Textile firms exporting to Sacu face uncertain future

ALAN PEAT
SINCE 2000, textile and garment producers from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia (MMTZ) have been exporting duty-free to the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) market of SA, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade agreement. But, according to information released to FTW by the Southern African Trade Law Centre (tralac), Malawi’s Nation Business Review has reported that textile firms exporting to the Sacu market face an uncertain future following delays by the union to extend this year’s duty-free quota period. The duty-free period is due to expire in June this year, it added, but negotiations by export countries to persuade Sacu to extend the time are said to have stalled. The SADC secretariat has stated that the decision to extend the duty-free arrangement is still pending, but a request by Malawi and Zambia to increase the volumes of textile products being exported has been granted by Sacu. The MMTZ/Sacu arrangement is ad hoc - as SADC member states wait for the 14-member trading bloc to become a free trade area (FTA) in 2008.