Mitumba Traders to Stock 10% of Local Apparel in Proposed Reforms

If a new proposal by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers is implemented, Mitumba traders would be required to sell at least 10% of local textile apparel.

According to the manufacturing lobby’s proposals in the paper “Overview Of Kenya’s Textile and Apparel Sector,” the government should create a framework that limits the imports of used apparel and shoes.

This will make it possible for export processing zones to receive fabric valued at Sh40.8 billion ($300 million ).

The apparel industry is one of Kenya’s most promising, according to KAM, with the potential to generate nearly 200,000 new employment by 2030 and save the country about Sh40 billion annually by halving the import of used clothing.

KAM is urging the government to create a legal framework to implement the Buy Kenya Build Kenya (BKBK) initiatives by requiring all government ministries, departments, and agencies to purchase local textile manufacturers.

According to KAM CEO Anthony Mwangi, the Sh85 billion in used clothing imports into the country has slowed local industry growth.

“An estimated Sh9 billion of imported mitumba goes to waste. If we just cut these imports by at least 50 percent by 2030, we can save Sh40 billion every year,” said Mwangi.

By revitalizing cotton ginneries and textile mills and raising spinning capacity from its current level of 39% to at least 65% by 2030, according to KAM, this will be achieved.

The government has prioritized the textile and clothing sector as a vital driver of job creation, exports development, and industrialization. The sector has a market share worth Sh50 million locally and over Sh300 million in East Africa.

This, according to Mwangi, can be accomplished through enhancing cotton ginneries, enhancing the competitiveness of textile mills, expanding access to raw materials, preventing illicit trade, and promoting the expansion of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.

Principal Secretary, of the State Department for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development, Susan Mang’eni, said the ministry is looking into the apparel sub-sector to increase women’s participation in manufacturing during the first Gender in Manufacturing Forum, which was hosted by KAM in collaboration with IDH Kenya (the Sustainable Trade Initiative).

“Majority of workers at the grassroots level are women. The state department for MSME development will ensure that women are exposed to the right channels to enhance their livelihoods,” said Mang’eni.

Mary Ngechu, the chair of the KAM Women in Manufacturing (WIM) Program, urged local businesses to embrace inclusion and sustainability to provide them with a competitive edge in international markets.

“Adopting globally acceptable standards, practices and policies is crucial in enhancing sustainability in the industry,” said Ngechu.

It should be noted that allowing institutional and legal support from the government is essential for gaining access to global markets and for fostering unrestricted growth in the adoption of sustainable practices.

Trade, Industry, and Investments CS In November of last year, Moses Kuria stated that Kenya would consider outlawing the importation of used clothing if preparations to provide more cheap alternatives were in place.

“I will work with the textile industry to ensure that we make cheaper clothes available in this market, and then we will ban mitumba,” Kuria said during the annual Changamka Shopping Festival, used to showcase and drive the sale of local content.

With mitumba subject to bans and limitations over the years, Kenya has a long history of continuous demand for used clothes and footwear products, primarily from rural households and lower-income earners.

The trade was outlawed from the middle of the 1960s until the beginning of the 1980s in an effort to boost domestic production and shield the domestic cotton sector from foreign competition.

When used clothing was permitted as donations for refugees in the middle of the 1980s, restrictions were loosened.

The prohibition was subsequently abolished in the early 1990s as the government concentrated on trade liberalization.

According to the United Nations, China is Kenya’s leading supplier of mitumbas, followed by Pakistan, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and India, with the Republic of Korea rounding out the top ten.