A team of Ugandan exports and industrial development officials has visited a Chinese textile company in Guangzhou to learn how to build an export infrastructure for each of the country’s sectors.

The team from the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), which was tasked with increasing Uganda’s current export earnings by another $6b by 2028, was led by the senior presidential advisor on special duties, Odrek Rwabwogo.

“Our team had a wonderful and challenging visit to the Kamhing Textile Company of Guangzhou last week. This is what full integration of the value chain looks like, at least from the fabric side. It doesn’t have the seeds and what else comes from cotton, but it does the job in textiles,” Rwabwogo said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on May 7, 2024.

A team of Ugandan exports and industrial development officials has visited a Chinese textile company in Guangzhou to learn how to build an export infrastructure. (Credit: PACEID)

The team also heard that with 100 million kilogrammes of lint turned into fabric at the firm in one plant, knitted, dyed, printed, and cut into high fashion for the US outlets of Walmart, Target, Nike, Adidas, Macy’s, etc., they were showed how to think and build an export infrastructure for each of Uganda’s sectors. 

“This feat is achievable if we act with commitment as a country and do more for each of our export products. Suppose our consumption is 276 million square meters of fabric, and Uganda's combined handles are less than 25m [million],” Rwabwogo, who is himself an entrepreneur and farmer, stated.

He asked whether as a country they cannot attract high-level players into this textile sector and everyone, including traders, who must spend hard-earned foreign exchange to import material from China and Hong Kong.

“Fine Spinners and Nytil, who are doing a great job, would also be helped by anyone growing the industry and giving the country a voice and scale in the textile sector. PACEID needs support to change the thinking of our public sector employees regarding urgent decision-making, which would give us a better future for our children’s jobs,” he added.

PACEID, which was commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni in March 2022, identified 13 key exports that will be targeted for aggressive growth in production and revenue over the next five years.

These are coffee, sugar, grains, fruits and vegetables, poultry (meat), tourism, beef, dairy, cement, steel, fish, banana flour, and flowers/plant materials.

It said all these 13 are exports where Uganda has sufficient comparative advantage in target markets that if grown, sustainable industries and manufacturing structures can develop around each, creating employment and driving the national economy.