issue no. 9 april - june 2014 - english

F i b r e t o F a s h i o nT h e O f f i c i a l P u b l i c a t i o n o f A f r i c a n C o t t o n & Te x t i l e I n d u s t r i e s F e d e r a t i o n

ISSUE No. 9 APRIL - JUNE 2014

Celebrating the spirit,style & innovationof modern Africa

Partners:

Origin Africa Nairobi 201410th - 12th November, 2014

(For further details visit; www.originafrica.org)

For any queries send an email to: [email protected]

3APRIL - JUNE 2014 | FIBRE TO FASHION

About ACTIFACTIF is a regional trade body formed in June 2005 by the cotton, textile and apparel sectors from across sub-Saharan Africa to create a unified and recognized voice in both regional and global trade affairs. ACTIF’s mandate is to bring the disparate needs of the cotton, textile and apparel sectors into cohesive and consensus driven positions at regional and international trade and development forums.

Over the years, ACTIF’s role as the voice of the Cotton Value Chain of Africa has continued to grow from strength to strength. ACTIF is now well recognized by the African Union Commission (AUC), key EU/National and regional associations and organizations, among other several development partners.

ACTIF’s aim is to promote African cotton, textile and apparel value chain from Fibre to Fashion. It is the objective of ACTIF to brand Africa through the ‘Origin Africa’ campaign that is intended to help Africa make its position as a sourcing destination among other countries in the world by showcasing buyers, the scope of its niche design, fabrics and manufacturing abilities. ACTIF also intends to promote the concept of a regional value chain leading to increased market opportunities, business linkages, trade and investment across the region.

About ACTIF Mission“To develop and successfully deliver services that enhances our membership’s competitiveness in the world market.”

Vision“An integrated cotton, textile and apparel industry that effectively competes on the world market.”

Objectives• Build cooperation, interaction, partnerships, alliances,

networks and market linkages;• Promote a regional supply chain, focusing on trade

issues of all sectors of the value chain, building a platform for reducing constraints to regional trade;

• Address challenges and increase competitiveness in the global post quota environment;

• Address key policy issues that negatively affect regional and global trade;

• Collect market data, generate information exchange and share regional expertise;

• Promote investment and encourage international alliances and affiliations;

• Recognize and support accepted principles of international codes of corporate conduct;

• Facilitate awareness of new technologies and represent the regional membership at regional and international fora and lead advocacy and lobbying actions for the best interest of ACTIF members.

Celebrating the spirit,style & innovationof modern Africa

Partners:

Origin Africa Nairobi 201410th - 12th November, 2014

(For further details visit; www.originafrica.org)

For any queries send an email to: [email protected]

APRIL - JUNE 2014 | FIBRE TO FASHION

African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation

03 - About ACTIF

05 - Editorial

06 - Foreword

07 - ACTIF Board

08 - Member Profile

09-11 - ACTIF News

12-16 - Industry News

18-21 - Cover Feature

22-23 - Pictorial

24-25 - Cover Features

26-31 - Country Update

32-37 - Trade Policy

38-43 - Feature

44-45 - Calendar of Events 2014

47-48 - ACTIF Members

PAGE 11

PAGE 14

PAGE 20

PAGE 24

PAGE 32

PAGE 42


Editor: ACTIF and Alison & Davis Communications Editorial Board: Rajeev Arora, Joseph Nyagari, Nancy Bwore Contributors: Rajeev Arora, Roger Peltzer - Director (COMPACI), Joseph Nyagari, Nancy Bwore, Hamma A. Kwajaffa, Joseph Nkole, Alex Mungai, Stephen Lamar, Caroline Sack, Amb Darlington Mwape, Pierre Claver Nahimana, Paul Ryberg, Joseph N. Kosure, Fred Kongongo, Geoffrey Willis, Kimemia Mugo, James Ndone Editorial and Design: Direction: ACTIF Photography: ACTIF Design and Layout: Boniface Ndambuki Advertising Sales: ACTIF, Tel: +254 725 038 884 / +254 733 247 052, Email: [email protected] Printed by: Colourprint ACTIF Head Office: TVR Plaza, Block 3A, Muthithi Road, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya, P.O. Box1249-00606, Sarit Center, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254-733247052 / 725038884, Fax: +254-20-2022531, Email: [email protected], Web: www.cottonafrica.com, www.actifafrica.comDistributed by: Cotton Africa is published quarterly and distributed by ACTIF to Cotton, Textile & Apparel industry players including Spinners, Manufacturers, Fashion Designers, Textile Technology providers and traders in 23 African Countries, China, EU & the United States. The mailing list has been established with the help of ACTIF members across Africa and is updated on a regular basis. Any enquiries relating to the list should be addressed to the editor. Cotton Africa is subject to copyright. Should you wish to lift any material from the publication, kindly liaise with the editor beforehand.

EDITORIAL

Africa is a place to do business and a rich sourcing destination. This is the message that Africa Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) has been conveying to change perceptions and make the continent a more visible supplier of cotton, textile products and fabrics for international buyers. Our objective is to enhance value addition in Africa, for it to become a preferred sourcing continent, and to demonstrate to international buyers and industry leaders that creativity and innovation are an integral part of Africa’s future.

Over the past few years, China has increasingly become an expensive destination for the manufacture and sourcing of apparel. Other South-East Asian countries have also followed suit for less complex products. A number of factors have contributed to this:

• Their cost of labour has increased and their currencies continue to get stronger against the dollar, thus making the region’s products less favorable for export.

• Their per capita fibre demand hasphenomenally grown especially in China and India for the past 5 years

and has actually doubled in China;

• Serious social and environmental compliance issues across the textile and apparel supply chain in Bangladesh call for responsible supply chain management from fibre tofashion.

Many buyers are therefore looking for supplies to discount stores such as

Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Sears, among others. They are opting for alternate sourcing within Asia from Cambodia, Bangladesh andVietnamandtheyaresoonfillingupthe capacities. Bangladesh in particular has been greatly affected due to many social and environmental issues including several factoryfiresand thecollapseofthe Rana Plaza where 1,130 lives were lost due to non-compliant manufacturing facilities.

The Bangladesh tragedy caused many buyers to re-evaluate their commitment to manufacture and/or produce in Bangladesh. One of the leading manufacturing companies Vanity Fair (VF) and Phillips Van Heusen (PVH) Corporation are in the process of transferring part of their production into Africa and have already committed to realizing 20% of their sourcing from Africa in the next 5 years. This will be an incredible opportunity for Africa to develop itself as a sourcing destination.

Most governments in Africa are eager for foreign direct investment, particularly in the textile and garment sector so as to boost employment. Investment-friendly policies, regulations and incentives have been rolled out across the region and many are setting up special economic zones and textile parks to cater for the investors’ interest. All garment factories are maintaining strong social and environmental compliance and are already accessing both US & EU markets. According to statistics from the World Bank, over the last 10 years, Africa has experienced an increase in export of more than 200%, and an increase in import of 250% from 2001 to 2011. This has sparked the interest and attention of the west and awakened a rethink of their position in terms of trade policies

towards Africa.

All these issues give an indication of a changing paradigm shift for Africa as an investment and sourcing destination with direct access to cotton; opportunities to set-up vertically integrated supply chains; competitive labour costs and attractive trade and investment arrangements.

I hope that you will enjoy reading several articles showcasing Africa as the next investment and sourcing frontier in this edition of Cotton Africa Magazine.

Africa - the next sourcing frontier

Our objective is to enhance value addition in Africa, for it to become a preferred sourcing continent, and to demonstrate to

international buyers and industry leaders that creativity and innovation are an integral part of Africa’s future.

Rajeev AroraExecutive Director, ACTIF

FOREWORD

6 FIBRE TO FASHION | APRIL - JUNE 2014

More than 90 percent of the African lint cotton is exported and further processed in Asia. The ready-made garments and other textile products then come back to the African consumer either through direct imports from Asia or indirectly in the form of second hand clothes.

It would be of utmost benefit if theindustrial value addition could take place directly in Africa. The partners of the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) Initiative are therefore pro-actively promoting the concept of “Textile made in Africa” produced for African markets as well as for export.

CmiA is an initiative born out of the need to develop a signature that identifiesmaterial originating from Africa. The initiative is owned by the Aid by Trade Foundation. This label serves as an assurance to consumers outside Africa that the cotton was produced under environmental friendly conditions and also serves as a source of license fee income which is usually reinvested to improve the welfare of small scale African farmers.

The partners of CmiA are banking on the growing interest of textile retail companies that are diversifying their sourcing into Africa as well as the rising middle class that is buying fashionable products made in Africa.

In Ethiopia, we are linking smallholder cotton production to the newly emerged integrated textile mills in Ethiopia. Recently, an agreement was signed between the Metema Co-operative in Ethiopia and the Ayka Textile Till in Addis Ababa on the supply and off take of up to 5,000 tons of cotton for the upcoming season. This agreement was very much facilitated by CmiA.

We are also supporting an upcoming textile mill project in Uganda, which will produce ready-made garments on the basis of CmiA. Further, Aid by Trade Foundation is advising textile producers in Mauritius about sourcing Cotton made in Africa and in making this a marketing argument for their sales to the European market.

In Cameroon, we are engaged in lining of Sodecoton, the national cotton producers with the weaving mill, Cicam as well with a local knitting company. The objective is again to produce garments on the basis of ‘Cotton Made in Africa’

verifiedcottonfortheregionalmarketaswell as for export.

There is definitely a window ofopportunity as major international textile retailers presently look to diversify their sourcing. Africa has the chance to capture parts of these markets and create a large number of industrial jobs in the continent.

However, as the entry conditions for textiles manufacturing in Africa are challenging, governments should support textile investments through favourable electricity tariffs, some protection of local markets and favourable access to investmentfinancing.

In addition, a proper cotton sector regulation is needed. Contracts between ginning companies and small holder growers should be fair and transparent.

A very good example of proper regulation is CCA (Conseil Cotton, Anarcarde) the regulation authority of the cotton sector in Côte d’Ivoire. CCA’s approach is a model on how enhancement of private sector investments can go along with an intelligent and effective regulation and protect smallholder farmers’ interests.

The textile industry in Sub-Saharan Africa was quite developed in the 1970s and 80s. However, it experienced a major crisis in the last 20 years as a result of multiple reasons. These included the liberalization of markets, reduced import tariffs, the increasing competitiveness of the Asian textile manufacturing industry and the massive import of second hand clothing. There were also huge “internal” challenges for textile manufacturing such as high electricity and partly high labour cost, low productivity, management deficitsandlackofsupplyindustries.

We believe that the textile industry in Sub-Saharan Africa can regain the 1970s and 80s steam. In 2014, CmiA will incorporate 22 partners in 12 different African countries: Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In 2013, 170,000 tons of verified CmiAcotton were produced by partners. 80,000 tons of lint cotton could be sold totradersaskingspecificallyforCmiAorBCI cotton. CmiA is benchmarked with BCIandallCmiAverifiedcottoncanbesold into the marketing channels of BCI.

I n enhancing positive socio-economic effects and creation of employment, CmiA and COMPACI (the Competitive African Cotton Initiative) are supporting the training of 500,000 smallholder cotton farmers with respect to yield improvement, soil conversation, reduction of use of highly hazardous pesticides and improvement of cotton harvest technologies. Apart from this core activity, CmiA/COMPACI launched a vast programme to train 250,000 cotton farmers in one week training courses to develop the farmers’ business skills.

At the end of 2013 500,000 smallholder farmers did cooperate with CmiA partners in Africa. CmiA/COMPACI are providing a very valuable platform for exchange of experiences between African cotton partners. We also have a vast data base with training materials developed, results of workshops and M&E publications. It is desirable, that ACTIF becomes a partner in the further development of this learning platform, to cement the African basis in the medium and long term.

Africa Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (Actif) should continue to lobby African governments to create favourable conditions of local integrated textiles manufacturing including in francophone Africa. Two thirds of Cotton out of Sub-Saharan Africa is produced in francophone Africa.

We think that Actif might also play a key role in communicating positive experiences throughout Africa and to more industry value addition taking place directly in Africa.

- Roger Peltzer is Director of the Competitive African Cotton Initiative (COMPACI) and member of the Advisory

Board of Aid by Trade Foundation

CmiA and partners supporting more value addition in Africa

Roger PeltzerDirector – COMPACI


ACTIF BOARD

Jaswinder (Jas) Bedi– Chairman

Sector: TextileCountry: Kenya

John Hagreaves– Director

Sector: ApparelCountry: Madagascar

Lilowtee Rajmun– Vice Chairman

Sector: ApparelCountry: Mauritius

Jolly Sabune– Director

Sector: Production & GinningCountry: Uganda

Fassil Taddesse– Treasurer

Sector: TextileCountry: Ethiopia

Joseph Nkole– Director

Sector: Production & GinningCountry: Zambia

Hamma A. Kwajaffa– Director

Country: Nigeria

Barry Fisher– Co-Opted Director

Country: Kenya

Belinda Edmonds– Co-Opted Director

Country: South Africa

Rajeev Arora– Executive Director

Country: Kenya


Most African countries are facing huge challenges in their efforts to tackle non-competitiveness arising from infrastructural and other inadequacies when compared to other continents.

Striking a balance between entrepreneurial including manufacturers and other investors’ benefit andsocial- economic situations is hard. Even advocacy have a challenge in finding a middle level while engaginggovernments.

In Nigeria for instance, many of the textile manufacturers had closed down in droves due to what was understood as quality issues compared to the products of their international counterparts. In the 1970s to the 90s, Nigeria had up to 177 textile mills generating employment to more than 250,000 workers. Today it has dropped to a miserable 24 textile mills with a mere 24,000 workers!!

This is a serious headache to the Cotton Development Committee formed under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, of which I was a key member. The Committee has studied the sector’s problems including energy and high bank interest rates in Nigeria and compared them with what is available to manufacturers for instance, in India and China.

In the two countries the committee observed that industries had 24hrs supply of electricity while in Nigeria the National grid supply was only available for a maximum of 6hrs. Manufacturers in Nigeria have to rely on diesel generators thereby raising their overheads up and above countries like India and China. While interest rates skyrocketed to 24% in Nigeria, India and China`s was ataround5%.ThesituationbaffledtheCommittee.

We invited the Minister of Finance and laid out the export imbalances and what was happening in other developed countries. The Minister quickly put in place mechanisms to set up a US$50 million Cotton, Textile and Garment in which the manufacturers could access cheaper funds at a single digit interest rate. This achievement gives hope that with persistence, advocacy works.

My personal and career background

I have come a long way since I was born

on 14th February 1961 in Nigeria and attended the University of Maiduguri where I graduated in 1986 with a second class honours, Literature in English. I immediately proceeded to the Compulsory One Year National Service at an Annunciation Seminary where I taught English. After my completion of the Youth Service I was employed by the Borno State Civil Service to teach at Potiskum Comprehensive Secondary School until 1989.

From there, I secured a job with College of Education, Gashua as Lecturer 1. The College sponsored me to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where I secured a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from 1990 to 1991 on a part time basis. At that time, the teaching job was not paying well so one was always on the lookout for greener pastures. This led me to the Federal Ministry of Communications in January 1991 where I was posted to Nigerian Postal Service as a Personnel Officer.

Within the same year I moved out to Abuja Sheraton Hotel & Towers as an Administrative Officer from 1991 to1994. Here I got a good exposure to an international working environment. The pay was also goo. Having saved substantially, I got married in 1993 and by 1994 I moved to National Board for Community Banks to head the Administrative Department responsible to the Zonal Director.

