According to the EU’s commissioned study on the Assessment of The Merits and Demerits for Malawi Concluding and Signing an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Malawi has slacked in exports to the region, as the figures in the report show a 27.8% dip.

The study attributes the results to the fact that the country depends on raw commodities for exports, which have low value and subject to price fluctuations on the international market. About 66.2% of Malawi’s exports to the EU are made up of beverages and tobacco, while 20.5% are food products.

Meanwhile, the EU gives Malawi access to duty free and quota free access to its single market for all products but arms. Back in March, the union has observed that Malawi has not taken full advantage of the opportunity. EU team leader for economic, trade and governance section Jose Navarro disclosed this news, saying that at the moment, Malawi benefits from EBA where they send any exports to the EU quota and tariff free but Malawi could do much much better. He outlined that most of Malawi’s exports where not of high demand in the region.