Africa will only become
a significant sourcing
destination for textile
and clothing buyers from
the US and Europe if it
invests significantly in its
infrastructure.
Speaking at Source
Africa 2014, the textile,
apparel and footwear trade
event at the Cape Town
International Convention
Centre (CTICC) last week,
Siraj Kapasi, director of
Ashton Apparels in Kenya,
said while the continent held
a lot
of promise, it remained
an extremely difficult
environment in which to
operate, with huge logisticsrelated
costs.
“Whether Africa will be
successful in becoming the
next sourcing destination
will depend on individual
governments and how keen
they are to enhance local
exports, how keen they are
to be on an international
map and what they will do
to secure that. The first step
is to build infrastructure
– good roads, transport in
and out of ports, dependable
ports that are not congested,
water, electricity and
telecommunications. That is
going to make or break this.”
He said while the interest
and awareness was there,
the decision-making and
actual sourcing had yet to
follow.
“Africa is going to have to
speed up its delivery process
if it wants to grab this
opportunity.”
Global demand for
textiles and clothing is
increasing. US demand
alone is valued at around
$101 billion and the EU
$234 billion.
With Asia – the dominant
supplier of product in
the market – facing cost
pressures, buyers have
started looking elsewhere.
And while there is a keen
interest in Africa, the
possibility of other regions
grabbing the opportunity
exists. South America is an
especially keen contender.
“Africa has two negatives
that it has to address,” said
Fassil Tadesse, president
of the Ethiopian Textile &
Garment Manufacturers'
Association (ETGAMA),
“and those are the high
logistics costs and
corruption. It drives up cost
and makes the continent
uncompetitive. There is
major opportunity here
and the continent is on the
threshold of it.”
According to Dev
Chamroo, CEO of
Enterprise Mauritius,
getting the right
government-led framework
in place and having the
proper institutions
in place are just
as important as
infrastructure investment.
“All three must be
assembled otherwise Africa
will remain a talk-talk
continent and it will not be
walking the talk,” he said.
“It all comes down to the
reliability. A business with
a defined budget sourcing
product will not return to
an arena where project costs
change, or the product is not
on the table at the agreed
time, or the quality is not
up to standard. They do not
compute in African terms
and do not understand
indefinite postponements or
increased costs.”
Delegates attending
Source Africa 2014 were
in agreement that Africa
had a fighting chance to
become the new sourcing
destination of the world,
but it would have to move
quickly to secure it.
Africa has 'fighting chance' as global textile source
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