Mivumba: the second hand cycle of poverty
The continued importation of secondhand clothing into the country is blamed for killing the textile industry
By Patrick Luganda
The continued importation of secondhand clothing into the country is blamed for killing the textile industry. Aggrey Awori, the Samya Bugwe North MP challenged the government to come up with clear policies on secondhand clothes.
Millions of Ugandans would go naked if it were not for the cheap clothes that are donated to the poor through charities in Europe and North America.
The textile industry, now operating in the country is using imported cloth which cannot be afforded by the ordinary Ugandan. A pair of shorts manufactured by one of the companies exporting apparel to the United States is more than sh20,000. A shirt at one of the manufacturing companies that expects to export in the future also costs sh20,000. School shirts are sold between sh5,000 and sh7,000, prices far above the means of an ordinary Ugandan.
An equivalent school shirt or short, goes for sh1,000 in Owino secondhand market. However, Eyasu Sirak, the Chairman of the sector sub committee at the Uganda Manufacturers Association says that Ugandans should brace themselves and agree to ban secondhand clothes in order to enable thousands of Ugandans get employed.
“Up to 10 million jobs can be created by the cotton industry from the cotton farmers, ginning industries, spinning mills, textile mills, transport industry and many others. Already the secondhand clothes have caused more than 15,000 people to lose jobs after Mulco, Lira Spinning mills Rayon Textile, UGIL, Brevan, Pop in Industries and Betex garments closed,†argues Sirak.
Sirak, the proprietor of Eladam Enterprises says that the European Commission had a couple of years ago agreed to ban the importation of the secondhand clothes to Uganda if there was a written request that the importation was causing poverty and killing the industries locally.
“But the minister responsible at the time said the ban would cause more suffering to Ugandans who were too poor to afford new clothes. This is the stand of the politicians as they seek to attract votes. There is a long term political gain in banning these clothes,†says Sirak.
But there are many who argue that the mivumba business provides employment to thousands of people in the informal sector who fan out into the villages selling all manner and shape of clothing items.
However, those in support of reviving the cotton industry say the opportunities are colossal. The jobs in spin-off industries alone make the available jobs in selling secondhand clothes pale in comparison.
The calls for the ban of mivumba come at a time when the cotton production is yet to climb to the high level of 1969-1970 when the country produced 467,000 bales of cotton. Although the production almost died out in the 1970s and 1980s, it was revived to about 120,000 bales last year. There is hardly any cloth being manufactured in the country as most of the cotton is exported without value added bringing an income of about $21m last year.
“We are importing cloth from many sources abroad like China, Hong Kong and Pakistan but the source is nominated by the customer not us. So they send the cloth and we manufacture the clothes. But if the secondhand clothes are banned, local cotton production will be revived and we will be using material from here,†says V. Kananathan of Apparel Tristar Limited.
Kananathan argues that Uganda with one of the best quality cotton in the world should be making enough cloth for the local market and export. “Nytil is already producing local fabric and we should be using their products in a year or two and save on the transport costs from abroad,†says Kananathan.
However, even if the textile factories were able to sell clothes at the same rate as the secondhand clothes, it will take tremendous efforts to replace them. Industry estimates indicate that secondhand clothes make up 81% of the country’s demand for man-made/natural fibre. Of the 210 million square metres used nation-wide a whopping 170 million square meters is secondhand. The remaining is mainly made up of imported clothes with the local industries making up a small amount.
Records from the Cotton Development Organisation indicate earnings from cotton exports fetching $20.35m from an estimated 100,000 bales of 185kg each. The farm-gate price in the last selling season stood at sh550, making more people rush for the crop.
Washingtom Tumuhairwe, who has been in the textile industry for a long time argues that it requires much more effort by the government to invest heavily to co-ordinate the textile manufacturing process. He says leaving it to the private sector is not enough as too much money is required and very few business people are willing to invest heavily over a long period.
“My view is that taxing mivumba does not help the textile industry. Instead a holding company like what Uganda Development Corporation was using before the cotton industry collapsed should be put in charge to co-ordinate all the investment activities,†says Tumuhairwe.
