Did The Beninese Government Ban Cotton Export?
On October 14, 2025, an X blog @AfricaFirsts claimed that the government of Benin Republic had placed a ban on the exportation of cotton, in order to boost its home-grown textile industry. This was posted with an image of people working in a textile factory and captioned, “Benin 🇧🇯 Republic stopped raw cotton exportation to invest in developing a home-grown textile industry in the nation.”
When this report was published, the post had about 26,700 views and over 2,300 replies, reposts, quotes, likes and bookmarks. In the comment section, @Onungeneeze said “This is what we call the Industrial Revolution” while @Xolani_khabazel wrote “Meanwhile South Africa is allowing a cheap import from China”.
VERIFICATION
NV-A conducted a reverse image search on both images and the result revealed that they are not recent. The pictures have been in circulation since 2022 and 2024. The first picture is from the Garment Factory in Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone, GDIZ, in Benin while the second one is from a shirt-making factory in the same zone.
Benin is a leading producer of cotton on the continent, exporting about 700,000 tonnes each year. The government recently embarked on a mission to capture more of the cotton’s value by processing the raw material in Benin rather than exporting it elsewhere. The new factories located in the Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone, GDIZ, are processing some of the crop, but capacity has to expand to absorb the entire national harvest.
While social posts, including local blogs and reposts are circulating claims about a raw cotton export ban, there is no dated official government decree or customs notice explicitly publishing a formal nationwide export prohibition.
According to a report from Reuters, the Beninese government and some industrial partners have committed large investments and started processing cotton locally. The government and the GDIZ, say that Benin’s policy is to transform cotton domestically by building integrated textile and garment factories.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the Beninese government had placed a ban on the exportation of cotton, in order to boost its home-grown textile industry is MISLEADING. Although there has been committed investment in the textile industry in Benin Republic, there is no official government decree or customs notice explicitly banning cotton exports.
