Raymond Huni, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Textile Manufacturers Association (ZTMA), said that the government is preparing to introduce policies to restrict the import of cheap textiles. Over-reliance on cheap imported textiles has affected the development of the domestic textile industry. In the first half of the year, less than 30% of Zimbabwe’s textile production capacity was operational.
For example, in order to protect the domestic blanket industry, the government plans to remove blankets from the open import license list for a period of two years. At the same time, chemical fiber knitted felt fabrics are imported as semi-finished products for blankets. They can be made into blankets after simple processing in China without any fundamental increase in added value. Their low prices put great pressure on domestic blanket companies. Therefore, the government also plans to increase the import tariff on chemical fiber knitted felt from 10% to 40%, or US$2.5/kg.
Zimbabwe’s textile dilemma is particularly evident in the southwestern city of Bulawayo. It used to be a large textile industry center, but now many companies have closed down or reduced production capacity. The businesses that collapsed include True Value, Fashion Icon, Sartusha Casual Wear, Linkart, Harlan Made, Ecott, Bama Fashion, Cinderella and Russelin Fashion. The government launched a $40 million distress relief fund in 2010 to help distressed companies restructure their equipment. However, most companies did not gain a new lease of life. Some companies, such as National Blankets Group, applied for distress relief funds from the government, but because the government has no money, they have not yet collected their accounts.
Raymond Huni said that even if the country is in financial difficulty, it must strengthen the protection of the textile industry because textiles contribute a lot to GDP. He hopes that the government can spend at least 20 million US dollars to revive the textile industry. Zimbabwe plans to introduce policies to restrict the import of cheap textiles
