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Trade liberalization leads to waning of Ghanaian textiles

14 Mar '13
2 min read

Once a leader, the Ghanaian textile industry is waning gradually, mainly on account of trade liberalization policies and programmes, said Edwina Assan, President of Spinnet Textiles and Garment Cluster, an association of small textile and garment manufacturing businesses catering to local and export markets.
 
Due to the trade liberalization policies it has become almost next to impossible for Ghanaian textile products to survive competition from low-cost imports from other countries, she said during a press meet organized by Spinnet.
 
Expressing concern about the downfall of the Ghanaian textile industry due to inability to stand fierce competition from low-cost imports, Ms. Assan said most of the time the goods so imported, particularly those imported from Asia, lack in quality. But as they are sold in the local market for a lower price, it makes it difficult for domestic producers to sustain, she added.
 
Ms. Assan called on the Government to introduce steps to curb smuggling of pirated designs of domestic producers and their logos, which at times also carry the quality mark of Ghana Standards Board.
 
Further, highlighting want of capital and high bank interest rates as some of the key challenges impeding the growth of the domestic textile industry, she said these issues have badly hit the production capacity of their member firms, which has reduced by around 60 percent, and has also brought down the employment levels.
 
She suggested that adherence to best practices and upgrading of the product quality to match global standards could help domestic producers.
 
She said with interest rates ranging between 4-10 percent per month, it still remains too costly for micro enterprises to access funds earmarked for them, and thus requested the Ministry of Trade and Industry to back capacity enhancement efforts of small and medium textile enterprises to enable them to enhance their competitiveness.
 
Also, she urged the Government to introduce a policy, making it mandatory for all government officials, workers and Members of Parliament to put on Ghana-made textiles and garments during all major functions and also on Mondays, in addition to the already existing Friday provision.
 

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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