Young manpower as well as low-wage labor compared to southeast Asian countries are attracting apparel makers from around world to Ethiopia
By Masanori Tobita (Nikkei)
ADDIS ABABA–Ethiopia is fast developing into a dynamic apparel-sourcing hub as low labor costs lure international clothing/apparel makers to the African nation.
Manufacturers from China, South Korea, India and other countries have opened new plants in the continent’s second most populous nation while a growing number of European and U.S. brands are sourcing garments there.
A significant factor in Ethiopia’s emergence on the clothing scene is the planned opening of a new railway line to a port in neighboring Djibouti, located on the Horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea. The railway will facilitate transport of goods from the landlocked country’s industrial areas, like the Bole Lemi Industrial Park, an hour’s drive from the capital Addis Ababa.
Opened in 2015, the sprawling 150-hectare park is bustling with Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean production facilities, conveniently clustering factories for textiles, apparel products and leather shoes in one area.
At a factory operated by Shin Textile Solutions, a South Korean company, workers sit at long rows of machines sewing mainly sportswear. According to the general manager, the plant’s entire output is exported, with about 60% going to Europe, 20% to the U.S. and the remainder to Asia.
Japan’s Fast Retailing, which manufacturers and sells casual clothes under the Uniqlo brand, is among the many apparel makers that has shown interest in the plant, the manager said.
Read the complete story at Nikkei
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See also:
- Hawassa Industrial Park Goes Fully Operational
- Ethiopia Plans to Have 15 Industrial Parks by June 2018
- Two New Textile and Garment Parks to Come up in Ethiopia
- Pharmaceutical Industrial Park in the Pipeline in Kilinto, Addis Ababa
- Kombolcha and Mekelle Follow Hawassa in Inaugurating Industrial Parks