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Fashion retailer ASOS showed online convenience and price are still a winning combination with shoppers. The UK-based online retailer continued its impressive trajectory this year, announcing pre-tax profit had reached GBP54.7m (US$88.3m) for the year ending 31 August, compared to GBP40m in the same period of last year, with retail sales jumping 40% to GBP753.8m, up from GBP537.9m last year. …

The Ethiopia government has reported export earnings of USD29 million for the country’s clothing and textile industry in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (2013-4). 

This exceeds by more than 50% the USD19 million earned by the industry in Ethiopia during the same period in the previous financial year.…

SUB-SAHARAN African makers of cosmetics and personal care products are profiting from a growing and increasingly stable regional market, where economic growth is increasing demand for personal luxuries.

A report, ‘Business in Africa – Corporate Insights’ by Dianna Games, Standard Bank South Africa estimates that more than half of Africa’s population would be living in urban areas by 2030 and 60% by 2050, when the population would be about 2.4 billion, compared to 1 billion now.…

BARACK Obama seems ready to accept an extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for another 15 years before it expires in 2015, but sub-Saharan African textile manufacturers might have mixed feelings.

African ambassadors in Washington DC have been under strict instructions from their governments to lobby the United States Congress to renew the law, forming an ambassadors’ AGOA working group led by Ethiopian ambassador Girma Birru.…

THE WORLD’S 49 least developed countries have been given another eight years to implement the intellectual property protection rules demanded by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This means that their governments have the freedom to choose whether to protect trademarks, patents, copyright, industrial designs, geographical indications and other rights, potentially harming pharma companies.…

INCREASED competition and a weakened global economy have not dimmed expectations for Vietnam-based knitwear exporters, with two major trade deals looming, able to guarantee duty free exports to the US and the European Union (EU). They will also remove non-tariff barriers impeding trade, boosting optimism amongst established exporters of quality Vietnam-made knitwear.…

IN recent years Ethiopia’s knitwear industry has experienced a boom. As well as several major companies, including Primark, Tesco, and H&M now sourcing knitwear from Ethiopia, some Asia-based factory owners have moved production to Ethiopia, and various domestically-owned plants are developing.…

URBAN waste management problems and the rising cost of energy has kick-started development in South Africa’s fledgling biogas sector, prompting a new crop of local “green” entrepreneurs to develop a cleaner, cheaper fuel source. 

Although biogas is a popular form of fuel in African countries such as Ethiopia, because of its long-term affordability and relatively low set up costs, the South African government has focused on developing other forms of renewable power until recently.…

New tantalite ore concentrating equipment will be installed in Ethiopia to boost the value and output volume of existing plant to meet rising demand for the rare earth metal, Metal Bulletin has been told.

It is also pushing ahead with plans to build of a new value added plant, making products such as tantalum salt, powder, bar, sheets, wire, negate and nobiumpentoxide.…

ETHIOPIA’S potential as a source of industrial minerals is beginning to be realised, with a growing number of exploration and mining projects underway, and rapidly increasing foreign investment.
To date, its Ministry of Mines has granted 72 industrial minerals exploration licenses – 61 to foreign companies, eight to Ethiopian/foreign joint ventures, and three to local companies; and 52 mining licenses – 28 to foreign companies, 17 to Ethiopian/foreign joint ventures, and seven to local companies.…