DTI sets November deadline for textile industry action plan

THE DEPARTMENT of trade and industry (DTI) last week unveiled its plan to recapitalise and upgrade the clothing and textiles sectors from November, a move that has delighted the Textile Federation, according to executive director Brian Brink. The department’s customised sector programme has been some time getting to the boil, and these on-going delays have seen a number of members of the industries teetering on the brink of collapse. “But the DTI seems to be serious this time,” Brink told FTW, “and the proposed time-lines have held firm. “The department has now had meetings with all of the textile and clothing stakeholders and with labour and the unions. It has asked for all our input in time to get the programme up and running by November.” Not that the full plan will go into gear that month – only the broader clothing and textiles action plan, with the full replacement duty credit certificate scheme (DCCS) set to be implemented by May. “But at least that’s a big chunk of it,” said Brink, “with only a few things due to be finalised next year.” The DCCS – like the motor industry development programme (MIDP) – is incompatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. And to overcome this objection, both programmes are being changed from an export-linked to a volumesbased incentive. Not that the export duty incentive was much use to the SA clothing and textile industries. Few manufacturers in SA are competitive enough to export, so few take advantage of it. And under the new plan, according to the DTI’s chief industrial policy director, Nimrod Zalk, the incentive pool will be broadened. An incentive is on the cards for capital upgrading that will be dispensed through the development programme for small businesses, while the department plans to fund research and development (R&D) and upgrading skills. At the same time, the state will step up efforts to curb illegal imports – which a number of manufacturers see as the biggest threat to the industry. The department is also beginning a review of import duties on textiles that will rid the tariff book of redundancies – and the more streamlined textile tariff regime should rationalise input costs.