However, secondhand clothes have not only killed industries in Uganda. All over Africa, Asia and Latin America textile-dependent economies are reeling from the effects of the clothes that are supposedly meant to bring relief to the very poor. “The reason the clothes are so cheap is that they are thrown away for free and they are collected by charities in America and Europe who then sell them to trading companies and on to the third world,†says Sirak. Neil Kearney, the General Secretary of International Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), says that European exporters of second-hand clothing arrogantly dismissed criticisms of the damage this trade is doing to poor people in developing countries with the remark. “In Africa, there is no textile or clothing industry worth talking about therefore there is nothing to damage.â€
“So much for so called European and American ‘charity.’ The industrialised world’s greed that spawned a new money making export trade in used clothing has brought hunger in its wake across Africa. The impact is now also being felt in Central and Southern America,†writes Kearney on the Federation website.
He cites Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana among other African textiles industries that are hard hit. In fact, he goes on to say that hardly a nation in Africa has escaped the attention of the importers. In some cases, European charities specialising in the second-hand clothing trade, export and retail the goods themselves.
“Africans have long had a culture of enterprise as witnessed by the huge informal sector. What they desperately need are the resources create by manufacturing industries which are so essential to moving an economy onward to development,†says Kearney.
It may be a good thing to ban the secondhand clothes but their attractive cheap price tag will keep droves of people clamouring for more.
A more complex issue to note is that the majority of the imports are wholly commercial. Thousands of tonnes of clothing donated to leading charities are bought by shrewd groups of dealers in Europe and the US who have turned this generosity into a multi-million dollar business.
“This is a scavenging trade, where companies get their product practically for free before converting it into cash. The USA exporting company, Domsey Trading Corporation, for example, reports annual sales of more than DM45 million,†says Kearney.
It is comforting to note that the government intends to gradually ban the old clothes.
“We have gone into a programme of making mivumba systematically not viable instead of banning them,†says Omwony Ojwok, the Minister of State for Economic Monitoring.
The continued importation of secondhand clothing into the country is blamed for killing the textile industry. Aggrey Awori, the Samya Bugwe North MP challenged the government to come up with clear policies on secondhand clothes.
Millions of Ugandans would go naked if it were not for the cheap clothes that are donated to the poor through charities in Europe and North America.
The textile industry, now operating in the country is using imported cloth which cannot be afforded by the ordinary Ugandan. A pair of shorts manufactured by one of the companies exporting apparel to the United States is more than sh20,000. A shirt at one of the manufacturing companies that expects to export in the future also costs sh20,000. School shirts are sold between sh5,000 and sh7,000, prices far above the means of an ordinary Ugandan.
An equivalent school shirt or short, goes for sh1,000 in Owino secondhand market. However, Eyasu Sirak, the Chairman of the sector sub committee at the Uganda Manufacturers Association says that Ugandans should brace themselves and agree to ban secondhand clothes in order to enable thousands of Ugandans get employed.
“Up to 10 million jobs can be created by the cotton industry from the cotton farmers, ginning industries, spinning mills, textile mills, transport industry and many others. Already the secondhand clothes have caused more than 15,000 people to lose jobs after Mulco, Lira Spinning mills Rayon Textile, UGIL, Brevan, Pop in Industries and Betex garments closed,†argues Sirak.
Sirak, the proprietor of Eladam Enterprises says that the European Commission had a couple of years ago agreed to ban the importation of the secondhand clothes to Uganda if there was a written request that the importation was causing poverty and killing the industries locally.
“But the minister responsible at the time said the ban would cause more suffering to Ugandans who were too poor to afford new clothes. This is the stand of the politicians as they seek to attract votes. There is a long term political gain in banning these clothes,†says Sirak.
But there are many who argue that the mivumba business provides employment to thousands of people in the informal sector who fan out into the villages selling all manner and shape of clothing items.
