What does the African Continental Free Trade Area mean for office furniture exports?

Local manufacturing could be an excellent catalyst for growth as the economy recovers from the slump caused by COVID-19. For the office furniture industry, the coming decades could see increased activity and trade opportunities thanks to the recently approved and soon to be implemented African Continental Free Trade Area.
​
In this article we’ll discuss this exciting new development in the import export sector and how it could spark the new age of growth for office furniture manufacturers in South Africa.

A new dawn for African trade

Africa‘s economy has made great strides in development over the past few decades. While this growth hasn’t always resulted in lucrative trade, a new agreement plans to change the situation for the better.

• Many African nations find themselves in a tricky situation when it comes to imports and exports.
• Due to high tariffs and a backlog in development on the continent, it has often been extremely expensive and burdensome for furniture manufacturers and their customers to buy and sell products despite being geographically close to each other.
• In many cases, retailers in African countries I have been more likely to import furniture from Europe, the US, South America and especially China in recent years.

 
This situation is not only bad for trade in Africa but also prevents local businesses from reaching customers in nearby markets.
​
To address this challenge The African Continental Free Trade Agreement is designed to eliminate all of the tariffs between countries and encourage African nations to trade with each other more efficiently. The goal of this agreement will be to create a trading block similar to the one that currently exists in the EU.

What benefits does the agreement give to furniture manufacturers and customers?

​The following features of the continental trade agreement should help develop furniture manufacturing as a job creating industry across Africa as well as boosting regional economies.

• Tariff reductions. These will be phased in over a number of years and should significantly lower costs when buying from a registered exporter of office furniture.

• Trade infrastructure. This will include construction of roads and freight networks as well as legal infrastructure like common customs and tariff systems (as mentioned above) that will eliminate tape red tape as time goes by.

• Encouraging local industry. More efficient trade between African nations should encourage local manufacturers to set up shop and expand their operations. This should create better opportunities to trade with distributors and clients in neighboring countries.

Future looks bright for furniture manufacturers in Africa

As the African Continental Free Trade Area opens up, opportunities for export and collaboration across the continent are set to increase exponentially.
​
​At Office Concepts we are gearing up for the future opportunities that this initiative has to offer and are looking forward to participating in future transactions as a proudly South African office furniture manufacturer.