News Search

A South African official said on Tuesday that her country and other Sub-Saharan countries are under-utilizing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), thereby not fully reaping its benefits. Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, Deputy Director-General at the Department of Trade and Industry, said this while giving a keynote address at a seminar on ways to unpack AGOA in Johannesburg. The AGOA, a legislation that was approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000, is to assist the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between...

Importing chicken is destroying the local poultry industry and is potentially putting 130 000 jobs at risk.  This is the view of the South African Poultry Association, members of which voiced their concerns at the 110th Avi Conference in Kempton Park yesterday.  With poultry imports currently at their highest level in South Africa’s history, the flood of cheap foreign chicken now accounts for 9.6% of the Southern African Customs Union’s trade deficit, weakening the rand and decimating the local poultry industry,...

South Africa has resolved all outstanding issues pertaining to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), guaranteeing the country access benefits until 2025, the Department of Trade and Industry said on Thursday. Issues relating to meats — including chicken — had been resolved, paving way for continued preferential access into the US market for the duration of Agoa. SA appears to have managed to mend trade relations with the US, which reached a low last year when President Barack Obama issued a proclamation compelling SA to open...

Trade experts have expressed concern over South Africa’s eligibility to retain duty-free access to markets in the United States under the auspices of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Until March 2016, South African agricultural products risked losing out on the benefits accorded by the preferential trade programme unless the country agreed to a meat trade deal, which allowed for the sale of bone-in US chicken pieces without anti-dumping duties. This, after an out-of-cycle review relating to the country’s eligibility was...

While South Africa has seemingly made the most use of the duty-free trade benefits with the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) since inception, the nonreciprocal deal was, for the most part, heavily underused across the continent. While the 15-year-old Act had surged into the spotlight owing to the months-long public impasse between South Africa and the US over the three-meats trade, it covered more than 1 800 tariff lines – the bulk of which were not comprehensively used across Africa. Speaking during a Mandela...

South Africa had prioritised signing free trade agreements with other African countries as part of a wider agenda to encourage regional integration, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Friday. Following the recent signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between six southern African countries and the EU, Davies said that South Africa wanted to seal trade agreements with fellow African countries. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies (left) and EU ambassador to South Africa Marcus Cornaro signed an Economic...

A small food import and distribution business in Germiston has won a major contract to import chicken. Companies like this one will be assisted by the US, as they develop their trade. For almost a decade, Evodia Motsepe battled to find a job. She jumped at the opportunity to participate in a US-backed, black entrepreneurship programme. It helps South Africans take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. "The idea came because I was not working for a long period of time, I started to think that if I can go into the...

The Independent Development Corporation (IDC) says it has invested about R12 billion in the textile and clothing industry in 2015.  The IDC is one of the exhibitors at Source Africa - the annual pan-African textile, clothing and footwear trade event currently taking place in Cape Town.   The event brings together manufacturers, buyers, suppliers and service providers from across the continent, Asia and even the United States of America.   Source Africa coincides with the three day imbizo on the textile and clothing industry...

Source Africa, now running for its fourth consecutive year, kicked off on Wednesday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. At the pan-African trade event for the textile and clothing industry, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) was in the spotlight during a seminar. African trade and market growth in the textile and apparel sector after the renewal of Agoa until 2025 was discussed. Moderated by Clay E. Hickson, vice president, strategy and business development of Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (Wrap) in...

The US presidential elections are just around the corner, and the world has been watching closely as this year’s controversial campaigns have unfolded. Yet last week, when SA’s International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was asked about her position on the US elections, she said she did not really care who wins. This raises the question: can Africa’s most sophisticated economy afford to ignore the US elections? While much of the discourse in SA, thus far, has centred on Republican frontrunner Donald...

Ghana’s export of apparel and clothing under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has expanded from less than US$250,000 in 2001 to more than US$9million last year, the US Embassy has said. “With investment partnerships with US companies and technical assistance from USAID, we fully expect to see another large increase in exports in 2016 with the potential to provide employment opportunities for thousands of people,” Melinda Tabler-Stone - Charge d’Afffaires at the US Embassy - said at a sensitisation workshop on exporting...

