Apparels Tri-Star wants government's support to set up a spinning mill that could reduce the cost of production.

Velupillai Kananathan, the Tri-Star chief, said yesterday that the move would be in line with the end of AGOA's Third Party Fabric Sourcing in September 2007.

He was speaking during a tour of the Bugolobi-based plant by the economic and regional labour affairs attaché at the US Nairobi embassy, Randolph Fleitman and Nathan Carter, the economic and commercial officer at the US Kampala embassy.

"We have a huge market out there but we need our own spinning mill to move away from imports. We need government's support to achieve this," Kananathan said.

He said they were negotiating with some buyers who showed interest in joining the venture.

Kananathan said they spend lots of money on imports and time making fabric orders and producing for re-export.

"This makes it very difficult for us to compete. However, due to quality products and a close relationship with buyers, we are sustainable," he said.

Kananathan said the spinning mill would create market for the local farmers, add value to cotton, create more employment and increase earnings.

Uganda' cotton is the second best in the world.

Randolph praised Tri-Star for its modern facility, which he said is the best in the region.

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