Textile

Zambia Textile Industry

The Government of Zambia identifies textile as one of the priority sectors for the country’s industrialization and economic development.

The Zambian textile industry is considered to be labor intensive with potential to greatly contribute to employment and wealth creation at all stages of its value chain.

During the Zambian Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) in the 1960s–80s, the industry received substantial Government support and became the biggest contributor to manufacturing GDP.

During this period, Ndola and Livingstone together hosted more than 130 textiles and garment manufacturing companies.

However, with the fall in copper earnings and the oil shock of 1975, the ISI proved to be costly to the Zambian Government and the textile sector started to experience underutilization of capacity.

Still, the textile and garment manufacturing sector is viable, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry of Zambia.

Currently (2016), the sector employs over 670 people across Zambia, while the Government is putting up deliberate measures to further support the growth of the sector.