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In this paper, the authors derive time-varying relative export competitiveness (REC) of the Cambodian rice sector from 1995 to 2018 and examine the key determinants of the REC.

Three different REC indexes are calculated in this paper. The authors also developed the relative symmetric export competitiveness (RSEC) index for calculation of comparative advantage. The short-run regression (SRR) model was applied for capturing the determinants of the REC.

The study results reveal that Cambodia's rice exports became relatively competitive over time. The key findings suggest the Cambodian REC was strengthened as a result of a successful implementation of rice policy and rectangular strategy. The benefits gained from EBA and BRI were found to be the factors contributed to the REC. The higher per capita income had a positive effect on the REC, while higher domestic prices reduced the REC in some phases of the sectoral development.

Further research is needed in two directions. First, the future studies might focus on other agro-products of Cambodia. Second, the development of the crop-specific factor endowment (CFE) model to consider the effect of endowment factors on the REC could be preferred in light of the data availability.

The research enriches the literature on the agricultural trade and provides a basis for further studies. This work makes a few contributions. First, it is the first study on the REC analysis for the Cambodian rice sector. Second, the latest 24-year data sets were covered. Third, a wide range of comparisons of REC among the world's top rice exporters was provided following implications of the various economic policies and foreign policy strategies, such as RS, EBA and BRI.

At the heart of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are substantial trade preferences, which coupled with the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) grant a wide range of goods produced in qualified African countries duty-free access to the USA. To be AGOA-eligible, countries are assessed annually on their progress in undertaking appropriate economic, institutional and human rights reforms. This paper seeks to cover new grounds by exploring whether exports of apparel to US crowds out EU-15's imports from Africa.

This paper employs the gravity model to gauge trade displacement effects from the EU to the US due to AGOA, and whether the more relaxed special waiver embodied in AGOA's apparel provision causes non-knitted exports to EU-15 to be crowded out. The basic gravity model, which posits that trade between two countries is positively influenced by the economic size and negatively affected by the distance between them, is augmented with other trade inhibiting and trade facilitating variables.

The gravity model provides no evidence of trade displacement but, instead, provides support for the hypothesis of complementarity of African exports to the two key markets. A strong positive impact of the bilateral trade between the US and Africa on the EU–African trade is evident mainly before the phasing out of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). This paper finds that Special Rule beneficiaries' exports to the two markets still complement each other, but for every percentage increase in exports to the USA, there is a less than proportionate increase in exports to EU-15 indicating a higher utilisation of the special waiver. This paper also provides evidence for complementary apparel exports to both LDCs (least developing countries) and non-LDCs, with stronger effects on non-LDCs and the non-knitted sector.

Future work could consider the longer lifespan of AGOA following its latest renewal in 2015. This would allow one to also capture the ongoing changes in EU trade arrangements in particular implementation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). This new agreement comes with more flexible rules of origin requiring single transformation step instead of the double step. As most African nations are still in the process of adopting EPAs, new research can shed more light on complementary or displacement effects once these agreements are adopted.

Since the main intent of AGOA is to enhance Africa's integration into the global economy by encouraging trade and investment, generate employment and increase productivity and per capita income growth, its impact on Special Rule beneficiaries' exports to the US has been extensively examined. However, the indirect effects of this trade agreement on African exports to other key markets providing similar preferences such as the EU has not been fully explored. This study also covers new grounds by examining whether there has been any apparel trade displacement from the EU to the US, as a result of the Act, over 2001–2016 period right from AGOA's inception.

Garment making by the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has existed for a long enough time to make the sewing culture a mainstream phenomenon today. It is thus essential to evaluate existing producers, the required information and the key requirements for production. This should consequently forge the way forward. Hence, the purpose of this study was to establish guidelines for the basic requirements as a means of operating garment mass production units in consideration of the unique economic, legal and social environment in Tanzania.

The study deployed a qualitative approach: interview sessions, questionnaires and observation together with the document review approach. A qualitative approach captured in-depth views, ideas and concepts from participants.

The study established the requirements for scaling up SMEs into mass production. The requirements include significant investment, well-planned strategies and an implementable industrialisation plan. The country also requires empowered workforces through the existing institutions, international collaborations with foreign investors, implementable policies, among others to excel in this sector.

The identified information together with all factors is leading towards initiating textile-based industries. Thus, information resources concerning garment production in the Tanzanian context are suitable for both individuals and corporations intending to scale up their production.

This is probably among the first studies in Tanzania which explored the basic requirements for setting mass-production units for textile and apparel industries. The uniqueness relies on the involved participants from multi-perspective domains.

This study aims to assess Ethiopia’s export performance and emerging exporters of textile and apparel products.

Descriptive research designs were used to investigate textiles and apparel export performance. Quantitative secondary data were collected from the International Trade Center database for 19 years (2004–2022). Data analysis was performed using percentage, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Independent t-test using Excel and SPSS version 20.

Findings show that Ethiopia and emerging exporters of textiles and apparel have fluctuating export performance both in absolute value and percentage of growth. The RCA results revealed that Ethiopia, South Africa, Japan, Russia, Australia and Ghana had comparative disadvantages at first, and then Ethiopia’s index showed improvement to weak and medium levels. Meanwhile, countries such as Madagascar and Cambodia have a stronger comparative advantage than Ethiopia and other countries considered in this study. In addition, the findings also show significant differences between Ethiopia and other emerging exporters of textile apparel, except Egypt.

