Chapter 1680 Warm Clothing
The Ottoman Empire itself was not a major problem for East Africa, but the situation was different when it was backed by the European Axis powers led by Germany.
This means that as soon as war breaks out in Europe, the Axis powers can immediately control or threaten the three shipping routes of the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and Gibraltar.
This is clearly a problem that East Africa is very wary of.
Trade between East Africa and Europe is basically maintained by these three shipping routes. As for the Atlantic route or land routes such as the North African railway, their share is much smaller compared to the former three.
...
September 1938.
Nairobi.
As the original textile capital of East Africa, Nairobi was quite prosperous in the 19th century. Textile industry was an important basic industry. Before the 20th century, East Africa was still an agricultural country. Therefore, relying on the development of the textile industry, Nairobi was one of the most prominent cities in East Africa for a long time in the 19th century.
However, since the beginning of the 20th century, with the overall development of the East African economy, Nairobi's status has been declining.
This disparity can be understood as follows: In the early days of the Far Eastern Empire, owning a bicycle was something to be envied by everyone, but in the 21st century, it is commonplace.
In the 19th century, Nairobi became the most important textile center in East Africa through its textile industry, and it was naturally very prosperous at the time.
However, by 1938, it is no exaggeration to say that every city of any size in East Africa had a textile industry. So-called textile centers were springing up everywhere, but their value had greatly diminished.
Of course, these industries that were "unpopular" in East Africa would have been "precious treasures" in less developed regions and countries around the world at the same time.
The Tefal Textile Factory in the suburbs of Nairobi.
"In recent years, Nairobi's textile industry has become much more active again, with a large number of new orders, especially in the winter clothing sector, which is quite rare in the past," said Kaher, manager of the Tefal textile mill.
In front of him, the machines and workers at the Tefu Textile Factory were orderly producing cotton-padded clothes according to the established procedures.
However, as is well known, East Africa is a tropical country with almost no winter, so the size of the winter clothing market in East Africa is negligible.
Apart from Alaska, most of the colonies in East Africa are located in tropical regions, so the demand for winter clothing is extremely low.
York, the accountant at the Tefal Textile Mill, nodded and said, "These should all be overseas orders, and judging from the production standards, they should be aimed at markets in relatively underdeveloped economic regions."
Kaher asked curiously, "Why do you say that?"
York explained, "It's very simple. These cotton-padded coats are made without much emphasis on style and decoration, and the process is kept as simple as possible in order to maximize production volume."
"These old-fashioned industrial products would probably find few buyers in the European market unless the price is ridiculously low, but choosing the price route is unlikely."
"After all, Europe and America have been deeply involved in the winter clothing manufacturing industry for many years. If we don't consider the degree of mechanization and electrification, we don't really have much of an advantage over them."
Since the 1930s, East Africa has been the world’s most powerful industrial nation, without a doubt. However, in some specific industrial sectors, East Africa has indeed been competing with Europe and the United States, and has even been at a complete disadvantage.
Take the winter clothing manufacturing industry as an example. European and American countries are mainly located in temperate and cold zones, and they have a strong market demand for winter clothing, giving them a natural advantage in this field.
Currently, the most developed countries in the winter clothing manufacturing industry are basically the United States, Canada, and some countries in Northern Europe.
The United States and Canada have the highest levels of technology, especially in the field of professional cold-weather gear related to Arctic exploration and outdoor work.
European countries hold an important position in the civilian market and design.
Manager Kahl said, "That is indeed undeniable. The Empire's textile industry developed later than that of Europe and America, especially in terms of winter clothing."
In the 19th century, although East Africa had already begun preliminary explorations of industrial development, it followed the German industrialization model, which prioritized the development of heavy industries such as coal and steel.
As a result, although East Africa did invest in light industries such as textiles, it was certainly insufficient. In addition, East Africa itself has a relatively short history, so in the textile market of the 19th century, East Africa was obviously not very outstanding.
The full-scale boom in East Africa's textile industry did not occur until after the 20th century, mainly due to the rise of cotton, silk, and hemp cultivation in East Africa at that time.
