Assessment of the Impact of the European Union and African Caribbean and Pacific Countries Economic Partnership Agreement on Agricultural Trade of the Sudan with Special Reference to Major Export Crops

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess and evaluate the potential impact and implications of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Sudan and the European Union (EU) on the performance of its agricultural trade. The study depended on secondary data obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of EPA, Ministry of Foreign Trade, Central Bank of the Sudan, Statistics Directorate and other relevant sources. The Armington model was used to estimate the potential impacts and implications of the EPA on the Sudan agricultural trade. The model used zero tariffs scenario (S1) to realize the objectives of the study and impacts of the implementation of the EPA on domestic production, consumer prices, producer prices, producer surplus, consumer surplus, and net welfare. The results showed that the application of the EPA have positive impacts on producer and domestic agricultural production, and have a negative impact on the domestic consumption and consumer prices. Also, the EPA implementation showed an improvement in the producer surplus, consumer surplus and net welfare. The study results showed that application of the EPA has positive impacts on Sudan’s agricultural output, exports and foreign exchange earnings. Also, the implementation of the EPA will redirect agricultural exports of the Sudan towards the EU markets, rather than the rest of the world. Sudan needs to look at any expected negative impacts of the EPA on the domestic markets. The study concluded that the Sudan need to pay attention to the implementation of the EPA in order to encourage trade integration of its market with the EU and to benefit from the potential growth of its trade with EU markets.