Chapter 756 Textile Industry Crisis
With the threat of war, East Africa's foreign trade was severely affected, especially various bulk goods imported into East Africa, including cotton, coal, iron ore and other important industrial raw materials.
Coupled with the stimulation of domestic demand caused by the war, this has led to an imbalance between supply and demand in East Africa.
In this situation, the East African government has to take corresponding measures to ensure domestic strategic security.
Part of East Africa's textile industry is not located in the country itself, but in the Far East. Although a complete textile industry system has been built, the overall scale cannot meet local demand.
There are many reasons for this, including the late start of cotton cultivation in East Africa, relative labor shortage, small planting areas, and relatively little national investment in heavy industry.
Von der Leyen: "This year, our country has been affected by the war. Imported textiles are subject to freight costs, risks and other issues, and prices remain high. In this situation, cultivating and strengthening the local textile industry is an indispensable means."
"Customs data show that this year our total textile imports have dropped by about 18 percent, but the import price has only dropped by 3 percent. The main reason for this is that during the war, Britain's blockade of my country has greatly affected my country's shipping industry, and hiring ships from other countries to transport goods has also faced price increases and other problems."
"The textile industry is one of the most important industries in the world and is also a pillar industry in my country. However, compared with other countries in the world, especially Europe and the United States, the textile industry in East Africa is small in scale, low in efficiency, high in production costs, and cannot fully meet domestic demand. Therefore, strengthening the construction of the textile industry should be put on the government's work agenda."
The development of the textile industry in East Africa relies entirely on a closed market. It would have no advantage in the face of international competition. Countries like Britain (India), the United States and several other powers are much stronger than East Africa in the textile industry, and even Japan is the same.
Although East Africa's route is similar to that of Germany, both are centered on heavy industry and prioritize the development of steel, railways, etc., but there is an important difference here, that is, Germany itself had a good textile industry foundation before its unification.
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 production area of the East African Plateau, and the western production area of Matabele Province.
Don’t be fooled by the high-sounding name. In fact, except for the northwest production area of the East African Plateau, the output of other production areas is pitifully low. Especially in the White Nile production area, only one city, Gezira, produces cotton.
As for the Matabele Province production area, it does have great potential for the future, but it is still in the development stage. As for the Somalia production area, the output is also very limited. This is because the cash crops planted in the Somalia production area are too abundant, and with limited population and energy, cotton planting is only a part of the Somalia production area.
Of course, the greatest value of the Somali production area lies in the cultivation of long-staple cotton, which is an important pillar of East Africa's high-end cotton industry. Only the White Nile production area can compare with it.
The main crops in the White Nile producing area are only wheat and cotton, so the production of long-staple cotton can be compared with the two river basins in Somalia.
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.
The main constraints of the White Nile and Somali production areas are population and water conservancy construction, both of which are indispensable. For example, many crops in the Somali production area are concentrated along the Shabelle River and the Juba River. If more canals and water diversion facilities can be built, they can expand to both sides. 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 the Egyptian section are better than those of the rivers in East Africa. Under the natural law of regular flooding, the available land can be effectively expanded. In East Africa, only the Shabelle River has a similar function.
However, the Shabelle River has its own drawbacks. In addition to changing farming conditions, overflowing is more likely to cause flood disasters, so the Shabelle River must be effectively managed.
But now East Africa does not have the energy to do so 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 that in Egypt.
The current Egypt is not as small as it was in the past. It also includes most of Sudan’s territory and has a population of over 10 million. The population of Egypt’s core territory should be around 10 million, and Sudan should also have a population of two to three million.
East Africa is short of people, mainly the 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, which should at least be able to meet its own needs.
The largest part of the textile industry is the cotton textile industry. Other types of textile industries in East Africa are actually incomparable with those in foreign countries, including the wool textile industry, silk industry, etc.
The only thing that can be shown off is the hemp textile industry. The hemp textile industry in East Africa is distributed throughout the country, mainly in the eastern region. Because it started the earliest and has strong support from the government, it has developed the best.
However, the contribution of linen textiles in the field of civilian life is certainly not as great as that of the cotton textile industry, especially in the field of clothing.
Currently, major textile companies in East Africa focus on front-line services, which has affected the domestic livelihood textile industry.
Ernst said: "The major countries in the world basically have advanced textile industries. East Africa naturally cannot lag behind. Developing a textile industry that matches East Africa's national strength should be put on the agenda."
"During the First Industrial Revolution, many representative inventions were closely related to the textile industry, such as the water-powered loom, the mule loom, the steam engine, etc. It can be said that the textile industry created Britain's hegemony."
"The huge market needed to develop the textile industry was one of the driving forces behind Britain's continued overseas expansion and development of colonies."
"In order to ensure the healthy development of my country's textile industry, we should not blindly expand production, but should be technology-oriented and constantly catch up with the international advanced level."
"Of course, we should also give full play to our vast land advantage. East Africa's unique climatic conditions are lacking in many countries. Increasing cotton production should also give priority to solving the problem of raw materials."
"So in the future, East Africa's cotton industry should focus on diversification and form several core areas, especially building a new major production area on both sides of Lake Malawi."
Ernst emphasized Lake Malawi because it was an important cotton-growing area in Africa in the past. Countries like Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania all had cotton-growing industries in this area.
For example, Malawi's important sources of revenue are cotton and tobacco, and Zambia's main cotton-growing areas are concentrated in the Eastern Province near Lake Malawi.
Tanzania and Mozambique are not the only options. Many places in the East African Plateau are suitable for cotton cultivation, so there is basically no problem in the entire Tanzania. In the past, cotton cultivation in Mozambique was concentrated in the Zambezi River Valley.
Of course, the choice of the new cotton planting base was also based on Ernst's considerations on industrial layout. Compared with the Matabele Province and Swabia Province, the Hohenzollern Province among the three central provinces of East Africa developed relatively slowly, mainly because its resource conditions were relatively weaker than the other two.
Therefore, in developing the economy of the Hohenzollern Province, we should focus on a model that combines light and heavy industries. This will better make up for the economic shortcomings of central East Africa and also make rational use of East Africa's land resources.
(End of this chapter)
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