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Almeda Textile Set to Expand Five-Fold(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A group of seventeen high-level machinery manufacturers spent four days in town looking for local agents and customers. During the turnout of the week, a delegation of manufacturers paid a visit to big textile factories and went further to the north to meet up with textile and garment manufacturers in Mekelle town of the Tigray Regional State. According to Boris Abadjieff, head of exhibitions and marketing at the Textile Machinery Association of Germany, the visit was organized to assess the market potential and find the right agents for the German side. Asked why the manufactures are coming this time, Abadjieff said that it is because either the companies had neglected the potential marketability of the Ethiopian textile industry or it might be that they could not find agents here. However, companies like Fong's Europe GMBH had a surviving partnership with Almeda Textile Plc. Tesfay G. Egziabher, marketing and sales manager at Almeda textile, told The Reporter that the factory has planned to expand five times bigger than what it currently is. Tesfay said that the textile factory is processing 20 tons of garment a day at the moment. After five years it will reach the level where it would process 100 tons per day. The 15-year-old Almeda Textile is situated in the Tigray Regional State some 1000km north of the capital. The overall expected investment, according to Tesfay, is estimated to be between six and eight billion birr, depending on the market fluctuations. By then the total number of employees will reach 40,000, Tesfay said. In addition to the five-year expansion plan, Almeda has been in contact with some of the visiting manufacturers to purchase some spare-parts for the dyeing, finishing and spinning machineries. For that reason, Almeda is set to invest some 80 million birr for the spinning parts, Tesfaye said. Twenty million birr more is expected to be spent on finishing machineries spares. Currently, Almeda manufactures trousers, polo shirts, military uniforms, T-shirts and bed sheet alongside other line of products. The export business, however, is declining. Tesfay said that some 13 influential customers in the international market turned away due to maladministration the textile factory sustained for years. He hopes the current generation of management is striding to change the reputations of the company. Tesfay noted that Almeda is working to absorb the East African markets soon. Stephan Kehry, director of sales and marketing at Fong's Europe GMBH company, told The Reporter that Almeda and other Turkish-owned textile companies are making progresses for future business deals. He admitted that the German sides are less dynamic to articulate themselves the way the business around the textile market is changing. According to the delegates, the Ethiopian textile sector has the potential to become one of the best performing sectors in the economy. However, Abadjieff said that the sector needs to be looked at from the point view of logistics, delivery and infrastructure. For such and other reasons, it might take years to reach the point where it can play a major role. Currently, the textile and garment sector grosses USD 120 million annually. However, the target was to earn half a billion dollars this year and top USD billion by the end of 2015. Copyright The Reporter. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |