TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Lesotho’s Export Textiles& Garment Industry By Mark Bennet 1. Introduction Lesotho has a well developed apparel manufacturing industry. Its manufacturers are the single largest users of the apparel provisions of the African Growth& Opportunity Act(AGOA). In 2003, they exported US$ 393 million(104 million m 2 equivalents) to the United States; and in 2004, in spite of persistent US$ weakness, they exported an astronomical US$ 456 million(112 million m 2 equivalents). Today Lesotho produces about 26 million pairs of denim jeans a year. They are produced by 8 factories which collectively employ almost 15,000 workers. It has a vertically integrated denim manufacturing mill – the Formosa Mill – which produces its own yarn and more than 7,000 tons of denim fabric annually. Almost 98% of all Lesotho-made jeans are sold in the USA; smaller volumes are sold into the EU, Canadian and SACU(Southern African Customs Union) market places. It is estimated that Lesotho’s garment industry also produces approximately 70 million knitted garments a year. A wide range of(mainly cotton) knitted gar­ments is produced – from single/double jersey, pique, interlock and rib fabrics. A number of factories are now beginning to make fleece knitwear made from syn­thetics. These garments are produced by 34 factories which collectively employ about 28,000 workers. A small number of firms supply services directly into the textiles and garment manufacturing value chain. Lesotho has two large computerised embroidery firms, and a screen-printer which has the capacity to screen more than 20,000 garments a day. Since mid-2004 the industry has experienced problems. First there has been a massive appreciation in value of the local currency – the Loti(which is linked to the South African Rand). This has meant that Lesotho’s exports have become more expensive. Then at the end of 2005 the World Trade Organisation’s(WTO) Agreement on Textiles& Clothing(ATC – also known as the Multi-Fibre Arrange­ment(MFA)) expired which meant that the buyers of Lesotho-made garments could buy unrestricted quantities of garments from places like China. FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG 165