Local shoe manufacturers succeed in producing 1.5 million pairs of shoes to military and police officers.
It is a part of the government’s 10 year Perspective Plan and will help the country save forex spent to import military outfits from abroad.
About 29 companies currently have military uniform and shoes on order worth 2.3 billion birr, according to Melaku Alebel, Minister of Industry.
“We are working in reforming the procurement law in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to fully substitute imports of military outfits,” said Melaku, while presenting a 10 month performance report to Members of Parliament last week,
Agreements currently in place to import military and police uniforms have now been terminated. Samples of uniforms for the police forces of the 12 regional states have been approved by the Ministry of Defense.
Local manufacturers are also supplying uniforms for students of public schools.
So far, about 800,690 pairs of shoes have been produced for students in and around Addis Ababa.
“Discussions among regional states educational bureaus are being undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to supply uniforms for students in regions,” said Melaku.
Reports indicate local producers are making headway in substituting imports of leather products. In the last 10 months, they were expected to substitute USD 104.6 million worth of goods, though they were able to meet 138 percent of the target. Much of the substituted products were military outfits.
A little progress however has been made in the export sector. In the last 10 months, leather producers earned USD 69 million from the exports of leather products, achieving 48 percent of the target. It is USD 110 million lower than what textile producers shipped to the international market during the same period.
