Business
Ghana lifted its tariff on imported cotton yarn, a quiet win for Accra’s garment factories.
The removed levy on imported cotton yarn cuts input costs for small garment factories that were priced out of competing with Asian imports.
by Front Row Staff
Ghana has lifted its tariff on imported cotton yarn, a quiet policy win that garment manufacturers in Accra's industrial zones had been lobbying for since early last year.
The levy, originally intended to protect domestic cotton growers, had instead raised input costs for the small and mid-size factories that turn yarn into finished garments — pushing several to source through informal channels or scale back production entirely. Domestic cotton output has never come close to meeting demand from the country's garment sector.
Factory owners say the change narrows, though doesn't close, the price gap with Asian-manufactured garments that dominate West African retail. “It won't make us the cheapest option overnight,” one Tema-based factory manager said. “But it means our margins stop disappearing before the goods leave the building.”
The Ghana Garment and Textile Manufacturers Association says it expects the change to support hiring at a handful of factories that had frozen headcount over the past two quarters.
