Cape Town - South Africa should permit China to "provide for the clothing needs of South Africans in the lower and middle-income groups, and focus instead on the high-income groups."
This is the advice offered to the local clothing industry by Chen Hongfeng, deputy mayor of Wenzhou, a Chinese city with 7.9m inhabitants.
On Wednesday he attended the opening of the 11th International Apparel, Textile, Footwear & Machinery Trade Exhibition being held in the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CICS).
This year's exhibition is the biggest to date and 180 exhibitors from Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Taiwan, Thailand and other countries are participating. The 120 Chinese exhibitors are far in the majority and more than half come from Wenzhou. In contrast, only 15 South African manufacturers, including Cape Clothing & Textile Cluster, JMV Textiles and Tomotex, are taking part.
In response to a question relating to the criticism that cheap imported clothing from China is putting pressure on the local industry, Chen told Sake24 that the latter should instead work together with Chinese manufacturers to their mutual benefit. South Africans, he says, also have the advantage of advanced textile technology.
- Sake24.com
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