Investor Presentaiton
tralac
Central African Republic: Intra-Africa trade and tariff profile
Trade Data Update, Issue No. 23 | September 2018
soups and broths, food preparations, frozen beef and fish, sugar and rice. The top 10 import products
account for 40% of CAR's intra-African imports.
CAR mainly trades with Cameroon and Benin; 67% of CAR's total intra-African trade (exports + imports)
are with these two countries - Cameroon as the main source country and Benin as the main destination.
Other trading partners include Chad (8% of total trade), South Africa (5%) and Congo (4%).
92% of CAR's intra-Africa exports are to Benin (63%) and Chad (29%). Other destination markets include
Cameroon, Congo and Senegal.
66% of CAR's intra-Africa imports are sourced from Cameroon. Other source countries include South
Africa (7%), Senegal (5%) and Congo (5%).
Intra-Africa import tariffs
CAR is part of three RECs; however, the free-trade agreements of CEN-SAD and ECCAS are not yet in place. In
terms of CEMAC, CAR levies the intra-CEMAC generalised preferential tariff on imports from other CEMAC
members (duty-free) and the CEMAC CET on imports from outside the CEMAC region. The CEMAC CET is the
MFN applied tariff of CAR. This means that goods imported from ECCAS and CEN-SAD member states which are
not members of CEMAC (including Benin, Senegal, Mauritania and Ivory Coast) are levied the CEMAC CET.
The highest average ad valorem applied tariff is 30% and there are no specific duties. The 30% tariff is applicable
to numerous tariff lines, including articles of clothing and apparel, headgear, umbrellas, meat and fish
preparations, clocks and watches and cocoa and cocoa preparations.
Table 2: CAR's imports from Africa excluding CEMAC countries
HS
Code
Product description
240319
Smoking tobacco
2017
(US$m)
3.47
Applicable tariff
10% or 30% depending on the
national tariff line
630622
Tents of synthetic fibres
3.47
30%
847989 Machines and mechanical appliances, not elsewhere specified
3.03
10%
610990 T-shirts
1.13 30%
271320
Petroleum bitumen
1.03
10%
030371
Frozen sardines
0.75 20%
930690
Bombs and other ammunition and projectiles
0.71 30%
630619
Tarpaulins, awnings and sunblinds
0.70 30%
481920
Folding cartons, boxes and cases, of non-corrugated paper or
paperboard
0.56 10%
730890
Structures and parts of structures, of iron or steel, not elsewhere
specified
Source: ITC TradeMap (2018) and WTO Tariff Database (2018)
0.50
20%
3View entire presentation