In 1996 I became a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management. In 1999 with the decline of the Community Banking System, I got another job as Personnel and Administrative Manager of Royal Ceramics, a Ceramic Manufacturing Company where I managed over 1000 workers. This was mainly an Indian management outfit in Nigeria. Here, Iglaringly faced the issue of poor energy supplyasamajorproblem,firsthand.

The private sector was grappling with overheads; costs shot up making consumers prefer imported products. By 2001, I secured employment with the Nigerian Textile Employers Association as an Industrial Relations Manager. In this capacity, I interact with many ministers and chief executives of government parastatals. I attended a lot of trainings, seminars and workshops nationally and

internationally to sharpen my advocacy skills. I also got exposed to what happens at the top governance level.

Due to the fact that NACOTAN is an Association of Farmers, Processors, Exporters and the Textiles; political positions are rotational among the key stakeholders so I was elected Chairman of the Association to represent the textiles on the board. Since then, we have done a lot with the Government and International Organisations such as ACTIF to improve production and farmers’ livelihoods.

I would like to briefly recap mySecondary School Education which I would say sharpened my exposure early in life. Right from Form One when we arrived, one was always engaged in one extracurricular activity or the other. Debating, drama, quizzes and sports took a lot of our time. This made one a team player and this has helped me immensely in my career. I am a staunch believer in educational pursuits.

During my free time, I enjoy a game of badminton and also enjoy travelling, meeting people and reading. Among my favourite authors are Sydney Sheldon and Ngugi wa Thiong’o. I have travelled to many Countries including; Switzerland, Germany, China, India, South Africa, many in West and East Africa. I am married and blessed with 2 children.

PROFILE

Hamma Ali Kwajaffa, ACTIF Board Member

Hamma Ali Kwajaffa


The Origin Africa concept was developed by USAID/COMPETE as a means to capture the spirit, style and innovation of modern Africa’s Cotton, Textile and Apparel trade.

ORIGIN AFRICA is both an event and an ongoing effort dedicated to improving African Cotton, Textile and Apparel (CtA) value chain. It involves collaboration with producers from farm to fashion including accessories suppliers, home textile and décor, to developing and promoting African trade in cotton, textile and clothing industries, with a specificfocusonbusiness,tradeandinvestment–regionaland international.

The inaugural Origin Africa event was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 28th April, 2010. This show was purely a fashion designer showcase that was sponsored by USAID/COMPETE in partnership with African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) and featured 12 designers and design students from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. The theme of this event was; “Reinvigorating Africa’s cotton and textile sector”. Guests from 25 countries were represented, including 18 from Africa along with industry leaders and buyers from India, USA, India, Ghana, Nigeria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Special guests at the event included then Kenyan Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Raila Odinga, the African Union Commission Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Erastus Mwencha and USAID East Africa Mission Director, Lawrence Meserve.

Origin Africa has since been held annually with Mauritius hosting the event in 2011 and Ethiopia in 2012. The event has grown to become both a trade fair with the fashion showcase being the highlight of the three day event and incorporating seminars and business to business (B2B) meetings. In 2013, because of the AGOA Forum which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Origin Africa designer showcase took center stage as it marked creativity, colour and glamour as the climax during the forum.

The African fashion industry has shown a great deal of progress, creative designs from our vast traditions and the latest designs are amazingly put together by professionals to come up with amazing pieces of work. During the 2013 event, a number of key Ethiopian designers participated including Mahlet Afework (winner ofthe 2010 Designer of the

Year award from Alliance Ethiopia Francaise at the European Fashion Day in Addis Ababa and the Origin Africa’s 2012 Design Award), Aynalem Ayete, Ruth Woldeselassie, Firkirte Addis (Who won the Origin Africa Fibre to fashion Award and was also named the second African brand to watch in 2013 by Zen Magazine), Eset Haile, Bethlehem Belete, The Yohannes Sisters and Genet Kebede showcasing their collections and highlighting the creative opportunities that Africa offers international buyers.

This year’s ORIGIN AFRICA 2014 event is organized by ACTIF in partnership with Trade and Fairs East Africa (TFEA) a professional trade event organizing agency and willtakeplacefromthe10th–12thNovember,2014attheHotel InterContinental, Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of this year’s show is; “Changing Perceptions, Building Synergies & Doing Business”. The event will be the largest Cotton, Textile&Appareleventintheregion.Itisprofiledtoraisethe awareness of Africa as a place to do business, sourcing destination, changing perceptions, and to make the value chain in the continent more visible as a source of cotton, textile and apparel products for the domestic, regional and international buyers.

ORIGIN AFRICA will encompass a Trade Expo, Seminars, B2B Meetings and a Designer Fashion Showcase. The targeted participants are from the Cotton, Fibre, Yarn & Textiles, Apparel & Fashion, Home Textiles & Décor, Accessories, Support Agencies, Investment Agencies, Export Agencies, Textile Machinery/Technology, Suppliers, Delegations and Country Pavilions. For the first time aHome Décor, Fashion Accessories & Gifts section will be included at this year’s event.

This must attend go-to event will include guests from press, brands, sourcing agents, investors as well as industry heavyweights and insiders who all have a mutual interest and focus to elevate the African CtA industry. ORIGIN AFRICA is for those who want to be part of the wider solution in raising Africa’s emerging position and as the upcoming sourcing destination.

For further information log on to: www.originafrica.orgor email INFO@

ORIGIN-AFRICA.ORG.

ACTIF NEWS


As a part of their regional market entry module, CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) has partnered with ACTIF to introduce a Home Decor, Fashion Accessories & Gifts section to be launched at the 5th Origin Africa Trade Expo in November 2014.

CBI had been looking at the possibility of initiating a trade event in the region that could attract both regional and international buyers. After learning about the successful Origin Africa fair, they decided to explore the possibilities of collaboration.

“Why try introducing a new event, when there is already a successful established event in the region,” says Laurenske van den Heuvel-Gerestein, a CBI programme manager.

The organizers of Origin Africa had also been thinking of introducing a Home Decor section to the event, so collaboration was agreed upon. Another important decision taken was to permanently locate the Origin Africa Fair in Nairobi and to make it an annual event. This will help to promote the event and help attract both regional and international buyers to visit the fair. It will also help promote East Africa as a sourcing destination.

30 ExhibitorsForthisfirstevent,outofanapproximatedtotal of 70 exhibitors, Origin Africa is aiming to showcase about 30 of the

best companies from the Home Décor & Gifts sector in the region. Another endeavour is to only allow export ready companies to participate so that the event establishes itself as a high quality, professional trade event. This is the only way, one can ensure that buyers will want to come back to this event on an annual basis and with time, help establish Origin Africa as a fixture on the internationalTrade Fair calendar.

About CBIFor more than 40 years, CBI has been bridging the gap between suppliers from developing countries and buyers in the EU.

CBI’s Export Coaching Programmes seek to strengthen the competitive capacity of SME exporters and producers in developing countries and help them to gain access to European markets. CBI works across different sectors ranging from agricultural produce and industrial goods to consumer goods.

The Export Coaching Programmes are integrated programmes made up of different modules i.e. Business Development Module, CertificationModule, Export Capacity Building Module and a Market Entry Module.

Each company is mentored by an international Sector Expert who coaches and guides the companies to develop their market strategies and to access markets in the EU.

In 2012, CBI started an Export Coaching

Programme in East Africa for Home Decoration and Home Textiles. 12 companies from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and 6 companies from Madagascar were selected to participate in the programme.

The companies have since participated in numerous training activities and have had a number of visits by their coaches.

Ambiente 2014In February this year, the first sevencompanies participated at the Frankfurt Ambiente Fair, the largest trade event for this sector in the world.

According to CBI programme manager, Laurenske van den Heuvel-Gerestein, this year’s participation in Ambiente was very successful. “For a number of reasons, such as the recent financialcrisis, the past few editions of the show have been a bit disappointing for CBI participants. But 2014 saw a noticeable improvement,” she says.

For companies from East Africa, participating in such a big international fair proved a very positive experience in whatcouldbeseenastheirfirstpropermarket-entry activity in Europe. “They all established contacts with potential buyers, and most of them were able to bookfirmorderstoo,”VandenHeuvel-Gerestein adds.

Having made these contacts, the next step for CBI is to help the SMEs follow up on them so that they can get export orders. For the SMEs that actually received orders during the show, CBI will provide the necessary support to ensure theordersareproperlyfulfilled.

Regional Market Access

CBI recently introduced a Regional Market Entry Module to its Export Coaching Programmes. Due to the continuous positive growth of African economies in the past decade, CBI sees the need to assist companies to strengthen their position on domestic and regional markets.

“Besides helping companies access EU markets, we feel we need to help them have a share of the growing markets at their own doorstep,” Remco Kemper and Mark Kwami, the two Sector Experts working with East African companies in the programme note.

CBI brings Home Decor & Gifts section to ORIGIN AFRICA

From left to right: Remco Kemper/Sector Expert, Laurenske van den Heuvel-Gerestein/Programme Manager, Mark Kwami / Sector Expert

CBI Home Decor & Gifts

ORIGIN AFRICA Conference and Expo is the most important cotton, textile & apparel event on the African continent.

It seeks to promote Africa as a sourcing destination. ORIGIN AFRICA 2014 is scheduledforNairobion10th-12thNovemberandwillpremierthefirst-everexclusively Business to Business (B2B) Trade Expo for Home Décor, Fashion Accessories and Gifts in East Africa.

The new Expo section will feature a carefully curated selection of export ready companies showing the best from the region with exhibitors from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Madagascar.

ORIGIN AFRICA – Craftsmanship + DesignEast Africa has for generations been a melting pot for different cultures. Inspired by this rich and diverse cultural heritage, the product collections will show a wide variety of attractive and skillfully hand-crafted products that fuse tradition with contemporary design ideas.

Products range from home accessories, home textiles, fashion accessories & jewellery to unique gift items.

ORIGIN AFRICA – The B2B Marketplace

ORIGIN AFRICA is an exclusively B2B trade platform. All exhibitors have gone through an intensive selection and preparation process to ensure they meet international market access requirements.

This includes:

• Attractive product collections designed to meet current trends• FOB Pricing• Production capacities to meet export orders• Quality assurance systems• Professional export packaging solutions• Compliance with key CSR norms

ORIGIN AFRICA seeks to attract buyers who want to buy unique African products at source. Buyers are expected from the US, Europe, Asia and the wider African region.

ORIGIN AFRICA Conference – Changing PerceptionsNext to the Expo Section, the ORIGIN AFRICA Conference will offer interesting seminars addressing sector related subjects that focus on the opportunities of sourcing from the region. The conference also offers the opportunity to meet and discuss with key stakeholders that have a shared interest in building the capacity of producers in the region and promoting East Africa as a sourcing destination.

ORIGIN AFRICA 2014 welcomes you to do business …

...and experience the spirit & style of modern Africa.

For further information on the event and how to apply, please visit our website: www.originafrica.org

About ORIGIN AFRICAConference and Expo

INDUSTRY NEWS


The Cotton Association of Zambia (CAZ) is changing its strategic direction towards value addition and partnered with various organisations and government ministries to support the drive.

Some of CAZ’s institutional partners include We Effect, Agriterra, Solidaridad, the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture, Food Agriculture Organisation, and the International Trade Centre. The partnerships aim at implementing various projects over the next four years.

The projects’ objectives include facilitating the establishment and operation of farmer owned/controlled ginning enterprises through partnership with third parties who will manage the facilities. The creation ofprofitableginneriesthatpayafairprice to farmers will act as a catalyst to bring other ginners to the negotiating table.

To this effect, the Mumbwa Farmers Ginning and Processing Company (MFGPCo) has been set up in the Central region of Zambia and the Association is anticipating having two similar ginneries in the Eastern and Southern regions of the country. The operationalization of the Mumbwa ginnery will translate into value added products and business opportunities especially for women cotton farmers who will be trained under the ITC’s

“Empowering Women Farmers in Zambia” project that aims to train women farmers on entrepreneurship skills.

CAZ is also promoting formation of cotton cooperatives that will revolve around ginning activities i.e. input supply, marketing and value addition to the lint which will be processed into yarn for handlooms or cotton seed into various products. So far, 37 cooperatives have been formed in Mumbwa area alone. They participated in the distribution of inputs and will participate in the marketing of the crop under MFGPCo. The company had a total of 2,600 farmers who planted 2,740 hectares of cotton and a harvest of 2,000 tons is expected.

Another area of intervention by CAZ is refining cotton farmerproductivitythrough a comprehensive gender-sensitive farmer training programme based on the study circle concept, to make high yield certified cottonreadily available on the open market and to assist facilitate independent and stand-alone seed multiplication schemes.

The Association is also advancing access to value addition within the cotton value chain by helping to facilitate the creation of Handloom training centres, country-based handloom industry and oil extraction

plant. CAZ has partnered with ITC in implementing the African Cotton Promotion and Value Addition initiative which is a part of a larger All-EU ACP Agricultural Programme with the objective to contribute to sustainable improvement of competitiveness, value addition and the viability of African cotton value chains.

This will optimize the overall impact on stakeholders’ revenue and reduce rural poverty amongst cotton producers. A feasibility study on the introduction of Handloom technology in Zambia has since been conducted with recommendations that this initiative is workable in Zambia.

In addition, the capacity of Field facilitators to provide better extension services was enhanced when they participated in a four week training course in IPPM supported by FAO covering topics such as conservation farming ,weed management, pesticides risk reduction and post-harvest handling of cotton, maize and soya beans.

The importance of adding value to cotton in Zambia cannot be overstated, small holder farmers stand tobeempoweredandbenefitfrom the CAZ initiatives that will lead to improved livelihoods. It is the vision of CAZ to create a paradigm shift in cotton farming in Zambia.

CAZ is a membership organisation formed in 2005 by smallholder cotton farmers to address concerns of farmers in the sector. The Association has been lobbying and advocating for over 25,756 direct and 254,670 indirect cotton member farmers. The mandate of the organisation is to provide services in the form of extension, linkage to knowledge generating centres/research institutions, lobbying and advocacy.

CAZ shifts strategic direction towards value

addition

By Joseph Nkole, National Coordinator – Cotton

Association of Zambia (CAZ)

Zambian cotton farmers during a capacity building activity


The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), and the African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) earlier this year entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to expand trade and investment linkages between the US and sub-Saharan Africa’ cotton textile and apparel sectors.

Building on the momentum of President Obama’s Trade Africa initiative, this new alliance will promote Africa as a reliable sourcing destination for international buyers and explore opportunities to promote U.S. trade and investment in Africa.

ACTIF’s Chairman Jaswinder Bedi noted that Africa is poised to make great strides in economic development in this decade with combined GDP expected to grow by 60 percent by 2020.

“This partnership with USAID and AAFA will ensure that both the United States and Africa participate in this growth story,” Mr Bedi added.

With support from USAID, AAFA and ACTIF plan to expand and facilitate U.S.-

Africa cooperation through the exchange of market and import/export policy information, guidance on requirements and best practices, and the promotion of joint solutions to address market constraints.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is a growing player in the global apparel and footwear marketplace,” said AAFA Executive Vice President, Mr Steve Lamar.

“Through this MoU, AAFA is excited to work with USAID and ACTIF to facilitate increased trade and market access opportunities between the United States and Africa,” he said.

