The EU-SACU economic partnership agreement: Resultant trends and patterns in SADC intraregional agricultural trade flows

Abstract

The study analyses the effects of the EU-SACU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on intra-regional agricultural trade in the SADC region. Trade data for the SADC region from 1996 to 2020 was utilized. The study used a "before and after" analytical approach, where first, after establishing that intra-regional trade in the region was relatively higher before the EPA compared to the period after the EPA was signed, a gravity model was estimated to identify the determinants of SADC imports from the EU before and after the EPA. The regression showed that GDP and population had positive and significant effects on bilateral trade, while distance and tariffs had negative but not highly significant effects. In conclusion, the results indicated that the EPA was trade-creating, with the SADC having more imports after entering the agreement with the EU.