Local Manufacturers Go Wild

...Ask gov't to stop Chinese or...
Posted: The Chronicle | Tuesday, December 1, 2009

By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh and Charles Takyi-Boadu

Members of the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees' Union of Ghana Federation of Labour are not the least happy about Chinese invasion of the industry. They have, therefore, asked government to as a matter of urgency stop the Chinese from their nefarious activities before they cripple the local textile industry.

To this end, they have appealed to government to set up a taskforce, comprising representatives of the security agencies, Ghana Standard Board, the local manufacturers and the Trades Union to conduct periodic checks at the point of sales of smuggled products, with the view to arresting culprits and confiscating goods smuggled into the country.

Speaking to journalists at a press conference on the upsurge in smuggling of African Textile Prints and Pirating of Designs, the General Secretary of the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees' Union of Ghana Federation of Labour, Mr. Abraham Koomson, observed that the escalating illegal activities of some traders and their Chinese counterparts had aggravated the woes of the textile industry in the country, the employees and the Ghanaian economy.

He stressed that "The workers in the industry live in constant fears of losing their jobs because of the illegal activities of people in the textile trade" Indeed, the fears of workers are genuine because the sector which used to employ about 25,000 workers in the 1970s, has only 3000 workers made up of casual and permanent staff. While the state losses over GH¢40million as revenue annually.

Mr. Koomson, flanked by Mr. Moses Zizer, told the journalists that apart from smuggling fake textile products into the country, the Chinese traders and their partners in crime were also engaged in copying of brand design and brand names, names of local companies, among others.

He therefore appealed to the media to help them expose and deal severely with these economic saboteurs and nation wreckers. On wide disparity in product pricing between China and Ghana, Mr. Koomson mentioned, included low cost of raw material, low interest rates, highly subsidized electricity by the Chinese Government, and evasion of appropriate taxes by the Chinese traders as the major advantages enjoyed by the Chinese traders.

However, he indicated that local textile manufacturing companies faced challenges included high cost of raw material, high energy cost, high interest rates, no export subsidy and high cost of electricity in the country.

Instructively, in 2005, the government took steps to address the issues and accordingly directed as follows: "Imported African prints, real super wax, block prints, super real wax imitation wax, java and fancy prints-were being regarded as "high risk goods" and should be subjected to 100% physical examination jointly to be conducted by CEPS and the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) at the entry points".

The directive further stressed that "the new measures formed part of the guidelines to control the numerous unfair trading practices as evasion of import duties and other taxes, under invoicing, poor quality prints, pirating of patents and trade marks". These good measures are yet to be enforced to save the country of heavy revenue losses, collapse of industries and loss of jobs.