President Obama has renewed the United States’ emphasis on spurring economic growth, trade, and investment in Africa, including promoting an enabling environment for trade and investment, regional integration, improved economic governance and expanded African capacity to trade.

As America supports the development of Africa’s economic growth, it can generate new export markets and tap into a common market that could one day outpace India or China.

USAID Principal Advisor for Africa Oren Whyche-Shaw observed that the new USAID-AAFA-ACTIF partnership will take advantage of growing opportunities in the global marketplace and create jobs and income on both continents.

For more than 50 years, USAID has supported efforts to achieve sustained and broad-based opportunities for people to lift themselves, their families, and their societies out of poverty, away from violent extremism and instability, and toward a more prosperous future.

ACTIF is a pan African association representing the cotton textile apparel value chain of 24 sub-Saharan countries.

Representing more than 1,000 world famous name brands, AAFA is the trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, its management and shareholders, its four million U.S. workers, and its contribution of $350 billion in annual U.S. retail sales.

USAID, AAFA and ACTIF MOU to boost US - Africa trade

Oren Whyche-Shaw USAID Principal Advisor for Africa, Jaswinder Bedi ACTIF’s Chairman and Steve Lamar AAFA Executive Vice President, during the signing of the MOU

INDUSTRY NEWS

FIBRE TO FASHION | APRIL - JUNE 2014

Cotton Development Authority, Kenya Today industrial cotton processing machineries for yarn and

garments are operating with increasing high speeds. Quality demands placed on garments also require increasingly homogeneous feeding of the machineries.

Therefore, most spinners wish to understand the key quality parameters of the cotton lint they are using in their factories. Instrument classing of cotton provides this objective information on six key parameters of cotton, thus enabling users to sort their cottons in lots with matching characteristics. This opportunely increases homogeneity andoperatingefficiency.

In Kenya, the Cotton Development Authority (CODA) has developed a system that will address this need and also provide additional information on extraneous matter in cotton consignments produced in the country.

The system provides that where a ginner has submitted for analysis clearly labeled samples with traceability details to the producer (from pre-determined lot numbers), the scheme will provide the producers with an objective description of the quality of their produce.

This will enable owners of cotton to link their cotton to international standards and prices, resulting in better n e g o t i a t i o n positions when selling cotton. Ginners will fully understand the quality of their cotton and thus determine the commercial value of their produce before offering it to the market. This system will make producers and ginners become aware of the desired improvements in their areas of operation in order to improve lint quality.

Benefits and beneficiariesThe goal is to improve transparency in cotton trade across the value chain and encourage quality improvement especially at production and ginning. This will be achieved by inducting a conducive structure for price formation process encompassing actual quality of cotton using the actual lint quality, data. The structure will be effective for both within the country as well as in relation to international trade. In the early state of the supply chain, producers and ginnersstandtobenefitfrombetterinsightinthequalityofseed cotton and lint.

Spinnerswillbenefitfromoptimizationoftheiroperationsby use of the instruments classing information from lint. Atmacro level, the country as awholewill benefit fromincreased export earnings of cotton products and improved reputation with regard to the consistency of the different cotton qualities sold from Kenya.

Incomingupwiththecottonclassificationscheme,CODAisaddressing one of the requirements in the Crops Act, 2013 that demand the regulatory agency to set standards for cotton and enforce compliance to the standards. Currently, cotton in the country is traded based on unreliable and subjective visual inspections where it is graded into grades A and B.

Encouraging fairness in cotton trade through classification

By Alex Mungai

The Cotton fiber laboratory at CODA, Kenya

Assessing extraneous matter in cotton lint before marketing at the HVI Centre in Kenya

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Kenyan textile industry stakeholders converged at the Laico RegencyHotelonMarch25th2014withtorefinetheiradvocacystrategy. The textile industry in Kenya, like many African countries has seen better days with the peak being experienced in the mid 80s when the country had 54 operational textile mills. Subsequent liberalization coupled with various national, regional and international issues caused the textile industry to contract considerably and has never recovered. In contrast, however, the apparel industry is very strong mainly sustained by the AGOA market but with little or no connection with the Textile Value chain in Kenya.

The current Kenyan government has indicated that the textile industry is among its priority areas as part of its industrialization strategy. ACTIF has been working with the private sector committee, with the support of Business Advocacy Fund to develop policy position papers in order to engage the Kenyan government and to challenge them to address key policy constraints affecting the textile sector including high cost of power, high cost of labor, immigration challenges for expatriate workforce, illegal dumping, local sourcing and second-hand clothing.

ACTIF Director, Mr. Ali Kwajaffa, who is also the President of National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), represented ACTIF at the 12th Edition of the Africa Cotton Association (ACA) annual congress held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire under the theme: “African Cotton, Facing the Challenge of Climate Change.

During the meeting, it was noted that there were similarities on the impacts of climate change across Africa, including; drought, flood,abruptfailureofrainfallandexcessrainbeyondcottonproducing period.

It was also noted that Cotton as a crop requires even distribution ofrainfallforoptimumyieldandquality.Deficiencyandexcessrainfall has therefore impacted on cotton production in yield, maturity and quality. Other impacts include reduction and degradation of soil as well as organic material.

Other issues noted include: increase in pests attacks, degradation of seed and fiber, reduction in crop growth,reduced crop maturity and drastic reduction in crop yield. Inadequacy of data; Lack of awareness on weather forecasts; poor government’s policies on climate change; lack of regional policy for control and strategy on climate change in Africa, lack of political will to face arising challenges leaving farmers to the mercy of climate change, were also highlighted.

A host of recommendations were fronted to address challenges and impacts of climate change in Africa especially on cotton production and it was resolved that policies, strategies must be put in place to mitigate the serious impacts of climate change on cotton production.

The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, played host to a significantcontinental investment forum between 8th and 10th April with about 150 international and 140 local companies drawn from various sectors participating.

The event was organized by Trade and Fairs East Africa (TFEA) in conjunction with the German company, Planetfair GmbH plus, Co. as well as the Ethiopian government, the African Union and the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI).

ACTIF Chairman, Mr. Jaswinder Bedi was among the key speakers at the forum that aimed at promoting sustainable growth on the African continent. It was also reported that investors from 27 nations participated in this event. The aim of the event was to generate business partnerships between fund managers, foreign investors, and companies based in Africa. The forum was also a platform for investors to gain a better understanding of existing opportunities.

By Alex Mungai

Textile policy strategy meeting held in Kenya

ACA Annual Conference

Africa Investment Forum held in Addis Ababa

Joseph Nyagari, (Centre) Program Manager of ACTIF meeting with participants at the Africa investment forum organized by Trade and Fairs East Africa (TFEA) and German

Planet fair GmbH.

INDUSTRY NEWS


CmiA Meeting in Kenya

UNCTAD – Global Commodities Forum

The 5th meeting of the Global Commodities Forum organized by UNCTAD with partners support was held between 7th and 8th April 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a major multi-stakeholder meeting where participants discussed potential solutions to perennial problems in the commodity economy under the theme of “Global Value Chains, Transparency, and Commodity-Based Development”.

The participants explored issues and experiences in the commodity sector through the lens of regional and global value chains, a concept that extends beyond sector and supply chain perspectives, to encompass issues such as responsible investment, regional interdependencies and

equitable value distribution. Improved governance was also another key issue discussed in relation to regulatory reforms in the extractive, trading and derivatives sectors. Participants also examined various perspectives on transparency held by stakeholders such as governments, industry and civil society, with the objective of identifying common principles that can contribute to the transparency-themed regulatory reform in the commodities sector. Other sessions addressed specific issues suchas new legislation, disclosure rules, data analysis and sharing and institutional requirements. The forum looked at case studies: countries’ multifaceted approaches to enhancing transparency, as well as multi-stakeholder efforts such

as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Mr. Rajeev Arora, the Executive Director, ACTIF, participated at the forum and delivered a presentation titled; “Africa - Developing International Competitiveness of the Cotton Value Chain”. During his trip, Mr. Arora was also able to hold strategic meetings with BCI headofficeinGenevatodiscussonhowto develop value addition for BCI cotton in Africa member countries including their existing project in Kenya. Mr. Arora also met with CBI and discussed MoU with ACTIF to collaborate in the development of the Home Textile and Home Décor sectors in Africa including partnering in Origin Africa.

The Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) in conjunction with DEG (German Investment Corporation) hosted a closed door session with textile value chain stakeholders on 30th April at the Panafric Hotel, Kenya. The objective of the meeting was to evaluate the scaling up of cotton production and its uptake into the value chain and also how to ensure that cotton products are absorbed by supermarkets locally and globally.

Mr. Joseph Nyagari, the Program Manager at ACTIF participated at the meeting where it was noted that local

industries have not been able to access the thriving retail industry who seem to prefer importing finishedapparel products instead of sourcing locally. The local industries were keen to supply the growing middle class in Kenya but the gaps remain huge between them and the retailers. Competitiveness issues especially high cost of power and high cost of credit also continue to put the local producers at a disadvantage especially on the cost and quality of the final product.The local retail chains did not participate in the meeting.

ACTIF Program Manager Joseph Nyagari (Right) makes a point during a meeting on CMiA in Nairobi, Kenya

From L to R: Rajeev Arora ACTIF ED, Paola Geremicca Partnership Director BCI, Connall O’Caoimh Director VAA and Romain Deveze Partnership Manager BCI during the 5th meeting of the Global

Commodities Forum organized by UNCTAD

COVER FEATURE


The huge, underlying potential in Africa’s Cotton & Textile Industry (CtC) value chain is widely acknowledged.

Indeed, global CtC market leaders consider the region as the next investment destination due to the rising cost of production in Asia and other sourcing countries. Cotton Africa Magazine had a tête-à-tête with Mr Bill McRaith, PVH’s Chief Supply Chain Officer on the sidelines of an eventhosted for international investors by the Kenya government in Nairobi, recently.

According to Mr McRaith, one of the glaring gaps in the African value chain is the lack of a deliberate, systematic and sustained marketing drive to ensure that international investors have the right information about the region. “There are few countries from Africa who are promoting themselves in the global arena. I have not seen an East African countryopenupanoffice inNewYorkfor example, to create awareness on available opportunities and this would help the African cotton industry to grow in the US, Europe and other places,” Mr McRaith says.

The PVH Executive, who is in charge of sourcing for the 8.6 billion dollar global company which operates in about 90 countries says recently, the sourcing patterns are slowly shifting in Africa’s favour. He gives the East African region plus Ethiopia as an example. He observes that the six countries have a unique opportunity to grow their Cotton & Textiles Industries (CTI) due to their political stability, co-operation, labour supply and costs, as well as supply of raw materials.

The PVH Supply Chain chief says that energy costs in the region are moving in the right trajectory. Although energy costs in Kenya are still high, Ethiopia is currently supplying power at about 3 Cents/KWh, an attractive rate to investors. Kenya is also investing quickly in strategies aimed at lowering energy costs. About 25 percent of CTI industry costs are associated with energy.

“The bottom-line is we are always looking

at new sourcing opportunities out there. Our interest in this region (Eastern Africa) has actually been galvanized recently. We actually started looking seriously at Africa about 18 months ago. We sent someone to look around Africa, and what we saw is that there is something very attractive about EAC and Ethiopia. The government are working with each other on structured initiatives, power initiatives…among others,” Mr McRaith says.

PVH, the company that manages Tomy Hilfigerand Calvin Klein brands hasalreadyopenedofficesin Nairobi which is likely to become the entry point into the larger Eastern Africa region. “China firstbuilt the infrastructure firstbefore companies started investing. Entire cities were built before people went to live there. Africa should also invest in infrastructure so that investors can access marketsefficiently,”headds.

Mr McRaith believes that it is only a matter of time before other global companies in CTI realize that something exciting is happening in the region

and set up shop. “The labour force in Kenya in all factories I visited impressed me. I must say I did not expect that the labourefficacyinKenyawasatthelevelit is. With availability of raw materials this makes the country attractive,’ McRaith says.

He cautions that despite the promising environment, the region must do it right on the first time to avoid brand

disapproval in the global markets by for instance, paying workers well, ensuring environmental and social accountability as well as making sure wages do not reach unsustainable levels.

PVH is a dedicated global corporate and has the benefit of strongestablished operating platforms in North America and Europe and a growing presence in Asia and Latin America. The company

leverages each region’s infrastructure to grow its brands in established markets, expand in underdeveloped markets, as well as penetrate new markets. “PVH is ready to grow with Kenya and Africa in general, says McRaith.

Is the East Africa Cotton & Textile industry on a re-bound?

Cotton Africa spoke to PVH, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Mr Bill McRaith

Mr Bill McRaith, PVH’s Chief Supply Chain Officer

We sent someone to look around

Africa, and what we saw

is that there is something very attractive about

EAC and Ethiopia.

By Kimemia Mugo


Responsify spreads wings across Africa

Responsify, a Swedish company founded by two entrepreneurs with a huge passion for Africa’s textile and leather industries is rapidly reaching out for new markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Madeleine Rosberg, the future is looking up for Africa as more international companies and investors are interested in production in the continent. Responsify assists international companies with sourcing, production and sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Through working with some of the biggest retailers in the world, we want to develop the textile and leather industry on the continent to become the next World Mecca for production,” says Ms Rosberg who is a Responsify co-founder with Stephanie Persson.

Responsify has ongoing orders for clients in Ethiopia where the African head office is located,Kenya and Tanzania. The company is also eyeing new markets such as Uganda, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and Mauritius in the future.

Many big retailers have a growing interest in Africa over the last few years. Clearly, it is now upon players in the value chain to seize this opportunity and build on it. The buying coordination between countries needs to be improved.

The continent’s nations should focus on making logistics more efficient,enhancing international business knowhow and efficiency, reducingbureaucracy and improving access to inventories and materials. Africa has the raw material and there is potential for international companies to buy from the continent. But the potential needs to be exploited to substitute imports from places such as Asia.

Acording to Ms Rosberg, African textile

mills will be in need of the cotton that is currently exported from the continent as the industry is growing rapidly. Quality and certificationbased on CmiA (Cotton made in Africa) and BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) are also important factors.

Factories should be able to export BCI or CMIA cotton and add value to the raw materials. The Responsify CEO notes that there is a huge demand for quality cotton especially in Europe. The business infrastructure and network between the countries should also be enhanced further.

“Africa can gain a lot from the cotton and textile industry. It is a labour intense industry and can give many people job opportunities. It can also attract other types of businesses to the continent such as suppliers of trims, printing and dyeing business, logistics, consultants, among others,” Ms Rosberg adds.

To a large extent, the governments are showing support to the industry since they are aware it can create

much needed job opportunities. This should be sustained in order to keep and develop the interest from international companies.

“In Ethiopia, an ongoing project with international stakeholders involving mapping of all cotton growing areas is meant to help improve the quality of Ethiopian cotton. Farmers will be introduced to the CmiA and BCI initiatives through the project,” Ms Rosberg adds.

To a large extent, the governments

are showing support to the industry since they are aware it can create

much needed job opportunities.

By James Ndone

Madeleine Rosberg, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Responsify


The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is the trusted public policy and political voice of the US apparel and footwear industry representing more than 1,000 world famous name brands. AAFA stands at the forefront as a leader of positive change for the apparel and footwear industry. Cotton Africa Magazine spoke to Stephen Lamar, the Executive Vice President, AAFA in a candid interview.

Excerpts:

Briefly introduce the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

AAFA represents more than 1,000 world famous name brands. It is the trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, its management and shareholders. The association ownership is the four million U.S. workers and contributes $350 billion in annual U.S. retail sales.