The findings of this study have significant ramifications for scholars, professionals in the textile sector and decision-makers in legislation.

This study established new trends and extended the application of the RCA index across regions.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of changes in the Generalized System of Preferences of the European Union, on the EU GSP imports from beneficiary countries in ASEAN and China, and Latin America, respectively, and the utilization of GSP benefits by these countries for the period 1994‐2007.

The econometric model specifications used is with unlagged and one year lagged reactions. GSP dummy variables are added in order to test whether the changes in the EU GSP has had impact on bilateral trade flows and the degree of utilization.

The paper finds that EU GSP agricultural imports are negatively affected by the changes in the EU GSP system, but these of industrial products seem to have positively reacted to changes in the EU GSP. For imports of textile products, the results are not significant. It is also found that ASEAN plus China are significantly benefiting more from the EU GSP for industrial and textile products than the Latin American countries, but the changes in the GSP had no significant different effect on both groups of countries. The authors estimations also show that the graduation mechanism in the EU GSP, against beneficiary countries with higher EU market shares, seems to be effective for industrial products, but in contrast, is working in favour of such countries for textile products. By and large, the other graduation mechanism in the EU GSP linking GSP benefits and level of development of the beneficiary country has not been effective.

The paper is the first to address the issue how the many changes in the EU GSP since 1994 have affected the exports and GSP utilization of beneficiary countries.

The European Union (EU) has notified its revised Generalized System of Preference (GSP) on 31 October, 2012 which will come into effect from 1 January, 2014. The EU is also in the process of, or contemplating, to sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with many developing countries. Recently, EU has officially announced initiation of FTA negotiations with USA. Such preferential tariff arrangements could lead to significant erosion of preferences enjoyed currently by the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). In this backdrop, the main objective of the present study is to investigate the economic impacts originating from preference erosion in the EU market which could potentially affect LDCs in general, Bangladesh in particular. In this context, a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis has been developed by using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database to explore the aggregate impact of the preferential erosion as well as sectoral implications for which different partial equilibrium analyses were used. The analysis evince that if the EU eliminates all tariffs for Pakistan, India and Vietnam, Bangladesh's real GDP could decrease by 0.27 percent whilst welfare loss could be to the tune of US$ 54 million. Total exports to the EU will be reduced by 0.18 percent; consequently, Bangladesh’s terms of trade and exports of textiles and clothing could be fall by about 1 percent. The product level disaggregated analysis using RCA and unit price of major items also indicate that a number of products including textiles and clothing will be confronted with formidable market access difficulties in the EU.

The European Union's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) has existed for over 40 years and it aimed to promote the export growth in the developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the evolution and characteristics of the EU's GSP regime and examine the effectiveness of the EU's GSP in promoting the export growth of ten ASEAN beneficiary countries.

The authors analyse the trade flows between the EU and ASEAN beneficiary countries under the GSP scheme by referring to trade data (1990‐2007) at the aggregate level, the sectoral level and individual beneficiary country level.

The authors find that using the EU's GSP to promote the exports growth of the ASEAN countries has very limited effectiveness. Although the total EU imports from the ASEAN countries experienced a significant increase during the period 1990‐2007, the preferential imports under the GSP scheme remained stagnated at the same period. However, the least developed ASEAN members reported very high utilization rates and successfully exploited GSP preferences for pushing up their exports to the European market.

This work provides new evidence on whether the EU's GSP really works and to what extent the EU's GSP enhances the export growth of ASEAN beneficiary countries. The empirical findings may provide trade policymakers with some guidance in making EU trade policy.

Adjustment to a post‐Doha trading regime will be disproportionately costly and difficult for developing countries. Increased aid is vital for the poor countries if they are to grasp the opportunities provided through trade and meet transition costs. With aid‐for‐trade, for the first time, the developed countries have another bound and meaningful commitment that they can offer developing countries. Our proposal to provide new resources to meet adjustment needs, however, does not suggest that trade, when combined with aid, will be a panacea for developing countries. Interactions between trade, aid, and broader development policies and reforms are important.

The aim of this paper is to critically analyse the trade preferences offered by the European Union (EU) to developing countries under the Cotonou Agreement and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in relation to trade in sugar. There is a need for a timely examination of this area, given the context of the ACP‐EU Economic Partnership Agreements and the recent termination of the ACP‐EU Sugar Protocol (SP).

The paper focuses on the Caribbean region as a whole with a particular focus on two non‐least developed ACP Caribbean countries, Guyana and Jamaica which held the largest sugar quotas among ACP Caribbean which benefited from the SP.

The EU trade regime changes have affected the value of the African‐Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugar trade regime and could have a serious impact on the amount of sugar available for purchase on the global market. The paper argues that ACP Caribbean countries could find more profitable to grow sugarcane as an agricultural commodity to produce biofuel, which is currently in high demand.

The analysis in this paper is limited to the arrangements pertaining to developing countries and therefore excludes those relating to least developed countries. Trade in more highly processed sugars such as fructose or glucose, together with the growing trade in biofuel refined from sugar beet and sugar cane are also outwith the scope of this discussion.

The paper deals with an intricate issue. It discusses the socio‐economic impact of the trade regime changes on the selected Caribbean countries and includes a section on recommendations given the economic weight of sugar for these countries.