In the last five months of 2014, Ethiopia imported more than 3,000 tons of cotton to meet the demand of domestic textile industry, according to the Textiles Industry Development Institute (TIDI).
Ethiopian Government resorted to importing cotton in mid-2014 as a short-term measure to address the challenge of scarcity of raw material.
In addition to allowing import, the Ethiopian Government has introduced a new system, wherein companies owning textile mills are allowed to cultivate cotton, and some textile companies like Ayka Addis, Adama and Selin Dewan are already working in this direction, Ethiopian News Agency reported citing information from TIDI.
Shortage in availability of domestically-produced cotton is affecting the revenue that Ethiopia gets from textile exports, TIDI said.
Located in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia exports yarn, fabric and garments made of cotton, and had set a target of increasing its textile and apparel exports to US$ 1 billion by 2015, but the country is still very far from achieving the target, mainly because the local cotton supply is unable to meet the demand of the domestic industry. (RKS)