₦airaland Forum

Nigeria's textile production was once a vibrant, booming sector and a key part of its economy. But the industry has since been brought to its knees by cheap imports from China. Is there a chance of recovery?

In the 1990s, the textile industry in Nigeria was a key driver of the economy, providing employment to hundreds of thousands in Africa's most populous country.

"It was full of activities, from Kaduna, Kano, Lagos and Onitsha, textile factories were located in all those places," said Hamma Ali Kwajaffa, the head of Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association.

Textile mills across the country produced high-quality fabrics for Nigerian buyers as well as international markets. Booming production chains also supported local cotton farmers.

Today, however, only a few factories remain, and even those are struggling amid the influx of cheap textiles from abroad — particularly from China.

Why are Chinese fabrics so much cheaper?

Nigeria still boasts domestic cotton farms. However, its textile manufacturers need to procure dye, chemicals, starch and synthetic fibers from other countries.

In contrast, China's textile industry benefits from an integrated supply chain, where all the necessary goods and even machinery are available domestically.

"China already produces all the raw materials," said Anibe Achimugu, president of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria. "This means they can produce at a cheaper price."

Another obstacle for Nigeria's textile industry is the depreciation of the country's currency, the naira. In 2023, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended measures that kept the naira at a fixed value and instead let the value be determined by supply and demand for foreign exchange. The currency has since dropped, driving up the cost of importing raw materials and spare parts.

Are Chinese rivals copying Nigerian designs?

Kwajaffa of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association pointed out that imported textiles are often made of polyester rather than cotton. Polyester is cheaper, but is also considered lower in quality.

According to Kwajaffa, imported textiles often fade quickly and do not last as long as cotton fabrics. However, because some of the foreign fabrics mimic Nigerian-made designs, consumers may mistakenly attribute them to local manufacturers. Also, clothes smuggled from China are sometimes illegally marked as "Made in Nigeria" and sold at lower prices, he said.

"Because of the cheap price, local people will prefer to get it irrespective of the damage to the skin and the way the color will wash within two to three days," Kwajaffa told DW. "Those counterfeit ones, they come in, they wash easily, and they blame it on Nigerian-made because they are buying the same design."

Only handful of textile mills remaining in Nigeria

In 1997, the Nigerian government introduced the Textile Development Fund Levy Policy, a 10% tax on imported textiles intended to support local production.

More than two decades later, Kwajaffa said this money "has not reached the manufacturers."

Without financial support, local producers have continued to lose ground against cheaper imports. The decline has resulted in millions of people — textile workers, as well as cotton farmers and traders — losing their jobs. Industry figures show that Nigeria once had over 150 textile mills. Today, fewer than four remain in operation, according to Achimugu.

The demand for locally grown cotton continues to drop, and the decline of cotton farming "is very much visible in Nigeria."

"The 2024-25 cotton farming season has been the worst I know," said Achimugu.

Nigeria drops out of ICAC due to unpaid dues

Nigeria was previously a member of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), an organization that provides research, market data and policy recommendations to support the global cotton industry. However, Nigeria has not paid its membership dues for several years and is no longer part of the organization.

Kwajaffa believes the declining state of the cotton, textile and garment production has made it difficult to sustain the costs of ICAC membership.

"We don't make enough profit to pay the huge amount. The Nigerian government can also use the textile development levy to defray the cost on our behalf," he said.

The lack of reliable electricity supply has also affected textile production in Nigeria. Many manufacturers rely on diesel generators, which further increase production costs. This has made it even harder for local manufacturers to compete with countries like China, where power supply is more stable.

Will billions in loans help textile producers?

Last summer, the Nigerian government signed a deal to take out a loan of some $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) with pan-African African Export–Import Bank to revive the textile industry. Yet, Kwajaffa remains skeptical. He said waiting for funds to arrive is "like waiting for Godot," as such moves usually stall before they are implemented.

Kwajaffa said representatives of the cotton, textile and garment sector have not seen the loan and have no knowledge of the government's plans to use it.

The government "always brings up the issue of the budget, and that the budget is not properly financed. So, we are always at a loss," he said.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/how-nigeria-lost-its-textile-market-to-chinese-imports/a-72000508

Supporting local production is a great idea but the Nigerian factor remains
If there is heavy restrictions or a total ban on importation, the local Ankara we used to buy between 5k to 20k may go as high as 100k
The Rice saga is still fresh in mind

Lack of electricity killed our textile industry.

The truth is the government failed...

Great100000:
Nigeria's textile production was once a vibrant, booming sector and a key part of its economy. But the industry has since been brought to its knees by cheap imports from China. Is there a chance of recovery?

