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East Africa: East Africa Has the Raw Materials but Lacks the Factories
AllAfrica · 26 Oct 2026
[Independent (Kampala)] News Analysis -- East Africa has plenty of hides, cotton and oilseeds. What it lacks is the industrial capacity to turn them into shoes, clothes and cooking oil. Instead, the region spends billions of dollars importing goods made from commodities that its farmers and livestock keepers already produce.
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