With integrity and purpose, AAFA

deliversaunifiedvoiceonkeylegislativeand regulatory issues. AAFA enables a collaborative forum to promote best practices and innovation. The Association’s comprehensive work ensures the continued success and growth of the apparel and footwear industry, its suppliers, and its customers.

How would you explain the rising interest in sourcing from the African Cotton and

Textile Industry by international companies outside the continent?As we have seen over the last few years, sourcing patterns are shifting away from a traditional model that relies heavily on China. Some may have heard the phrase “China plus one (or two)” as a more relevant descriptor of current sourcing patterns in which brands and retailers are diversifying their supply chains beyond China. I recently heard members describe it more accurately as “One (or two) plus China” because of the many opportunities offered by a broader and more robust global supply chain. We are

hearing that many of our members are interested in learning more about opportunities in Africa. Because of that, several African countries are poised to become the “one” or “two” in future sourcing models.

In recent years, Africa has emerged as a particularly attractive option for apparel and footwear manufacturing for U.S. companies because of the preferential treatment granted under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for eligible countries. These AGOA eligible countries exported nearly one billion dollars’ worth of apparel products to the

Cost matrix challenge holds answer to Africa’s prosperity

Stephen Lamar, the Executive Vice President, AAFA

COVER FEATURE


U.S. market in 2011.

But Africa’s potential to be a major player in the global apparel and footwear industry is not limited to its

sourcing potential. Many U.S. name brands see great

potential in Africa as a growing retail

market.

Because of our m e m b e r s ’

g r o w i n g interest in Africa, we

w e r e exci ted

t o

p a r t i c i p a t e in Source Africa last year. We are even more excited to be returning for

Source Africa on June 18 – 20, 2014 inCape Town. We are also

excited about our new partnership with the U.S.

Agency for International Development (USAID) and the African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) to expand trade and investment linkages between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa in the cotton textile and apparel sectors.

What are some of the key considerations that determine the sourcing

destination for companies in the Cotton and Textile Industry?For the U.S. apparel and footwear industry, supply chain decisions are based on one seemingly simple question: How do we deliver the right product to the right market at the right time for the right price? As I am sure you can imagine, there are many decisions that go into the successful execution of that goal.

Sourcing decisions are made through

serious processes that evaluate a country’s trade

programs, environmental record, social responsibility

standards, intellectual property protections, material and labor

costs, shipping time, and reliability of sourcing partners.

In a recent survey of members, cost continues to be the predominate factor guiding sourcing decisions, followed by skill of labor. Speed to market, accessibility of infrastructure, availability of product components, and social issues all ranked similarly as important issues but were secondary to cost and skill of labor. Brand reputation and experience in a particular region have little bearing o n sourcing decisions for more

companies.

What needs to be done to sustain the

interest and attract more investment in the

Cotton and Textile value chain in African countries?

U.S. apparel and footwear brands place a high premium on

reliable and sustainable infrastructure, including roads, utilities, and water, to beable tomoveproductsasefficientlyand cost-effectively as possible. Despite

infrastructure improvements over the last decade, much more work remains to ensure the infrastructure in many regions of Africa meets industry needs today and tomorrow.

The U.S. apparel and footwear industry also requires a secure and transparent supply chain to ensure its goods are able to meet a variety of international reporting requirements and compliance standards. This is a challenge that spans the entire global supply chain and is not limited to any particular sourcing partner or region. Africa’s textile, apparel, and footwear industry must continue to collaborate with brand and retail partners to continually address these areas of concern.

From your perspective, what is the potential of the African Cotton and Textile

Industry and what impact can the industry have in the continent’s economy if harnessed?From our perspective, there is great potential for Africa to emerge as a sourcing and retail partner for U.S. brands and retailers. Over the history of our industry, clothes and shoes have always been the major drivers of economic development and opportunity. Our industry,oftenthefirstindustrytogrowin a developing economy, helps lead to broader industrialization because it builds a reliable infrastructure other industries can use to grow.

What key challenges do investors in the industry face currently?

For U.S. brands to remain active, let alone increase their activities in Africa, the U.S. Congress must quickly renew and expand the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). While this valuable program has served as the stable foundation of U.S.-Africa relations for more than a decade, it is set to expire next year. For AGOA to remain effective, renewal cannot be last minute and the program cannot be allowed to lapse. Even a sense of uncertainty can jeopardize Africa’s growth potential in the global apparel and footwear industry. Without early renewal, companies will stop their investments, pull out production in favor of other trade programs, or lose interest in Africa as a potential partner.

Compiled by James Ndone

PICTORIAL


1. Launch of Origin Africa Designers show case, April 2014 | 2. ACTIF Website training in Addis Ababa by Joseph Nyagari | 3. Corporate governance training

in Nairobi for ACTIF Board of Directors | 4. ACTIF board meeting in Nairobi Windsor Club in May 2014 | 5. COTON ACP meeting at ACP House in Brussels,

Belgium, Feb 2014 | 6. ITMF Meeting in Bregenz, Austria, 2013 | 7. African Investment promotion meeting in Miami, USA, 2014

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1. ACTIF ED Mr. Rajeev Arora with H.E Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General of UNCTAD in Geneva, April 2014 | 2. Branding Origin Africa in Mauritius May 2014 | 3. Ambassador Froman with Ethiopian Minister Addressing Origin Africa designer showcase in Ethiopia August 2013 | 4. ACTIF meeting with Corporate Council of Africa

in USA, May 2014 | 5. Ms. Zohra Baraka Chairperspon of AWEP during Origin Africa Launch in Kenya, April 2014 | 6. ACTIF ED Rajeev Arora with Bertenbreiter

Wolfgang of GIZ at the Bremen Cotton Conference Germany | 7. VIP Reception of Origin Africa Launch in Mauritius May 2014

| 8. ACTIF Meeting with new COP Ms Kathleen Montgomery(fourth from left) at EATH 2014

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COVER FEATURE


Cotton Africa Magazine was honored with an interview by the Commissioner Trade and Industry, African Union Commission, Mrs Fatima Haram Acyl on Africa’s challenging industrialization journey.

Excerpts:Briefly take us through the mandate and role of the Africa Union Trade and

Industry portfolioThe Directorate of Trade and Industry (DTI) is one of the key departments of the African Union Commission. The DTI’s mandate is to contribute towards making Africa an integrated trading bloc within the continent and a significantand competitive trading partner in the global economy. According to the Agenda 2063 of the African Union, the Department of Trade and Industry will contribute to the socio-economic structural transformation of the continent by diversifying and modernizing production structures through sustained industrial development.

How does the department’s agenda interlock with the aspirations African

continent’s development agenda?The African Union Commission is celebrating the successes achieved in the 50 years since its establishment as the Organisation of The African Union way back in 1962. On 25th May 2014, we concluded the year-long celebrations. However, the achievements of the past 50 years have been the pseudo independence from the colonial and apartheid rules that dominated Africa for so many centuries. The achievement has been pseudo due to the absence of economic independence. Despite the fact that Africa is endowed with abundant human and natural resources, the dependency on donor funding and concessional loans from multinational institutions and other wealthier nations continue to derail Africa.

It is in this regard that AUC and memberStatesareengagedindefininga participatory Agenda 2063 which envisions Africa’s socio-economic transformation, inclusive growth and sustainable development. The agenda of the department is derived from three Continental Initiatives and frameworks that are central to the continental development agenda; namely the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa, the Africa Mining Vision, Boosting of Intra-African Trade and

the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). The ultimate objective of all these frameworks together with the Programme for Infrastructure Development (PIDA), Comprehensive Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) inter alia is to increase employment, create wealth and contribute towards inclusive and sustainable growth and development.

What are the key challenges facing the industrialization effort in Africa?

As you are aware, Africa is not only under industrialized but it has been de-industrializing. One of the factors that hinder industrialization in Africa is lack of technological capabilities and proper infrastructure, however, this should not be seen in isolation of other key factors including lack of political commitment at national level to implement continental initiatives, lack of key skills, lack of data that can inform decision making, lack of coherence policy framework that decides on industrialization throughabottom–up, value chain approach, innovation, incentives for intellectual property rights and investment attraction. There is a need to mainstream industrial policy in national development planning so that we can ensure sustained sources of

New leadership at AU Commission determined to

industrialize AFRICA

Mrs Fatima Haram Acyl, Commissioner Trade and Industry, African Union Commission


financing from the public sector whichcan then be complemented with private sector funding.

Cognizant of the abundance of resources in Africa both human and natural, the focus of the department is to promote commodity based industrialization. Africa has been at the heart of industrialization for hundreds of years, mainly as a supplier of raw materials and labour (noting that the slave trade lasted over 300 years). For the past three decades, a number of Industrialization initiatives were developed but never implemented.Theseincludethefirstandsecond Industrial Development Decades for Africa from 1980 – 2000 which did

not yield any fruitful benefits. Reasonsfor this failure was partly due to the misguidedone-fit-allpolicyprescriptionsthat were conditionally prescribed to African countries such as the Structural Adjustment programmes (SAPs), but also due to poor management and lack of clear leadership both at the member state level and at the AUC level. With the new and invigorated leadership at the AUC spearheaded by the AUC Chairperson H.E Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma, AUC is determined to change the way things were done in the past.

Currently, there are two important initiatives on industry which were adopted by the Heads of State and Governments that are being implemented: these include: the Action Plan for Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa (AIDA) as well as the African Mining Vision (AMV). These two take into consideration the earlier initiatives “Africa Productive Capacity Initiative” and they draw from lessons learnt from the past initiatives particularly to ensure the involvement of the private sector and key sectoral associations such as ACTIF. This is why our partnership with ACTIF is considered as very important. The implementation of African Continental initiatives can only be achieved by strengthening our collaboration with key partners and stakeholdersworking in specific sectors

and across sectors.

What is your take on the current state of the cotton, textile, and apparel industry

in Africa? How does it compare internationally?In pursuit of its objectives, particularly for Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) and the realization of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), AUC through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in particular believes in the establishment of or promoting regional and/or continental value chains in strategic commodities both agro-based industries such as the Cotton to Clothing Value Chain but also

in the minerals sector. This is the only way the skilled and high end employment especially for young people and women can be created. It is the only way wealth will be created along these value chains. With the deepening of integration agenda through the intra-regional trade, the proposed Tripartite Free Trade area (SADC-EAC-COMESA) and the upcoming Continental FTA, there will be seamless trade

across borders, removal of trade barriers both Tariff and non-tariff barriers, and the free movement of people, capital and factors of production. This will encourage cross border investments and promote regional value chains. The regional value chains will be integrated into the global value chains where Africa as a continent will no longer depend on exporting unprocessed raw materials but will join the rest of the world in trading in high-end manufactured and processed products. This will promote economic growth that is sustainable and contribute to the socio-economic transformation as envisioned under Agenda 2063.

Does the AU Trade and Industry departmenthave plans/initiatives or

mechanisms to kick-start the industry for enhancement of investment and trade?The main DTI initiatives in this regard are the BIAT and the AIDA. They both focus on developing continental trade and industrialisation agenda towards the structural transformation of the continent. While the plans cut across t different sectors, they address issues faced by different industries including the African Cotton sector related to value addition, developing competitiveness,

improving productivity and creating access to larger markets. In addition, the Commission is working on the development of an African Commodities Strategy focusing on the development of commodity value chains across the continent as well as ensuring the adequate pricing of key commodities. These initiatives will enhance trade and investment in the cotton sector. The plans also place emphasis on the need to engage the private sector and other actors along the entire value chain.

What is the department’s take on the on-going EU – EAC EPA negotiations,

which other trade pacts can the EAC draw lessons?While the European market is important to African countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), it is important to ensure that initiatives such as the EPAs do not threaten Africa’s overall integration agenda. The EPAs as they are being negotiated stand a chance of doing that because of the different market access offers from the different regions in the continent. In addition, it is important that RECs maintain the policy spaceandflexibilitynecessary toenactpolicy measures for their industrialization and structural transformation.

What is the AU Trade and Industry department’s take on the AGOA initiative for

the cotton value chain? We believe that AGOA offers an important opportunity for African Cotton’s access to the US market. We are currently focusing our energies on ensuring a long-term renewal of AGOA that is coterminous with the Third Country Fibre fabric provision in order to ensure continuing access to the US markets on a preferential basis as well as guaranteed investments to the sector. We are also working on ensuring improved rules of origin to provide for value addition and beneficiation of cotton and otherproducts under AGOA as we feel that this is critical for the maturation and development of the industry. The upcoming US-Africa Leaders Conference in Washington provides a high level opportunity to advocate for the renewal of an enhanced AGOA.

Edited by Kimemia Mugo

COUNTRY UPDATES


TheGovernmentofBotswana(GoB)hasidentifiedthetextiles/apparel sector as one of the priority sectors for the country’s EconomicDiversificationDrive(EDD).

Several stakeholder meetings have culminated in the development of a sector strategy, which has been submitted to theNationalEconomicDiversificationCouncil(NEDC),chairedby the Minister of Trade & Industry, Hon. Dorcas Makgato-Malesu. The NEDC is made up of Permanent Secretaries and seniorgovernmentofficialsfromvariousministries.

The Textiles & Clothing strategy was recently endorsed by NEDC for implementation. The sector taskforce was asked to recommend to the Council appropriate incentive packages that would support the sector’s competitiveness and sustainability. The Department of Industrial Affairs (DIA), which is responsible for monitoring and evaluating its implementation, is leading the development of the incentive package, which should be completed by end of July 2013. A Textiles & Clothing Association will be a key implementing partner to DIA.

Botswana, a Southern Africa country, is landlocked by Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. However, the country enjoys easy access to almost all countries in Southern Africa by road and air. The country has a population of 2 million with 81% literacy rate and competitive wage rates. Botswana’s garment sector benefitsfrompreferentialmarketaccesstotheUSviaitsAGOAeligibility, to South Africa via membership to the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), and to Europe. Home to a growing garment manufacturing industry, the country has produced a variety of garments including suits, trousers, shirts, protective wear, embellished jeans and t-shirts, although it is most active in producing home textiles, blankets and towels.

Botswana targets textiles & apparel to diversify economy


In the 1970s and 80s, Cameroon’s Cotton Textile and Apparel industry was a promising economic activity that employedaroundfivethousandpeople.There were about 15 active and thriving factories mostly located in Douala, Cameroon’s capital.

A new wave that threatened the vibrant industry swept over the country in the 1990s when new business laws and regulations brought the entire industry on its knees.

The laws subjected the CTA Industry into high taxes especially on raw materials and left the industry exposed when cheap imported second hand products flooded the Cameroonianmarket, rendering the goods produced in Cameroon uncompetitive.

Within a period of 5 years, all the 15 companies shutdown, throwing out thousands of employees who moved toward tailoring and associated businesses where they sew and mend fabrics for other people.

However, the government joined other African countries in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This breathed new air into the industry and in the early 2000s some companies started to come back and set up. Others chose to somehow invest in the CTA industry.

We now have 4 to 5 large companies that produce garment (woven and knitted products) out of which some of them export in mainly Europe. We also have a few small companies which produce and export their products to Europe, although in very small quantities.

In comparison to the West and Central African countries, our Cameroon is not doing too badly. We are probably among the top 4 leading cotton producers in the West and Central Africa.

