• Overview of the Textile Sector

• Companies and Products

• Business Associations

• Training Centres

• Export Markets

• Supply Markets

• Exhibitions and Trade Fairs 

 Overview of the Textile Sector  [top]                                                                           

Text from: Theo van der Loop, Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Netherlands, Addis Ababa, 1/2003 Clothing and Footwear in the African Industrialisation. The case of Ethiopia, clothing.doc 336 KB

Type of Enterprises

Within the textile sector, the CSA (2002) distinguishes four types of establishments. The most numerous are the establishments involved in spinning, weaving and finishing of textiles, and they also have a relatively large average number of workers per establishment (776). The knitting mills and the wearing apparel manufacturers are much smaller in size. The two large establishments manufacturing cordage, rope, twine & netting are public enterprises. The proportion of public enterprises is overall (38%) much larger than in the leather sector (where it is only 13%). However, the differences are large: almost two-thirds of the enterprises in spinning, weaving & finishing of textiles are public, none of the relatively small knitting mills, and only 16% of wearing apparel establishments. Even more significantly, the minority of public enterprises have created much more employment, i.e. 66.8% of the employees. Public establishments dominate in the areas of: gross value of production in textile; wages and salaries, as well as numbers of employees in both textile and leather.

Products
An overview of the kind of products produced and the changes in quantity over a number of years (1992 – 2000) shows that some of the products are on the increase and peaked recently (in 1998/99 or 1999/2000), such as lint cotton, woollen and other blankets, wearing apparel (except leather), and, significantly, sewing thread and embroidery. Others are fairly stable with respect to the volume of production, such as cotton and nylon fabrics, cotton yarn, and gunny bags. Quite a number of products are clearly on the decrease, such as acrylic yarn, waste cotton blankets, bed sheets, shirts, carpets, leather wearing apparel and sweaters. Lastly, hosieries seem to mark rather large production peaks and lows, settling for a medium level in 2000.

Export
Export of textile products does not figure even among the top 10 export products of Ethiopia. In 2000/01 the value of exports of textile, clothing and apparel was 28.8 million Birr and ranked 12^th (CSA 2002a). In spite of the importance of the textile sector to the nation, its development has been constrained over the years by many factors. Some of the problems faced by the textile enterprises some five years ago are still persisting, such as overly bureaucratic rules and regulations, lack of modern technology, inconvenient bank rules and procedures, and poor infrastructure (Taye 1997). In a recent forum on the status of the textile and garment industry, representatives of the government and the business community concluded that nowadays the major problems responsible for the deteriorating condition of this industry are: mismanagement, financial constraints, impediments posed by the contraband trade and scarcity of spare parts (Tamiru 2002).

Potentials
For the future, Ethiopia is fortunate in that it has the potential to provide the basic production factors to the textile sector. Firstly, the sector highly depends on cotton, and sufficient quantities of this raw material are being produced in Ethiopia; however, the quality leaves much to be desired. There are two broad categories of cotton in Ethiopia, i.e. Selam from the Gondar region in the Northwest of the country, and Awash from the Awash region in the East. There are different grades within each category, but in general Awash is of a better quality. Factories usually use a mix of the different types of cotton. Secondly, the manufacturing is labour intensive, and the country has a relatively large labour force; although textile is mainly done by un- or semi-skilled labour, skilled manpower is also required, such as electricians, managers, accountants, and marketing experts.
 

 Companies and Products [top]                                                                                   

Brown companies are public companies  -  Green companies are private companies

Production and Export Capacity of Major Ethiopian Enterprises

 Business Associations [top]                                                                                   

Ethiopian Textile and Garment Industry Association

P.O. Box 11901 Addis Ababa, Tel 251.9.21.92.66 Mobile, Fax 251.1.51.50.77

National Federation of Textile, Leather and Garment Industry Trade Unions

P.O. Box 6983 Addis Ababa, Tel. 251.1.50.30.46, 251.9.24.82.05 mobile, Fax 251.1.50.80.11

 Textile Training Centers  [top]                                                                                      

Source: Addis Ababa Education Bureau

 Export Markets  [top]                                                                                                      

Center for the Promotion of Imports of Developing Countries (CBI)

http://www.cbi.nl/  Exporters - Importers - Business Supporters
The Centre for the Promotion of Imports From Developing Countries (CBI) is an Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dutch Government, created in 1971. It has three target groups: Medium sized exporters from developing countries, Export Promotion agencies (TPOs), and European importers. In order to accomplish its mission CBI concentrates on five core competencies. More details  see under Links

European Union Trade Promotion Website
http://export-help.cec.eu.int/
The European Union (EU) launched a online helpdesk to provide information on exporting products to the European markets. More details  see under Links

Ethiopian Export Promotion Agency
www.ethioexport.org

Berlinkauf. Business Exchange. International Trade Market. Trade News
http://www.berlinkauf.com/

One Trade World Market Place
www.onetrade.biz/ot/

Alibaba. The directory of buyers by Industry. Database on how  find your buyers.
http://importer.alibaba.com/
All categories of textile and leather products
http://importer.alibaba.com/buy_leads/4c1p/Textiles_Leather_Products.html

The Import-Export Help Buy/Sell Exchange is the largest source of international trade leads, and tender opportunities from companies and government organizations around the world.

More details see under Links

Japanese Trade Fair Information. Free online business partnering database that allows companies and individuals around the world to search and browse through over 40,000 business proposals. http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/matching/ More details see under Links

E-Trade Center. Looking for business contacts. This is a market place for searching and offering business contacts around the world in different sectors. www.e-trade-center.com

FITA. Federation of International Trade Associations.
European Business Directory. International Trade Directory. Advertising Opportunities. Calendar of Trade Events.  More details see under Links

Premier International Business to Business Trade Portal with the most complete foreign trade, import and export information! FREE services for importers, exporters & trade shows organizers. Directories of Importers and Exporters, of Freight Transporters, Embassies and Consulates, Market Research Tools Trade terms and Codes, Measurements and Conversions. http://www.foreign-trade.com/

 Supply Markets  [top]                                                                                                     

TexData. Technical Database for the Textile Industry

www.texdata.com/start.htm

The best of the textile equipment supply databases. Textile machinery suppliers world wide.

WLW (Wer liefert was? - Who delivers what?) http://web.wlwonline.de

Who makes Machinery in Germany http://www.vdma-products.com/PARA-25/

GEPTEX. Second hand textile machinery http://www.geptex.com/center.htm

Resale. Second hand textile machinery http://www.resale.de/off-e-6.htm

 Exhibitions and Trade Fairs in the Textile Sector  [top]                                         

All Textile and Fashion Trade Fairs under Fibre2fashion.com

Complete exhibitor and visitor information, full address and contacts and organizer details

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/tradefairs/index.asp

• Industrial Fairs, Fashion shows, Events, Seminars and Conferences, Gifts and article Fairs

Heimtextil (Home Textile) - Textile Fairs worldwide

http://heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com/global/en/home.html

Consumer Goods: Apparel and Textiles
Trade Shows, Exhibitions, Fairs and Festivals, Conventions, Conferences and Seminars
Web Directory of Events, Products and Services
Children fashion, Equipment and supplies, Fashion shows, Footwear and Leather, Yarns and Fibres, Companies /Footballwear, Sportswear, Streetwear, Clothing)

http://www.expocentral.com/consumer_goods/
industry_consumer_goods_apparel_and_textiles.html

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