Abstract
Cross-border competition enforcement issues, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provisions, are important for African regional integration. The effective review of mergers with possible effects on regional value chains are a critical part of ensuring competitive regional markets. This research analyses two substantial mergers in the trading and processing of soybeans as case studies to consider the interface of national and regional merger reviews in Zambia and COMESA. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Competition Commission (CCC) and its member state competition authorities aim to protect markets and public interest while aiming for effective enforcement and reliable governance structures. In Zambia, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) similarly oversees competition issues on a domestic scale. The largest global commodity trader, Cargill, acquired Zamanita, a soybean crushing and refining plant in the Zambian soybean market, in 2015 in a CCC-reviewed merger. The business was subsequently acquired by the largest regional trader and processor in East Africa, ETG, in 2018 – which the CCPC approved. Through the lens of these deals and analysis of the soybean value chain, this minor thesis critically assesses the challenges of effective regional merger regulation as part of the cross-border competition regime. Based on these insights, it presents regulatory options and mechanisms on regional and global competition cases from an agricultural value chain perspective.