Tanzania sets up textile development unit for investors

29 Oct '14

2 min read

The Government of Tanzania has set up a Textile Development Unit (TDU) within the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to support investors, the East African Business Week reported.

The TDU is expected to help the investors find the information they need about the textile and apparel sub-sector, the advantages of investing, and the investment incentives and guarantees, as well as practical information on setting up a business in Tanzania.

According to TDU, the Tanzanian textile and garment sub-sector provides investors with outstanding opportunities to capitalize on its great but under-exploited potential.

In recent years, investment in the sub-sector has grown quickly, with new and existing businesses already seeing substantial gains. In addition to providing opportunities for joint venture partnerships, Tanzania also supports a profitable, integrated manufacturing value chain from cotton field to finished garment production.

The country’s economy is undergoing rapid economic transformation, with growing domestic and regional markets. There is a great demand for knitted fabrics and garments within the domestic market to replace the current high volume of imports.

Textiles and garments from Tanzania enjoy duty-and quota-free access to the US market through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Tanzania, as part of the East African Community (EAC), has an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in place with the European Union (EU), of which the agreement guarantees tariff-free access to EU markets.

In Tanzania, cotton is grown in 15 regions, divided into two zones—Western and Eastern. These two zones have different soil types and their rain distribution and cotton pests and diseases also differ.

In the Western zone—comprising of Geita, Kagera, Kigoma, Mara, Mwanza, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Singida and Tabora regions—the planting season beings in the middle of November and harvesting commences in June.

On the other hand, in the Eastern zone—which includes Coast, Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Morogoro and Tanga—planting season starts in beginning of February and harvesting process launches in September.

For the ongoing cotton season 2014-15, Tanzania is expected to produce 250,000 tons. In 2012-13, Tanzanian farmers produced around 360,000 tons of cotton, about 57 percent more than 255,000 tons produced in 2011-12. (GK)

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