In the 1990s, the textile industry in Nigeria was a key driver of the economy, providing employment to hundreds of thousands in Africa's most populous country.

"It was full of activities, from Kaduna, Kano, Lagos and Onitsha, textile factories were located in all those places," said Hamma Ali Kwajaffa, the head of Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association.

Textile mills across the country produced high-quality fabrics for Nigerian buyers as well as international markets. Booming production chains also supported local cotton farmers.

Today, however, only a few factories remain, and even those are struggling amid the influx of cheap textiles from abroad — particularly from China.

Why are Chinese fabrics so much cheaper?

Nigeria still boasts domestic cotton farms. However, its textile manufacturers need to procure dye, chemicals, starch and synthetic fibers from other countries.

In contrast, China's textile industry benefits from an integrated supply chain, where all the necessary goods and even machinery are available domestically.

"China already produces all the raw materials," said Anibe Achimugu, president of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria. "This means they can produce at a cheaper price."

Another obstacle for Nigeria's textile industry is the depreciation of the country's currency, the naira. In 2023, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended measures that kept the naira at a fixed value and instead let the value be determined by supply and demand for foreign exchange. The currency has since dropped, driving up the cost of importing raw materials and spare parts.

Are Chinese rivals copying Nigerian designs?

Kwajaffa of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association pointed out that imported textiles are often made of polyester rather than cotton. Polyester is cheaper, but is also considered lower in quality.

According to Kwajaffa, imported textiles often fade quickly and do not last as long as cotton fabrics. However, because some of the foreign fabrics mimic Nigerian-made designs, consumers may mistakenly attribute them to local manufacturers. Also, clothes smuggled from China are sometimes illegally marked as "Made in Nigeria" and sold at lower prices, he said.

"Because of the cheap price, local people will prefer to get it irrespective of the damage to the skin and the way the color will wash within two to three days," Kwajaffa told DW. "Those counterfeit ones, they come in, they wash easily, and they blame it on Nigerian-made because they are buying the same design."

Only handful of textile mills remaining in Nigeria

In 1997, the Nigerian government introduced the Textile Development Fund Levy Policy, a 10% tax on imported textiles intended to support local production.

More than two decades later, Kwajaffa said this money "has not reached the manufacturers."

Without financial support, local producers have continued to lose ground against cheaper imports. The decline has resulted in millions of people — textile workers, as well as cotton farmers and traders — losing their jobs. Industry figures show that Nigeria once had over 150 textile mills. Today, fewer than four remain in operation, according to Achimugu.

The demand for locally grown cotton continues to drop, and the decline of cotton farming "is very much visible in Nigeria."

"The 2024-25 cotton farming season has been the worst I know," said Achimugu.

Nigeria drops out of ICAC due to unpaid dues

Nigeria was previously a member of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), an organization that provides research, market data and policy recommendations to support the global cotton industry. However, Nigeria has not paid its membership dues for several years and is no longer part of the organization.

Kwajaffa believes the declining state of the cotton, textile and garment production has made it difficult to sustain the costs of ICAC membership.

"We don't make enough profit to pay the huge amount. The Nigerian government can also use the textile development levy to defray the cost on our behalf," he said.

The lack of reliable electricity supply has also affected textile production in Nigeria. Many manufacturers rely on diesel generators, which further increase production costs. This has made it even harder for local manufacturers to compete with countries like China, where power supply is more stable.

Will billions in loans help textile producers?

Last summer, the Nigerian government signed a deal to take out a loan of some $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) with pan-African African Export–Import Bank to revive the textile industry. Yet, Kwajaffa remains skeptical. He said waiting for funds to arrive is "like waiting for Godot," as such moves usually stall before they are implemented.

Kwajaffa said representatives of the cotton, textile and garment sector have not seen the loan and have no knowledge of the government's plans to use it.

The government "always brings up the issue of the budget, and that the budget is not properly financed. So, we are always at a loss," he said.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/how-nigeria-lost-its-textile-market-to-chinese-imports/a-72000508

Textile is gone we would never get back, for me we never really had any advantage from the start it only survived because of primitive protectionist economic policy and thats what killed it too

Today in other to protect a Dead textil industry that would never be competitive we are killing a potential 100 billion dollars per year garment industry.. Making same mistake again

In 50years or more we would then remember the garment industries

Biggestguy225:
Lack of electricity killed our textile industry.

