Analysis of Agri-Food Trade Structures
To Promote Agri-Food Trade Networks
In the Islamic Countries
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certification procedures has been published in November 2017, which is an important step to
formalize the process. However, according to other trade and packaging regulations, self-
declaration as a Halal product is possible since 2008. This could be a constraint since it does not
encourage firms to be certified as Halal by INNORPI when selling on the local market and
encourage them to just add a sticker Halal on their product when importers do not require a
formal recognized certification to sell on their local market. For the moment, it is mainly agri-
food products that are concerned by the label.
Finally, the next step will be to develop the Halal label for other sectors (cosmetics for example).
Recent Evolution of the Trade Policy Landscape
Since the early 1990s, Tunisia has opted for integration into the global economy. This integration
has resulted in the gradual liberalization of its foreign trade and the establishment of free trade
areas with several countries. In addition to membership since 1993 of the GATT/ WTO, today,
according to the ministry of commerce, Tunisia is linked with trade agreements to 50 countries
in the region, representing more than 800 million consumers.112 The main trade agreements
signed in the last thirty years are the association agreement with the European Union (signed in
1995), the Agadir agreement (signed in 2004 with Morocco, Egypt and Jordan), the Pan-Arab
Free Trade Area (signed in 1997) and the bilateral agreement signed in 2004 with Turkey. All
these agreements have focused much more on industry than agri-food products which are
subject to various barriers such as tariffs, quotas, licenses, standards, etc. In addition, according
to WTO (2016), in Tunisia, agricultural products, are subject to controls and authorizations to
prevent products that have already benefited from consumer subsidies from being exported or
to ensure the availability of inputs for the domestic industry.
These FTAs are a key aspect of Tunisia’s trade policy as it relates to agricultural products. The
EU is a vital trading partner for Tunisia, in agriculture as in other sectors. Regional partners,
including Turkey, play a secondary role, but not a negligible one.
Against this background, Tunisia has also been gradually liberalizing its tariff structure affecting
agricultural products, from a relatively restrictive baseline. Its average applied MFN tariff rate
on agri-food products fell from 72% to 33% between 2005 and 2016, with falls from 40% to
34% and from 11% to 2% respectively recorded for fish products and agricultural raw
materials.
Main barriers and potential drivers: Stakeholder´s views
This section reports the views of key stakeholders, as ascertained using semi-structured
interviews. According to the stakeholders, the Tunisian agricultural sector is not exploiting its
potential because of different factors, including the following:
 The majority of farmers are small that it is difficult to generate economies of scale and
to be efficient on foreign markets. In addition to production costs, exports costs can’ be
overcame be small operators. Their international competitiveness is therefore
negatively affected.
 The local market trade policy aims at maintaining low prices for consumers, which do
not favor farmers’ income. Indeed, in order to maintain the purchasing power of the
poor and the middle class of the population, the government uses different mechanisms
112 Source