Ethiopia is importing 20,000tn of cotton, representing close to 40pc of the textile industry's annual demand, after floods damaged plantations in the main growing regional state and caused shortages in supply. Security concerns in two other cotton-growing regional states have contributed to the shortage as well.

The Ethiopian Industrial Inputs Development Enterprise (EiIDE) dispatched invitations last week to a closed bid by a selected supplier list of 12 companies. The bid, with each slot required to supply 2,500tn, is scheduled to open on April 7, 2021.

“The cotton is expected to be received in July," said Solomon Girsha, deputy CEO for the Enterprise's procurement sector.

Ethiopia's textile industry requires an estimated 55,000tn of cotton annually; but only 33,000tn reached factories this year. The supply gap has occurred largely due to cotton plantations in Afar Regional State, which accounts for 80pc of domestic supply, that were damaged by flooding in September 2020. Security issues in Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states, other lowland regions where cotton grows, played a part in the shortage. The shortfall in pesticides brought on by forex shortages has also exacerbated the situation.

The Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI) has also allowed six textile factories and the EiIDE to import cotton. The factories have been given the green light to import an aggregate of 10,000tn, and the other half through the Enterprise. Kanoria Africa Textiles Plc, Adama Spinning, Kombolcha, ALCA, MNS Manufacturing Plc, and Bahir Dar Textile Factory are the recipients of foreign currency allocations for imports.

According to people familiar with the industry, the textile industry has survived the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Bantihun Gessesse, director of communications at the Institute, it is tested by a shortage of cotton.

There are more than 3,000 micro and over 200 medium and large textile industries in Ethiopia. The largest of these is Bahir Dar Textile Factory, which requires more than 30,000tn of cotton a year. The factory used to source cotton from commercial farms in Afar and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states; it now receives supplies from farms in the north and central Gonder area of Amhara Regional State.

Not getting enough from these sources, the factory is operating at half of its capacity, Mengistu Aregaw, CEO of the Factory, told Fortune.