africa will be the ninth collection of papers reviewing and assessing aspects of regional integration in Southern Africa. This call for papers presents an opportunity to contribute to the important debate on regional integration matters in Southern Africa. Read more here...
Back to top

AGOA.info
2009 AGOA Forum dates
It has been provisionally confirmed that this year's US-Africa AGOA Forum will take place in Nairobi on 4-6 August. Further details and programme to follow on AGOA.info.

Full year 2008 AGOA data published
Individual country profiles were recently updated on AGOA.info with full year 2009 data, allowing some reflections on beneficiary countries’ preferential exports under the Act (aggregate data to January 2009 data was published on 13 March). Overall, exports have grown significantly over the previous year, with the top 5 exporters each showing large increases (Nigeria +17% , Angola +48% , South Africa +71%, Chad +50% and the Republic of Congo +64%). Overall exports are up 30%. For the Southern African region the picture is not that rosy, especially with those countries reliant on a single export sector. Lesotho, the largest exporter of clothing under AGOA has recorded 11% lower exports, as has Swaziland , while Botswana and Namibia have declined 50% and 89% respectively.

New AGOA trade data to January 2009
Trade data published a few days ago reveals a sharp year-on-year decline in AGOA-eligible exports to the US. This decline of 56% calculated for January 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 is due to substantially lower oil exports from Nigeria, which fell from $ 2.9 billion in January 2008 to $ 645million in January 2009. For the first time since AGOA's inception, Angola is the leading exporter under the Act, with exports in January worth $845million. South Africa's exports have also declined by 11% in January 2009 compared to last year. Others in the region, for example Lesotho, Kenya and Madagascar, have all recorded year-on-year increases. February 2009 export data will be published on AGOA.info beginning 10 April 2009.

Other updated AGOA data sections include disaggregated bilateral trade profiles for each AGOA country individually (as well as within various regional configurations) , aggregate bilateral trade , preferential trade under AGOA / GSP and sectoral data from AGOA-eligible countries by value and as a proportion of US imports, as well as sectoral “new AGOA” and “GSP AGOA” data. Textile data, which is categorised by rules-of-origin category (for example, it distinguishes garments made from local or third country fabric), is available both by value and by volume. Full year data for 2008 is reflective of difficult trading conditions in this sector: Aggregate garment exports under AGOA are down 11% for the year, with the sub-category requiring local fabric (applicable mainly to South Africa) recording a 29% year-on-year drop.

The current quota period commenced in October 2008 with the latest available quota utilisation rates for the period October-January showing an overall uptake of 7.07%, and 13.67% under the 3rd country sub-quota. The total allowable quota for the October 2008-September 2009 period has been set at 1,711,900,006 square meter equivalents (SME), which for the first time is lower than the quota allocated to a previous year (2007/8: 1,746,798,542).

Follow these links to diagrams showing clothing exports under AGOA, and quota utilisation during the current quota period.

Trade acronyms and terminology
Visit AGOA.info's alphabetically-ordered database of trade-related acronyms and terminology
Latest AGOA news

Ethiopia: Local businesses to walk globe through export path program
Kenya's Export law to be reviewed
Namibia: 'Regulating Ramatex - authorities shut out as Malaysian investor threatens Namibian environment'
Kenya sets up economic zones to boost rapid industrialisation
Ethiopia: PM Meles Zenawi holds discussions with US trade representative, WTO Director-General, on AGOA


-------

Did you know? You can search AGOA.info’s news archive (now containing over 1,000 articles) through the built-in search functionality.

Read these and other AGOA-related news articles in AGOA.info’s news area, which is continuously updated with articles sourced from a wide range of African and foreign publications.