However, those in support of reviving the cotton industry say the opportunities are colossal. The jobs in spin-off industries alone make the available jobs in selling secondhand clothes pale in comparison.
The calls for the ban of mivumba come at a time when the cotton production is yet to climb to the high level of 1969-1970 when the country produced 467,000 bales of cotton. Although the production almost died out in the 1970s and 1980s, it was revived to about 120,000 bales last year. There is hardly any cloth being manufactured in the country as most of the cotton is exported without value added bringing an income of about $21m last year.
“We are importing cloth from many sources abroad like China, Hong Kong and Pakistan but the source is nominated by the customer not us. So they send the cloth and we manufacture the clothes. But if the secondhand clothes are banned, local cotton production will be revived and we will be using material from here,†says V. Kananathan of Apparel Tristar Limited.
Kananathan argues that Uganda with one of the best quality cotton in the world should be making enough cloth for the local market and export. “Nytil is already producing local fabric and we should be using their products in a year or two and save on the transport costs from abroad,†says Kananathan.
However, even if the textile factories were able to sell clothes at the same rate as the secondhand clothes, it will take tremendous efforts to replace them. Industry estimates indicate that secondhand clothes make up 81% of the country’s demand for man-made/natural fibre. Of the 210 million square metres used nation-wide a whopping 170 million square meters is secondhand. The remaining is mainly made up of imported clothes with the local industries making up a small amount.
Records from the Cotton Development Organisation indicate earnings from cotton exports fetching $20.35m from an estimated 100,000 bales of 185kg each. The farm-gate price in the last selling season stood at sh550, making more people rush for the crop.
Washingtom Tumuhairwe, who has been in the textile industry for a long time argues that it requires much more effort by the government to invest heavily to co-ordinate the textile manufacturing process. He says leaving it to the private sector is not enough as too much money is required and very few business people are willing to invest heavily over a long period.
“My view is that taxing mivumba does not help the textile industry. Instead a holding company like what Uganda Development Corporation was using before the cotton industry collapsed should be put in charge to co-ordinate all the investment activities,†says Tumuhairwe.
However, secondhand clothes have not only killed industries in Uganda. All over Africa, Asia and Latin America textile-dependent economies are reeling from the effects of the clothes that are supposedly meant to bring relief to the very poor. “The reason the clothes are so cheap is that they are thrown away for free and they are collected by charities in America and Europe who then sell them to trading companies and on to the third world,†says Sirak. Neil Kearney, the General Secretary of International Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), says that European exporters of second-hand clothing arrogantly dismissed criticisms of the damage this trade is doing to poor people in developing countries with the remark. “In Africa, there is no textile or clothing industry worth talking about therefore there is nothing to damage.â€
“So much for so called European and American ‘charity.’ The industrialised world’s greed that spawned a new money making export trade in used clothing has brought hunger in its wake across Africa. The impact is now also being felt in Central and Southern America,†writes Kearney on the Federation website.
He cites Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana among other African textiles industries that are hard hit. In fact, he goes on to say that hardly a nation in Africa has escaped the attention of the importers. In some cases, European charities specialising in the second-hand clothing trade, export and retail the goods themselves.
“Africans have long had a culture of enterprise as witnessed by the huge informal sector. What they desperately need are the resources create by manufacturing industries which are so essential to moving an economy onward to development,†says Kearney.
It may be a good thing to ban the secondhand clothes but their attractive cheap price tag will keep droves of people clamouring for more.
A more complex issue to note is that the majority of the imports are wholly commercial. Thousands of tonnes of clothing donated to leading charities are bought by shrewd groups of dealers in Europe and the US who have turned this generosity into a multi-million dollar business.
“This is a scavenging trade, where companies get their product practically for free before converting it into cash. The USA exporting company, Domsey Trading Corporation, for example, reports annual sales of more than DM45 million,†says Kearney.
It is comforting to note that the government intends to gradually ban the old clothes.
“We have gone into a programme of making mivumba systematically not viable instead of banning them,†says Omwony Ojwok, the Minister of State for Economic Monitoring.