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Most months, Mamoleboheng Mopooane’s paycheck passes through her hands like water. There are her children’s school fees and groceries, rent, winter jackets, and the open palms of unemployed relatives back home asking again and again if she can spare just a little something, anything, to help them get by. All of that is a lot to ask of the $100 she earns every month stitching seams into American bluejeans at a garment factory here, and most of the time, the days trail out long after the money is gone, a quietly ticking countdown to the...

The Uganda Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives last week unveiled its latest blueprint to increase exports and make locally made goods more competitive outside the country. According to a ministerial briefing paper, ‘The ultimate objective of the Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Sector is to significantly contribute to wealth and employment creation as well as to transform Uganda from a poor into a modern and prosperous society.’ The Main objective of the conference is to conduct a review of the performance of the Sector since...

The widespread dumping of chicken into South Africa remains a pressure point for diversified food producer RCL Foods, with the pronounced trend continuing to weigh on its earnings. RCL Foods, formerly known as Rainbow Chicken, reported an 11.9% decrease in headline earnings from continuing operations for the year to June 2016 to R849.7 million, while its headline earnings per share declined by 12.2% to 98.5 cents. It grew its group revenue by 6.8% to R25 billion during the period under review. The impact of chicken imports is felt by the...

Zambia commerce permanent secretary Kayula Siame says intra-COMESA trade continues to face challenges despite the available instruments designed to improve integration. And COMESA assistant secretary general Dr Kipyego Cheluget says Zambia is among countries that have not exploited the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Speaking during the official opening of the 32nd meeting of the trade and customs committee in Lusaka, Siame said the implementation of regional commitments and full-scale participation of COMESA member-states still...

Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), has charged non-oil exporters to maximise the full potential of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), saying it will help the Federal Government in achieving its diversification goal and improve the economy. Essentially under its extension, African countries would be engaged in the rules of origin to engender value-addition of raw materials as they could now include the cost of direct processing, as they share production from one country to another on their way to the U.S market. Indeed, the...

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) is in the process of developing a strategic document to enable local companies realise the full potential in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade initiative. Presently, a draft is being developed with input from local companies in export trade across the country to develop a four-step strategic document, ‘AGOA Review Strategy’ to promote export for Ghanaian companies. In an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, on the sidelines of AGOA sensitisation workshop in Accra, the Director...

Rwanda, one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, has called on the United States government to grant easier access to traders from across Africa doing business with America market under the renewed African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). The East African nation is one of the beneficiaries of AGOA, the signature trade initiative by the US government to allow at least 7000 products from 39 nations in Sub Saharan Africa to America market duty-free. “The process of acquiring visas remains lengthy even if we qualify through that trade...

Entrepreneurs have been challenged to take advantage of the expanded list of goods that can be exported to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) scheme to enhance Rwanda’s export volumes and revenue. Francois Kanimba, the Minister for Trade and Industry, said the development should act as an incentive for producers, particularly small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) to increase production to benefit fully from the AGOA arrangement. Kanimba was on Tuesday speaking during the announcement of the new additional list of...

The US State Department has officially announced the dates for the 2016 US-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, commonly known as the AGOA Forum. The Forum (Ministerial) will take place on 26 September 2016, and is preceded by a range of events incorporating the private sector, civil society, and African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) stakeholders, on 22-23 September. This year’s theme is “Maximizing AGOA now while preparing for the future beyond AGOA.” Draft program details (updated on 07 September,...

It appears the interest of American companies in Ghana is increasing, as 37 of them have invested in Ghana in the last five years, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson told ghanabusinessnews.com in an exclusive interview. The interview covered US foreign direct investment (FDI) into Ghana, bilateral trade, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), visa issues, the number of American citizens in Ghanaian prisons and what the favourite Ghanaian dish of the Ambassador is. Mr. Jackson indicated that in the last five years, 37...

Amelia Kyambadde, Uganda’s minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, wants the United States government to relax the rules of origin under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), and also expand the list of eligible products allowed under the programme. Kyambadde attributes Uganda’s poor performance under Agoa to the strict rules of origin. “The current arrangement is that a value addition level of 35 per cent must be attained on products whose inputs are imported from non-Agoa countries in order to export them under the...

This notice announces the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2017. The Subcommittee is requesting written public comments for this review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter. The Subcommittee will consider the written...

The United States will host the fifteenth annual U.S.-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, commonly known as the AGOA Forum, on September 26, 2016, at the U.S. Department of State, in Washington, D.C. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the U.S. government's signature trade initiative with sub-Saharan Africa. The AGOA legislation mandates the annual AGOA Forum to foster close economic ties between the United States and its partners in sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s theme is “Maximizing AGOA Now while...

"Deep disappointment" has been expressed over the exclusion of travel goods produced in the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka from duty-free status under the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, following the US Administration's recent annual review. Under the GSP program, approximately 5,000 products from 122 beneficiary developing countries and territories, including 43 least developed countries, are eligible for duty-free treatment when exported to the United States. Based on the review, which...