Are donated clothes harming Africa's economy?

[pampango]

Continent is a big cotton grower but struggles to develop cloth and garments industries

At present Africa exports 90 percent of its cotton in raw form. Right now the continent lacks economies of scale, skilled manpower, trade linkages and infrastructure to take the cotton and turn it into fabric or a finished garment. But a collective push to transform the dormant sector is emerging, with the understanding that Africa ’s failure to add value to what it produces will dramatically impinge its development in the coming decades. “The industrialization era is coming to Africa and if we want to survive it intact, we have to compete in the global market,” says Mwessigye.

Some $200 million have recently been invested in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana for textile mills and garment manufacturing. Kenya has attracted $20 million to open factories. Ethiopia’s textile exports have doubled from $7 million in 2005 to $14.6 million in 2008, according to the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF).

Ethiopia has also benefited from banning second-hand clothing. The flood of used clothing from Europe and the United States is blamed for deterring local apparel production across much of the continent.

Even if infrastructure is improved, most African countries will continue to struggle with economies of scale. They also lack the large subsidies enjoyed by the world’s leading cotton producers, including the United States, China and India — meaning that to level the playing field African nations will need to start offering subsidies of their own or the big producers will need to end theirs.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/100830/africa-works-develop-cotton-industry?page=0,1

[JCMach1]

1. Mixed bag that... there will always be a second hand market as long as Africa remains poor

Regardless of where it is made...

In markets like Kenya, the market is new market is saturated with cheap Chinese crap. The used can sometimes be the place to buy 'quality' second-hands.

These new factories will only succeed if they provide inexpensive products with designs people like.

Honestly, from what I saw in Nairobi a few weeks ago... just impose tariffs on the mainly cheap chinese goods.

Of course, that may affect the millions in infrastructure development $$$ you are getting from China... so that won't happen.

The Chinese have funded major infrastructure projects in Kenya and elsewhere in East Africa.

They are currently working on major highway projects (i.e. Interstate-like) around Nairobi.

[Mimosa]

2. JCMach, are the Chinese there out of the goodness of their hearts?

Or do they want mineral and other resources/

[JCMach1]

9. Hardly... it's about resource, money and markets...

The Chinese have been very active across Africa in securing resources.

In many ways, these cheap goods are doing a bigger damage than second-hand clothes.

Literally, your choices are buy the cheap Chinese stuff (even the 'expensive' stuff is actually poorly made Chinese), or you buy through the second-hand market. The second-hand market is down, way down the retail scale. Imagine the dirtiest, dustiest urban center industrial area. Now imagine there are people in the median of the highway selling these goods in the thick clouds of the passing diesels.

Let's not blame the poor people for buying the best quality they can afford. Trust me, foreign products for the US market blow away everything else in quality. Even same brands in the foreign context are almost always inferior. I will rarely buy clothing in Dubai or anywhere else in Asia (or Europe for that matter) because of this.

I would still argue cheap imports (just like the Wal-Martization of the U.S.) are just as much to blame for the decline of the cloth industry in Africa.

[izquierdista]

3. Dumping grounds

Got to do something with all the excess generated by the haves. In Eastern Europe, you can go to used clothing stores that sell stuff by weight. They get a new load in on the weekend, so Monday the price is high, but if you wait until Friday when the stuff has to go, you can stuff your pillowcase pretty cheaply.

[slampoet]

5. Boston has these stores. They aren't just third world.

[izquierdista]

6. What makes you think Boston isn't 3rd world?

And that many more places in the U.S. will be joining it?

[slampoet]

7. Because I have and education and know what the term means.

1st, 2nd, and third world are political terms that have very little to do with economics as they were initially drawn.

[izquierdista]

8. And in the political sense,

the U.S. resembles a banana republic run by a few wealthy families more and more as time goes on.

[Lost4words]

11. look at the USAs standing in education, HC, voter fraud, SCOTUS

how so many can be proud of being rated so low in the world community is beyond me. We are a super power in military and thats about it. WE ARE THE BEST KILLERS ON EARTH and thats pretty fucking sad.

Got downward spiral?

[Quantess]

12. Be patient. We're getting there.

[msongs]

4. PBS had an excellent 1 hr show on US hand me downs killing Africa industry nt

[Lost4words]

10. yes nt