Union minister for law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Sunday hat he would make sincere efforts to persuade the officials of the ministry concerned to set up a textile park in Bihar.
Addressing the workers of the BJP at a function here, Prasad said the Union Budget unveiled a scheme for setting up textile parks in the country.
“I will request the Bihar president of the party, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, to make efforts for setting up a textile park in the state,” he told the participants at the ‘Budget par Charcha’ programme.
Spelling out the philosophy of the Budget, Prasad said the Narendra Modi government was committed to making ‘Swachh Bharat’, ‘Swastha Bharat’, ‘Surakshit Bharat’ and ‘Sankalpit Bharat’ with all-round development.
Pointing out a new initiative called production linked (PLI), the Union minister said the central government would provide new incentives related to production to companies with the motto ‘the more you produce, the more you get’.
Without taking the name of China directly, Prasad said, “I will not name our big neighbouring country, but 10 companies from there have come to India amid the Covid-19 pandemic.”
He said the Budget also envisaged setting up critical care units in 602 districts and proper nutrition in 102 districts across the country. Prasad described the Budget as historic and said the Modi-led government at the Centre was committed to taking the development of the country to a new height.
Source: The Times of India
The Budget’s announcement on increasing customs duty on cotton may cast a shadow on India’s advantage in premium/ high-end garment exports to the world, according to cotton stakeholders.
This, according to the trade sources, is primarily due to the additional cost for imported cotton — mainly the extra-long-staple (ELS) — used in making high-value-added textiles and garments, which are exported globally under premium labels. ELS quality of Giza Cotton is imported from Egypt, while Pima Cotton is sourced from the US.
The cotton stakeholders also expressed concerns about losing international market, especially US and Europe, to neighbouring competitors Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as Vietnam.
In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that in order to “benefit farmers, we are raising customs duty on cotton from nil to 10 per cent and on raw silk and silk yarn from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.”
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council has expressed its surprise over the government’s decision. The Council said that it is concerned of a higher cost for value-added products including fabrics, made-ups and garments as a result of the hike in the customs duty.
The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) had also demanded a roll-back of the decision soon after the Budget.
Net imports
As per data by the Cotton Association of India (CAI), India’s cotton imports for the year 2019-20 (October to September) were projected at 15.50 lakh bales, whereas for the year 2020-21 it is estimated to be around 14 lakh bales, of which 4.5 lakh bales of cotton was imported as on December 31, 2020.
India is the largest producer of cotton in the world with output for 2019-20 projected at 360 lakh bales and 358.50 lakh bales for the current year.
Surplus market
While the country is a cotton surplus market and a net exporter of cotton, the government’s decision to impose an import duty on cotton has surprised the industry.
“This is not a healthy move. Every year we import about 14-15 lakh bales, which is about 5 per cent of our total production. It is imported for special end-use application - namely high value-added garments exports.
Indian goods already suffer the highest import duty in our destination markets like the US. With this import duty, all the high-value-added export orders will go to our competitors, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam,” said J Thulasidharan, President, Indian Cotton Federation told BusinessLine.
As per the trade insiders, the cotton textiles/garments using 51 per cent or more Pima cotton can qualify for Supima lable, which commands higher price and premium in the US market as well as other prominent garment markets.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
One of the most visible consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic has been for the economies of countries around the world.
The immediate impact was akin to a tropical storm suddenly hitting an aircraft in cruise mode from all sides, pushing the plane to a dangerous free fall from thousands of feet in the sky.
In such a situation, the pilot has three choices — wait for the storm to pass by, let the plane crash-land and prepare for the worst damages, or show nimble thinking to find the way through the storm.
India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chose the third option.
In May last year, at the peak of the pandemic, the PM laid down the broad contours of India’s recovery path with a visionary Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) plan. Nine months later, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget for 2021-22 is a resounding exemplification of this vision.