No company has left Nigeria due to lack of electricity none... Not even one

How? As if we dont already know

China is simply cheaper, no competition. They have the numbers. Mass production, cheap energy, technical knowhow, resources, organized cheap Asian labour.

Anything Tinubu touches


he kills

Textile industry is dead

Na only plastic rubber nai we fit produce. Shame on our leaders

Image123:
China is simply cheaper, no competition. They have the numbers.

The most populous black Nation does not have the numbers?

Swap your president with that of China for one year..... let's see something

Tinubu is a virus

What killed textile industry is what killed my upcoming electronic company in the early 2000s

MY Igbo brothers

Importers Exporters
Fuc.k.in money launders
IIBBB boys



That is why none of their company survives beyond 25years

No organic growth.

It's a numbers thing and also the end of the protection economy in the 1990s.

Even in the 1980s , smuggling was a big problem.

China has the numbers, the tech and the material to kick us into the dust


It's like rice. We can do large rice pyramids, but we can't fight mega rice producers like Brazil and Thailand

Only thing we can do is protectionist behavior which really doesn't work today

Nigeria is bedeviled with unserious and most clueless and lazy politicians called leaders.

As someone said above, should the govt ban importation of imports, price of ankara may go as high as 100k. Why?

Why do the leaders let the situations that ensure such be : lack of transportation (politicians and friends benefits from transportation and attendant costs being high); lack of numerous opportunities for employments (ankara production is the new gold, the few people that rush to it would greedily aim to get 580% profit, rushing the few opportunity lest they go back to poverty, and local price would be exorbitant).


This write-up, the words of the heads of the textile cooperatives claim lack of starch, lack of dye, lack of these. If not for devilishness, why could they not also start a small scale dye production or starch production, use it for their textile manufacture, sell to peers, and like that, other people would learn of the market and there'd be ample dye producers too, and up to level of exports too.


Anyways, the people are most devilish/selfish/what-they'd-gain-today-only, and the politicians clueless and so wicked of heart. Ugh!

It's very simple band all fake textile importation .. If they refuse to sell the raw materials cheap to us, we then source the materials somewhere else.

Or am I Missing something?

zombieHUNTER:
The most populous black Nation does not have the numbers?

Swap your president with that of China for one year..... let's see something

Tinubu is a virus

For once, am.not going to blame tinubu, because this issue has been around since for over 3-4 decades, and got worse in 2009 when we lost the ability to produce a component needed for textiles.

The honest thing is that china has a production capacity that we cannot beat

Heck, even america relies on the Chinese now to produce a lot of their stuff.

Image123:
China is simply cheaper, no competition. They have the numbers. Mass production, cheap energy, technical knowhow, resources, organized cheap Asian labour.

Yeah.

A big mistake many African countries make , Nigeria included , is to refuse to invest in our productive capacity.

Heck on the last election , only obi was talking about production at home. Tinubu since he came in has been focusing on raising oil production. Like all his predecessor.

We should change orientation.

zombieHUNTER:
The most populous black Nation does not have the numbers?

Swap your president with that of China for one year..... let's see something

Tinubu is a virus

Ignorance is a disease friend, the world is a global village.

nairalanda1:
Yeah.

A big mistake many African countries make , Nigeria included , is to refuse to invest in our productive capacity.

Heck on the last election , only obi was talking about production at home. Tinubu since he came in has been focusing on raising oil production. Like all his predecessor.

We should change orientation.

interesting. Production is not mouth or noise. Why would i build a factory to produce spoons at 200naira or reinvent the wheel when i can instead get money to buy it from China for 50naira? Is that not a curse in 2025? This is not 1860 or 17th century. The US has the numbers but it's simple economic sense for them to make their clothes and electronics from Asia.

Image123:
interesting. Production is not mouth or noise. Why would i build a factory to produce spoons at 200naira or reinvent the wheel when i can instead get money to buy it from China for 50naira?

Yap, therein lies the problem.

Image123:
interesting. Production is not mouth or noise. Why would i build a factory to produce spoons at 200naira or reinvent the wheel when i can instead get money to buy it from China for 50naira? Is that not a curse in 2025? This is not 1860 or 17th century. The US has the numbers but it's simple economic sense for them to make their clothes and electronics from Asia.

Your analogy is borne out of cluelessness or, lack of problem solving.

From a private individual perspective, well, that could be ok.

But should you be in NEXIM or whatever ministry responsible, how would you answer --> cost of labor in China is super higher than Nigeria's, where does all the N200 vs N50 go?

++++++++
And regarding US-China. US has dollar supremacy, but most importantly, cost of labor in China is cheaper than in US.

