Malawi among top 10 African exporters of apparel to the United States, Report
Malawi has been named a distant 10th of the top 15 African Exporters of Apparel to the United States under the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) Trade preference programme.
Malawi is trailing 9 countries, with Kenya topping the list with total exports of 252,674 in 2017 and 293,976 Dollars in 2018 while Malawi exported only 321 in 2017 and 553 between January to September in 2018.
This follows a US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements announcement of limits on duty- and quota-free imports of apparel articles assembled from regional and third-country fabric under AGOA for the fiscal year 2019.
The US Government said:
“Apparel articles entered in excess of these quantities will be subject to applicable customs tariffs. For apparel articles wholly assembled in one or more beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries from fabric wholly formed in one or more beneficiary countries from yarn originating in the US or one or more beneficiary countries, the Financial Year (FY) 2019 limit is 2,048,357,135 square meter equivalents (SME) (up 1.3% from FY 2018). Of this amount, 1,024,178,567 SME (up 1.3%) is available for apparel articles imported under the AGOA third-country fabric provision, which provides preferential treatment for apparel articles assembled in one or more lesser developed beneficiary countries regardless of the country of origin of the fabric used.”
The AGOA program is set to expire at the end of September 2025.
