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Kenya Needs Sorting Centres to Enhance Sustainability of Mitumba Sector

BY Soko Directory Team · April 25, 2022 10:04 am

KEY POINTS

Sorting facilities will help realise Kenya’s goal of becoming among the leading high-value economies in Africa. It is estimated each facility can directly create up to 500 jobs with further employment in related sectors.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

It is important to ensure that more policy work is required to achieve the necessary balance between promoting local textile industries and support for a growing and jobs generating second-hand clothing sector.

Africa has one of the largest used clothing markets in the world. It is believed that four-fifths of those on the continent wear second-hand clothes, mainly imported from the USA, Europe, India and Pakistan. This is according to the recently released report by the Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya (MCAK).

The report indicates that the second-hand or used clothing has become an important source of apparel in low- and middle-income countries, much of which is recycled from wealthier nations.

The sector plays a huge role in Kenya’s economy given that the country is today the fourth-largest apparel exporter in Africa. The sector contributes 7 percent to the country’s net export earnings. Today, Kenya is the largest exporter of apparel under AGOA with about USD 600 million worth of exports in 2017.

Furthermore, the sector contributes to the economy in taxes, the sector contributes in excess of 12 billion shillings to the exchequer every year. This is not to mention the multiplier effect supporting tens of other industries such as logistics, clearing and forwarding, insurance, security among others.

However, there is considerable scope for realizing efficiencies and creating more sustainable supply chains in this growing consumer sector. It has been estimated that currently only a fifth of post-consumer garments are collected for either reuse or recycling.

Of these, approximately 40 percent end up in the second-hand clothing market – either being sold in a charity shop in the same country as the donation was made or more often sold on the international second-hand clothing market.

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This shows an inconsistent mitumba market that isn’t sustainable in the near future. Coupled with the fact that Kenya has tried to shut down the mitumba market severally, policymakers ought to implement new measures to ensure that the second-hand clothing market co-exists with the other textile markets.

To ensure its sustainability, however, the recycling of second-hand clothing is crucial. And while contemplating on the policies to implement, of vital importance is creating an infrastructure of localized sorting centres alongside better control of dumping of unused textiles.

At present, only a quarter of all clothing products are actually recycled. The scope for expansion is enormous. Policy needs to focus on opening up opportunities for trade that benefits both businesses and consumers. Nation-states in Africa would benefit from taking control of the industry through effective policy-making and regulation which opens up the opportunity for trade – both imports and exports- generating increased economic benefit for local citizens and the finances of national governments.

There should be an expansion of sorting centres at key strategic hubs as part of a supply chain network. This is especially so given the increased demand for second-hand clothing throughout the world economy. And as environmentally conscious consumers seek more reused products, African countries need their own long-term growth and development strategies.

An African hub for the processing of second-hand garments would have considerable benefits. Sorting centres that grade used or pre-owned clothes have become more prominent across different countries. At these centres, sorted garments are compressed into bales of 50 kilograms (110 lb) and then exported for sale.

Unsorted mitumba clothes can be compressed into bales of 500 to 1000 kg. The better-graded used clothing is exported to Central American Countries while lower-graded clothing is shipped to Africa and Asia. The hubs for commercial sorting of pre-owned clothes are in South Asia, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Kenya is a prime location for such a sorting centre. This would create jobs and increase the export of textiles to the largest African markets alongside the ever-increasing second-hand clothing market of Global North countries.

Sorting facilities will help realise Kenya’s goal of becoming among the leading high-value economies in Africa. It is estimated each facility can directly create up to 500 jobs with further employment in related sectors. Kenya is well-positioned geographically to act as a global hub linking other markets throughout Africa to the US and Europe.

And while this is a sound proposition, it is important to ensure that more policy work is required to achieve the necessary balance between promoting local textile industries and support for a growing and jobs generating second-hand clothing sector.

The introduction of policies to support the expansion of sorting centres in Africa and a hub in Kenya requires the integration of economic, social and environmental benefits from the mitumba clothing industry.

Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system. Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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