15. The Textile Industry in Vietnam and Tanzania

Abstract

The availability of natural fibres, notably cotton, and low-cost surplus labour have provided excellent bases for the development of textile industries in both Tanzania and Vietnam. The textile industry in Tanzania takes its roots in the cotton ginning industry in the early 1950s, when ginneries were introduced in rural areas where cotton was grown, especially in Mwanza and Shinyanga regions. Under the import substitution policy of its first-phase, post-independence government, significant investments were made in support of the sector, which grew large enough to meet the country's domestic textile and garment demand between 1960 and the early-1980s. The development of the textile industry in Vietnam started when the Nam Dinh Textile Complex was established in 1897 in Namh Dinh province, in the north of the country. The industry grew rapidly in the post-WWII period. In the south, the firms were established using modern machinery from Europe and America. Keywords: cotton ginning industry; Mwanza region; Nam Dinh Textile Complex; post-WWII period; Shinyanga region; Tanzania; textile industry; Vietnam