Leather and textile exporters have a reason to greet warmly federal authorities’ recent decision to relax mandatory requirements when sending samples to prospective buyers overseas.

Finance Ministry officials have exempted exporters from these sectors from acquiring permits and paying duties before sending or receiving samples. They can now send or receive samples of up to 30Kg of a product without being subject to duties. Companies exporting leather products can send and receive up to 30sqm of hides as a sample.

Last week, Debele Kabeta, head of the Customs Commission, notified 17 customs branch offices of the Finance Ministry’s decision. Officials hope the move will foster the country’s manufacturing capability and competitiveness in international markets.

Revenues from the export of manufactured goods trail far behind forex generated from the export of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cut flowers. Last year, manufacturing exports brought in nearly half a billion dollars, almost twice lower than generated from coffee. However, the proceeds from manufactured goods’ exports were around 100 million dollars more than what exporters brought in the year before.

Manufacturers continue to decry ordeals in accessing foreign currency to import inputs, a lack of sufficient infrastructure and shortages in a skilled workforce. Among their complaints is the long process to gain approval for the shipment of samples.

Exporters must obtain support letters from the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) before acquiring permits from the National Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) to send samples. Manufacturers depend heavily on samples as a pre-production task that help buyers determine whether the products meet standards before going into bulk production. They say the complex permit procedure has affected their competitiveness.

According to Biniam Tariku, commercial and logistics manager of Sumbiri Hela Intimates Plc, a textile company, the requirements have been an extra burden on exporters.

Sumbiri Hela Intimates has been operating in an 11,000sqm shed leased at Hawassa Industrial Park since January 2021. The company sends samples to buyers up to three times a month and earned revenues of 350,000 dollars last year. Exporters like Sumbiri Hela Intimates send their samples through courier services, paying an average of 1,400 Br for a single and small package.

Experts argue that relaxing the requirements will do little to ease the woes in the manufacturing sector.

“The problems in the export sector are not something that can be resolved with one directive,” said Amare Abuhay, assistant professor at the Ethiopian Institute of Textile & Fashion Technology, Bahir Dar University.