Our industries are also trying to transform

and produce garments despite the usual challenges that slow down our pace. The major challenge facing our industry is lack of proper structures that can efficientlyand effectively compete with the global demands of textiles. The small companies in the garment industry are trying, but they still need capacity building, training and appropriate equipment as well as a friendly environment to progress.

The CTA sector is a crucial pillar in our country’s economy. The cotton industry which is well developed than the apparel industry here is the source of livelihood for the whole of north Cameroon. The apparel industry is not well-developed butwecancountaroundfivecompanieslying in the apparel category.

The farm-to-market structure is undergoing a major surgery as we plan to have companies here that can buy the raw cotton for processing. Less than 4% of cotton produced in Cameroon is transformed locally and there is only one leading company that transforms that cotton into yarns and fabrics.

Over the years, our CTA industry has undergone major milestones. We have managed to form a textile federation bringing together all textiles companies in one body called Interprofession Coton Textile etConfection (ICOTEC). The federation is under the Ministry of Economy and we believe that this was a major achievement as through the ministry, the government is much more involved and aware of textile industry issues that need to be addressed.

As a matter of fact, the government is now working on implementing a textile value chain strategy to re-launch the cotton & textile industry in Cameroon.

For our industry to realize its full potential, ICOTEC and other key players need to address the bottlenecks facing the industry. First, the business environment

needs to be friendlier than it is currently by imposing taxes on imports to protect local industries, improve access to energy and also improve the transport network to ensure easy access to raw materials and markets.

Accesstofinancesforpotentialinvestorsis crucial too for the industry to take off. Lastly a well structured environment along the value chain will improve the industry and make it realize its full potential.

At the moment, our industry players are trying their best to cope with these challenges. Big industries players are partly state-owned companies and as such they have better contact with the competent ministries. Now that there is ICOTEC, CTA players speak in one voice and issues tend to be resolved much easily.

The key players in our country’s CTA industry include the Société de Développement du Coton (SODECOTON) and CotonniéreIndustrielle du Cameroun (CICAM). SODECOTON are into ginning and CICAM are into weaving and dying. Theformerprovidescottonfibretothesecond who in turn produces yarn and fabrics for other local companies. All local companies (garment industry, small garment producers, tailors, designers) rely totally on CICAM for the production of their goods unless when they import.

Our current government is addressing the concerns of players in the CTA industry as a top priority. We can already see some results trickling in. The discussion regarding a new strategy for the sector brings together stakeholders (private sector, government representatives, federation and banks) that are here right now. We hope that soon, we shall come up with a strong strategy and fast track its implementation.

By Caroline Sack

Huge potential for cotton industry in Cameroon

Apparel production factories in Cameroon


Cotton growing was introduced in Burundi by the colonial rule of Belgium in the 1920s. Initially the farms were under the control of Institut National pour l’EtudeAgronomique du Congo Belge (INEAC) or the National Institute for Agronomy in Belgian Congo.

According to research conducted by INEAC cotton growing areas in Burundi are the plains of Ruzizi, Nyanza Lac and Moso.

In 1947, the Development Authority of Cotton Growing in Burundi under the name Management Committee of Cotton Reserves (COGERCO) was formed. The Authority acted as a Community Company for three countries- Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) Rwanda and Burundi.

After independence in the 1960s, Congo and Rwanda pulled out from the communitarian company with Congo being thefirst towithdraw in1961andRwanda following suit in 1967.

From 1967 until 1977, COGERCO was charged with the mandate of supervision, extension and collection of cotton seed. The processing and marketing of cotton

grains were made by a private company called Ruzizi.

In 1977, the shelling factory belonging to Ruzizi Company was nationalized and attached to COGERCO. During the 1977-1984 period, COGERCO operated as a ministerial department.

The Legislative Decree No. 100/81 of June 19th, 1984 allowed the Management Committee of Cotton Reserves to change its name. It was known as COGERCO “Cotton Management Company” and acted as a public establishment of industrial and commercial nature.

COGERCO currently has approximately 138 employees and is supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAGRIE). A General Director organizes, coordinates and controls the actions of the agricultural, administrative, financialandtechnicaldepartment.

A Board of Directors composed of seven officials nominated by decree overseesthe company’s activities. The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock validates all decisions made by the board.

Although our country lacks statistics

regarding the cotton industry, the textile industry is still underdeveloped compared to other African countries. Perennial problems such as the civil war coupled with the closing down of the COTEBU textile factory are some of the contributors to the underdevelopment. If this factory could be up and running, the country’s cotton potential would be exploited far much better, since it used toprocessmore than200 tonsof fibreper year.

However, with the new textile factory (AFRITEXTILE) in place, Burundi processes more than 2,500 tons per year and the number is growing every year. The warfare reduced cotton seed production and immensely affected the ginning factory which is now collecting only 2,500 tons per year, a relatively small amount compared to other African nations.

The Cotton, Textile and Apparel Sector (CTA) is a crucial cog to our economy as a country as it is a monetary resource for over 15,000 families who own cotton farms and use cotton as their source of livelihood. COGERCO has 137 permanent employees and over 500

Tracing back Burundi’s cotton & textiles voyage

•Textile industry still at infancy, and there lies the opportunity

By Pierre Claver Nahimana

COUNTRY UPDATES


casual workers.

Before the civil war in 1993, cotton production was the second source of foreign currency after coffee, because Burundi could export cotton fibre andsatisfy the local market. The textile cotton factory in Burundi through manufacturing process is also fully integrated into the national economy with 1800 employees.

Our cotton industry is well structured from the farm to the market. COGERCO governs cotton growers throughout the growing cycle if cotton from their mobilization and sensitization to the purchase of cotton seed through the monitoring of the implementation of the technical route and granting fertilizers and mechanization credit. Other agricultural inputs such as seeds and pesticides are 100% subsidized. To producers in associations with large and extended cotton areas, COGERCO grants a weeding credit.

After having mobilized and sensitized cotton producers on the economic benefits of cotton growing,COGERCOidentifies producers who showenthusiasm towards this crop together with the areas they are willing to sow. This data enables COGERCO to predict the amount of inputs to be provided.

Producers then proceed to plough - either manual (hoe), drawn (animal traction) or mechanical (tractor). Based on 2010’s data, manual ploughing is most common because 63% of the total cotton areas are hoe ploughed. Mechanization is second with 37% while the use of draft animals is almost non-existent. The mechanization service rendered to farmers is subsidized up to 60%. The sowing is preceded by a seed treatment which is usually done a day before.

Some producers work individually, others evolve into associations. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of cotton farmers’ associations varied between 68 and 75.

These associations comprised 2,693 members in 2009 among whom slightly more than a half are men. In 2011, COGERGO counted 3189 association members, among whom 1543 were women. The other cotton growers are not in associations.

At the outlet of the cotton grains shelling factory, COGERCO gets lint on one hand and grains on the other. The lint is compacted by a press in cotton bales weighing between 220 and 250kg and wounded in iron wires under the standard conditions of cotton industries. Conditioned fibre is sold tooutside distributors (CDI-Switzerland, UTEXIRWA-Rwanda or Plexussa-UK), or local industries (AFRITEXTILE).

Since the 2011’s cotton campaign, lint is mainly sold to AFRITEXTILE. The Fixation of the selling unit price is based on the Liverpool Index A of the Cotton Outlook (Cotlook A) determined fromtheaverageoffivenationalpricesthe lowest price from a basket of 13 national reference countries. This price is expressed in U.S. dollars (USD) per pound and corresponds to a lint average length of 1-3/32’’ (27.8 mm).

When the lint was mainly exported to external markets, COGERCO produced several ranges of lint that were listed differently. In recent years, the cotton lint is delivered in one grade in local sales.

The sale of grains is almost exclusively done to a local factory named RAFINA, which produces cooking oil. According to a prescribed protocol, RAFINA is committed to supporting the revision of the producer’s price and to make regular payments to help COGERCO improve its cash flow; on its behalfCOGERCO undertakes to deliver in the most preferred way the maximum of the produced grains per industrial season.

The future of the CTA sector in Burundi is promising. Many people are coming

on board to support our industry by exploring the untapped potential and implementingstrategiesthatwillbenefitthe farmer and increase the production yields. Our farmers are fully involved in cotton production through. COGERCO is also banking on its experience to help farmers where necessary. The company is also planning to irrigate the Imbo plains which would benefit the farmersliving around the plains.

However, to fully harness the industry, certain interventions are needed. The energy sector needs to be developed to avoid power outages which slow down production. There is also a need to modernize and renovate the ginnery with modern equipment and vehicles to transport the raw materials.

Burundi’s CTI milestones at a glance:

Ø 1947: creation of COGERCO the 1st community company in the Great Lakes region for three countries: Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

Ø 1977: The private ginning company Ruzizi was nationalized and attached to COGERCO.

Ø 1984: COGERCO becomes a public company with a commercial and industrial status and is commissioned to supervise the cotton sector.

Ø 1951: Creation of HUILUSA the 1st oil factory in Burundi.

Ø 1963: HUILUSA changes name and became RAFINA.

Ø 2007: Closing down of the textile factory COTEBU

Ø 2011: Creation of a new textile factory AFRITEXTILE


COUNTRY UPDATES

Nigeria in the 1960s to 70s supplied 18 percent of cotton requirement to the world market. Today it has crashed to insignificance.

The same fate applies across Sub-Saharan Africa where according to “CmiA&COMPACI–News”,SSAwascontributing only about 7% to the world requirement far behind cotton exporting countries such as America, Britain, India and China.

Historically, the dissolution in 1986 of the Nigerian Cotton Board negatively affected the quantity and quality of Nigerian Cotton which inadvertently resulted in poor marketing. Cotton played a vital role in the Nigerian economy when Agriculture constituted almost 70% of the country’s GDP.

Cotton had been and still is a major source of employment and income to millions of Nigerians involved in the production, marketing and processing of the raw material to the textile industry. Cottonasacrophasmanybenefitsand

if properly cultivated and put to optimal use its waste is almost zero % i.e cotton cultivationyieldslint,refinedoil,oilmeal,linters,soapstickandsyntheticfibre.

Today, even with massive injection of millions of dollars into the cotton, textile value chain by the Nigerian government, production is still facing

myriad challenges as the farmer has no collateral to access loan directly without a link to a ginnery. This means a farmer has no option but to sell his/her harvested Cotton to a certain ginnery and is left with little or nothing to take homeforhis/herhousehold`sbenefit.

The coming into the scene of Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) is therefore apt and at the right time to really avert the gulf of mass migration from cotton to other cash crop and food crops. Some of CmiA objectives and targets are key in ameliorating farmers’ conditions by increasing income and asset portfolios. S o c i a l obligations such as taking care and f u n d i n g t h e

payments of school fees hence enabling children to attend school are also fundamental societal needs.

There is also the specific gendercomponent to support women in cotton producing families (e.g Women clubs), hence making more women income earners. CmiA’s advice to National governments on developmental/implementation of National Cotton Sector Strategies is a welcome idea.

Better Soil Fertility and water conservation, implant better technologies, deploying better methods of handling pesticides and training of Smallholder Cotton farmers in Sustainable farming/cultivation techniques according to CmiA Standards is also laudable.

Therefore, when all these objectives are upheld, CmiA will go a long

way in motivating the small holder farmer to

come back i n t o

Nigeria’s interest in advancing CmiA

Historically, the dissolution in 1986 of the Nigerian Cotton

Board negatively affected the quantity

and quality of Nigerian Cotton which inadvertently resulted

in poor marketing.


a more robust cotton cultivation drive. The heydays of cotton production would be seen again and the present low yield and output could greatly be enhanced to meet the requirement of the ginning mills.

As a matter of fact, the Nigerian government had sunk in huge funds in upgrading and retooling ginneries and textiles but there was no cotton to meet up the ginneries’ requirements which today run less than 30%.

ACTIF must also be commended for linking NACOTAN with CmiA in order to incorporate Nigerian farmers. CmiA was operating in Africa since 2005 but Nigeria realized their presence on the African scene only in 2014.

Discussions are at an advanced stage between the two organizations; a representative of the Nigerian

government, the Managing Director/CEO of Arewa Cotton. NACOTAN and the other stakeholderswere inGermany for thefirst legof discussions and CmiA has promised to send a high level technical delegation to Nigeria with a view to signing an MOU. So with this in mind one can see the need for Nigeria to develop an interest to apply the CmiA Standards on behalf of her Farmers.

H.A. Kwajaffa

NACOTAN, Nigeria.

TRADE POLICY


As the market access regulation deadline of 1st October 2014 on European Union (EU) –East African Community (EAC)Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) approaches, one substantive issue of export taxes remains unresolved.

The EAC has been negotiating as a bloc. In November 2007 the EAC and EU agreed on an interim EPA. However the negotiations have not been without challenges and have hence been protracted. But the parties continue to make steady progress towards resolving and concluding the outstanding issues.

Before the most recent negotiating meeting in March this year, a few issues were remaining namely; Rules of Origin, Export taxes, MFN clause, and Agriculture- EU domestic support and export subsidies.

The March meeting progressed the negotiations tremendously and substantively only one major issue remains unresolved; Export Taxes. This is an issue where the parties still hold different economic positions and approaches to resolving it. Undoubtedly,

there is some work ahead in this area. However, solutions exist.

On the 13th and 14th February 2014, a dialogue organized by ICTSD was held with the objective of contributing to a constructive debate on EPA negotiations in the EAC. Participants were drawn from all Member States and from diverse sectors. The outcome was to put forward a message to the EU on where solutions could be found and to propose such possible solutions. The idea was to use the honest broker, The Dutch, to convey the position of the EAC to the EU.

The outcome was reduced into a report which has since been circulated to all participants. More important, The Dutch undertook to present the EAC position on the outstanding issues to the EU, including possible solutions.

On the 20th March a meeting was convened in Brussels courtesy of The Dutch. I attended the meeting together with International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) representatives and The Dutch delegation in Brussels at the Netherlands

mission. The Chief EU Negotiator on EPA and her team attended that meeting. I together with Dr Vinaye Ancharaz of ICTSD took time to explain and table the outcome of the dialogue in Dar. We also explored possible solutions.

The Brussels meeting was held before the negotiations of March and therefore wassignificantinclarifyingpositionsandbriefing the EU about the expectationsand possible solutions of the March negotiations. The Dutch further undertook to bring up the issues at the EU Trade Ministers’ meeting.

The outcome and progress of the last negotiation should be a source of encouragement that the EAC is on course to conclude negotiations. A protocol on rules of origin has been agreed, the MFN clause resolved. This is real progress. However, time is short in this regard. The 1st of October is fast approaching.

I am certain that the dialogue positively contributed to the resolution of most of the outstanding issues. I have no doubt that the deal is in sight even on the last issue of Export Taxes.

Why there is need to move fast and conclude

EU-EAC EPAs

Amb Darlington Mwape, Zambia


The EAC is engaged in a negotiation that willfinallybesignedoffasaproductofmutual agreement. Any issues of concern should be dealt with during negotiations. Ibelieve that the long termbenefitsofliberalization resulting from the EPA will produce the desired benefits for theregion. We should always remember that the growth of trade requires both imports and exports.

The remaining issue of export taxes is difficult but not insurmountable. Whilethe EAC is arguing for the retention of export taxes as a general rule, the EU would like prohibition of new export taxes except in special circumstances, on limited tariff lines and for a limited period of time and subject to a consultative process. The EAC argues for policy space and industrialization as reasons for retention. The European Commission (EC) is of the view that Export taxes are trade distorting. The EU requires better access to resources that often attract export taxes.

