South African Business 2021

OVERVIEW
Manufacturing
TFG plans to double manufacturing capacity.
TFG, whose South African brands include TotalSports,
Markhams and Foschini, has a five-year plan to double its
manufacturing capacity.
Having purchased Prestige Clothing Maitland and
Prestige Clothing Caledon in 2012 and spent R75-million on
expanding the factory in Caledon in 2017, TFG now plans to
significantly increase the percentage of locally-made clothing
items from the current level of 35% to 55%. This expansion should
lead to more jobs within the group, which expanded in 2020 with
the purchase of Jet from Edcon.
The Manufacturing and Competitiveness Enhancement
Programme (MCEP) of the Department of Trade, Industry and
Competition (the dtic) has disbursed grants which have resulted in
230 000 jobs being “sustained”. Because of the Clothing and Textile
Competitiveness Programme, that sector currently now employs
around 95 000 workers, contributing 8% to manufacturing GDP and
2.9% to overall GDP. In the leather sector 22 new factories have
been opened, supporting 2 200 jobs.
In the Western Cape, this revival is reflected in member
companies of the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster hiring 35% more
staff in four years. About 23 600 people are employed in the province
and exports from the Cape amounted in 2017 to R4.4-billion with
sales up by 34% above inflation.
SECTOR INSIGHT
The furniture sector is finding
ways to grow.
The furniture manufacturing
sector earned R3.9-billion in
exports in 2018 and contributed
1% to the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP).
Employment across the sector
amounts to more than 26 000,
but that figure is markedly
down from a high of 80 000 in
the 1990s. Exposure to foreign
imports and distance from
lucrative markets continue to
pose threats to the sector, but a
group of manufacturers, buyers,
government and traders has set
out to do something about it.
A first Furniture Sector
Forum (pictured) was held
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2021
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