Through a strategic plan spanning two to three decades, East Africa has become one of the world's most important cotton-growing nations. Only the United States, India, and the Far Eastern empires can rival East Africa in the scale of their cotton-growing industries.
Therefore, with sufficient raw materials, the cost of developing the textile industry in East Africa has decreased significantly.
At the same time, East Africa’s population grew rapidly in the 20th century, and population itself is an important influencing factor for the textile industry.
A sufficient population can provide a richer labor force for the development of the textile industry, and at the same time, it can also provide a corresponding population market for the development of the textile industry.
Relying on cheap labor and raw material costs—two major advantages—East Africa's textile industry developed rapidly after the 20th century, which was a foregone conclusion.
By the 1920s, East Africa's textile industry had been further developed, thanks to the improvement of industrialization and electrification in East Africa. By the end of the 1920s, East Africa's chemical industry had also developed, further expanding the raw material options for the development of East African textile industry.
However, due to the influence of domestic market demand in East Africa, it is clear that East Africa still lags behind Europe and the United States in the field of cold-weather clothing.
"If it weren't for the limited domestic market demand, we would definitely be among the world's top brands in terms of winter clothing," Kahl said.
"However, with the growth of the Empire's industrial exports in recent years, we have made some breakthroughs in this field."
It was merely a breakthrough; East Africa did indeed expand into many new overseas markets in the 20th century due to its increased national strength.
However, a look at the sphere of influence in East Africa reveals that it can be considered an overseas market, as its latitude is generally not high.
For example, in South America, most countries have a relatively warm, or even hot, climate. Only southern Argentina and Chile are relatively cold, but their populations are not large.
The situation is similar in other markets such as West Africa, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.
York, referring to this situation, said, "If I'm not mistaken, the main buyers of our cotton-padded coats should be from the Far East and Central Asia."
"After all, these cotton-padded coats are not of high quality. According to the aesthetic standards of European and American countries, these things probably wouldn't even make it onto the shelves."
Manager Kaher said, "That should be the case! Strictly speaking, this batch of goods is an order from a government agency, but they haven't discussed with us where it will be used."
"However, I think it's unlikely that the Imperial Army would purchase such low-quality cotton clothing."
"Although the National Defense Force has indeed placed a lot of orders in the market in recent years to purchase winter clothing, I know from other factories that the National Defense Force has extremely high standards for winter clothing."
Nairobi has many textile companies, so Manager Kaher can get information from many of his peers, such as the procurement situation of the East African National Defence Force.
Nairobi is an important textile city in East Africa, so there is no shortage of military partners in Nairobi, especially some state-owned enterprises.
It was precisely because they knew that the East African National Defence Force would not purchase their relatively inferior, or rather, outdated, cotton-padded clothing that Manager Kaher and others were able to deduce that the destination of their Tefal Textile Factory's goods was probably not domestic.
After all, apart from the defense forces, the demand for cotton clothing within East Africa is almost negligible.
It's not surprising that the military is procuring cotton-padded clothing. Even though East Africa is a tropical country, as a top world power, the activities of its defense forces extend far beyond its own borders.
York said, "The Mombasa-based trading company that placed the order with us has an official background. These goods should have been shipped from Mombasa and then sold overseas."
Manager Kahl added, "Moreover, their demand is quite large. Several companies in Nairobi have received orders from this trading company, and our factories are not small in scale."
"Based on this information, I think only the Far East market could handle such a large quantity of goods!"
It must be said that the reasoning of Manager Kahl and his colleague was very close to the correct answer; the final destination of the various winter clothing items ordered from Nairobi was indeed the Far East.
More accurately, it was the Far Eastern Empire, so the purpose of these clothes is self-evident; they were basically used as supplies to support the Far Eastern Empire's wars.
Although East Africa invested in some textile enterprises in the strategic rear of the Far Eastern Empire, these enterprises were clearly far from meeting the needs of the Far Eastern Empire's resistance against Japan.
Firstly, the textile enterprises invested by East Africa in the Far Eastern Empire were not large in scale and had limited output. Secondly, the Far Eastern Empire itself suffered from insufficient raw material supply due to war.
The shortage of raw materials means that, due to the war and the Japanese blockade, the basic need for cold-weather protection for the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Far Eastern Empire is currently unresolved.
