China was Kenya’s leading source of second-hand clothes, popularly known as mitumba, accounting for more than 50 percent of the East African nation's used clothing shipments.
China became the dominant source of Kenya’s mitumba from 2016 after overtaking the United Kingdom.
In 2023, Kenya imported used clothes valued at $183 million (Sh23.7 billion), mostly from China, where the country bought more than half of its mitumba. The second source of Kenya’s mitumba was the US, accounting for $19.4 million.
Other notable sources include Pakistan ($14.9 million), Canada ($8.6 million), UAE ($7.29 million) and the Britain ($7.12 million).
The record shipment of Kenya’s mitumba of 184,560 tonnes came at a time when the nation’s neighbours, including Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania prohibited the unbridled inflow of second-hand clothes into their markets.
Increased imports of mitumba has divided policymakers and economists, with supporters of the trade noting that it has employed a lot of Kenyans.
Teresia Njenga, the chairperson of Mitumba Consortium, notes that the entire value chain of mitumba has employed 12 million people directly, supports 6.4 million households and benefits over 20 million consumers.
Ms Njenga adds that in 2022, the sector paid Sh16 billion in taxes on used clothing weighing about 185,000 tonnes.
However, manufacturers and some individuals in government have insisted that mitumba trade has been responsible for the death of the country’s textile sector, at one point the country’s top employer.
Ms Njenga reckons the local textile industry and mitumba can co-exist. “One, should not put the other out of business. But the government needs to do proper revival of the textile industry,” says Njenga, adding that everything, from cotton growing to ginning and spinning should be done locally.
“Today we have textile industry that imports almost everything. You can’t import some things that you are making locally,” she added.
She said local apparels should be cheap because they are not luxuries but necessities.
