The Sunday Mail
Grace Kaerasora
ZIMBABWE imported clothes and clothing-related material worth over US$43 million between January 20016 and March 2017, data from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency shows.
According to the figures, approximately US$43 425 403 clothing related goods, termed “Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted and Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted” were brought into the country during the period under review.
The information shows that at least US$4,6 million worth of other made up textile articles, sets, worn clothing and worn textile articles, as well as rags, were imported in March this year alone.
Cheap clothing imports have hit Zimbabwe’s textiles sector hard.
Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Zimbabwe, Dr Albert Makochekanwa, said the high level of clothing-related imports was due to lack of manufacturing capacity to meet local demand.
“I do not know if industry has the capacity to feed into the local market, we talk of countries such as China or South Africa where it is cheap to produce products looking at electricity costs, labour costs and even the machinery used,” he said.
“The machinery is state-of-the-art and is very efficient compared to ours, where we are using machinery from 1940s, which is outdated and therefore costly in terms of constant repairs,” he said.
