Africa's clothes curse  Monica Mark's balanced article (Europe's
castoffs bring blessings and curses to Africa, 8 May) makes
valid points about the global secondhand clothing trade.
However, she greatly underestimates its scale, reporting that 20
tonnes were imported to Ivory Coast last year. The UN Comtrade
database reports total exports from OECD countries to the Ivory
Coast of 13,066 tonnes. Equally Ghana's imports were a massive
79,963 rather than 200 tonnes. The actual trade may be even
larger on account of both inward and outward smuggling, which
the article mentions. Our own research shows that secondhand
clothing is now the default choice for most impoverished
Africans due to the absence of affordable alternatives. It
confirms that imports of both secondhand and cheaply produced
new Chinese clothing have hurt African clothing industries since
economic liberalisation and the removal of trade restrictions
opened African markets. Traders we interviewed in Mozambique
regard their livelihoods as a lottery