Impact of trade policies on the chicken market in Burundi

Abstract

This study aims to examine the impact of trade policies on the chicken market in Burundi using the WITS-SMART partial equilibrium model. The analysis uses six-digit Harmonized System trade data at the six-digit level for the years 2013, 2014, and 2015 from the TRAINS database. The study defined a scenario of partial liberalization of tariff reduction. The results show the increase in imports of frozen chicken cuts from the rest of the world and the creation of trade that hurts the less competitive domestic poultry production. Based on the results obtained, the reduction of customs duties leads to a gain in consumer welfare and a drop in customs revenue, which represents the country's budgetary resources. Taking these results into account may enable the government to propose measures to meet the poultry sector's twofold challenge: to take advantage of the opportunity of a large and expanding domestic market and to improve the performance of the public and private companies operating in it to increase their competitiveness in the face of international competition.