HARARE: Zimbabwe’s largest shoe manufacturer, Bata Shoe Company has been forced to import textile from Kenya as the local textile sector remains subdued. A poor cotton season which saw the country managing to harvest about 30 000 tonnes of the white gold, the lowest since independence, has had a debilitating effect on the cotton industry value chain. This has resulted in the country’s largest textile manufacturer Zimbabwe Spinners and Weavers downsizing its operations and failing to meet local demand for textiles.
Bata managing director Mr Ehsan Zaman told Business Chronicle that in light of the shortage of textiles, the company is importing textile from Kenya. He said the development has pushed the cost of production up. Said Mr Zaman: “We are not getting consistent supplies of textiles for our factory and we employ for our canvass factory around 250 workers. So this is very sensitive for us and therefore we applied to Government for permission to import specific quantity and the response was positive.”