The United States Embassy in Kampala has asked Ugandans who wish to benefit from the US market to carry out research on the unique needs of the US market before venturing into it if they are to break through. Speaking during the national African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) strategy consultative meeting in Kampala last week, Mr Mark Meassick, the deputy mission director, said Ugandans who wish to export to the US market should take advantage of trade promotion agencies the embassy and organisations such as the American Chamber of...

Ghanaian exporters have been urged to take full advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and increase exports to the US.   The Chairperson of the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, Angela Kyeremanten – Jimoh contends that Ghanaian exporters, particularly SMEs have not utilized fully, the benefits accruing to them under the program. According to her, the situation persists despite the huge market potential for Ghanaian exporters in the US. The AGOA is a non-reciprocal trade preference programme that provides...

The President of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Chief Olabintan Famutimi, has urged the federal government to expedite measures on implementing the extended African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme in Nigeria. According to him, the implementation of the programme can generate over one million direct jobs. Speaking at a business roundtable dinner in Lagos, the NACC president said more than ever before, Nigeria is desperate for economic diversification, noting "we have arrived at the point of no return in our...

More than 1,500 professional decision makers are expected to arrive at Cape Town's CTICC on 8 and 9 June, 2016, for Source Africa, which will feature more than 180 exhibitors interested in expanding their exports. Countries represented include: South Africa, Mauritius, Lesotho, Kenya, Egypt, Madagascar, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Source Africa will bring together manufacturers, buyers, suppliers and services providers in one major integrated event, enabling international and African buyers to view and explore an extensive...

Africa wants everyone to know what it’s got going on. And this year at Source Africa, a leading Pan-African textile and apparel trade show, more than 1,500 manufacturers, buyers, suppliers and service providers will gather to promote manufacturing and discuss the region’s potential. The Cape Town, South Africa-based event will take place June 8-9 and feature more than 180 exhibitors, with representation from countries including South Africa, Mauritius, Lesotho, Kenya, Egypt, Madagascar, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe—many...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, a United States’ trade policy, enacted in 2000 is a legislation that allows exporters from sub-Saharan Africa to export some goods to the United States duty-free. The export opportunity, which was supposed to last from 2000 to 2020, has just been extended to 2025. Under the policy, 38 African countries including Nigeria are eligible to export 7,000 product lines tariff and quota free to the US market. Although the renewal is seen as a welcome development in view of the quest by the government to...

You won’t find US chicken in South African locations of the mega chicken restaurant chain Nando’s, the company said Wednesday — proof that controversy hasn’t subsided over US chicken exports and the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Nando’s insists it uses only whole fresh chickens — not the frozen chicken parts that started arriving in South African stores in March for the first time in 15 years, thanks to reciprocal trade mandates required in AGOA. In 2000, the U.S. eliminated import...

Nigerian trade groups and export-promoting agencies are collaborating on a new collective approach to further open up the advanced markets of the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA) to Nigerian non-oil exports. The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Nigerian Export Promotion Council and Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) are leading Nigerian exporters and other Nigerian and international stakeholders in the quest for international markets for Nigerian...

The Botswana government has given the go-ahead for the Textile and Clothing Institute of Botswana (TCIB), the first of its kind in the country, to overcome a chronic shortage of skilled workers that has negatively impacted the textiles sector for many years. Its founder, Shahid Ghafoor, president of the Botswana Textile and Clothing Association, said TCIB was offering one-year certificate courses in clothing manufacturing in a wide variety of skills, Botswana's news website Mmegi Online has reported. “Our faculty and staff will be...

The year after President Barack Obama extended African nations’ preferential access to US markets by a decade, his administration is re-evaluating its trade relations with the world’s poorest continent. "It’s time to start looking at what comes next," US Trade Representative Michael Froman said in an interview in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, where the World Economic Forum is holding its annual Africa summit. "Part of what motivates us is that we are hearing from Africans that they want to move towards a more permanent, reciprocal kind...

African economies have changed and trade relations need to evolve since the U.S. first started offering duty-free access to certain countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a Bloomberg interview. Since AGOA first started in 2000, African economies have become more integrated and they’ve changed in terms of demographics, development and technology, Froman said in Kigali, Rwanda, at the World Economic Forum. A deadline is looming...