China Moves Some Textile and Apparel Manufacturing to East Africa

The China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies published in August 2018 a policy brief titled "The East Africa Shift in Textile and Apparel Manufacturing: China-Africa Strategies and AGOA's Influence" by Weiyi Wang, International Finance Corporation, Jinghau Lu, business development expert, and Wilmot Allen, emerging market investor.

Some Chinese cotton-textile-apparel companies are moving to East Africa influenced by China's excess capacity, lower labor costs, duty-free incentives for exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and its related Third-Country Fabric Provision. This policy brief highlights several opportunities for both East Africa and China as influenced by AGOA and makes recommendations on public-private collaboration to support this shift.