Africa’s rising future in textiles and clothing
“Ten years ago, Africa needed the world. Now the world needs Africa.”
Mohammed Kassem is a firm believer in the potential of Africa’s cotton-to-clothing industry to industrialize the continent.
The Chairman of the Egyptian Exporters Association EXPOLINK and Commissioner of Destination Africa in Egypt, talked with Trade Forum about the challenges and, more importantly, the solutions to integrating the industry’s value chains in Africa – for a stronger continental market and the sustainable exports the international market is looking for.
The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Indeed, the continent is an important producer and exporter of raw cotton (10% of the world trade in cotton). In Textiles only, Africa has the potential to export €5.8 billion of cotton garments to both international and intra-African markets by 2026. This in addition to other fabrics and cotton apparel, makes for a promising value chain.
However, Africa exports 90% of its raw cotton to Asia and is a net importer of cotton fabrics and yarn. African manufacturers import only 7% of cotton yarn and 6% of cotton fabric from elsewhere in the continent. This is clearly a missed opportunity.
Twenty years ago, when the trade association “African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF)” was founded, it was the only pan-African organization representing the full African cotton-textile-apparel value chain. Many of its members exported apparel to the United States under The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. The cotton-textile-apparel value chain encouraged by AGOA has created hundreds of thousands of direct jobs and millions of indirect jobs in support sectors across several African countries.
Unfortunately, since COVID-19, we have lost funding, and this institutional representative body does not function anymore. Destination Africa, which brings global buyers and manufacturers and exhibitors from all over the continent to Egypt to promote African exports, is helping but this alone is not the answer.
Today the world is re-engineering global value chains, and we are moving from offshoring to nearshoring, which is an ideal springboard for Africa, and for Egypt.
However, it’s easier said than done. Most governments still don’t appreciate the value of the textile sector as a pivot to development, but I am passionate about Africa’s future in textile.
Even though the world now needs Africa and its cotton more than ever only six or seven African countries are currently active in building their value chains.
Governments need to put in place policies that are conducive for business.
Even though we see some investment in West Africa (Benin and Togo) where they use their own cotton to produce yarn, we must understand that unless we develop the garment manufacturing sector, value addition will be limited since yarn is not transformed locally. This is why we need to develop supply chains, from spinning, to weaving, dyeing etc. –then the garment sector can act as the pull factor.
In Egypt, we have big hopes. The demand for exports as well as interest in investment in Egypt is unprecedented these days. For instance, China is encouraging their textile manufacturers to “go global” and to re-export from here. This trend is bound to accelerate.
Yes, the African market is still very primitive in terms of demand – the consumption of clothing per capita is the lowest in the world. Most investors would want to go for big markets in Europe and the United States.
And why is there no demand in Africa? You need to put money in the hands of the people.
By investing and creating jobs, they will have enough money to create the demand – demand comes from economic development.
Africa needs labour-intensive industries like processed food and apparel. We need to employ people – take them from an agrarian to an industrial economy. Until we achieve this shift, the demand will not come.
Silos will remain if we leave it to the current dynamics. I hope that the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can be the catalyst for the needed change and put together a continental plan. If we do not merge regional economic efforts like COMESA, SADEC etc. under one umbrella and invest in logistics, infrastructure, and a functioning banking system, nothing will change.
But this will need heavy investment, and the private sector cannot lift this burden alone, nor can the United Nations. It has to be an African entity that cares for African development and acts in the interest of Africa. Do we need to invent another body? Can we revive ACTIF? This remains to be seen.
Africa is well positioned to address the green transition. There are two things that can easily happen. One, use solar energy as much as possible as the garment business does not need lots of power. You can consume the electricity you produce right away – there is no need for storage, which poses the biggest obstacle when investing in solar energy.
Second, invest in zero liquid discharge, as it re-uses the exact amount of water needed during the manufacturing, washing and finishing processes of the fabric. It’s a very viable and feasible technology. If governments make these two aspects mandatory, or at least partially, when investing, this can make a big difference.
There is a big push from big brands and retailers for their suppliers to become more sustainable. But we need to be aware of green washing. If truly sincere about their efforts, retailers need to help their factories technically and financially.
The problem with our friends in the rich markets like Europe and the United States is that they want everything to be perfect, but they don’t want to pay for it – they keep squeezing the prices until there is no juice left for the manufacturers to invest in sustainability.
