TECHNICAL REPORTS

This report is a follow-up to a number of activities that have been initiated to support the harmonization of the listing rules of the stock exchanges in the SADC region. The initial work focused on the analysis of gaps in listing rules using the JSE listing rules as a benchmark.

Food security policy is necessarily multi-dimensional and in the long run it is inseparable from the fight against poverty. Governments in SADC and elsewhere have attempted to use controls on imports and exports to improve food security through their impacts on food prices and availability in the domestic market.

Are such policies helpful in solving the genuine and pressing problems of food security in the region?

This report examines recent global and regional experience to draw some lessons about the impacts on food security of domestic trade policies as they have been used in the region.

Soybean is a critical crop which makes up 54% of the global oilseed market; its production is dominated by the USA, Brazil and Argentina and demand is dominated by the USA, China and Europe. While much of Southern Africa shares similar agro-climactic conditions to Argentina and Brazil and has a similar amount of land that could be planted with soybean (most of which is currently completely uncultivated), the region produces less than 1% of the total global output, compared with 46% for Brazil and Argentina.

This report comprises the compilation of a database of animal feed manufacturers, grain millers and oil expressers in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana. This database is the result of specific research undertaken for SATH into the presence, size and distribution of animal feed manufacturers, grain millers and oil expressers in the region.

The high cost of exporting and importing goods to, from and within Southern Africa discourages international trade, makes commerce and industry less competitive and contributes to food insecurity. Some of the main contributors to the high cost of trade are delays at the border posts. The main aim of the IBM program is to reduce the time goods take to cross borders and therefore reduce the cost of trade. As one of the initial steps in the implementation of the IBM, a team from SATH conducted a border operations assessment (BOA) at Kasumbalesa border which lies along the Dar es Salaam Corridor from 10 -14 October 2011.

In the Southern African Development Community Region (SADC), the availability of timely and reliable energy data in general and electricity tariffs data in particular remains a big challenge. As tasked by the SADC Ministers responsible for energy to bridge the information gap on electricity tariffs and selected performance indicators, a survey was carried our via a questionnaire distributed to all the fifteen (15) SADC countries.

The 2011 Audit of the Implementation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Trade is the fifth such audit carried out by the United States (US) Agency for International Development (USAID) Southern Africa Trade Hub. While the 2007 audit was comprehensive, the following audits have been updates on the 2007 study with each update focusing on different issues selected by the SADC Secretariat.

For the 2011 Audit, the SADC Secretariat requested that the Trade Hub focus on three areas: 1. Implementation of the 2011 Tariff Phase Downs; 2. Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs; and 3. Third Party Preferential Trade Agreements.

The high cost of exporting and importing goods to, from and within Southern Africa discourages international trade, makes commerce and industry less competitive and contributes to food insecurity. Some of the main contributors to the high cost of trade are delays at the border posts. The main aim of the IBM program is to reduce the time goods take to cross borders and therefore reduce the cost of trade. As one of the initial steps in the implementation of the IBM, SATH conducted a border operations assessment (BOA) at the Tunduma/Nakonde border which lies along the Dar es Salaam Corridor from 1 - 7 June 2011.

The primary purpose of the BOA was to analyze what the current border operations are with a view of making recommendations that would reduce the time and cost of transportation of goods and to set time baselines to assess the impact of IBM recommendations. In recognition of the critical role played by informal traders in the SADC region's economies, the border assessment also covered the clearance procedures for goods from small traders/ informal cross border traders (ICBTs).

SATH travelled to Kasumulu/Songwe borders between 9 and 15 June 2011 to assess the processes for clearance of goods and to determine the time it takes trucks to clear the borders. In recognition of the critical role played by informal traders in the SADC region’s economies, the border assessment exercise covered the clearance procedures of goods forsmall traders/ informal cross border traders (ICBTs). The primary purpose of the border operation was to analyze what the current border operations are with a view of making recommendations that would reduce the time and cost of transportation of goods and to set time and cost baselines which will be used to assess the impact of the implementation of the recommendations.