THE textile industry, which was on the verge of shedding off scores of jobs because of a shortage of lint, has received a timely reprieve after the government moved in by imposing a ban on lint exports without permits.
 
Players in the industry were this week upbeat that they were now in a position to retain an estimated 10 000 jobs , while efforts are under way to plug other loopholes that continue to weigh down the sector.

Cotton producers, the lifeblood for the textile manufacturers, had almost pulled the plug on the industry by starving it of sufficient lint supplies.

Producers of cotton were exporting a big chunk of their output to earn the much-needed foreign exchange required to sustain operations to the detriment of the local industry that had scaled down production to less than 50 percent.

Edwin Chimanye, the Zimbabwe Textiles Manufacturers’ Association (ZITMA) chairman, told The Financial Gazette this week that cotton producers were now required to secure export permits before pushing lint into external markets.

This will guarantee the local market of adequate lint to keep its machines rolling before excess production could be earmarked for export.

"Since last season, the government put lint exports on an export structure where they have to show that they have satisfied local needs before exporting. You cannot export lint without an export permit, but this is being fought tooth and nail by certain irresponsible lint buyers," said Chimanye.

The ZITMA chairman said bogus buyers working in cahoots with smaller ginners have mushroomed in cotton growing areas, a phenomenon that has compromised quality in the industry.

"We hope that if the support we have been getting is maintained, efforts by these unscrupulous buyers would not succeed because if you look at it, they will say they are getting foreign currency for the country, but you want to add value first and create employment," he said.

Chimanye said ZITMA would formulate strategies to address the remaining challenges at the association’s extraordinary general meeting scheduled for November 12, 2003.

At the meeting, the issue of pricing will also feature prominently. While lint supplies to the local market have returned to normal, producers have hiked lint prices from $400 per kg in December 2002 to an average of $4 700.

Industry players claimed this week that the new prices were unfair and unhealthy for the industry, which has been forced to pass on the extra cost in the form of higher clothing prices. As a result, the prices of school uniforms have gone beyond the reach of the poor.

The meeting will also discuss employees’ demands for wage increases that would obviously add to the spiral in costs of production.

Chimanye said the textile industry has been used as a launching pad for industrialisation in most developed countries.

"We have had to organise ourselves to speak as one," he said.

"We have let the industry diminish in employment levels when we should have increased it. It’s true we need to increase production capacity, but most people are struggling with foreign currency needed to keep machines running. There has also not been conducive incentives to sustain capacity," he added.