Agadir (Textile and Clothing)

About the report

This report offers insights into the regulatory and procedural obstacles to trade facing businesses in member states of the Agadir trade agreement, based on a comprehensive survey of exporters and importers in the textile and clothing sector. It seeks to provide an understanding of the barriers that hold back exporters and importers, and to identify potential bottlenecks to trade. In doing so, it endeavours to help the private sector and the government to create an enabling business environment, ultimately underpinning export competitiveness.

The survey was conducted within the framework of Agadir Agreement, which aims to establish a free trade area among Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia to increase intra-Africa trade as well as trade with the European Union. The T&C sector is pivotal within the area, representing a significant share in exports of all its member states.

Unlocking export and integration potential requires understanding the company perspective on business operations and regulations related to export and import of goods. This study aims to support evidence-based policymaking by sharing the voices of small and medium-sized enterprises about their trade concerns. With a focus on the apparel and textile sector in Agadir countries, insights are drawn from 860 interviews carried out under three major survey initiatives ITC undertook to provide necessary reality checks on the ground: 

1. NTM Business Surveys (2011–2016): A series of national surveys on non-tariff measures implemented in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan. These surveys covered all goods (with the exception of minerals and arms). Insights derived are representative of the sectors covered. Results relevant to the textile and apparel sector are extracted for this study. A total of 1,921 firms – including 497 exporting or importing businesses from the clothing and textile sector – were interviewed in the four countries about their experiences with NTMs.
2. Business Surveys for Value Chain Diagnostics in Africa (2022): In addition to regulatory and procedural hurdles, these business surveys aimed to identify the actions needed to strengthen the value chain development process at the African continental scale.The diagnostics covered 1,275 responses, of which 64 were from businesses in the apparel sectors in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt
3. MENATEX Survey of the Textile and Clothing Sector on NTMs (2022-2023): The apparel and textile sectors in Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia were surveyed to generate insights on the most recent experiences of companies. Almost 300 companies were interviewed in the four countries.