Itou Tada: Can 50 Dollars Per Month Of Ethiopia Replace Chinese Clothing Production?

Itochu Japan will provide support for the labor and production management of sewing factories in Africa. First, since 2020, local enterprises supporting Ethiopia have made Japanese brand clothes and exported to Japan. The labor cost in Ethiopia is very low, which is only about 1 of China's total. Garment production base is moving from China to Burma and other places, but labor costs in Asia continue to rise. It is estimated that the movement of Africa as a production base will expand.

This is the first time Japanese enterprises have formally participated in garment production in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a population of 100 million and is rich in labour force. The monthly salary of workers is US $50, which is only 1/10 of China's total, less than half of that of Southeast Asian countries (100~300 US dollars). In recent years, besides the global garment enterprises such as the US GAP and Sweden H&M, garment enterprises in China and India have also begun to enter. Due to the slow action of personnel training, Ethiopia's production efficiency is only 1/10 of China's, which has become an urgent problem.

The labour cost in Ethiopia is only about half of that in Southeast Asia.

Itochu and the Ethiopia Investment Committee "Fiber Industry Development Association" signed a memorandum aimed at revitalizing the local fiber industry. Itou Tada will send his own staff and 5 experts from outside Japan to 2 factories in Leizhou, Japan, to export products to Japan in the form of OEM.

Itou Tada made garments from textile to sewing in factories in Vietnam and Burma. Plan to use the experience of Asia to improve the production process and labor management in Ethiopia, and increase production efficiency to 5 times in 3 years. Production equipment is also discussed.

It is said that compared with the continuous promotion of personnel training and mechanization in China, the clothing output per unit time in Ethiopia is only about 1/10. Some of the fiber Companies in the country are exporting products to Europe, but in Japan, which is strict in quality standards, products have never been able to achieve commercial circulation.

Between Japan's large garment enterprises, the fast retailing of "UNIQLO" operations has discussed production in Ethiopia, but it has not been realized. There are also situations where other companies have entrusted Ethiopia with production, but it has not lasted for too long. Itochu will support Ethiopia to raise the level of the local fiber industry and build it into a competitive production base.