Various clothing and footwear SME’s have called for institutional support from government and relevant stakeholders to enable them to be competitive against the wave of cheap imports still coming in from countries such as Mozambique.
The leather and cloth players agreed during a Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiating Institute (SEATINI) capacity building workshop that foreign imports were still a huge hindrance to their business growth.
Zimbabwe’s clothing manufacturing industry, like most of Zimbabwe’s industries, has been struggling and the government has since placed a ban on the importation of second hand clothes in an effort to aid the local players.
Statistics collected by the Confederation of Zimbabwe’s Manufacturing Industries at the end of 2014 put overall average capacity utilisation in Zimbabwe’s industries at 39.6% with average capacity utilisation of the clothing industry slightly higher at 45%.
The two biggest capacity constraints according to the survey, were lack of local demand and lack of working capital.
The ban essentially address the former problem by trying to encourage local demand for locally produced clothing by barring access of cheaper second-hand imports.
This is in line with what the Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturers’ Association has been lobbying for.
Speaking at the SEATINI event Sense Zvomuya a shoe manufacturer said local demand was still low due to the amounts of shoes coming in from Mozambique and other outside markets.
“Local perception views Mozambiquan imports as being stronger so we are facing stiff competition because the second hand shoes are still coming in despite the government ban on the imports”.
“So our advice is that government should provide more support through policy and legal channels”, he said.
Another clothing sector player alleged that there is need for increased government control to minimize infiltration from outside goods.
“Our borders are still porous and goods are still coming even though some of them are banned. This is bad for our businesses as small players”, she said.
Massive company closures that occurred between 2011 and 2015 increased the extent of informalisation.
Informal employment increased by about 29% between 2011 and 2014 when the formal sector is believed to have shrunk by 40% as an annual average of 35 400 people were retrenched in the seven years to 2011 according to SEATINI.
The Chairman of SEATINI Collen Gwiyo said the capacity building event is aimed at growing small scale players into formalized businesses as some of them are losing business opportunities due to their absence of formal structures required for business with large markets.
“There is much room for improvement in the sector so this event is aimed at equipping them with knowledge about formal needs that will enable them to do business with institutions such as government”, he said.
Comments
About Author
