The textile sector is preparing a Strategic Reserve of Raw Materials to meet the needs of the country’s manufacturing units and take advantage of government measures aimed at stimulating the production and consumption of goods and services of national origin.
The announcement was made this Friday in Luanda by Luís Contreiras, president of the Association of Textile and Clothing Industries of Angola (AITECA), at the end of a meeting between the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, and entrepreneurs from this industrial segment.
He said that with the government measures outlined in Presidential Decree No. 213/2023, the demand for the purchase of uniforms in the local market will increase considerably, hence the need to create a stock to respond to this flow.
In this regard, he stated that some factories have already requested pro-forma invoices.
However, he noted that difficulties persist in accessing foreign currency for the importation of production inputs, so they suggested to the Minister of State the allocation of a specific monthly fund to allow the textile sector to purchase buttons, threads, and elastics.
Luís Contreiras also said that the entrepreneurs appealed for the deregulation of raw material imports.
He recalled that the textile segment, which operates at about 30% of its installed capacity, produces 38 million pieces per year and provides five thousand direct jobs and 21 thousand indirect jobs.
The projection for 2027, if the described constraints are resolved, is to produce 300 million pieces per year and generate 50 thousand jobs.
On the other hand, the businessman highlighted the reduction, in recent years, of the amount spent on importing raw materials, dropping from 400 million to less than 300 million dollars per year, as a result of increased national production.
Regarding the importation of used clothes (commonly called “fardo”), the association leader said they are aligning with the government to prevent these products from unfairly competing with the national industry.
Among the mechanisms to be adopted, he highlighted increasing import taxes and licensing to better protect the sector.
The meeting between the Minister of State and clothing industry entrepreneurs mainly served to reflect on the sector’s status, policies to stimulate the production and consumption of goods and services of national origin, as well as strategies to facilitate access to foreign currency.
The Association of Textile and Clothing Industries of Angola was created in 2016 and oversees 550 micro-enterprises and 100 small and medium-sized enterprises.
Source: Angop
