Local textiles printers outraged at influx of fake prints
The Local Textiles Printers Association at Makola (LTPAM) has expressed its dissatisfaction and frustrations at the high rate of smuggling of cheap imported textiles onto the Ghanaian market.
Speaking at a news conference in Accra, the association reaffirmed its support for the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, to create public awareness of the violation of Ghanaian copyrights by foreign firms.
The association is made up of individuals who make their own designs and take the designs to the local textile factories for mass
production.
Mrs Philomena Kumah, an executive member who was the spokesperson for the association, said for some some years it has been very difficult for any member of the association to make profit regardless of the popularity of their designs.
This is because as soon as any of their products hit the market and became popular, imitations of the same designs were illegally copied on cheaper fabrics in China and smuggled to the Ghanaian market.
Mrs. Kumah said, "because these designs are printed on cheaper fabrics, and because the importers manage to avoid paying duties and taxes, they are able to sell their fabrics at prices far below genuinely made Ghanaian products."
The bigger threat, she said, is the survival of the three remaining textile factories in the country which are GTP, Printex and ATL, adding, "other local textile factories collapsed because of the influx of cheap foreign fabrics."
Mrs. Beatrice Amoo, president of the LTPAM, said, the situation has already resulted in unemployment for graduates of textile related courses.
" If the threat is not checked, it will mean that the chances of the collapsed factories coming back to business will be very slim," she said.