Ethiopia’s exports of textiles and apparel grew 32 per cent from 2012 to 2016. The share of textile and garment exports in the country’s total exports grew from 2.46 per cent to 5.46 per cent during the same period.

Ethiopia is transitioning from an agriculture-based economy. The textile-apparel industry is a significant element of the economy, in both financial and social terms, as it is a major source of employment and foreign exchange. Cotton consumption in Ethiopia is expected to increase in the coming years as a result of expansion in the textile industry due to foreign investment from countries such as China, India, and Turkey, among others. The Ethiopian cotton sector currently meets 70 per cent of the domestic industry’s raw material requirements. Several foreign companies have committed to investing in industrial parks to accelerate textile production and garment manufacturing. There are at least a dozen spinning mills in the pipeline to address some of the expected demand for yarn. These planned facilities, plus the 15 existing spinning mills currently operating, will bring the country’s installed annual processing capacity of lint cotton to 2,00,000 metric tons.

In sub-Saharan Africa, cotton-producing countries export about 90 per cent of their fiber.