Even if they wanted to be self-reliant, they would need time to plan, but war obviously waits for no one.
Take cotton, the most important material for the textile industry, for example. In the 20th century, most of the cotton-growing areas in the core cotton-growing region of the Far Eastern Empire, namely the Yellow River basin, were lost.
The core cotton-producing area of the Far Eastern Empire, more accurately, was the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, involving the provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi.
Apart from Guanzhong, other production areas are now either occupied by Japan or have had their original planting order disrupted due to the war.
Cotton cultivation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River accounted for 60% to 70% of the Far Eastern Empire's total, with Hebei Province accounting for more than 20%, Shandong and Henan Provinces accounting for more than 10%, and Shanxi and Shaanxi Provinces accounting for relatively less.
In particular, Shaanxi Province, a non-occupied area, has the lowest cotton planting rate among several provinces, at only about three to five percent.
This 3% to 5% of cotton production has become the lifeline for the anti-Japanese armed forces in the northwest region of the Far Eastern Empire.
Besides the Yellow River basin, the core cotton-producing area, the second most important cotton-producing area in the Far Eastern Empire, namely the Jianghuai region, accounted for about 30% of the national output.
However, Japan has now occupied a significant portion of the main cotton-producing areas in the Jianghuai region of the Far Eastern Empire. The cotton-producing areas in the Jianghuai region are mainly distributed in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi. At present, the Far Eastern Empire is in the midst of the Battle of Jiangcheng, which means that Japanese troops have already reached the relatively inland Hubei province. The situation in the other provinces is not much better.
In summary, the Far Eastern Empire has lost about 80 to 90 percent of its cotton-growing areas, and the situation will only worsen over time.
Cotton, as an important strategic material, is the raw material for basic survival supplies such as military uniforms and bedding. The loss of more than 80% of cotton-producing areas posed a fatal threat to the Far Eastern Empire's ability to resist the Japanese invasion.
Especially for the anti-Japanese armed forces in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire, the winters there could be deadly if people didn't have enough warm clothing.
It was for this reason that East Africa began to provide large-scale aid of winter clothing to the Far Eastern Empire. Moreover, the Far Eastern Empire had lost a large amount of basic industry, and its remaining industry had been damaged by Japan, making it difficult to maintain normal operation.
In this situation, East Africa simply produced the finished products locally and then airlifted the various winter clothing items to the Far Eastern Empire via the Northwest Passage.
Even so, the Far Eastern Empire still faced a huge shortage of cotton clothing and other supplies. This was not because East Africa's support for the Far Eastern Empire was insufficient, but because air transport capacity itself was limited.
Moreover, air transport also needs to take into account the transport of other strategic materials, such as weapons, equipment, and medicines, which are even more important than cold-weather clothing.
As for the Central Asia Highway, it is still under construction and will not be needed in the short term. Once the highway is open, East Africa's aid to the Far Eastern Empire will be easier.
Currently, among the winter clothing aid provided by East Africa to the Far Eastern Empire, the greatest demand is for cotton-padded coats and socks, followed by cotton-padded shoes, gloves, hats, and other supplies.
As for the issue of the relatively poor quality of the cotton clothing provided by East Africa, it was actually not a major problem for the Far Eastern Empire at present.
For example, the cotton-padded clothes produced by Tefu Textile Factory may look old-fashioned and have a relatively simple craftsmanship, but the materials used are still very solid. They use a sufficient amount of cotton, and a more durable fabric is specially used on the outside.
When these cotton-padded coats arrived in the Far East, the primary concern was simply having them, followed by durability, and only lastly did aesthetics and comfort come into play.
Moreover, the streamlined production process allows East Africa to produce these cotton-padded garments much faster, which is what the East African governments truly value.
It is now September 1938. The Far Eastern Empire has entered autumn, and the temperature will drop significantly after October.
Therefore, the East African factories are now rushing to produce as many cotton-padded clothes and other cold-weather garments as possible before October to provide basic winter survival guarantees for the various anti-Japanese armed forces in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire.
In this context, producing as much cold-weather clothing as possible naturally requires sacrificing some non-essential functions.
(End of this chapter)
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