African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 769 - 73: Textile Industry Crisis

With the threat of war, East Africa's foreign trade is severely impacted, especially the import of various major goods like cotton, coal, and iron ore, which are critical industrial raw materials.

Coupled with the stimulation of domestic demand due to the war, this has led to supply and demand imbalances within East Africa.

Under such circumstances, to ensure domestic strategic security, the East African government has to take corresponding measures.

Part of East Africa's textile industry is not located domestically, but in the Far East. Although there is a complete textile system there, the overall scale cannot meet domestic demand.

The reasons for this are many, including the late start of cotton cultivation in East Africa, relatively scarce labor, few planting areas, and relatively less national investment in heavy industry.

Von der Leyen said: "This year, due to the impact of war on our country, the import of textiles has encountered issues like freight and risk, keeping prices high. In such a situation, cultivating and expanding the domestic textile industry is an essential means." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Customs data shows that this year our total textile imports have decreased by about 18%, but import prices have only decreased by 3%. The main reason for this issue is the blockade by Britain under conditions of war, severely affecting our shipping industry, while hiring ships from other countries for cargo transport faces rising prices and other issues."

"The textile industry is one of the most important industries in the world and also a pillar industry of our country. However, compared with other countries globally, especially those in Europe and America, East Africa's textile industry presents characteristics of small scale, low efficiency, high production costs, and an inability to fully meet domestic demand. Therefore, strengthening the construction of the textile industry should be put on the government's work agenda."

The development of the East African textile industry relies entirely on a closed market, without any advantage in international competition. Countries like Britain (India), the United States, and several other major powers are much stronger than East Africa in the textile industry, and even Japan is as well.

Although East Africa has taken a path similar to Germany, focusing on heavy industry with priorities on steel and railways, there is an important distinction: Germany had a decent textile foundation before its unification.

At that time, East Africa might not even have a textile industry. Over the years, four major cotton-producing areas have been successively developed, including the Somali region, White Nile region, the northwest region of the East African Highlands, and the western region of the Matebel Province.

Despite the grandiosity of the names, apart from the northwest region of the East African Highlands, the other production areas have pityingly low yields, particularly the White Nile region where cotton is only produced in the city of Jezira.

As for the Matebel Province production area, its future potential is indeed significant, but it is still in the developmental stages. The Somali region's yield is also very limited because the Somali region's crops are diverse, and under limited population and energy, cotton planting is only part of the Somali region's agriculture.

Of course, the greatest value of the Somali region lies in the cultivation of long-staple cotton, which is an important pillar of East Africa's high-end cotton industry, comparable only to the White Nile region.

The White Nile region's main crops are wheat and cotton, thus its long-staple cotton yield can be compared with the two basins of Somalia.

However, it is undeniable that both have considerable growth potential, with vast amounts of land not yet effectively utilized and developed.

The main limitations of the White Nile region and Somali region are population and water management, both of which are indispensable. For example, many crops in the Somali region are concentrated along the banks of the Shabelle and Juba rivers. Building more canals and water facilities could expand cultivation along the banks, similar to Egypt's agricultural development path along the Nile.

However, the conditions of the Nile segment in Egypt are somewhat better than those of rivers in East Africa, where regular floods expand usable land. In East Africa, only the Shabelle River has a similar function.

But the Shabelle River has its drawbacks, as floods can not only transform cultivation conditions but also trigger flood disasters, so effective management of the Shabelle River is essential.

Currently, East Africa lacks the capacity to manage the Northern Province in this manner, mainly due to population constraints. After all, the Nile region in Egypt is densely populated, whereas the population of the two river basins in Somalia is less than one-twentieth of Egypt's.

Currently, Egypt is not as small as it once was in the past life, now comprising most of the Sultanate's territory, with a population of over ten million. The core population of Egypt should be around ten million, while the Sultanate likely has another two to three million people.

The shortage in East Africa lies in labor population, which means it lacks a cost advantage in developing the textile industry.

However, given the current wartime conditions, East Africa's textile industry is threatened by war, forcing East Africa not to ignore the development of the textile industry, at least to meet domestic demand.

The primary sector in the textile industry is the cotton textile industry. Other types of textile industries in East Africa cannot be compared internationally, including wool textiles, silk textiles, etc.

The only sector that holds up is the flax textile industry. The East African flax textile industry is distributed nationwide, mainly in the eastern regions, as it started the earliest and received strong government support, thus developed the best.

However, in the civil life field, the contribution of flax textiles surely cannot match that of cotton textiles, especially in the clothing sector.

Currently, East Africa's main textile enterprises focus on serving the frontline, which has affected the domestic livelihood textiles industry.

Ernst said: "The world's great nations generally have advanced textile industries, and naturally, East Africa must not lag behind. Developing a textile industry commensurate with the national power of East Africa should be placed on the agenda."

"During the first industrial revolution, many representative inventions were closely related to the textile industry, such as water-powered spinning machines, mule machines, steam engines, etc. It can be said that the textile industry contributed to the hegemony of Britain."

"And the vast market required for the development of the textile industry was one of the motivations for Britain to continuously expand and develop colonies externally."

"To ensure the healthy development of our textile industry, we must not blindly expand production but should be technically oriented, constantly catching up with international advanced levels."

"Of course, we should also fully utilize our vast national territory advantage. The unique climate conditions in East Africa, which many countries lack, should prioritize solving the raw material problem by increasing cotton yield."

"Therefore, the future cotton industry in East Africa should focus on diversification, forming several core areas, especially constructing a new major production area along both shores of Lake Malawi."

Ernst particularly emphasized Lake Malawi, because this area was an important site for cotton cultivation in Africa in the past life. Countries like Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania had cotton farming in this region.

For example, one of Malawi's major sources of revenue was cotton and tobacco, and Zambia's main cotton cultivation area is also concentrated in the Eastern Province near Lake Malawi.

Tanzania and Mozambique are not limited to this option; many areas of the East African Highlands are suitable for cotton cultivation, so there should be no basic problem throughout Tanzania. In the past life, Mozambique's cotton cultivation was concentrated in the Zambezi River valley.

Of course, the choice of the new cotton cultivation base also considers Ernst's industrial layout. Compared with the Matebel Province and Swabia Province, the development of Hohenzollern Province among the three central provinces of East Africa is relatively slow, mainly due to weaker resource conditions than the former two.

Therefore, to develop the economy of Hohenzollern Province, efforts should focus on a mixed model of light and heavy industries, which would better compensate for the economic shortcomings in central East Africa, while also making rational use of East Africa's national resources.