African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 756 Textile Industry Crisis

 With the threat of war, East Africa's foreign trade has been extremely seriously affected, especially various bulk goods imported from East Africa, including cotton, coal, iron ore and other important industrial raw materials.

 Coupled with the stimulation of domestic demand during the war, this caused an imbalance between supply and demand in East Africa.

 In this case, the East African government has to take corresponding measures to ensure domestic strategic security issues.

 Part of the textile industry in East Africa is not established in the country, but in the Far East. Although a complete textile industry system has been established, the overall scale cannot meet local needs.

There are many reasons for this, including the late start of cotton cultivation in East Africa, the relative shortage of labor, the small planting area, and the relatively low national investment in heavy industry.

Von der Leyen: "Our country has been affected by the war this year. Imported textiles are subject to freight, risks and other issues, and prices remain high. Under such circumstances, cultivating and strengthening the local textile industry is an indispensable means."

"Customs data shows that the total volume of textiles we imported has dropped by about 18% this year, but the import price has only dropped by 3%. The main reason for this problem is the British blockade of our country during the war. The shipping industry has been greatly affected, and hiring ships from other countries to transport goods faces price increases and other problems."

"The textile industry is one of the most important industries in the world and a pillar industry in our country. However, compared with other countries in the world, especially European and American countries, the East African textile industry is overall small in scale, low in efficiency, and high in production costs. It cannot fully meet domestic demand and other characteristics, so strengthening the construction of the textile industry should be put on the government's work agenda."

The development of East Africa's textile industry depends entirely on a closed market. If it has no advantage in international competition, the United Kingdom (India), the United States and several major powers are much stronger than East Africa in the field of textile industry, even Japan.

At that time, East Africa may not even have a textile industry. Over the years, four major cotton-producing areas have been opened up one after another, namely the Somali production area, the White Nile production area, the northwestern East African Plateau production area, and the western Matabele Province production area. .

 The main crops in the White Nile producing area are wheat and cotton, so the long-staple cotton production can be compared with the two river basins in Somalia.

Although East Africa follows a similar route to Germany, with heavy industry as the core and priority given to the development of steel, railways, etc., there is an important difference here, which is that Germany had a good textile industry foundation before unification.

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

However, it is undeniable that both have great potential for growth, and there is still a large amount of land that has not been effectively utilized and developed.

Regardless of the lofty name, in fact, except for the northwest production area of ​​the East African Plateau, the output of several other production areas is pitifully low, especially in the White Nile production area, only one city of Gezira produces cotton.

As for the Matabele Provincial Producing Area, it is true that the future potential is not small, but it is still in the development stage. As for the Somali Producing Area, the output is also very limited, because the cash crops grown in the Somali Producing Area are too abundant, and with limited population and energy, cotton Cultivation is only part of the Somali production area.

The main constraints in the White Nile and Somali production areas are population and water conservancy construction, both of which are indispensable. For example, many crops grown in the Somali production areas are concentrated along the Shabelle and Juba rivers. If more canals and water diversions can be built, Facilities can be expanded to both sides of the river. This is actually the development path of Egypt's planting industry along the Nile River.

 It’s just that the conditions of the Nile River in Egypt are better than those in East Africa. Under the natural laws of regular flooding, the available land can be effectively expanded. In East Africa, only the Shabelle River has similar functions.

 However, the Shabelle River has its own disadvantages, that is, flooding can not only change the farming conditions, but is also more likely to cause flood disasters, so the Shabelle River must be effectively managed.

Now East Africa does not have the energy to do this in the Northern Province. The main reason is population constraints. After all, the population along the Nile River in Egypt is densely populated, while the population in the two river basins of Somalia is less than one-twentieth of Egypt. Egypt is not as small as it was in the previous life. It also includes most of Sudan, with a population of more than 10 million. The population of Egypt's core territory should be about 10 million, and Sudan should also have a population of two to three million.

East Africa is short of people, mainly due to the lack of labor force, so it does not have a cost advantage in developing the textile industry.

However, under the current war situation, the textile industry in East Africa is threatened by war, which means that East Africa cannot ignore the development of the textile industry. At least it should be able to meet its own needs.

 The majority of the textile industry is the cotton textile industry, and other types of textile industries in East Africa are actually incomparable with foreign countries, including the wool textile industry, silk weaving industry, etc.

 The only thing that can take action is the hemp textile industry. The hemp textile industry in East Africa is distributed across the country, mainly in the eastern region. Because it started the earliest and the government strongly supports it, it develops best.

 However, the contribution of linen textiles in the field of civilian life is definitely not as good as that of the cotton textile industry, especially in the field of clothing.

 At present, major textile companies in East Africa are focusing on frontline services, which has caused the domestic textile industry to be affected.

Ernst said: "The big countries in the world basically have advanced textile industries. Naturally, we in East Africa cannot be ranked second. The development of a textile industry that matches the national strength of East Africa should be put on the agenda."

“During the First Industrial Revolution, many representative inventions were closely related to the textile industry, such as water-powered textile machines, mule machines, steam engines, etc. It can be said that the textile industry created Britain’s hegemony.”

“The huge market required to develop the textile industry is one of the driving forces for Britain’s continuous expansion and development of colonies.”

“In order to ensure the healthy development of my country’s textile industry, we cannot blindly expand production, but should be technology-oriented and constantly catch up with the international advanced level.”

“Of course, our huge land advantage should also be fully utilized. East Africa’s unique climate conditions are lacking in many countries. To increase cotton production, we should also prioritize solving the problem of raw materials.”

“So in the future, the cotton industry in East Africa should focus on diversification and form several core areas, especially the construction of a new major production area on both sides of Lake Malawi.”

Ernst focused on Lake Malawi because it was an important area for cotton planting in Africa in the past life. Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania all had cotton planting industries in this area in the previous life.

For example, Malawi’s important sources of income are cotton and tobacco, while Zambia’s main cotton growing areas are also concentrated in the Eastern Province near Lake Malawi.

Tanzania and Mozambique do not have only this option. Many places in the East African Plateau are suitable for cotton cultivation, so there is basically no problem in the whole of Tanzania. In the past, cotton cultivation in Mozambique was concentrated in the Zambezi River Valley.

Of course, the choice of new cotton planting base also depends on Ernst’s industrial layout considerations. Compared with Matabele and Swabia, Hohenzollern Province among the three provinces in central East Africa has developed relatively slowly. Or because the resource conditions are relatively weaker than the two.

 Therefore, to develop the economy of the Hohenzollern Province, we should focus on a model that combines light and heavy industries. This can better complement the economic shortcomings of central East Africa and make rational use of East Africa's land resources.

 (End of this chapter)