Lesotho claims top spot in Africa-US clothing exports

KEVIN MAYHEW A 22% increase in total exports from Lesotho to the United States during 2003 has made the tiny landlocked kingdom Africa’s biggest clothes exporter to the US. In total Lesotho’s US-destined apparel exports amounted to US393m in 2003 against US322m the previous year. Recently released statistics from the US Embassy in Maseru reflect that the strong trend is continuing with Lesotho exports for the first quarter of 2004 totalling US101m compared with US83m in the first three months of 2003. Total trade, including imports and exports between the US and sub-Saharan Africa, increased by 27% in the first quarter of 2004 over the same period in 2003, as both exports and imports continued an upward climb. US 2004 first quarter imports under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) - from which Lesotho benefits- were US5,3bn, which is 54% up on the equivalent period last year. “Contributing to this increase was an additional US833,5m in imports from Angola, which only received AGOA benefits at the beginning of this year. While petroleum products continued to capture the largest portion of AGOA imports, non-energy AGOA imports grew by 15%,” the report noted.