Kenyan officials are speculating that their country, with its abundance of skins and hides, could produce shoes for the U.S. market under quota-free and tax-free access to the multi-billion dollar footwear market provided for in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), according to a report in Kenya’s Standard Media news agency.
Industrialization Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed was quoted as saying that Kenya has all it requires to start producing shoes for the U.S. and compete directly with other major producers. “All we need are investors to put up manufacturing plants,” he said, alluding to the possibility that opportunities in footwear manufacturing would be among top sectors Kenya would be promoting in the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi.
President Obama heads to Nairobi on July 23 for the July 25-26 Summit.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which has been the cornerstone of U.S. trade relations with Africa for the last 15 years, was reauthorized in June in strengthened form for the next 10 years. At a White House reception on July 22 to celebrate AGOA, President Obama said the law will be central to his administration’s efforts to boost the trade and investment that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs both in Africa and the United States.
“We’re going to have to keep on encouraging more American trade and investment in Africa. There’s still a lot of misperceptions within the business community.”
AGOA supporters say the law’s reauthorization will strengthen President Obama’s hand in Kenya and in his follow-on trip to Ethiopia.
“On the eve of his fourth official visit to Africa, President Obama reiterated his belief that Africa is the world’s next major economic success story and his commitment to seeing that the United States is a partner in that success,” says Rosa M. Whitaker, CEO of The Whitaker Group, who attended the AGOA reception. “He goes armed with proof that Americans are united in the desire to see the nations of Africa thrive as fully integrated members of the global economy.”
In Kenya, meanwhile, officials point out that manufacturing leather shoes for U.S. consumers will allow Kenya to expand its product offering beyond textiles, while putting the country in direct competition with China. Kenya, however, will have AGOA’s market-access advantage.
Shoes top the East African country’s list of new export prospects for U.S. markets, including flowers and vegetables. Current textile exports from Kenya to the U.S., including jeans and towels, total more that 40 billion Kenyan shillings (US$400 million). All of those exports are manufactured in export processing zones. Mohamed estimates the renewal of AGOA would increase apparel exports to 100 billion shillings by 2018.
