Benin exports first locally produced clothes to Europe
TLDR
- Benin industrializes textile sector to boost local production, ships 80,000 children's leggings to KIABI in Europe from Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ).
- Milestone achievement: First shipment of "made in Benin" clothing to Europe, signaling growth in local textile industry.
- Létondji Beheton of SIPI-BENIN SA confirms supply agreement with KIABI for the shipment.
Benin, a leading cotton supplier in West Africa alongside Mali and Burkina Faso, has made strides in industrializing its textile sector to boost local production.
On June 14, the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ) shipped 80,000 locally-made children's leggings to the French ready-to-wear chain KIABI. This milestone marks the first shipment of “made in Benin” clothing to Europe.
Létondji Beheton, director of the Investment and Promotion Company of Industry (SIPI-BENIN SA), which oversees GDIZ development, confirmed that this shipment is part of a supply agreement with KIABI.
Key Takeaways
In recent years, Benin has emerged as Africa’s leading cotton producer, with an annual production of 728,000 tonnes in 2020-2021, according to government figures. Traditionally, most of this raw cotton was exported, primarily to Bangladesh. An initiative between the Republic of Benin and Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms, a pan-African venture partly owned by the Africa Finance Corporation, seeks to change this pattern by creating jobs and generating revenue locally. This initiative aims to process the cotton and other agricultural products within Benin, transforming them into finished goods such as T-shirts and underwear for export to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the US. The GDIZ houses the textile factories and expects to increase exports by $5 billion to $10 billion within 10 years, GDP by $4 billion to $ 7 billion by 2030, and Benin’s manufacturing output fivefold.
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