The Impact of Imported New and Second-Hand Clothing on the Zimbabwe Textile and Clothing Industry
Abstract
Clothing imports into Zimbabwe has grown steadily since the trade liberalisation measures were introduced in 1991. Asia has grown in importance as the source of imported yarns, fabrics and clothing. In addition, there is growing concern in the clothing sector of the continuous growth in the second-hand clothing market and illegal imports from within the SADC region. All these factors have crippled the textile and clothing industry in Zimbabwe leading to the reduction in the market share of locally manufactured products, factory closures and retrenchments. This paper discusses the work carried out to assess the impact of the imported new and second-hand clothing on the Zimbabwe Textile and Clothing Industry. Results show that most of these cheap imports don’t come into the country through the formal borders and pose unfair price competition to local products due to their cheapness and perceived superior quality. The slow recovery of the textile and clothing industry is also due to other contributory factors such as lack of foreign currency, cost of borrowing money, brain drain, power cost and supply, heavy import duty rates, etc. which when all are summed up, together have led to the decline of the textile and clothing industry in Zimbabwe.References
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