While a textual solution could be struck with much ease, it will not move the parties from their trenches on this issue. The parties must realize that policy space is costly and one has to be willing to pay for it. On the other hand, a genuine need forrawmaterialbeneficiationinAfricaisa real issue which must be recognized. The solution lies in the EAC leveraging by seeking more aid in the development chapter to attend to issues of productive capacity. Parties must recall that current export taxes are not proposed for prohibition, only the imposition of new export taxes.

The future of EPAs in Africa is relative to particular regions and the issues are diverse in nature. One has to consider which region and the issues peculiar to such a region. While some regions like ECOWAS have made substantial progress and concluded negotiations, other regions are at different stages of negotiation. There is no doubt that though Africa continues to diversify its export markets towards the east, Europe

will continue to be a major partner. Concluding a trade deal with Europe is essential. Reliance on discretionary market access schemes does not provide the stability and predictability that markets and business require.

Africa has had many prescriptions for growth and poverty reduction. The fact is that to begin with, the assured market must be intra-African. Efforts to move to a continental FTA should be invigorated. Africa should position itself in view of mega regions being negotiated.

In respect to the EPA in the EAC, internal consultative processes should continue to play a major role in ensuring that in-country buy-in is achieved. This will not only be relevant during ratification butwill be key in implementation of the EPAs.Thedifficultiesofimplementationbeing experienced in the CARIFORUM should render a lesson for Africa to have a more robust inclusive agenda in this regard.

His Highness the Aga Khan in a group photo with an EAC delegation led by Dr. Richard Sezibera, EAC Secretary General


TRADE POLICY

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) - the cornerstone of US trade and economic policy with Africa is currently sanctioned through September 30, 2015. Both President Obama and US Trade Representative, Michael Froman have promised that AGOA will be renewed “seamlessly” before its expiration. Ambassador Froman has instructed the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct an investigation on what has worked under AGOA and what can be improved.TheOfficeoftheU.S.TradeRepresentative(USTR)has held a series of roundtables with stakeholders to explore policy options for improving AGOA. Congress has instructed theGeneralAccountabilityOffice(GAO),itsinvestigativearm,to study AGOA’s renewal.

All indications are that progress is being made towards AGOA renewal, but appearances can be deceiving. The ITC investigation and GAO study are late. As a result, no bills have been introduced in Congress or even drafted, and no hearings have been held. But surely, there must be plenty of time in the 18 months between now and September 30, 2015, for the “seamless” renewal of AGOA to take place? Not necessarily.

One must appreciate the fact that apparel orders are typically placed up to nine months in advance of delivery. So with AGOA’sduty-freebenefitsauthorizedthroughSeptember30,2015, there is a serious risk of US apparel buyers shifting their orders out of Africa if AGOA has not been renewed by December 31, 2014. So the 18 month window is really just nine months. Indeed, we witnessed exactly this scenario in connection with the renewal of the AGOA third-country fabric provision in 2012. The third-country fabric provision was authorized through September 30, 2012. Despite intensive efforts to convince

Congress to take action well in advance, Congress dallied until August 2012 to renew the critical provision, which accounts for more than 90% of apparel imports under AGOA. The resulting uncertainty prompted US apparel buyers to become cautious and shift orders from African suppliers to other regions beginning January 2012, with the resulting loss of an estimated $45 million in business and tens of thousands of jobs in Africa.

To avoid similar losses of orders and jobs this time, AGOA must be renewed by December 31, 2014. But 2014 is a Congressional bi-election year. With elections scheduled for November, and every Member of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate up for election, Congress will essentially shut down in September and will not resume serious legislative work until January 2015. That leaves May-August for the serious work on renewing AGOA. But Congress traditionally takes the month of August off for recess, especially in election years. So the real window of opportunity for Congressional action to renew AGOA without negative repercussions is just three months from May to July. With every passing day, it becomes increasingly unlikely that AGOA will be renewed in this ever-diminishing window. Rather, it seems increasingly likely that there will be some disruption of AGOA apparel trade before Congress renews AGOA.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) held its public hearing on its AGOA investigation on January 14, 2014. Four AfricanAmbassadorsand13privatesectorwitnessestestifiedbefore the Commission.

Ambassador Soborun of Mauritius was the lead spokesman for the African Diplomatic Corps. His testimony followed the same lines as the recommendations made by the African Diplomatic Corps and adopted by the African Trade Ministers at the 2013 AGOA Forum in Addis Ababa. These included that AGOA should be extended for at least 15 years while the third-

U.S. deliberates over AGOA renewal, but is time

running out?

ACTIF Testifies Before ITC Hearing on AGOA Renewal

By Paul Ryberg


country fabric provision should be extended for the full term of the renewal of AGOA, additional technical assistance and capacity building is needed and fourth, tax incentives should be provided for investment in Africa. Ethiopian Ambassador, Girma Birru, South African Ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool and Kenya’sActingAmbassado,rJeanKamaualso testified.Theirtestimony was generally consistent with the positions taken by the African Diplomatic Corps.

Jaswinder Bedi, Chairman of the African Cotton and Textile IndustriesFederation(ACTIF)testifiedbeforetheITC,focusingon the importance of renewing the current apparel provisions of AGOA well in advance of their expiration in 2015. Two other private sector witnesses also addressed the apparel provisions of AGOA: Paul Ryberg, President of the African Coalition for Trade (ACT) and Steve Lamar of the American Apparel and Footwear Industry Association (AAFA). All three presented a unifiedfront,callingfora15-yearrenewalofAGOA,withthethird-country fabric provision to be made co-terminus with the overall authorization of AGOA.

Indeed, with the exception of the witness who testified onbehalf of the U.S. poultry industry, all witnesses concurred that a long-term renewal of AGOA was necessary. Most suggested renewal for 15 years. There was no objection to extension of the third-country fabric provision, although some questions were asked by Commissioners about whether the third-country fabric provision may have prevented the development of upstream textile manufacturing.

The only witness who expressed any opposition to AGOA was William Roenigk on behalf of the National Chicken Council, who is concerned over South African antidumping duties on US chicken exports. As a result, the National Chicken Council is opposed to AGOA renewal until South Africa lifts its antidumping duties.

Another theme that attracted much comment was regional integration. In particular, several witnesses expressed opposition to “graduating” South Africa and other more advanced beneficiaries from AGOA because this would bedisruptive to regional integration efforts. ITC Commissioner Keiff asked what the outcome of graduation should be. In his testimony, Mr. Ryberg suggested that graduation should only occur when it results in the conclusion of a bilateral FTA with terms of access comparable to AGOA.

Rules of origin were discussed by several witnesses, who called for lowering the 35% value added rule of origin or otherwise relaxing the rules to accommodate modern “supply-chain” manufacturing patterns. One such idea was to eliminate the current requirement that final processing of a product mustoccur in Africa for it to be eligible. Under this proposal, a product could be eligible for duty-free status under AGOA regardless of where it is processed so long as it contains the required amount of Africa content. ACT is concerned that this proposal could be counterproductive, as it might tend to perpetuate Africa’s current role as the supplier of raw materials.

The full set of testimony from the January 14 hearing, as well as statements submitted for the record, are available on the ITC website: www.usitc.gov.

While Congress and the administration deliberate over AGOA renewal, U.S. apparel imports from Africa under AGOA continued to recover throughout 2013 in response to Congress’ renewal of the AGOA third-country fabric provision the previous August, according to the latest trade data just released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. AGOA apparel imports were up 13.6% measured by volume from 224.833 million square meter equivalents (sme) in January-December 2012 to 242.781 million sme in January-December 2013. The recovery was less impressive measured by value, however, up only 8.2% over the same period last year.

To put all this into perspective, U.S. apparel imports from Sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled in response to the enactment of AGOA in 2000, but then fell sharply from 2004 to 2010, following the expiration of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) system of quotas, down -52% from 462.268 million sme in 2004 to just 222.354 million sme in 2010. It is now clear that it took fiveyearsfrom2005until2010forAGOAtextileandapparelimports to begin to recover from the damage caused by the end of the MFA. By 2012, however, this recovery was undercut by the uncertainty surrounding whether, and if so when, Congress would renew the critical third-country fabric provision. This uncertainty caused serious new losses through December 2012. The lesson to be learned from this unfortunate experience is that it is of utmost importance that Congress does not wait until the last minute to extend AGOA beyond its current expiration in September 30, 2015.

Virtually since the enactment of AGOA in 2000, apparel imports fromsixbeneficiaries–Lesotho,Kenya,Madagascar,Swaziland,Mauritius, and South Africa – had been head-and-shouldersgreater than the next largest AGOA producer. However, since the end of the MFA, apparel imports from South Africa have fallen sodramatically – a ruinousdropofmore than -94% inseven years from 15.027 million sme in 2005 to just 0.699 million smein2012–thatBotswana,Ethiopia,Malawi,andTanzaniaallpassed South Africa among the top AGOA apparel exporters. Non-apparel textile product imports from South Africa, which do not qualify for duty-free under AGOA, have staged a partial recovery since 2011, but apparel imports have continued to disappear until 2013, when apparel imports recovered slightly, up 15.49%.

Country MSME % Share $Million % Share

Kenya 92.629 38.2% $308.563 32.9%

Lesotho 71.406 29.4% $321.276 34.3%

Mauritius 28.630 11.8% $191.188 20.4%

Swaziland 13.156 5.4% $49.749 5.3%

Madagascar 11.436 4.7% $20.265 2.2%

Tanzania 10.578 4.4% $10.389 1.1%

Ethiopia 7.316 3.0% $10.348 1.1%

Malawi 2.963 1.2% $8.418 0.9%

Botswana 1.525 0.6% $5.859 0.6%

South Africa 0.807 0.3% $5.837 0.6%

TOTALS 240.446 99.2% $931.892 99.5%

AGOA apparel imports continued to recover in 2013

By Paul Ryberg


TRADE POLICY

Throughout most of 2011, Kenya had surpassed Lesotho to become the largest AGOA apparel supplier to the United States measured by the volume of such importsinsme.Lesothomaintainedasignificantlead,however, in terms of the value of such imports. During 2012,LesothoandKenyatookturnsinfirstplaceamongthe AGOA apparel exporters, as measured by either volume or value. In January-December 2013, Lesotho recaptured the lead in the value of apparel trade, while Kenyahasretainedfirstplacebyvolume.

With the suspension of Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility effective January 1, 2010, U.S. apparel imports from Madagascar tumbled, down -72% in 2010. This sad slide continued in 2011, down another -35%. It came as a surprise, therefore, that apparel imports from Madagascar surged in 2012, up 27.47% by volume and 6.36% by value even though these imports were subject to duty. This recovery stalled in August 2012. Imports from Madagascar have dropped again during 2013,down–19.28%byvolume,and-50.75%byvalue.Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility is likely to be reinstated following its recent democratic elections.

Apparel imports from Mauritius were also hit quite hard by the end of the MFA, falling by more than half through 2008. However, Since the renewal of the Mauritius third-country fabric provision in 2008, apparel imports from Mauritius have staged a recovery. In 2013, apparel imports from Mauritius were up 19.7% over 2012. As a result, Mauritius has moved into third place among AGOA apparel exporters. Despite this four-year increase in imports from Mauritius, they remain far below the peak level of 2004, when Mauritius exported 37.183 million sme of apparel to the United States. During 2013, Mauritius’ apparel exports were 23.924 million sme, just 64% of the 2004 zenith.

With the reinstatement of Cote d’Ivoire’s AGOA visa inMarch2013,atotalof28AGOAbeneficiarieshaveapproved AGOA apparel visa systems, qualifying them for duty-free access to the U.S. market: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. As noted above, Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility was suspended effective January 1, 2010, but as discussed below, now that Madagascar has held elections and is likely to be reinstated.

Nine of the AGOA visa holders – plusMadagascar -exportedsignificantvolumesofapparel totheUnitedStates during January-December 2013: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland, and Tanzania. Together, these ten countries accounted for over 99% of total U.S. apparel imports from Africa during January-December 2013. Apparel imports from these ten countries increased by 13.26% during January-December 2013, as measured by volume in sme, and by 8.46% by value.

Various images representing different stages of apparel manufacturing


The long-awaited US-Africa Presidential Summit has been set for August 5-6, 2014, in Washington. The White House and State Departmentofficiallyannouncedtheinvitation-only event on January 23, 2014. Although no formal announcement has yet been released, it is widely expected that the 2014 AGOA Forum will be held in Washington immediately following the Summit, probably on August 7-8. What is not yet known is whether there will be any sort of formal interface between the Summit and the Forum.

Country2012 2013 % Growth

msme $ million msme $ million msme $ million

Botswana 2.962 $10.616 1.525 $5.859 -48.53% -44.81%

Ethiopia 5.282 $10.199 7.316 $10.348 38.51% 1.46%

Kenya 72.522 $254.232 92.629 $308.563 27.72% 21.37%

Lesotho 67.131 $300.930 71.406 $321.276 6.37% 6.76%

Madagascar 14.358 $41.195 11.436 $20.265 -20.35% -50.81%

Malawi 2.033 $5.724 2.963 $8.418 45.70% 47.07%

Mauritius 23.924 $162.788 28.630 $191.188 19.67% 17.45%

South Africa 0.699 $6.132 0.807 $5.837 15.55% -4.80%

Swaziland 14.457 $59.855 13.156 $49.749 -9.00% -16.88%

Tanzania 8.927 $7.531 10.578 $10.389 18.50% 37.96%

Subtotal of 10 Visa Countries 212.295 $859.202 240.446 $931.892 13.26% 8.46%

Rest of Africa 1.126 $4.974 2.035 $4.757 80.73% -4.36%

Total 213.421 864.176 242.481 $936.649 13.62% 8.39%

On 26th June 2014, President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation, reinstating Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility and suspending Swaziland.

Madagascar’s reinstatement is effective immediately, but Swaziland’s suspension does not take effect until January 1, 2015. The Proclamation does not explain the reason for Swaziland’s suspension from AGOA, but in the past, the only challenge to Swaziland’s AGOA eligibility has been brought by the AFL-CIO and has charged that Swaziland is not respecting worker rights.

Madagascar elected former finance minister, HeryRajaonarimampianina as new president on December 20, 2013.

AGOA: Obama reinstates Madagascar, suspends Swaziland

First Ever U.S.-Africa Summit To Be Held in D.C. in August

The election results were upheld by Madagascar’s Supreme Court on January 17, 2014, and the new president was sworn intooffice.Theelectionresultshavebeengenerallyrecognizedby the international community as free and fair.

The United States suspended Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility effective January 1, 2010, because of the nondemocratic regime change in 2009 that brought the previous president to power. U.S. apparel imports from Madagascar tumbled as a result of the loss of duty-free status, but have stabilized in the past two years. The U.S. State Department issued several conditions for restoring Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility, the most important was holding free, fair and inclusive elections.

SourcesatUSTRhadearlierconfirmedthatconsultationswiththeState Department aimed at approving reinstating Madagascar’s AGOA eligibility had been initiated. Reacting to the news on Madagascar’s re eligibility, Ms. Eva Razafimandimby,the Executive Director GEFP stated as follows: “We‘re very delighted to hear that we’re back in the AGOA again. This Presidential decision has been welcomed with great hope and enthusiasm because it has been run on the day of the Independence Day of Madagascar (June 26th). On behalf of GEFP–Members,wewishtothankallstakeholdersespeciallyACTIF for being helpful to us.”


