KOMBOLCHA, Amhara State | Spantex Cotton & Textile | Proposed

[enkelfam]

Government Grants 50,000ht for Its Cotton Farm


Spintex, an Indian textile company, has received 50ht of land at the Kombolcha Industrial Zone in the Amhara Regional State to construct what could become the largest textile factory with five times the capacity of the current leader.

It will produce 100tn of yarn a day, which is five times the capacity of Ayka Addis.

Ayka Addis is a Turkish company that moved to Ethiopia and set up a factory at Alem Gena in Oromia.

"This company [Spintex] has promised to the Prime Minister and Girma Birru [minister of Trade and Industry] that it will export one billion dollar worth of products a year in seven years' time," a high-level government official told Fortune.

The government's target for 2009/10, as indicated in the Plan for Accelerated and Sustainable Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), was to be able to export fve billion dollar worth of textile and garment products. However, the highest amount that is now expected is only about 53.5 million dollar.

"The history of the Ethiopian textile industry will completely change," Sileshi Lema, director of the Ethiopian Textile and Leather Development Centre, told Fortune. His conviction is based on the level of foreign direct investment in the country.

Spintex was established in India in 1972 with four companies under it specialising in different areas of the textile industry. The group has been producing different machinery for spinning, weaving and knitting.

The company will fully own the factory it will establish in Ethiopia. But it has indicated that it would need a loan from local banks, an official at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) told Fortune, which he confirmed would be awarded.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia, alone, has the capability to extend loans counted in hundreds of millions of Birr. Spintex has already received support in the form of 50,000ht of land in the Awi Zone of the Amhara Regional State for cotton farming.

With investment in the textile and garment industry gradually growing, a new point of concern has emerged, according to an expert at MoTI, because the companies that were established exclusively for export are beginning to eye the local market which is also growing. The ministry has instructed the Textile and Leather Development Centre to conduct a study on the issue.

http://www.addisfortune.com/Indian%2...le%20Plant.htm

[Carver02]

If it come to fruition, that's huge. There is no company in Ethiopia that exports 1 billion dollars worth of anything.

[yosef]

India’s leading textile company to launch 25,000 ha of cotton farm here
* Company set to commence USD 100 million textile project

Spentex, India’s textile producing giant, is set to launch a cotton farm on a 25,000 ha of land it secured from the Ministry of Agriculture, the farm being developed to provide raw materials for what is said to become one of the biggest textile factories in Ethiopia. The company will be investing a total of USD 100 million for the cotton farm and textile factory, according to Gennet Zewide, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia.

“The company is forced to launch the cotton farm because the current cotton production in the country is not enough to feed the textile plant the company will establish,” the Ambassador said. “The company will be provided with an additional 25,000 ha of land for another cotton farm.”

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had, after the latest bilateral talks between the two countries, said that the company would have a capacity to process 118,000 tonnes a day when the textile plant commences production, thereby indicating that such an investment would significantly boost Ethiopia’s export to India and the world.

With Ethiopia and India signing a double-taxation avoidance agreement, scores of big-time Indian companies engaged in different business and investment sectors are expected to come to Ethiopia, according to Gennet. Spentex currently operates nine textile facilities in India and abroad, according to information posted at the company’s website.

EthiopianReporter

New Indian Ambassador talks up trade

The embassy indicated it is investigating the outcome of a new study that has been submitted to the Ethiopian Government for comment, which is aimed at investigating investment opportunities as well as areas for the establishment of an integrated textile cluster in Ethiopia.
Even without finalising the study that cost the embassy approximately 320,000 dollars, the ambassador said Indian investors are expressing their interest in Ethiopia and some are taking action by setting up factories.
Around Kombolcha, an Indian company, Spentex, is setting up a spinning factory with the capacity to produce about 700 million dollars worth of yarn every year.
The ambassador added that the outcome of the study will be announced both to Indian as well as other international investors so that they can do business here. The study is expected to be finished in the next couple of weeks.

continued here at Capital