What exactly is Nigeria's problem? What is responsible for the high cost when labor is super cheap here?

SMUGGLING!!Can kill any industry overnight.
And you can't produce cheaper than China locally for a host of reasons:
1)Cheap,accessible credit. (No news here,you can't borrow at 35% and want to compete with who is borrowing at single digits.Only drug dealers can borrow in Nigeria and not default)
2)Large Skilled human capita(No need to emphasise this much,a bunch of Nigerian labourers are poorly skilled,low work ethic and overall stupid)
3)Infrastructure deficit(movement/tonne cheaper in China than Nigeria)
4)Diverse economy(Chinese corporations will get the bulk of their production components within and import so little or nothing).

The only option to keep our local textile industry alive is to create protectionist policies,however smugglers will crack it and make it useless and even corrupt the same people the are to enforce your protectionist agenda.
Industry goes belly up,
Nigerians remain in poverty and mass flee the country,
Enter Europe and America and pack shit(few will make it out of shit and warehouse sha,but can't say so for everyone)

nairalanda1:
Yap, therein lies the problem.

That's why it's no more a priority or bragging right. Affordability and sustainability now matters. A good government is not just about production but empowerment of the nation and youths to be able to get anything needed. What's better in government giving billions to computer graduates to produce local image laptop brands or naira laptops when they can train more using the same billions so that they can do what their juniors are doing in developed countries (tertiary sector) and Afford Dell laptops and Apple/Samsung phones. Not saying we should not have industries and factories but it is no longer in front.

OneOnland:
Your analogy is borne out of cluelessness or, lack of problem solving.

From a private individual perspective, well, that could be ok.

But should you be in NEXIM or whatever ministry responsible, how would you answer --> cost of labor in China is super higher than Nigeria's, where does all the N200 vs N50 go?

Thankfully, i am not NEXIM, neither have i said that NEXIM is useless. There is an extreme abundance of manpower in China due to their large population, you can't compare the knowhow. The people working in factories in China would come to Nigeria to manage and own factories. If your manpower have 20% of the skills and knowhow of Chinese workers, they will not be in Nigerian factories. There's a huge incomparable chasm of different factors.

Biggestguy225:
Lack of electricity killed our textile industry.

Did you read the report?

Image123:
Ignorance is a disease friend, the world is a global village.

A village where China is 100 years ahead of Nigeria because of bad leaders like Tinubu

The whole story started with the same Ibrahim Babangida.

Image123:
Thankfully, i am not NEXIM, neither have i said that NEXIM is useless. There is an extreme abundance of manpower in China due to their large population, you can't compare the knowhow. The people working in factories in China would come to Nigeria to manage and own factories. If your manpower have 20% of the skills and knowhow of Chinese workers, they will not be in Nigerian factories. There's a huge incomparable chasm of different factors.

There is nothing to argue here, but;

There is an extreme abundance of manpower in China due to their large population

There is abundance of able-bodied unemployed people in Nigeria, more than 50 million.

If your manpower have 20% of the skills and knowhow of Chinese workers, they will not be in Nigerian factories.

Hardly no one wakes up one day and grow skills. Schools also aren't the same as skills center. Nigerians would have skills, great technical know-how through experience. And experience where? Through employment in related field even if for one year! How would a Nigerian Engineering "prodigy" have technical know-how when his only other experience is in a bank's customer service department.


And, and, don't cast the blame on the graduate, cast it on the 50+ year old people: the politicians, the old ones who but complain, import and failed to start production companies, or even technical services companies, and the young generation grows up without experience, hence your said lack of skills.

Hear what you said (import spoon), what the leaders of these textile cooperatives said (import dye, starch), what the minister of investment promotion said (rather import foreign vehicles). So, how will the young Engineering graduate have skills?

I love my father land
Rwanda with Nigeria,if u c how people support Nigeria ehn, for football house,stop online pretend,let embrace our country nation call Nigeria

mrvitalis:
No company has left Nigeria due to lack of electricity none... Not even one

you are not serious, do you know how much it cost to run a business on diesel.

Proudlyngwa:
What killed textile industry is what killed my upcoming electronic company in the early 2000s

MY Igbo brothers

Importers Exporters
Fuc.k.in money launders
IIBBB boys



That is why none of them survives beyond 25years

No organic growth.

Can you just stop fooling yourself. First you are not igbo, secondly this is a serious issue that is being commented not this childish tribalistic rant you are doing.

Image123:
China is simply cheaper, no competition. They have the numbers. Mass production, cheap energy, technical knowhow, resources, organized cheap Asian labour.

Nigerian professors only know how