Textile sector cries foul over delay in policy implementation
Mar 28, 2011
POOR roads and a non-functional railway system, inadequate power supply and low supply of cotton lint have left the textile industry limping two years after the national textile policy was developed.
By David Mugabe
POOR roads and a non-functional railway system, inadequate power supply and low supply of cotton lint have left the textile industry limping two years after the national textile policy was developed.
Even with a well laid out strategy in the policy that could turn the sector around, Yuichi Kashiwada, the executive director of Phenix Logistics, says the slow implementation of the recommendations that include overhauling the infrastructure, means the textile sector continues to operate below capacity.
Today, locally-made products from Phenix are more expensive than imported Chinese garments because of high operation costs that have made the sector uncompetitive.
“It is not profitable at all. We are looking at how we can start to implement the national textile policy with the new government,†said Kashiwada.
Despite the glaring challenges, Kashiwada believes the sector has a future.
“I want to make the company self-sustaining.
“It will take about five years to return to profitability if the policy is implemented,†said Kashiwada speaking to New Vision on the sideline of flagging off of 50,000 T-shirts to Italy last week.
Continuous exports of unprocessed lint means the country continues to get low value from the product that was once a big employer in the agriculture sector.
Far less than 10% of the total cotton output is processed locally. It is estimated that if the cotton production was at its maximum, the industry would generate sh350b and, at the East African Community level, the industry would generate sh1.4 trillion.
Uganda recorded output of 254,000 bales in the five years up to 2009.
A report contained in the national textile policy indicates that the country has potential to produce one million bales at full employment level.
“However, over 90% of the lint produced in Uganda is exported at a miserable price of less than $1 per kilo, resulting into loss of value for Uganda since conversion of such lint translates into 8-10 fold growth in value,†reads the policy.
For the case of organic cotton, for which Uganda is world renown, the value can rise up to 15 times if it is first processed locally.
There is also the problem of cotton lint scarcity in which Kashiwada says government should restrict export of unprocessed cotton.
“Right now it is an open market, people just walk in and inflate the prices leaving local industries with no input,†said Kashiwada.
POOR roads and a non-functional railway system, inadequate power supply and low supply of cotton lint have left the textile industry limping two years after the national textile policy was developed.
Even with a well laid out strategy in the policy that could turn the sector around, Yuichi Kashiwada, the executive director of Phenix Logistics, says the slow implementation of the recommendations that include overhauling the infrastructure, means the textile sector continues to operate below capacity.
Today, locally-made products from Phenix are more expensive than imported Chinese garments because of high operation costs that have made the sector uncompetitive.
“It is not profitable at all. We are looking at how we can start to implement the national textile policy with the new government,†said Kashiwada.
Despite the glaring challenges, Kashiwada believes the sector has a future.
“I want to make the company self-sustaining.
“It will take about five years to return to profitability if the policy is implemented,†said Kashiwada speaking to New Vision on the sideline of flagging off of 50,000 T-shirts to Italy last week.
Continuous exports of unprocessed lint means the country continues to get low value from the product that was once a big employer in the agriculture sector.
Far less than 10% of the total cotton output is processed locally. It is estimated that if the cotton production was at its maximum, the industry would generate sh350b and, at the East African Community level, the industry would generate sh1.4 trillion.
Uganda recorded output of 254,000 bales in the five years up to 2009.
A report contained in the national textile policy indicates that the country has potential to produce one million bales at full employment level.
“However, over 90% of the lint produced in Uganda is exported at a miserable price of less than $1 per kilo, resulting into loss of value for Uganda since conversion of such lint translates into 8-10 fold growth in value,†reads the policy.
For the case of organic cotton, for which Uganda is world renown, the value can rise up to 15 times if it is first processed locally.
There is also the problem of cotton lint scarcity in which Kashiwada says government should restrict export of unprocessed cotton.
“Right now it is an open market, people just walk in and inflate the prices leaving local industries with no input,†said Kashiwada.