If the body language of the US President during his recent visit to Africa is anything to go by, then Africa should prepare to celebrate an extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) initiative beyond 2015.

It is encouraging to the eligible African countries participating in the Initiative to receive such an assurance from the President. During his visit to South Africa, President Obama hinted that AGOA would be renewed, upgraded and improved. “I want to renew AGOA so that we can generate more trade and more jobs,” President Obama said during apressbriefing. The assuranceby the US in considering the extension of the Initiative is welcome as it creates hope among existing and potential investors and buyers.

The AGOA initiative has had a positive impact on the textile and apparel sector in Kenya. It has grown exports from KSh3.4 billion in 2000 to KSh20.9 billion in 2012. This figure could havebeen much higher were it not for the numerous challenges facing the sector. Kenya is a cotton growing country yet the output of cotton remains minimal. The potential is estimated at 350,000 hectares in rain-fed and 35,000 hectares irrigated crop production. With proper crop husbandry, Kenya can produce up to 300,000 metric tons of seed cotton. Presently, the country produces approximately 25,000 metric tons from 36,000 hectares of land.

Lack of price incentive to farmers tops the list of the challenges affecting cotton production in the country. In production season 2000/01 cotton farmers fetched between KSh.18 and 26 per Kg. Between 2009 to 2012, the prices fluctuatedbetween KSh35 to KSh65 per Kg. Given the inflation rate in the country, theseamounts do not motivate farmers to grow cotton.

Efforts should also be put to deal with other pressing challenges such as the cost of farm inputs (fertilizers and pesticides), poor quality of seeds, and inefficienttechnological capacity affecting the level of investment along the value

chain. The sector also suffers from high cost of power, high dependency on rain-fed farming, poor farm yields and fragmented small holder farming model that do not generate economies of scale.

The Kenya National AGOA Strategy observes that the sector suffers fundamental structural issues that make it vulnerable.Somehave to do with international trade regime, and whether the level of advantages and exceptions currently offered would continue into the future. There are also issues of competitiveness especially on theexpiryofthemultifibrearrangementin 2005 which opened the flood gateof competition from countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam among others.

The sector is therefore, choked by competitive global rivals. The push by World Trade Organization on the developed countries requiring them to extend preferential treatment to the rest of the poor countries has a negative effect on the AGOA Initiative. African cotton sector cannot compete with Asian cotton sector due to cheap labour supply in those countries as well as more superior state of cotton production in terms of quality varieties and cheap inputs.

According to USAID-COMPETE, “US Apparel End Market Analysis (2011),” Kenya lands its jeans at USD6.75 compared to Cambodia’s USD.7.55 due to payment of duty of 19% by Cambodia. Otherwise, if both had same preference, Cambodia would land its jeans at USD6.34. This is 6% cheaper than a Kenyan pair of jeans. The US has tariffs on non–AGOA cotton productexports into the US of 19% and cotton/polyester mix between 29 to 31%.

Kenya needs to appreciate historical facts surrounding national industrialization processes that have always been pegged on the cotton sector. Industrialization of Europe, Asia and the Americas were stimulated by the textile and apparel factories with huge success. Kenya should therefore, consider developing a strong textile policy that will address issues of minimum support prices to

Strength of Kenyain AGOA

By Joseph N. Kosure

FEATURE

According to USAID-COMPETE, “US Apparel

End Market Analysis (2011),” Kenya lands its jeans at USD6.75

compared to Cambodia’s USD.7.55 due to payment

of duty of 19% by Cambodia. Otherwise,

if both had same preference, Cambodia would land its jeans

at USD6.34. This is 6% cheaper than a Kenyan

pair of jeans. The US has tariffs on non–AGOA cotton product exports into the US of 19% and cotton/polyester mix between 29 to 31%.


farmers, sector technology upgrading, farm subsidy, farm-size up-scaling, low cost of energy and other related infrastructure costs to make the value chain competitive.

Even though the country is doing well in terms of export of textiles and apparels to the US, the economic effect on the local communities is not felt due to near total importation of raw materials from outside the country. The 18 operating export oriented textile factories in the country import their fabric and inputs fully from third countries. AGOA provisions have emphasis on local content aimed at encouraging growth of the industry through the development of local value chain. Yet after 13 years of AGOA, there is no tangible improvement in the local content.

Every time third country fabric allowance that was meant to be stop gap measure

to the provision of raw materials expires, Africa clamours for extension because it remains the only option for the sector’sthe survival. The failure by Africa to develop its cotton/textile sector as was envisaged in AGOA has negated one of the critical objectives of the Initiative which is promotion of stable and sustainable economic growth and development.

In the run up to the 12th AGOA Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from August 9 to 13, 2013, Kenya with the other eligible African countries have started preparations for the negotiations aimed

at extending AGOA beyond 2015. Key to the negotiations is the issue of predictability. AGOA beneficiarycountries have contended that the full potential of AGOA has never been exploited due to unpredictable nature of the Initiative. Extensions of the previous AGOA terms have been without clear program of extension. In any case, such extensions have always come late after uncertainty has caused panic among investors and buyers. New investments have been difficult to attract. This iswhy it was encouraging to hear the US President expressing his opinion in good time of the intention to extend AGOA beyond 2015. This extension however, should not be for less than 10 years but a period long enough to enable new investments to come in and buyers to make long term commitments. This is the sure way of making AGOA meet its objective of attracting investments and

enhancing trade between the US and Africa.

The other success parameter Africa is lookingforintheinitiativeistheflowofAmerican investments to Africa. Being a trade and investment Act, AGOA should not be considered successful on the account of volume of trade but the level of American investment that it has generated into Africa. Negotiators will be keen in pushing for this segment of the Initiative as the AGOA IV signed on 20th December, 2006 by President Bush was entitled, ‘The Africa Investment Incentive Act.’ How much investment has the US

brought into Africa under this Act? It is interesting to take stock of this in order to be clear on the level of commitment by the US to the provisions of the Act.

Africa should negotiate with the US the possibility of building capacity on issues of compliance with the US market requirements. Despite the 6400 product lines exportable under the Initiative, Africa has challenges in meeting the stringent measures especially in the horticulture sector. Issues of traceability, social accountability, minimum residual levels of chemicals, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards and environmental safety are great impediments to the realization of the AGOA objectives. Furthermore, the eligible African countries should press for more relevant products of export potential to be included in the list of products exportable under AGOA.

WhileAfricafightsforrenewalofAGOA

that should run concurrently with the third country fabric, it is important that strong policies on development of the cotton sector are put in place. Strategies to streamline the value chain to make the sector competitive need to be thought out and implemented if Africa is to benefitfromtheInitiative.

The author is a PhD student of Marketing at the School of Business, University of Nairobi, and Head of Bilateral Trade Division and AGOA Unit in the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism.

When civil strife hit countries like Zaire, Rwanda, Somalia and Burundi in the 1970s and the 80s, second hand clothes brought in duty-free through charities opened the door to proliferation of second hand apparel imports into the countries.

Common Market of East and South Africa (COMESA) countries were hit heavily by this explosion and the countries’ cotton industries continue to suffer the effects of the cheap imported products.

The Second Hand Clothing (SHC) business has grown astronomically over the years in the COMESA region from $0.4 billion in 1980 to 2.6 billion in 2010. Thisfigureappearsrelativelylowinvaluebut it is huge in terms of volume, given that the garments retail for 10-20% of their regional selling price.

COMESA imports for SHC stood at US$199 million in 2009 and grew by 16 percent to reach 231 million in 2010,

with Kenya being the largest importer of second-

hand clothing in the COMESA region.

Most of these SHC emanate from China but the country faces stiff

competition from USA, Canada and some European countries, challenging the common

thesis that cheaper imports from China are undermining the growth of the textile/clothing industry in the COMESA region.

According to a study by Haggblade and Hansen, at least one third of Sub-Saharan Africans are wearing cast-off European and American clothing. These imported clothing range from underwear, dresses, suits and jackets.

During the wars, refugees from these countriesflocked intoKenyaandalongwith them came charitable aid in the form of tents, food, medicine and clothing.

The rural residents who could not afford topurchasenewgarmentsalsobenefitedfrom this initiative which were distributed through charitable organizations and churches.

Demand for cheap second-hand clothing surged in the mid-1980s, forcing donors to revise their distribution policy and started to charge for clothing items. They commercialized the initiative and made it accessible to the whole population.

Liberalization of trade and exchange controls in 1990 triggered a rapid expansion in the importation of SHC. Despite rising tariffs, the second-hand clothing trade has increased and become evenmoresignificant.

In the 1998-2010 trade period, the quantity of Kenyan second-hand clothing imports increased by 60% from 50,000 tonnes

in 1998 to 80,000 tonnes in 2010. This t r a n s l a t e s

to 200 and 320 m i l l i o n

garments on average respectively garments.

The sustained prevalence of second hand apparel in Africa can be attributed to several factors. These include incidences of political instability, poor enforcements of customs and quality assurance requirements and lack of local capacity to produce quality products at affordable prices to the masses.

Proper training and education are needed to encourage consumers in Africa to prefer locally produced apparel. Producers also need to manufacture good quality products that are affordable to all customers. They should also target niche market segments where second hand clothes do not compete as well as organize promotion activities to create awareness of the apparel.

Heavy investment is needed to improve the value chain in apparel production. However, African governments need to make the business climate affordable to woo investors into the continent.

Provision of reliable and affordable powersupplyisthefirst ingredientthatgovernments need to work on. Transport and communication networks should also be advanced and tailor-made to meet investors’ needs.

Reduction of the red tape that needlessly consume time should also be addressed coupled with local content procurement policies that enhance domestic consumption.

If harnessed, the African Cotton and Textile industry has great potential and can positively impact on the economy.

The value chain offers a unique opportunity for increased employment ,


Government intervention a prerequisite in protecting local cotton

industries from dumping

FEATURE

By Fred Kongongo, COMESA


poverty reduction, rural development and increased incomes in arid and semi-arid lands. It is also a major source of foreign exchange earnings in more than 15 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Cotton is a crucial source of cash income for millions of rural people in these countries, mainly smallholder farmers and their families. Textiles and clothing have, over time, provided an

opportunity for some African countries to diversify their exports while clothing production is labour intensive, easily offering opportunity for employment in producing countries. Moreover, the labour requirements can be met with low and semi-skilled workers, especially women.

The potential for the intra-regional cotton-to-clothing value chain to contribute to the socio-economic and sustainable development in the region cannot be over-emphasized. In particular, it can contribute heavily to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through full and productive employment and decent work for all including women and young people. It

can also promote gender equality

and empower women along the entire cotton-to-clothing value chain.

Besides the potential of the intra-regional cotton-to-clothing value chain can promote social-economic campaign programmes along the value chain as well as promoting sustainable farming practices and appropriate technologies. This would in turn develop a regional and global partnership to enhance trade in cotton, textiles and apparel.

Governments’ intervention including bans on second hand products and protection of local apparel industries which in turn will create employment and improve citizens’ welfare should be encouraged.The Second Hand

Clothing (SHC) business has grown astronomically

over the years in the COMESA region from

$0.4 billion in 1980 to 2.6 billion in 2010.


Following a strategy report on the Tanzania Textile Industry in March 2012 it was agreed that a Textile Development Unit (TDU) supported by the Tanzania Gatsby Trust would be set up under the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Dar es Salaam.

The unit would cover all development activities from ginning to finishedgarments. Tanzania is a major cotton producer, with much of its cotton being exported and some utilized by the domestic industry. This means that much value add is lost by the economy. The TDU has been charged with the task of assisting the industry and government in developing the downstream manufacturing of fabric and finishedgarments to enhance value addition.

The unit began work in August 2012 travelling the country and visiting textile plants. The intelligence and insights gained has enabled TDU to formulate

a plan to implement an overall growth strategy. The unit has so far intervened in many projects such as helping domestic textile companies replace imported fabrics with domestically produced materials. Similar work has been instigated on yarn supply and other requirementsformanufacturingfinishedproducts.

If Tanzania is to develop its textile industry, as well as attract foreign direct investment, it must develop a skilled labour force with capacity to manufacture and deliver finished goods. An urgentneed for operator skills training prevails although this is being addressed. In addition, there is the need to bring the industry up to export or international standards of quality and manufacturing efficiency and service so that varioussections of the industry can begin to market themselves to the export buyers.

The Tanzanian textile industry is highly

visible consisting of a dozen or so large companies. However in the search for added value, a viable garment and sewn goods industry must thrive. Currently, this is very fragmented and often relies on individual tailors and small workshops to supply the domestic market. These clusters of small producers, mainly in the women’s fashion area, are often supported by grants, overseas donors, and other non commercial funding.

At the moment, there are plans to work with the commercial garment manufacturers by initially concentrating on provision of materials from domestic sources in the volume products with high cotton content such as menswear, knitted garments, uniforms, blouses shirts etc to avail the opportunity garment manufacturers to compete with imports and significantly increase valueaddition within the supply chain. This has begun with domestic textile mills now

Tanzania’s Textile Development Unit strives for more value addition

By Geoffrey Willis

FEATURE


supplying fabric to tie and dye and batik printers, and to garment manufacturers.

One of the major factors affecting the growth of added value in Tanzania is the absence of fabrics suitable for the clothing market, with reliable delivery

and the quality needed to move into higher value products. Apart from a few large exporting textile companies, who operate vertical operations from ginning through to simple knitted garments for export, a major part of the Tanzanian textile producers make local Khanga and Kitenge fabrics for local consumption. They have not sought to expand their ranges of fabrics in the belief that there isnosignificantmarketinthecountry.

This is in spite of the fact that large amounts of fabrics are imported for government organizations, as well as greige fabric for local Kanga and Kitenge with designers traveling to other African countries and abroad in a search for suitable materials for other apparel.

To address these and other matters, the TDU has held its first GarmentManufacturers Working Group meeting, with a number of garment companies in an effort to organize and co-ordinate the

development of the industry.

The following chart shows the relative gains in added value, depending on what the industry manufactures, and if the goodsaresoldasyarn,fabricorfinishedgarments. It emphasizes the importance of added value to the country’s economy by keeping manufacturing in the country, and developing high value products.

Source: Average industry data from manufacturers

To enable the industry move towards the manufacturing of higher value fabrics and clothing as well as replace imported garments, TDU is supporting local Tanzanian inspired investment plans. Support targets weaving a wide range of suitable fabrics by employing many skilled weavers, who can provide the smaller high quality product orders and flexibilityofsupplyonwhichthegarmentmakers can rely upon thereby increase capacity. With this in mind, it is vital that the garment makers provide the levels of export service and quality that the markets require as there is always a demand, even from large international buyers for smaller amounts of fashionable items or non standard items.

The availability of funds to support both capital investment and the need for working capital present the

smaller companies with a challenge. TDU is helping individual companies present their plans in a form of financial projections that a lender willrequire, before considering a loan. In addition, it is necessary to recognize the possible incentives which the government can introduce to provide the growing company with an improved manufacturing environment.

Marketing is also a challenge for many small companies who rely on buying agencies or current customers, but have few marketing skills. In co-operation with agencies such as ACTIV and IBBUTTI, opportunities are now available for promoting and selling products at local, national and international trade shows.

Once the current manufacturing units have developed, companies can begin to look at manufacturing efficiency.

By increasing capacity economically, there is a positive effect value addition. Tanzania has a competitive labour cost and other advantages that indicate that once efficient at manufacturing,the country can compete in the export markets. TDU has the technical expertise to advise companies in this regard and are already providing expertise from internationally recognized industry specialists to support this work in the textile companies.

