Ethiopia is aiming to generate 30 billion USD from the export of garment and textile by the year 2025. This is a very ambitious target to hit for a country whose shipments are only 115million USD 8 years before the year 2025.

This is the first time Ethiopia, spelled out its vision in such detail. However, it is not the first time for the government to look to the textile and clothing supply chain as one of the country’s key targets for growth.

According to Dr. Arekbe Oqubay, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Hailemariam Desallegn, the plan will transform Ethiopia to a compelling new sourcing hub for brands, retailers and their suppliers.

"By 2025 we want to make Ethiopia the leading apparel and textile manufacturing hub in Africa capable of exporting up to $30bn. This is the single, bold vision we have," explains Arkebe. "It is a challenge, but one we are confident we can achieve. We believe if Vietnam can do it, if Bangladesh can do it, Ethiopia can do it even better."

“Until 2010 the prime focus was on agriculture, an even in the last 5 years it has been in transition,” Arkebe noted. “But now we are giving more attention to manufacturing. And if we look at manufacturing, then apparel and textiles is out top priority because it’s the largest employing industry, and also the international market is significant: every household requires apparel and textile products.”

Commenting on the development Ranjan Mahtain, Chairman and CEO of Hong Kong based Epic Group, said “The one thing that is unique in Ethiopia is that there has never been such an organized roadmap dedicated to apparel and textiles … not in any country in the world”.

The target set is 300 fold rise in shipments within 8 years. Back in 2015, the country’s annual export for clothing was 73.25 million USD. This shows what the Horn of Africa nation is up against.

Source: Just-Style