Analysis of Agri-Food Trade Structures
To Promote Agri-Food Trade Networks
In the Islamic Countries
40
In terms of the geographical distribution of trade flows among OIC members, the focus thus far
has been on the export side. The remainder of this subsection turns to the import side. Figure
19 shows that in 2005, the African Group sourced most of its imports from outside the OIC, but
that intra-African trade was important in some product categories, like coffee and cork and
wood, and also imports from the Asian Group in sectors like palm oil, as well as from the Arab
Group in fish and crustaceans. Then in 2016, a similar pattern existed, with heavy reliance on
imports from outside the OIC in most product categories. Imports from the Arab Group had
become increasingly important in the vegetables sector, while imports from Asia had become
more dominant in palm oil, potentially crowding out some intra-African trade. As noted in the
section on exports, geography and regional integration policies combine to support intra-
regional relationships observed in some cases, while imports fromoutside the region are largely
driven by stronger comparative advantages elsewhere, combined with falling tariff barriers (see
below).