Chinese firm C&H Garments Rwanda has announced plans to double its production capacity from 200,000 pieces a month buoyed by new markets in Africa, Asia and Europe.

While the management of C&H did not make the amount of investment in the third expansion phase public, it is estimated that about 3,000 jobs will be created.

“We have many new buyers and orders from Europe, Africa and Asia. Our aim is to get to know which ones have bigger volumes and are consistent,” said Malou Jontilano, the general manager of C&H Rwanda.

She said some of the countries interested in their garments are Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom and France.

C&H Rwanda’s factory at the Kigali Free Economic Zone makes vests, jacket reflectors, under wear; army, police and prisons services uniforms. The factory’s production capacity varies.

America said it would take punitive measures on Rwanda for increasing taxes on used clothes
and leather products. Since the US is the firm’s biggest market for the garments, the Chinese garment maker has increased its search for new markets.

The country increased taxes on secondhand clothes to $4 per kilogramme from $2.5 per kilogramme.

However, it is reported that the United States is seeking ways to resolve its trade dispute with Rwanda over the tariffs.

“We're trying to figure out a way forward that makes both of us satisfied with the outcome,” assistant US Trade Representative for Africa Constance Hamilton told journalists last week on Monday.

The Trump administration has until the end of the month to decide whether to withdraw Kigali’s benefits under Agoa.

Officials at C&H Garments’ factory who talked to Rwanda Today denied allegations that production and employment rates have been affected, instead saying the factory is set to create 10,000 jobs by 2022.

The government recently introduced a one-year tax incentive facility that would help cushion firms exporting to the US market, especially those with ongoing contracts.

Traders and manufacturers of textile products lauded the facility, but asked the government to extend the period to cushion them against price fluctuations and unpredictability of markets.

C&H set up in Rwanda in 2015 and the apparel and textile industry started with at least 200 workers.

This number increased to the current 1,400 after a second project that started early last year. C&H said they would invest $10 million over a period of five years which ends next year.