The budget is a tutorial on economic policy-making and structural reforms. The string of mini-budgets under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package envisioned by the PM laid the foundations for the budget this year which required the deployment of all the fiscal arsenal to win an extremely challenging war.
Emphasis on economic reforms is the hallmark of the Modi government. The number of reforms introduced in the last six years will easily outnumber reforms taken up by previous governments.
India’s swift and continuous rise in global ranking of ‘ease of doing business’ bears testimony to this. The trend continues in this budget too.
The budget stands out on multiple counts. The goal of turning India into a preferred manufacturing destination through Make in India, attracting more investment in the production-linked investment sectors and Vocal for Local need robust backing and lowering logistics and transaction cost.
To this effect, the budget has set aside considerable funds for infrastructure such as roads, railways, metro railways, National Rail Plan for India – 2030, metro rails in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities and operational management of major ports on a public-private-partnership basis.
Infrastructure has received pointed attention.
A new development finance institution, called the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development, will accelerate project financing. Investment in such projects has a strong positive multiplier effect.
‘Capex in 2021-22 at 2.5% of GDP’
The proposed capital expenditure of ₹5.5 lakh crore for 2021-22 amounts to 2.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) — and 3.4% if we include allocation for capital expenditure for states and autonomous bodies.
The government’s heavy lifting for infrastructure projects will help create employment, besides pushing growth in intermediate industries such as steel and cement. The budget also addresses the issue of infrastructure financing by asset monetisation and foreign participation through infrastructure investment trusts and real estate investment trusts. The national monetisation pipeline will establish the required strategy with the national infrastructure pipeline.
NPA Clean-up
The budget also makes a bold reformist statement and shows a plucky drive to push growth. A new asset reconstruction company and an asset management company will be set up to clean up non-performing assets in the banking sector. This will enhance credit flow into the corporate sector, as removing troubled assets will relieve pressure on capital for banks.
India has been one of the most attractive destinations for global investors in recent years.
This trend continued even during the pandemic as India received $28.1 billion by way of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the second quarter of 2020-21, the highest among all major global economies.
The budget has proposed an increase in the FDI limit in insurance companies to 74% from the present 49%, recognising the importance of core equity capital in the financial sector and providing a further boost to FDI inflow.
Various acts governing different segments of the financial market will be consolidated under a single Securities Markets Code, which will modernise and strengthen the financial infrastructure.
The budget has proposed to create an institutional structure to address liquidity concerns in the secondary corporate bond market that has arisen due to Covid-19.
Decriminalisation of LLP Act 2008, redefining small companies and easing restrictions on one-person companies, and launch of MCA21 Version 3.0 with additional modules and mechanisms for faster resolution of disputes are some of the important decisions towards removing restrictions on doing business.
Focus on Disinvestment
The Modi government strongly believes that the government’s job is not to do business but to function as a catalyst for businesses. Keeping this in mind, this budget lays down sharp guidelines for disinvestment. Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have been classified into strategic and non-strategic sectors.
The government will move cautiously with regard to disinvestment in strategic sectors such as atomic energy, space, defence, telecommunications, power, petroleum and banking, but CPSEs in non-strategic sectors will either be privatised or closed. The new policy framework will certainly help the government meet its disinvestment targets.
In many ways, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the lifeblood of India’s manufacturing sector. MSMEs account for more than 30% of India’s GDP, 45% of the manufacturing sector and 25% of the employment. The budget has provided ₹15,700 crore to MSMEs, and has proposed changes like increasing duty on steel screws, plastic builder wares and prawn feed to benefit them.
Promotion of startups is one of the main highlights of the Modi government and several steps have been taken in this direction, including broadening the definition of startup, simplifying regulations, income tax exemptions and provision of a ₹10,000 crore fund through the Small Industries Development Bank of India.
In addition, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme has been set up with a corpus of ₹945 crore, aimed at providing financial assistance for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialisation. This budget has given further impetus to startups by extending eligibility for availing tax holiday and capital gains exemption till March 31, 2022.
