Textiles-apparel industry biggest employer in Morocco
The Maroc in Mode trade show serves as the showcase for the Moroccan textiles industry. For more than 50 years, AMITH, the Moroccan textiles association, has been representing the interests of a sector with more than 1,600 companies. AMITH plays a leading role in the promotion and development of the industry. Director-General Fatima-Zohra Alaoui speaks to Paulami Chatterjee.
What was the main objective of the fair?
The fair's main objective was to showcase the Moroccan offer to foreign buyers to both enhance further the current flow of business between existing customers and Moroccan suppliers, and initiate discussions and enquiries between first-time visitors and Moroccan manufacturers.
But not only that. By expanding Maroc Sourcing to foreign raw material exhibitors alongside the Moroccan ones, we hope to see business also happening between garment and raw material exhibitors as well as between Moroccan visitors and Maroc Sourcing exhibitors.
Can you give us an overview of the Moroccan textiles and apparel industry?
The Moroccan textiles and apparel (T&A) industry is a highly strategic sector of the country's economy. Making garments is part of our DNA. The T&A industry is the top industrial employer, providing jobs for more than 185,000 people and accounting for one-fourth of exports of goods amounting to €3.6 billion in 2018. With more than 1,600 companies, the industry has an annual production capacity of 1 billion pieces.
What are some of the biggest textile & apparel projects undertaken either by the government or private sector companies that the country is currently focusing on?
The industry jointly designed and implemented with the Moroccan ministry of industry an ambitious strategy in 2015 to enhance the added value of the sector and support the transition of Moroccan manufacturers from CMT to FOB production. One of the objectives of this strategy is to turn the T&A industry from an order taker to a solution provider. As a result, significant investments were made over the past four years, including those in new technologies and sustainability. Today, the focus is on strengthening the upstream of the Moroccan textiles value chain as the industry currently imports most of the materials and accessories it uses to make garments. This will definitely enhance the competitiveness of Moroccan manufacturers and improve even more their already strong speed-to-market capabilities. Another area where the focus is strong is sustainability with investments being undertaken not only in the denim subsector with technologies such as ozone, eflow and laser being put in place, but also in the whole industry with upcoming investment projects to set up a comprehensive circular ecosystem in Morocco.
With the spotlight being on knitwear, technical textiles and denim segments, how much will each segment grow?
A strategy was designed jointly by our association, AMITH, and the Moroccan ministry of industry and implemented in 2015 with very ambitious targets by 2020.
Which countries does Morocco export to?
Morocco's main market is the EU. Within the EU, Spain is the country's largest customer, followed by France. Then come Germany and the UK.
Which are the biggest investments that Morocco has received through FDI?
The past few years have seen a surge in FDI in Morocco in all segments of the textiles value chain. The country's political and social stability, its strategic geographical location and its state-of-the-art infrastructure are all assets that make Morocco attractive to FDI. As a result, investors from Spain, Turkey, Portugal and China, to name a few, have made significant investments in the Moroccan textiles industry to benefit from this conductive business environment. In addition, given the overall industrial strategy put in place in Morocco, with sectors like the automotive and the aerospace industries recording exceptional growth, we are confident additional FDI will flow to Morocco to build on the synergies the Moroccan economy can offer, including in technical textiles.
What was the number of visitors for this year's edition of Maroc in Mode? What is the trend you are noticing every year? Who were the new additions?
Maroc in Mode is in its 17th edition this year. We received more than 1,000 visitors from several European countries, including France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and the UK, as well as visitors from Morocco. In terms of suppliers, there were exhibitors from Portugal, Turkey, Pakistan and China as well in Maroc Sourcing which is dedicated to fabrics, trims, accessories and services. We are happy about the increasing number of exhibitors as well as the numerous visitors as a result of promotion efforts which are increasingly directed towards new countries. In addition, two partnership conventions were signed between AMITH and UIT (the French trade association for the textile industry), on the one hand, and AMITH and UFIMH (the French union of fashion & apparel industries) on the other hand, both aiming at reinforcing the cooperation between the French and the Moroccan T&A industries.
Which are the highly exported products in textile and apparel?
Trousers, dresses, blouses, women's jackets & coats, t-shirts, denim jeans, pullovers, parkas-anoraks, workwear, skirts, shirts, bras, men's jackets & blazers, underpants, men's shirts and coats, bathing suits, men's suits, and tracksuits are majorly exported by Moroccan manufacturers.
Two years ago, Morocco increased its textile exports to the European Union by 9 per cent. How is Brexit going to impact the export situation?
It is hard to predict today how the Brexit situation is going to unfold. Still, the Moroccan T&A industry has historical ties with both the UK market and the other EU countries. So, we don't perceive Brexit as a threat to the ongoing positive trend of Moroccan exports to the EU in general, or the UK in particular.
What was the main theme and key highlights of this edition?
The fair had a quite dense conference programme over two days, tackling issues of major importance for our industry. Accordingly, the main topics that were discussed over the two days of the fair revolved around digitalisation and sustainability, along with discussions on how to further improve the added value of the products that the Moroccan T&A industry offers.
Who are your competitors? How is Morocco different from Asian competitors as a producer for Europe and the US?
We do not consider the Moroccan offer to be in competition with the Asian offer as the Moroccan offer is used by buyers as a supplement to Asia-based supply chains for more fashion-oriented and time-sensitive items. Buyers looking for items with high-fashion component requiring short cycles and flexible capacity will turn to Morocco as manufacturers here can offer shorter lead time and flexibility.
What are the challenges facing the Moroccan textiles and apparel sector?
The main challenge we face today is upgrading our industry to meet the digitalisation and sustainability requirements imposed by the changing international environment. Several projects are being implemented in this regard. Another challenge is linked to the rules of origin imposed by the EU to Morocco that we perceive to be strongly unfair. Moroccan manufacturers pay duty on the full value of their products, including the added value created in Morocco, when they use fabrics from outside the pan-Euro Mediterranean area, when at the same time, preferential treatments are granted to Asian competitors allowing them duty free access to the EU market regardless of the origin of the fabrics they use. This situation seriously impedes the competitiveness of the Moroccan products and puts our industry at a strong disadvantage compared to its Asian competitors.
For 2020, what are the ambitious goals set by Morocco for the expansion of the textile industry?
Penetrate new markets, mostly Northern European and Northern American markets where the Moroccan presence is still quite shy.
Speed up the compliance of our industry to the sustainability standards of our customers.
Reinforce the local upstream offer to enhance the competitiveness, the flexibility and the speed-to-market capabilities of the Moroccan industry (PC)
Published on: 24/12/2019
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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