Clothing factories rely on 30% of fabrics

Mohamed Abdel Salam, head of the ready-made clothing chamber in Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), revealed that the volume of local production of ready-made garments currently in the market reached 80%, pointing out that the proportion of imported clothing fell to 20%, which accounted for 60% of the volume of products in the market during the past year.

Abdel Salam said that ready-made garments' factories are spread throughout Egypt, Port Said, Alexandria, Dakahlia, Obour, Giza, October, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Qalyubia, Ismailia, Kafr El Dawar and Borg El Arab.

He stressed that the sector does not have real problems, and our problems are similar to the problems of the other industrial sectors affected by some of the decisions issued without prior study, in addition to the procedural problems of renewal of licenses and industrial register and customs, and the reason of which everyone knows, namely bureaucracy, government corruption and beyond.

Abdel Salam pointed out that floating the Egyptian pound dicision contributed in increasing the export capacity of the sector to reach 50%, while the imports of ready-made garments declined to 70%, which is reflected positively on the local clothing industry,

"Local ready-made garments are expected to account for nearly 80% of the Egyptian market early next year," he added.

Abdel Salam said that he agreed with Minister of Industry and the Industrial Modernization Center to start the work of trademarks of 30 companies that do not have trademarks working in the field of ready-made garments to help them export. Some foreign experts will be used to hold training courses for members on production management and planning. He stressed that the sector was affected by recent increases in electricity and energy.

He pointed out that Europe and America re the most prominent markets for the Egyptian product, because it is a market containing 800 million people, adding that Egypt's exports in these markets are estimated at 96%, and the Gulf is very low, while the volume of exports during the first quarter about $ 2.6 billion .

Abdel Salam pointed out that the factories of ready-made garments rely on 30% of the fabrics produced locally in the garment industry only exported, and the remaining 70% are imported, because of the fierce competition facing ready-made garments in different markets based on price and quality.