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AGOA textile visa stamp will benefit Nigerians

Recently, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) AGOA Trade Resource Centre, Lagos, unveiled the AGOA Textile Visa Stamp. The Textile Visa Stamp, according to the NEPC, would enable garment manufacturers in Nigeria to have tariff concession on textile and garments manufactured in the country for export to the United States under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). In this interview with FRIDAY EKEOBA, CEO of the NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, explained the importance and benefits of the Textile Visa Stamp to the Nigerian...

21 May 2019

Ugandan exporters sensitized on export requirements to benefit from AGOA

The USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (the Hub) partnered with the Uganda Parliament Speaker’s Office, the AGOA Country Response Office and AGOA Exporters Association, to conduct the Uganda Parliamentary AGOA Sensitization Workshops and Exhibition on May 14 -15 at the Uganda Parliament in Kampala. The Ugandan companies learned about the AGOA export requirements to enable them to fully utilize this duty free opportunity. While delivering her opening remarks the Minister of Trade Industry and Cooperatives, Amelia Kyambadde,...

16 May 2019

Uganda parliamentary speaker rallies public to attend local AGOA expo

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has highlighted that more needs to be done in creating awareness about the opportunities provided by the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA is a United States Trade Act, enacted on 18 May 2000 as Public Law that significantly enhances market access to the U.S for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Kadaga sounded the call on Friday while addressing the media ahead of a sensitization workshop and exhibition at Parliament organized by the AGOA Exporters Association of...

11 May 2019 | NIXON SEGAWA

South African firms to showcase their capabilities in the USA

A South African delegation from the steel and fabrication; engineering and services; electro technical and services; and oil and gas sectors has arrived in Houston, Texas in the United States of America (USA) where they are showcasing their capabilities at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). According to the Director of Export Promotion at the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Luke Govender, who welcomed the delegation to the US, oil and gas is a prominent sector in the dti‘s industrialisation programme. To...

08 May 2019

Kenya seeks to forge close security ties with US

Kenya and the United States will continue to cooperate on security in the region, even as both sides focus on advancing economic ties. Ahead of the first Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington on Tuesday, Kenyan government officials say they expect the meeting to also cement security deals focusing on terrorism, policing and border protection. “The two countries are expected to sign the agreement to guide the Strategic Dialogue and the Security Governance Initiative Joint Action Plan, to enhance civilian security and governance...

07 May 2019 | AGGREY MUTAMBO

Kenyan EPZ companies make Sh77.2 billion in sales

Kenya’s Export Processing Zone-based (EPZ) companies raked in Sh77.2 billion in sales last year, being a 14.7 percent growth compared to Sh67.3 billion realised in 2017. Newly released official data shows that exports, which formed the bulk of trading, rose by 19 percent from 60.7 billion in 2017 to Sh72.3 billion mainly attributed to increased market access in the European Union and the US, especially for apparels facilitated under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) initiative. EPZ firms also attracted new investments in the...

06 May 2019 | JAMES KARIUKI

Kenyan exports to the US under AGOA rose by 25% in 2018

Kenyan exports to the USA in the framework of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) rose by 25.8% in 2018, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) announced in a recent report. In the report, the KNBS indicates that these exports, mainly made of textile products, grew from Ksh33.1 billion in 2017 to Ksh41.6 billion in 2018. The exports under the AGOA agreement represented 88% of the country’s exports to the USA during the period under review. “Capital investment increased by 3.6 per cent to Sh16.5 billion in 2018...

30 April 2019 | Moutiou Adjibi Nourou

Uganda crafts strategy to maximise potential of its apparel sector

Uganda is crafting a new strategy to revamp its cotton, textiles and apparel sector as part of efforts to tap into the booming global textiles and apparels market. The plans dovetail with similar efforts to refocus the under-exploited opportunity presented by the US-sponsored African Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) where Uganda's earnings have been modest. Although Agoa represents a huge opportunity for Uganda, its prospects in the past have been hampered by a number of policy and market issues. Exports have been dominated by low volume...

29 April 2019 | Michael Wakabi

Liberia Chamber of Commerce, USAID, conduct AGOA awareness seminar for the public sector

The Liberia Chamber of Commerce (LCC) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID,) West Africa ASSESS Project aimed covering the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) benefits, product eligibility criteria, documentation and export procedures, and US import requirement for agricultural products. Participants from several institutions, including the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), National investment Commission (NIC), and the Chamber of Commerce...

17 April 2019 | David Yates

Uganda: Government working on new AGOA strategy

Uganda will, before the end of April, reportedly launch a national strategy that will identify key products that Uganda can leverage on to improve its exports to US. The strategy, whose formulation started in 2016, seeks to among others, identify five key products that can influence Uganda’s penetration into the US market. Ms Suzan Muhwezi, the head of Agoa Secretariat, said the strategy has already been tabled before Cabinet and will soon be enacted. “We are soon launching the Agoa National Strategy. As I...

15 April 2019

Kenyan textiles maker seeking to expand through AGOA

Textiles maker Rivatex East Africa Ltd is eyeing regional and international markets with its planned Sh6 billion upgrade. The modernisation drive will increase cotton consumption from 10,000 bales per day against a projected capacity of 100,000, translating to a daily production rate of 40,000 metres, up from the previous 5,000. Managing Director Thomas Kipkurgat said the firm was targeting the AGOA (US) market through the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) as well as in East Africa and other parts of the continent. “We expect to...

14 April 2019

Kenyan flowers attract US buyers’ interest

Eight Kenyan exporters of cut flowers made 78 linkages worth an estimated $259,000 at the World Floral Expo in Dallas, TX, USA. The firms were part of a delegation led by the Kenya Flower Council, a USAID Hub grantee. Their trip to the U.S. allowed them to connect with U.S. buyers to further efforts to expand Kenya’s share of the U.S. cut flower market. “Today we met with potential wholesalers and from my observation a lot needs to be done in enlightening them on logistics. Their preferred terms of payment is CIF [cost, insurance and...

11 April 2019

S African access for US apple and blueberry exports might pave way for all South African citrus into US [+charts]

At the citrus summit in Port Elizabeth last month, Nick Gutierrez, the CGA representative in the USA, put a number of reasons to delegates to explain why the final rule that would allow citrus from all of South Africa’s growing regions to the USA, has not been published yet. “In many respects, the new US administration approaches trade policy and trade partners very differently from many of the past administrations,” he said, while noting that the US was not about to renege on its AGOA obligations and in fact, was considering South...

09 April 2019 | Carolize Jansen

Looking back: Unpacking the trends that shaped Africa’s business environment

2018 has been an interesting year for Africa, with various events and trends becoming visible. 2016 saw the effects of the slowdown of China’s economic growth due to its rebalancing of its economy and the end of the commodity price super cycle. 2017 brought some relief. In Africa, 2018 demonstrated a number of continued trends, but also some new events. This is Part I. Follow the links to Part II and Part III. Trend 1: Foreign investment in Africa Africa has been the recipient of foreign investment form a variety of foreign...

28 March 2019 | Johan Burger

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