U.S. imports of apparel (beklædning) from Sub-Saharan Africa rose in 2003 and 2004 to more than 1,5 billion US dollar a year, benefitting from duty-free access under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
This year, however, with new competition from China and India expected after abolition of quotas under the international Multi-Fiber Agreement, textile industries in African countries face the prospect of rapid decline in export potential.
Textile companies in countries supplying the United States, including Lesotho, South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya, and Swaziland, are already laying off workers or shutting down entirely.
Textile imports under AGOA are little more than one-tenth of U.S. imports of oil and other energy-related products under the Act. But they were widely heralded as showing that African countries could break into exporting manufactured goods as well as raw materials.
Manufacturers in the U.S. have also expressed alarm that low-cost and efficient Chinese producers will dominate the world market, and are seeking concessions to slow the impact of dropping quotas.
Christian Aid released a report in January warning of the threat to the garment industry in Bangladesh. But so far, despite earlier enthusiasm from both the U.S. administration and Congress for AGOA, there has been no public discussion of the fact that new jobs touted as progress for the initiative are already disappearing.
Kilde: AfricaFocus Bulletin
For more information:
www.agoa.info
The most comprehensive source of news and statistics related to the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Includes convenient access to monthly trade data through November 2004.
www.agoa.gov
The official U.S. government site
www.usitc.gov
U.S. International Trade Commission
Latest full report on U.S. Trade and Investment with Sub-Saharan Africa, released in January, available at
http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/pub3741/pub3741_main.html
www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/412rags
Rags to Riches to Rags, December 2004