Health Immediate Priority
The budget also identifies the immediate priority: health.
It takes a holistic approach with sharp focus on strengthening three areas — preventive, curative and well-being. The budget outlay for health and well-being, at ₹2.24 lakh crore, is 137% more than the budget estimates of 2020-21. Another ₹35,000 crore has been set aside for the Covid-19 vaccination programme this year.
A new centrally sponsored scheme, PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, with an outlay of about ₹64,180 crore, will develop capacities of primary, secondary and tertiary care health systems, strengthen existing national institutions and create new institutions.
Agriculture is at the core of India’s socio-economic being. Over the last six years, the Modi government has walked the talk on raising farm incomes and remains committed to the avowed goal of doubling farm incomes. In addition, the budget has something for everyone and it will continue to facilitate PM Modi’s resolve to provide housing, toilets, LPG, electricity, clean water and food security to every citizen of India.
One of the keystones of this budget is the transparency in the macro fiscal numbers.
There is no rise in income tax rates. Most importantly, the budget has rationalised the fiscal deficit numbers and the off-balance sheet borrowings. Bringing in this complex piece of fiscal policy reform that has been long overdue is an extremely courageous and bold move of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
This budget marks an inflection point in India’s fiscal policy architecture that will be remembered for years to come. Despite the current odds, the budget creates the right policy environment for our $5 trillion GDP goal on the strong foundation of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Source: The Economic Times
India's imposition of 10 percent duty on cotton imports is unlikely to dent buying, the head of the Cotton Association of India (CAI) told Reuters.
The 10 percent import duty imposed by the world's biggest cotton producer was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech to parliament on Monday.
"There won't be any impact on imports. The textile industry needs extra long staple cotton," said CAI's president, Atul Ganatra, adding that this type of cotton is in short supply on the domestic market.
Indian textile mills have already imported 600,000 bales of cotton in the 2020/21 marketing year that started on Oct. 1, with a further 800,000 bales likely to be sourced from outside the country during the rest of the season, Ganatra said.
The country is expected to produce 36 million bales in the current marketing year, against local demand of 33 million bales, though supply of extra long staple cotton is negligible, the CAI says.
India imports long staple cotton mainly from Egypt and United States. It exports surplus cotton to Bangladesh, Vietnam and China.
Basic customs duty on man-made fibres (MMF) such as caprolactam, nylon chips and nylon fibre and yarn were cut to 5 percent from 7.5 percent in the budget.
India is a net importer of these products and the reduction would make the MMF industry more competitive globally, said Ashok Juneja, president of India's Textile Association.
Source: MoneyControl News
The Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA) will appeal to the government to ban yarn exports to control prices in the domestic market.
This was decided at a meeting of the Association held recently to discuss the issue of increasing prices of yarn. The Association will also constitute a committee that will meet the textile mill associations and discuss the issue.
It will hold meetings with these associations on the ways to bring down yarn prices, ensure uninterrupted supply of yarn and have stability of yarn prices. The association will also appeal to job workers and other associations in the knitwear value addition sector to not hike prices.
The TEA will appeal to the international buyers to increase the sourcing price so that the garment exporters are able to meet the higher production cost.
Source: The Hindu Business Line Coimbatore
For Liberian-American fashion designer Telfar Clemens, his genderless fashion label Telfar (with the tagline ‘Not for You, for Everyone’) embodies his whole belief system. “That guy is wearing that and that girl is wearing that and every single person is wearing that and that’s how people actually look all over the world, which is how I’ve been imagining the world in my head my whole life,” Clemens says.
While other fashion labels suffered huge economic losses or even shut down during the pandemic, Telfar shone bright.
Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, in fact, were seen flaunting the iconic Telfar bag. When it comes to inspiration, Clemens says he loves the model of tech behemoth Apple because it “disrupted the way we think about what we need to live now” and says he wants to do the same in fashion.
