Indian firm opens denim production unit in Ethiopia

Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Limited (KCI), leading manufacturer of chemical intermediates in India, has opened Kanoria African Textiles Plc, a subsidiary and a denim fabric production unit in Ethiopia’s Bishoftu town of Oromiya regional state. The newly opened factory began yarn production last week and is expected to start denim fabric manufacturing in May 2015. The company has acquired on lease 153,000 square metres of land from the Bishoftu town administration and is annually expected to produce 12 million metres of denim. According to Ethiopian media reports, the factory would employ around 600 people and would produce yarn and denim for textile and garment factories. The products would be sold in Ethiopia as well as exported to African, Asian, and South American markets. Kanoria will use cotton procured from the local market and imported from Indian and Pakistan. The plant will have spinning (1,440 rotors) and weaving (60 looms) units, a dyeing facility, and a finishing line. In Ethiopia, there are 130 medium and large-scale textile and garment factories, of which 37 are owned by foreign investors while the remaining are owned by domestic investors. In 2013-14, Ethiopia made US$ 111.3 million Br from the export of textiles and garments, with an increase of 12.5 per cent over the previous year. (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India