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Dynamic
Commodities and AGOA
American
distributors in Florida and Wisconsin have imported frozen
fruit sorbet under AGOA from Dynamic Commodities of Port Elizabeth,
South Africa. Dynamic Commodities sources pineapples, apples,
oranges, lemons, and coconuts from South Africa. Its employees
remove the fruit pulp from the shells by hand, and fill each
fruit shell with sorbet processed in its ice cream plant.
With technical and marketing assistance from the USAID-funded
South Africa International Business Linkages (SAIBL) program,
the company secured a major contract with 7-Eleven in 2003.
Since then, Costco and Wal-Mart have begun stocking its sorbet
in stores around the United States. Dynamic Commodities employs
approximately 200 workers, primarily from historically disadvantaged
backgrounds in South Africa's Eastern Cape (one of the country's
poorest provinces). Its sorbet was one of the first processed
food products that the United States imported under AGOA,
which eliminated a roughly 17 percent tariff. According to
trade statistics, U.S. imports of "edible ice, non-ice
cream" products from South Africa increased from approximately
$800,000 in 2003 to $1.8 million in 2004.Because of AGOA,
a small African business now has greater earning potential
through its access to the U.S. market.
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Ethiopian
Company Clinches Deal to Supply Bird Seed
The
Ethiopian company, Prospre International has signed a deal
totaling $70,110 to supply six containers of Niger seed to
a U.S. birdseed importer, Bridgeway Trading. AGOA Advisor,
Mr. Finn Holm-Olsen, introduced Prospre International to Bridgeway
Trading.
Mr.
Holm-Olsen has also introduced Prospre International to other
leading U.S. food import firms to assist Prospre establish
more business linkages with U.S. firms. According to Mr. Yemane
Mekonnen of Prospre International, the business linkages have
helped the firm in diversifying its contacts and also expanded
their export capacity to the U.S. market.
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Kenyan
Company Secures JC Penney and Wal-Mart Orders
The
East and Central Africa Trade Hub, funded by USAID, sponsored
Chandu EPZ Ltd, a Kenyan textile firm to attend a trade show
in the United States. As a result of attending the trade show,
Chandu EPZ was able to secure orders to finish stitching and
export under AGOA 1.1 million dollars worth of knit pants
for JC Penney. JC Penney visited the Chandu EPZ facility in
Nairobi and was quite pleased with the ability of the firm
to meet orders to specification. Chandu EPZ was also able
to complete overflow work comprising 60,000 knit pants for
Wal-Mart. Without AGOA, the company would not have been competitive
enough in the world market to secure the JCPenney contracts.
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Reaping
the Benefits of AGOA - Caratex
Sub-Saharan
apparel producers such as Caratex Botswana are enjoying the
full benefit of the AGOA trade preference program. Even when
it started in 1999, Caratex had big ambitions, and when AGOA
went into effect, it presented an opportunity for Caratex
to expand its export of knit-to-shape jerseys and sweaters
to the United States and the European Union. USAID-funded
Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub experts have guided
Caratex through the AGOA certification process.
Caratex
reported earnings of more than 6 million dollars in 2003 and
anticipates they could reach at least 10 to 14 million dollars.
As a consequence, Caratex has grown from employing 500 to
around 1,300 people. With the launch of new business attire
and jeans lines, Caratex anticipates that it will employ as
many as 2,600 people.
Because
of AGOA, a budding African company has significantly expanded
its market and has moved on to global commerce stage.
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Trans
Kalahari Corridor Paves the Way for Increased Trade
The
Trans Kalahari Corridor (TKC) is a trade route made up of
the national highways that connect the Walvis Bay port in
Namibia with Botswana and the Gauteng province of South Africa.
Although the TKC represents the shortest possible route for
trade through the three countries, it has been historically
underutilized. Regional importers and exporters have not taken
advantage of the TKC to avoid the congestion and delayed shipping
times that often occur at other ports.
The
Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub, a USAID-funded
project, has facilitated the formation of a TKC Management
Committee and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
by Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa on the development
and management of the TKC. The Committee, with technical assistance
from the Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub, has simplified
and harmonized Customs procedures and documentation, extended
opening hours at border posts, and worked with the private
sector to invest in improvements to facilities and services
along the TKC, e.g., gas stations, overnight accommodations,
cell phone coverage, etc. These improvements have attracted
increased usage of TKC. The commercial vehicles utilization
of TKC increased from 15% of design capacity in 1999 to 60%
in 2003.
Photo
Credit: TKC/Walvis Bay Corridor newsletter
Signing
of the TKC-MOU by Transport Ministers Omar, Seretse and Amweelo
of three TKC countries (seated). Observed by U.S. Ambassadors
McGuire of Namibia and Huggins on Botswana (with red ties).
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Kipepeo
Breaks into AGOA Market!
