Jump to navigation

President Macron pledges to end to second-hand clothes trade

An EU bloc-wide exporting ban will have mixed effects on African economies

The French government's plans to push other EU countries to impose a bloc-wide ban on the export of used clothes could be another counter-productive piece of EU law.

Africa imports US$1 billion a year of second-hand clothes, accounting for 30% of the global market. But the industry is a divisive topic among policy-makers. 

The East African Community agreed to ban second-hand clothing imports in 2016, on the grounds that they were stalling the growth of the local textiles industry. However, this prompted a lengthy trade dispute with the United States, which threatened suspension from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which offers tariff and quota-free access to the US market for African exports. In the event, only Rwanda imposed the ban and was suspended from AGOA as a result (AC Vol 59 No 7, AGOA hits Mitumba).

But while economists contend that second-hand clothing is a barrier to African industrialisation and supply chain development in textiles, thousands of market sellers across the continent make a livelihood from the market.

That tension was exploited by Kenyan President William Ruto during the 2022 presidential election after his opponent, Raila Odinga, proposed a ban on 'mitumba'. Ruto focused his presidential campaign around supporting Kenya's 'hustler nation' of small businesses and traders (AC Vol 63 No 13, Raila's old clothes).

The French environment ministry, which says that Paris has the support of Denmark and Sweden, contends that the ban will reduce textile waste and the environmental damage it causes. Europe currently dumps 90% of its used clothes in Africa and Asia.

With the EU institutions set to shut down for several months from April, ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, and a new European Commission set to take office in September, the French proposal could be put on hold until later in the year.



Related Articles

AGOA hits Mitumba

Rwanda has found itself an unlikely victim of President Donald Trump's international trade war. In a 29 March letter to Congress, the US President announced plans to partly...


Raila's old clothes

Of all the promises made on the campaign trail, Kenyan presidential contender Raila Odinga's plans to curb the import of second-hand clothes, known as mitumba, has caused the...


Vietnam's two-way trade

More so than China or India, Vietnam has much in common with Africa's developing countries. Hanoi is also showing itself to be keener on learning from African experiences...


Stalemate on climate finance talks irks African negotiators

After technical negotiations over green transition funds in Bonn hit a deadlock, talks are to resume at the UN General Assembly in September

Despite hopes of progress on climate finance for Africa at recent UN negotiations, an impasse emerged at the interim SB60 meeting held in Bonn, Germany from 3 to...


Running the tax show in New York

Wealth taxes and new global efforts to combat illicit financial flows (IFF) and enforce taxation of cross-border services are the top priorities of a UN tax convention in...