South Africa

The South African market offers good opportunities for clothing exporters in LDC countries. In 2005, South Africa’s imports of clothing totalled US$ 752 million. During the five-year period to the end of that year, the import market had shown strong growth, with imports rising by 289% over the period. Although this does to some degree reflect a larger market overall for clothing as the middle class with greater spending power continues to grow, the more pressing reason for the expansion in imports is the decline in local manufacturing capacity in the face of cheap imports, primarily from China.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure