Local Textile Manufacturers are worried that after series of interventions to the Volta Star Textile Limited (VSTL), the company is still not able to produce to meet demand of local producers.
Volta Star is the only state owned local processor of cotton for fabric manufacturers in the country established under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
According to Text Styles Ghana Limited, producers of GTP, Woodin and Vlisco fabrics, processing raw materials from Volta Star has become difficult as compared to the imported ones.
A situation, they fear may be adding up to the cost of fabrics due to the exchange rate differences.
Technical Training Manager at Text Styles Ghana Limited, Kwaku Adae, told Journalists at a recent tour of their facility that they have to rely on imported raw materials from Asia and some parts of the world because the local producer is unable to meet the demand at a competitive rate.
“Like I explained to you, Volta Star is not at full capacity, it’s doing just 10 to 20 percent of what we need and the rest is coming from China or parts of Asia and Pakistan so we still have to import.
We are still intervening in the Volta Star by giving them cotton, supporting them with raw materials and providing a ready market for them but if you compare their technology and what the Asians and Indians are using which we buy from, there’s’ a huge difference.
The cost per unit output for their materials are high because of the technology their using so it makes it a bit difficult to compete with the Asians therefore if there is some intervention to upgrade their technology then they can be able to face the competition from the foreign companies” he said.
VSTL was supposed to receive some funding from the Government stimulus package programme in 2018 to support the purchase of some raw materials, maintenance of its warehouse and obsolete equipment.
The VSTL, located at Juapong in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana, was established in the late 1960s and incorporated in November 2007 as an agro-processing business involved in the processing of cotton into yarn and grey baft for local consumption and export. The mission of VSTL is to stand out as the preferred textiles products supplier in Africa and beyond and to be recognized as a world class company through its “total quality” and people driven spirit.
Government of Ghana acting through the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2015 appointed PwC to assist with the revitalization of VSTL as part of efforts to enhance the status of VSTL as a leading textile processing company in West Africa and to improve the economic prospects of Juapong and its surrounding communities.