As
a direct result of its attendance at the May 2004 Sources
Trade Show in New York, Kipepeo 2000, a Tanzanian company
and East and Central Africa (ECA) Hub client, concluded a
deal worth $19,950. The Hunger Site, a U.S. importer, ordered
a 20-foot container of woodcarvings, which is a first-of-its-kind
order for the company. A recipient of ECA Hub technical assistance
and sponsorship to attend the Sources Trade Show, Kipepeo
2000 was able to successfully break into the U.S. market for
the very first time. Since its success at the show, Kipepeo
has hired seven new employees, nearly doubling its work force.
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Small
Packages Will Mean Big Profits for Senegalese Seafood Company
After
30 years in the seafood business, Faycal Sharara knows an
opportunity when he sees one - and a big one is now beckoning
from the United States. The owner of Senegal's Pecheries Frigorifiques
started packaging tuna in vacuum-sealed pouches, which are
lighter and more hygienic than cans, in 2002 for European
supermarkets. Vacuum-sealed pouched tuna also happens to be
one of more than 6,400 items eligible for duty-free export
to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA). Sharara's daughter, Sonia, took several samples
of the company's pouched tuna to the International Boston
Seafood Show in March. Now negotiations are underway for a
minimum 200,000-pouch order to the United States via a broker
she met at the show. "AGOA gives us the duty-free status,"
Sonia Sharara said. "Senegal and Pecheries Frigorifiques
can benefit from that big competitive advantage."
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Ghanaian
Garment Maker Racks Up Wal-Mart Sales
Berty
Fong of Ghana's Belin Textiles Inc. had already delivered
a trial order of camouflage t-shirts worth more than $100,000
to American retail giant Wal-Mart this January. But a meeting
at Belin's booth at the ASAP Global Sourcing Show in Las Vegas
in February clinched the deal: Since then, Wal-Mart has placed
another three orders totaling $246,000.
There's
just no substitute for face-to-face contact, Fong said. "We
were able to explain more clearly our operations in Africa
and the advantages afforded by AGOA, which built confidence,"
he said. Now Wal-Mart is planning to visit Belin in Ghana
to discuss further orders and expand their presence in the
African market.
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Cameroonian
Swimwear Maker Rides the Wave into U.S. Market
Caroline
Kendem-Sack's factory in Douala, Cameroon, previously churned
out swimsuits and lingerie to export to France. Now she's
preparing to jump into much larger waters - the American market
- and is expanding her company, Brodwell. Thanks to contacts
made during the ASAP Global Sourcing Show in Las Vegas, Kendem-Sack
is finalizing a deal to make 80,000 medical scrubs per month
for an American company. The yearlong contract is worth $3
million.
Despite
Brodwell's small size, Kendem-Sack has attracted both Cameroonian
and US U.S. investors to help her expand. Her factory will
quadruple in size to 8,000 square meters (26,000 square feet)
and will house more than 200 workers when it opens at the
end of the summer. She'll also have a new brand - Ken Atlantic
- to produce scrubs and polo shirts while Brodwell continues
the swimsuit and lingerie line. All of her exported clothing
will enjoy the duty-free status provided under AGOA.
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Six
West African Countries Make Contacts, Sales in New York
West
African handicraft exporters representing 17 companies and
cooperatives from six countries made a successful second annual
appearance at the Sources Trade Show in New York City on May
15-18.
Contemporary
furniture from Senegal's Eberis generated interest from showrooms
in New York and San Francisco. Two interested buyers placed
$20,000 in initial orders from companies in Burkina Faso,
Mali, Niger, Cameroon and Ghana, while other buyers requested
custom samples of beaded belts, leather purses, traditional
stools, hardwood end tables and other items. Leather handbags,
wallets and shoes enjoy duty-free status under AGOA when exported
to the United States. Because of that, one buyer at Sources
wants to move his leather-goods business from Italy to Niger.
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AGOA
Spurs Innovative Tube Sock Manufacturing Project in North
Carolina and Ghana
With
assistance from the USAID-funded West Africa International
Business Linkages (WAIBL) program, Southeastern Yarn Sales
of Charlotte, NC, and Overseas Knitwear Fabric Ltd. of Accra,
Ghana, have initiated one of AGOA's most innovative joint
ventures. Southeastern Yarn manufactures unfinished sock tubes
in North Carolina from fabric produced in the United States.
It then ships the sock tubes and packaging materials (price
tags, bags, etc.) to Accra. Overseas Knitwear then stitches,
bleaches, pairs and packages the socks, and re-exports them
to the United States under AGOA. The company ships approximately
40,000 dozen athletic socks to the United States each week.
Because of this relationship, Overseas Knitwear has expanded
its factory and added 300 new jobs. In August 2001, the Export-Import
Bank approved a medium-term guarantee of nearly $500,000 for
the sale of new and used manufacturing equipment to the plant.
During
the last year, Southeastern Yarn has worked with Senegalese
and Malaysian partners to open an apparel factory in Dakar,
Senegal. Currently, the factory is producing apparel for domestic
use, but hopes to soon begin exporting apparel to the United
States. In 2005, the Export-Import Bank secured an approximately
$3-million loan for the factory to import equipment from the
United States.
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