It can be seen that adding value to the whole industry requires improvements and developments in many business activities. Successful intervention by stakeholders and government can lead to a healthy and growing textile and garmentindustry,whichcanbenefitthecountry’s economy. In turn, the industry would provide many employment opportunities for the less educated and unemployed young people of Tanzania.

ACTIF BOARD


CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2014

DATE EVENT CONTACTS VENUE

APRIL

1st – 2nd INTERFILIERE Hong Kong 2014852-2815 0667

[email protected] | www.eurovet.frWan Chai North, Hong Kong

1st – 2nd Prime Source Forum [email protected] Hong Kong

8th – 11th INDEX 14 +32-2-734930 | [email protected] Geneva, Switzerland

9th – 11th PeruMODA http://www.perumoda.com/EN Lima, Peru

20th -23rd Hong Kong International Home Textile and

Furnishings Fair+852 1830 668 | [email protected] Wancahi, Hong Kong

23rd – 26th 12th Indonesia International Textile and

Garment Machinery & Accessories Exhibition62-21-6493717, 6493727, 6397863 Jakarta, Indonesia

MAY

1st– 3rd 9th China Guangzhou International Fashion

Brand Fair 201486-20-3866 7261, 189-2240 2195

[email protected] | www.ruihongexpo.cn Guangzhou, China

6 – 8

6th – 9th The Textile & Sewn Products Industry Week+54-11-4855-3037 | [email protected]

Buenos Aires, Argentina

13th -14th PERFORMANCE DAYS Functional Fabric Fair +49 89 9394 6012 | [email protected] Munich, Germany

13th -15th Techtextil North America 2014 +1-770-9848016

www.usa.messefrankfurt.com Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Texprocess Americas 2014

21st – 22nd Premium Textile Japan 2015 Spring/Summer+81-3-5215-5469 | Fax.+81-3-6805-0793

[email protected], Japan

JUNE

2nd – 5th Sampe Tech 2014Priscilla Heredia

+1 (626) 331.0616 ext 610 | [email protected] Washington, USA

5th [email protected]

Phone : ++.32.2.285.48.83 | Fax : ++32.2.230.60.54Brussels, Belgium

16th – 20th ITMA ASIA + CITME 2014+86 10 85229662 85229224 85229153

[email protected], China

15th -17th SPINEXPO 6th Session New York +852 2824 8580 | [email protected] New York, USA

18th – 20th Source Africa 2014+27 21 790 5849

[email protected]

Cape Town, South Africa

22nd – 24th Colombia Moda 2014 +574 444 5086 | [email protected] Medellin, Colombia

JULY

22nd – 24th Texworld

Texworld USATel: +1 678.732.2401 | Fax: +1 770.984.8023

[email protected], [email protected]

New York, USA

AUGUST

27th – 29th Intertextile, Shanghai Home TextilesMs Grace Lin | +852 2238 9938

[email protected], China

30th – 2nd Sept Tendence 2014 +49 69 75 75-0 | [email protected] Frankfurt, Germany


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.eurovet.fr



http://www.perumoda.com/EN



http://www.ruihongexpo.cn



http://www.usa.messefrankfurt.com







http://www.sourceafrica.co.za







45APRIL - JUNE 2014 | FIBRE TO FASHION 45

SEPTEMBER6-10 Maison & Objet – International Home Decor www.maison-objet.com/ Paris, France

10th – 12th 53rd Dornbirn Man-Made Fibers Congress+43 (0)1 319 2909-41

http://www.dornbirn-mfc.com Dornbirn, Austria

17-19Premiere Vision – The World’s Leading Fabric

Fairwww.premierevision.com/en Paris, France

24 – 26 COMPACI/CmiA Stakeholder Conference

[email protected], [email protected]

http://www.cotton-made-in-africa.com/ www.compaci.org

Cologne, Germany

29th – 1st Oct IAF 30th World fashion Convention +31 – 30 2320908 | [email protected] Medellin, Colombia

OCTOBER

1st -2nd ICA Dubai 2014International Cotton Association

+44 151 236 [email protected] | www.ica-ltd.org

Dubai, UAE

14th – 16th Specialty Fabrics Expo and Advanced

Textiles Expo+1 651 222 2508 | [email protected] Minneapolis, USA

15th – 17th 6th International Conference on Future

Technical Textile (FTT 2014)+44 (0) 7951 727876

[email protected] Istanbul, Turkey

16th -18th ITMF Annual Conference+41-44 283 63 80 | +41- 44 283 63 89 [email protected] | www.itmf.org

Beijing, China

21st – 24th 8th International Garment & Textile Machinery

& Accessories Exhibition & Conference IGATEX 2014

+92 21 [email protected]

Lahore, Pakistan

NOVEMBER

2nd – 7th International Cotton Advisory Committee

(ICAC) 73rd Plenary Meeting+1-202 463 6660

[email protected], Greece

7th – 8th Texcare Forum 2014 [email protected] Frankfurt, Germany

10th – 12th Origin Africa 2014+254 733 247052 | +254 725 038884

[email protected]

Nairobi, Kenya

12th -14th Int’l Apparel, Textile, Footwear and Machinery

Trade Exhibition South Africa+27 (0)21/7905849

[email protected] Cape Town, South Africa

13th – 15th China Sourcing Fair: Garments & Textiles +852 8199-7308 Johannesburg, South Africa


http://www.maison-objet.com

http://www.dornbirn-mfc.com

http://www.premierevision.com/en



http://www.cotton-made-in-africa.com/

http://www.compaci.org/





http://www.itmf.org





http://www.originafrica.com


47APRIL - JUNE 2014 | FIBRE TO FASHION 47

MEMBERSHIP

ACTIF MEMBERS

ACTIF wishes to welcome our new members, who joined in the second half of 2013. These include: Bajaj Steel Industries Ltd - India (Associate), Sutlej Textiles & Industries Ltd - India (Associate), Bolloré Africa Logistics Kenya Ltd (Associate), VEIT GmbH-Germany (Associate),

Makueni Ginneries Ltd - Kenya (Corporate) and COGERCO-Rwanda (Corporate).

ACTIF has also recently increased its footprints in West Africa by registering Ligne Rouge Sarl of Cameroon and Produce Monitoring Board of Sierra Leone as Corporate and Associate Members, respectively. The federation is focusing on developing linkages in the cotton value chain and assisting in building value addition activities in their countries.

Following the launch of the new Corporate Category, individual companies in relevant sectors who are not members of existing national associations, may join directly as corporate members.

Registered individual companies who are domiciled in Africa and must be involved in the business of cotton, textile and/or apparel may also become corporate members.

ACTIF is a member organization and together we can be the voice of Africa and build a region that speaks in a unified voice, working together on a platform that offers the desired services to make the industry prosper through sharing of information, creating an environment that nurtures alliances and networking opportunities to enhance market access. A “New Dawn” has come and the international community has realized the potential of Africa including the CTA region. As stakeholders, we need to seize this opportunity and aggressively market our value, by leveraging on platforms setup by ACTIF.

ACTIF welcomes new members

CORPORATE MEMBERSS/no COUNTRY MEMBER NAME CONTACT PERSON

1 BURUNDI AfriTextile s.a. Firoz Mohamed

2 BURUNDI Compagnie de Gerence du Coton (COGERCO) Nahimana P. Claver

3 CAMEROON Ligne Rouge Sarl Caroline Sack

4 COTE D’IVOIRE Cote D’Ivoire Export and Trade Promotion Agency (APEX) Guy M’Bengue

5 COTE D’IVOIRE Pan Gobal Merchants C.I Pankaj Bedi

6 ETHIOPIA Ethiopian Cotton Producers, Ginners & Exporters (ECPGEA) Assefa Aga Roba

7 ETHIOPIA Ethiopian Textile & Garment Manufacturers Association (ETGAMA) Fassil Taddesse

8 ETHIOPIA TRIO Craft Plc Elizabeth Kassa

9 KENYA Ashton Apparel (EPZ) Ltd Pankaj Mehta

10 KENYA Association of Fashion Designers of Kenya (AFDK) Sally Karago/ Lucy Njoroge

11 KENYA Cotton Development Authority (CODA) Anthony Muriithi

12 KENYA Equator Apparels Co. Ltd George Kaburu

13 KENYA Export Processing Zones Authority EPZA Cyrille Nabutola

14 KENYA Kapric Apparels EPZ Thomas Puthoor

15 KENYA Kenya Apparel Manufacturers Exporters Association Jaswinder Bedi

16 KENYA Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Betty Maina

17 KENYA Makueni Ginneries Ltd David Masika

18 KENYA Mega Garments Industries Aditya A Awatani

19 KENYA PANAH Evgeniya Khromina

20 KENYA Thika Cloth Mills Tejal Dohia

21 KENYA Ultra Ltd Ida Kibunja

22 KENYA United Aryan EPZ Pankaj Bedi

23 KENYA WEAMACO (Handloom Weavers Marketing Coop. Society) Rose Mwathi

24 LESOTHO Lesotho Textile Exporters Association (LTEA) Whai-Min Li

25 MADAGASCAR Groupement des Enterprises Franches et Partenaires(GEFP) Eleonore Johasy

26 MALAWI Cotton Development Trust (Malawi) Patrick Khembo

27 MALI UN.SCPC Soloba Mady Keita

28 MAURITIUS Mauritius Export Association(MEXA) Lilowtee Rajmun

29 MOZAMBIQUE Mozambique Institute for Cotton Norberto Mahalambe


ACTIF BOARD


MEMBERSHIP

30 NAMIBIA Namibian Manufacturers Association(NMA) David Namalenga

31 NIGERIA National Cotton of Nigeria(NACOTAN) Ali Kwajaffa

32 NIGERIA Nigerian Textile Garment & Tailoring Employers Association J P Olarewaju

33 RWANDA UTEXRWA Celestin Sebuhinja

34 SOUTH AFRICA Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa (AMSA) Johann Baard

35 SOUTH AFRICA Cotton South Africa Hennie Bruwer

36 SOUTH AFRICA Export Council For The Clothing Industry Jack Kipling

37 SOUTH AFRICA Gelvenor Consolidated Fabrics Anton Poplett

38 SUDAN Sudan Cotton Company Ltd-SCCL Mr. Mohi Eldeen A. Mohammed

39 SWAZILAND Swaziland Cotton Board Daniel Khumalo

40 SWAZILAND Swaziland Textile & Apparel Traders Association Jay Hall

41 TANZANIA International Business & Trade TZ Initiative (IBUTTI) Deogratsias Mbona

42 TANZANIA Tanzania Cotton Association (TCA) Dr. Hamisi Kigwangala

43 TANZANIA Tanzania Cotton Board Gabriel Mwalo

44 UGANDA Uganda Cotton Development Organization(CDO) Ms. Jolly Sabune

45 UGANDA Uganda Ginners And Cotton Exporters Association Bruce Robertson

46 UGANDA Uganda Textiles And Garment Manufacturers Association Robert Mubiru

47 ZAMBIA Cotton Association of Zambia Joseph Nkole

48 ZAMBIA Cotton Board Of Zambia Dafulin Kaonga

49 ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturing Association Jeremy Youmans

50 ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe Cotton Ginners Association Godfrey Buka

ASSOCIATE MEMBERSS/no COUNTRY MEMBER NAME CONTACT

1 DUBAI Saham Star General Trading LLC / c/o Saham East Africa Ltd Jan Willem Van Es

2 GERMANY VEIT GmbH Chinedu Nkemeta

3 INDIA Bajaj Steel Industries Lav Bajaj,

4 INDIA Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd Dhiraj Banka

5 INDONESIA PT. TEXCOM Rajaguru Raja

6 KENYA Agricolis Ltd Jan Willem Van Es

7 KENYA Bolloré Africa Logistics Kenya Ltd Philip Aluku

8 KENYAIntegrated Community Org. for Sustainable Empowerment & Education for Development (ICOSEED)

Mugo Makanga

9 KENYA MES (UK) Ltd / Sesby Global Sourcing Kotzer Avner

10 KENYA SGS Kenya Ltd Cyprian Kabbis

11 NIGERIA Crown Natures - Nigeria Lara Aromolaran

12 NIGERIA Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Damilola Emmanuel

13 SIERRA LEONE Produce Monitoring Board Ibrahim Turay

14 SINGAPORE Kaybee Exim PTE Ltd Sandeep Goel

15 SOUTH AFRICA YKK South Africa Andrew Taylor

16 SWITZERLAND Representative of Sourcing Company Lukas Durnwalder

17 TANZANIA Wakefield Inspection Services Moses C Bujaga

18 TURKEY Marks and Spencer Oguz Ates

19 UK Plexus Nick Earlam

20 USA Samuel Strapping Systems Robert W Hickey

21

BENIN, BURKINA FASO, CAMEROON, CHAD, COTE D’IVOIRE, GAMBIA, GHANA, GUINEA, GUINEA BISSAU, MALI, SENEGAL, TOGO, UGANDA, ZAMBIA

Association of Cotton Producers of Africa (AProCA) Youssouf Djime Sidibe


49

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Cotton Africa Magazine is a showcase publication that reflects well on ACTIF, the cotton value chain and on Africa. The magazine is well designed, with a substantial feel and classy appearance. The content of Cotton Africa is excellent, providing a cross section of industry news, updates on the work of ACTIF and profiles of industry leaders. Even the advertisements provide value by raising the profile of industry participants and allowing all readers to know who are the major players in the African cotton value chain. By providing a country-by-country focus, along with Member Profiles, Expert Analysis, a Calendar of Events of importance to the cotton value chain in Africa and Regional Updates, the magazine is an excellent reference journal for government officials and industry participants alike. In short, Cotton Africa Magazine is a high quality magazine of which ACTIF can be proud of. Readership is rising and is likely to continue growing in the years to come.

Terry Townsend Cotton Analytics USA

“The South African clothing manufacturing sector and AMSA members in particular value the wide ranging topics and in depth analysis of the cotton value chain in Africa and globally. We wish the Editor and the team of Cotton Africa Magazine well and look

forward to receiving future editions with eager anticipation.”

Johann Baard Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa

• French version needs to be reviewed

• The article about players of the cotton industry in East Africa provide great details on exportations to the US for this part of the continent.

• Exportation growth summary tables for countries like Burkina and Kenya are very indicative

• Excellent focus on designers of African fashion

• Nice page layout of the last pages of the magazines

• The calendar of the main events related to textile in 2014 is very practical

Caroline Sack Kendem Ligne Rouge-Cameroon

50

ADVERTISING FORM

Cotton Africa magazine is the voice of the Cotton Textile & Apparel value chain in Africa. We endeavour to produce a high quality, authoritative and timely publication that is the reference point for stakeholders and policy makers across the African continent.

Cotton Africa magazine can also be accessed online on; http://magazine.cottonafrica.com/magazine. The French version can be accessed on the homepage symbolized by the French flag tab. The print copies of the magazine are distributed FREE of charge to all ACTIF members across 23 African Countries as well as at our own and partners’ events.

The online version (in both English and French) is also broadcast widely to over 8,500 contacts in our database regionally and internationally. Our target readers include textile and apparel manufacturers, fashion designers and traders, technology providers, farmers associations and ginners across the CTA value chain, suppliers, ACTIF national associations, policy and decision makers, national and international trade bodies, donors as well as national and international media.

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issue no. 9 april - june 2014 - english

Documents