IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/hal-02493410.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Supply chain trade in East Africa: Prospects and challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Jaime de Melo

    (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International)

  • Anna Twum

Abstract

Deeper regional integration is the main objective of the recently launched Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Supply chain trade both at the level of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and across RECs are to spearhead the AfCFTA. Indicators of Global Value Chains (GVC) participation show that even though the EAC and other African RECs have increased their participation in GVCs over the period 1990-2015 surpassing MERCOSUR they still lag behind the ASEAN region. There has also been little improvement in the participation of African RECs in Regional Value Chains (RVCs). This outcome is not due to a lack of ambition. Indeed, African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have prioritized strengthening deeper RVC integration as a stepping stone to their development. The EAC has gone as far as targeting specific value chains: cotton, wood and paper, food and beverages among others, but with very little to show for it so far; only 1.7% of total gross exports of the EAC are related to RVCs. This is in contrast to ASEAN (17.2%), MERCOSUR (4.6%) and SADC (3%); within the EAC, Rwanda has made impressive progress while Uganda has underperformed. Overall, over the period 1990-2015, the EAC and other African RECs have participated mostly in nonregional value chains along forward rather than backward participation (i.e. their value-added exports are mostly on intermediates that enter exports of other trade partners while the share of foreign exports in their exports is low) activities. This paper singles out for discussion three obstacles hampering greater inclusion in global value chains: (i) high tariffs on imports of intermediates; (ii) restrictive rules of origin, an obstacle to intra-regional trade; (iii) high ad-valorem equivalents of barriers to connectivity and more generally to trade in services. Lastly, controlling for per capita income, correlations for the sample of 149 countries over the period 1995-2015 confirms that overall GVC participation is negatively associated with increases on the tariffs on imports and exports of intermediates as well as on trade costs. However, forward GVC participation (i.e. the share of intermediates of foreign origin) is positively associated with the number of mobile phone subscribers a proxy for digital connectivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaime de Melo & Anna Twum, 2020. "Supply chain trade in East Africa: Prospects and challenges," Working Papers hal-02493410, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02493410
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02493410
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02493410/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Marie Baland & François Bourguignon & Jean-Phlippe Platteau & Thierry Verdier, 2020. "The Handbook of Economic Development and Institutions," Post-Print halshs-02489840, HAL.
    2. Jaime de Melo & Mariem Nouar & Jean-Marc Solleder, 2017. "Integration along the Abuja road map: A progress report," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-103, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Gaulier, Guillaume & Sztulman, Aude & Ünal, Deniz, 2020. "Are global value chains receding? The jury is still out. Key findings from the analysis of deflated world trade in parts and components," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 219-236.
    4. Ferrantino, Michael J., 2012. "Using supply chain analysis to examine the costs of non-tariff measures (NTMs) and the benefits of trade facilitation," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2012-02, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    5. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    6. Pierre-Louis Vézina, 2014. "Race-to-the-bottom Tariff Cutting," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 444-458, August.
    7. Manfred Lenzen & Daniel Moran & Keiichiro Kanemoto & Arne Geschke, 2013. "Building Eora: A Global Multi-Region Input-Output Database At High Country And Sector Resolution," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 20-49, March.
    8. Ingo Borchert & Batshur Gootiiz & Aaditya Mattoo, 2014. "Policy Barriers to International Trade in Services: Evidence from a New Database," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 162-188.
    9. Zhi Wang & Shang-Jin Wei & Kunfu Zhu, 2013. "Quantifying International Production Sharing at the Bilateral and Sector Levels," NBER Working Papers 19677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2007. "Do free trade agreements actually increase members' international trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 72-95, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Pasquali & Shane Godfrey & Khalid Nadvi, 2021. "Understanding regional value chains through the interaction of public and private governance: Insights from Southern Africa’s apparel sector," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(3), pages 368-389, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charles Ackah & Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Cecilia Hornok, 2024. "Africa’s businesswomen – underfunded or underperforming?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1051-1074, March.
    2. Yang, Yichen & Liu, Wen, 2024. "Free trade agreements and domestic value added in exports: An analysis from the network perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    3. Krantz, Sebastian, 2024. "Patterns of Global and Regional Integration in the East African Community," Kiel Working Papers 2245, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), revised 2024.
    4. Bhushan Praveen Jangam & Badri Narayan Rath, 2020. "Cross-country convergence in global value chains: Evidence from club convergence analysis," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 163, pages 134-146.
    5. Aichele, Rahel & Heiland, Inga, 2018. "Where is the value added? Trade liberalization and production networks," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 130-144.
    6. Nenci, Silvia & Fusacchia, Ilaria & Giunta, Anna & Montalbano, Pierluigi & Pietrobelli, Carlo, 2022. "Mapping global value chain participation and positioning in agriculture and food: stylised facts, empirical evidence and critical issues," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 11(2), July.
    7. Jean Baliè & Davide Del Prete & Emiliano Magrini & Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci, 2017. "Agriculture and Food Global Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does bilateral trade policy impact on backward and forward participation?," Working Papers 03/2017, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Feb 2017.
    8. Adam Jakubik & Victor Stolzenburg, 2020. "Footloose Global Value Chains: How Trade Costs Make a Difference," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(2), pages 245-261, September.
    9. Syed Al-Helal Uddin, 2016. "Value-added Trade, Exchange Rate Pass-Through and Trade Elasticity: Revisiting the Trade Competitiveness," 2016 Papers pud11, Job Market Papers.
    10. Dazhong Cheng & Jian Wang & Zhiguo Xiao, 2022. "Free trade agreements partnership and value chain linkages: Evidence from China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 2532-2559, August.
    11. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2021. "Global Value Chains," NBER Working Papers 28549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Gordeev, Dmitriy (Гордеев, Дмитрий) & Idrisova, Vittoria (Идрисова, Виттория) & Kaukin, Andrei (Каукин, Андрей) & Ponomarev, Yuriy (Пономарев, Юрий) & Filicheva, Evgeniya (Филичева, Евгения), 2016. "Analysis of Global Supply Chains in International Trade Patterns [Анализ Глобальных Цепочек В Моделях Международной Торговли]," Working Papers 765, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    13. Jaime de Melo & Jean-Marc Solleder, 2022. "Patterns and Correlates of Supply Chain Trade in MENA and SSA," Working Papers hal-03649085, HAL.
    14. Marcel P. Timmer & Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los & Robert Stehrer & Gaaitzen J. Vries, 2015. "An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: the Case of Global Automotive Production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 575-605, August.
    15. Escaith, Hubert & Khorana, Sangeeta, 2020. "Mapping the Commonwealth Countries’ Participation in Global Value Chains," MPRA Paper 104441, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Bruno Casella & Richard Bolwijn & Daniel Moran & Keiichiro Kanemoto, . "Improving the analysis of global value chains: the UNCTAD-Eora Database," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    17. Rodrigo Mesa-Arango & Badri Narayanan & Satish V. Ukkusuri, 2019. "The Impact of International Crises on Maritime Transportation Based Global Value Chains," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 381-408, June.
    18. -, 2016. "The South American input-output table: Key assumptions and methodological considerations," Documentos de Proyectos 40832, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    19. Aleksandra Parteka & Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, 2020. "Wage response to global production links: evidence for workers from 28 European countries (2005–2014)," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(4), pages 769-801, November.
    20. Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Martina Vidovic & Anca M. Voicu, 2014. "EU-Accession Effects on Sectoral Trade: A Helpman-Melitz-Rubinstein Approach with Panel Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 4903, CESifo.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02493410. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.