ITC publications bring the business voice to sustainable trade, with a focus on developing countries. We offer guidance for trade policymakers, business support organizations and small firms. Our reports offer insights to make trade more inclusive, green, digital and competitive.
The coffee sector has a huge potential to contribute to poverty alleviation in East Africa, but the sector’s development is hampered by a lack of savings and credit facilities. Moreover, women’s access to financial services is even more restricted than that of men, and most women in rural areas...
This study invites national legislators as well as all those involved in enhancing the national business environment to consider secured financing schemes that will allow an increase in the amount of credit offered to SMEs. The reasoning is simple: allow as collateral property that SMEs usually...
This guide is a showcase of successful public-private dialogue in developing countries. It demonstrates the value of business advocacy on trade policy issues featuring the Barbadian tourism industry, customs services in Ghana, Thailand’s automotive industry, Penang, Malaysia’s export...
This new International Trade Centre report on market access, transparency and fairness in global trade concludes that ‘market access begins at home’. It argues that further reducing barriers to trade between developing countries needs to be an essential part of the way forward. The report is the...
This guide helps small exporters understand how to obtain finance, outlining the credit process of financial institutions, pre-application preparation, finding appropriate lenders and loan repayment. Models for business plans and loan requests are included. The guide also examines barriers to...
The goal of Ethiopia’s Textile and Clothing (T & C) Value Chain Roadmap is to set the sector on the course of strategic development by addressing constraints in a comprehensive manner and defining concrete opportunities that can be realized through the specific steps detailed in its Plan of...
Cotton by-products – such as cottonseed oil and oilcakes – can contribute meaningfully to reducing poverty, creating jobs and increasing economic growth in Africa. These derivatives can represent up to 30% of the value of seed cotton. Yet oil and cakes have not been fully exploited, despite a...
Many trade obstacles can be dealt with at home, this report finds, regarding business concerns about non-tariff measures in Malawi. This ITC survey of exporters and importers in Malawi reveals that their main challenges to access markets abroad are twofold in relation to non-tariff...
Mauritian exporters claim to be less affected by trade barriers than many other countries that have participated in the ITC business surveys on non-tariff measures. Among the 400 Mauritian firms surveyed, 27% of exporters were adversely affected by non-tariff measures; 36% of importing firms...
The clothing industry can be an important employment generator for many African countries. Clothing imports into South Africa rose over a five-year period to US$ 1.1 billion in 2009, making it the world’s twenty-fifth largest importer of this product group. Most imports were from Asia. However,...
The sector for leather and leather products plays an important role in many of the poorest countries in Africa, and leather manufacturing can be a significant employment generator in a number of these countries. While leather imports into South Africa declined over five years to only US$ 109 million...