Since a long time, society has followed a set pattern: pink is for girls, blue is for boys, gown is for women, suit is for men. But all that is changing now. Enter androgynous, or gender-neutral, fashion.
The trend was accelerated by the pandemic and the work-from-home culture, which saw everybody turn to comfortable, gender-neutral clothing like oversized T-shirts, pyjamas, joggers, tracksuits, etc.
Now, as the world slowly returns to normal, it is time to ask an important question: will the post-pandemic world be gender-inclusive in fashion?
Hidesign’s London-based lead designer Fabian Lintott believes so and has designed the new collection for men with that in mind. His ‘Back to Work’ bag collection is called Homme, which literally means ‘man’, but the design sensibility goes beyond the accepted norms of ‘masculinity’. With British edginess and French chic, the bags have a unisex appeal.
“I remember visiting Osaka in 2009 and seeing much more experimentation and the blurring of lines between men and women’s bags.
Japan is more evolved in this case,” Lintott says, adding, “The future of fashion will see less seasonal and more inclusive lines where comfort and practicality will be primary.”
To make the bags gender-inclusive, a lot of time was spent on finetuning the collection. “If you look at our bags, you will find softer lines and silhouettes that will look good on anyone. We have also played around with otherwise classic work bags by adding swirls of embroidery and soft quilting,” explains Lintott, adding that the ‘new normal’ will certainly have an effect on the fashion industry-on what we buy and what we choose to wear as well.
Unisex rules
Hidesign is not alone when it comes to bringing out androgynous fashion and being experimental. Sportswear brands Nike and Adidas both have a line of unisex shoes. Reebok, too, has its line of unisex sportswear. Italian luxury fashion house Fendi has its collection of unisex sneakers.
As an outdoor lifestyle brand, Woodland has both casual and formal fashion, but with an edge. Its boots are unisex and can be worn on any occasion. “Our leather boots are designed for all. When we design a product, we make sure it is not put in a box in terms of design and colour.
We envision making it accessible for everyone,” says managing director Harkirat Singh. Footwear retail company Bata, too, has unisex shoes under its brand Power.
Then there is Antar Agni, a young Indian brand, which stands out for its androgynous styles. Ujjawal Dubey, founder of the label, debuted his first collection at the Lakme Fashion Week in 2014. “Society is moving towards becoming progressive because there is a lot of acceptance that has come in the last few years.
As a result, androgynous and gender-fluid fashion is making its presence felt now more than ever.
This has stemmed from the need for people to be free. Secondly, wearability and ease are the second biggest reasons behind the popularity of gender-fluid fashion.
We spent a majority of last year in pyjamas and although this may continue for a while longer, people now want to dress up. Wearability has been our key rule since the inception of the brand and we will always work around that and try to interpret it in our clothing as much as possible,” says Dubey.
While clothing may not be new per se to the unisex domain, the most recent feminine accessory that has entered men’s fashion is pearls. In December, actor Ranveer Singh, who is known to challenge acceptable fashion norms, sported a double pearl necklace in one of his Instagram posts. In Hollywood, singer and actor Harry Styles has worn a pearl necklace on many occasions.
Similarly, the neon sports shoe trend, which is also gender-neutral, has raided the market. Actor Anil Kapoor’s bright pink Nike Zoom Fly sports shoes have been in the public eye through his Instagram posts and, recently, they even made their debut in the Netflix movie AK vs AK, where the actor could be seen wearing his favourite pair of shoes.
But the celebrity who has been truly leading the charge when it comes to bending the gender in fashion is American actor Billy Porter.
He has introduced what we can call the ‘gown-suit’ or the ‘tuxedo-gown’ as part of his signature style during events. At the 91st Academy Awards in 2019, Porter arrived in a black tuxedo gown designed by Christian Siriano and challenged the formal dress code for the Oscars.
His red carpet looks have consistently transcended traditions and set new standards. In February last year, Porter wore a black and pink floral blazer with black spandex leggings for Richard Quinn’s fall 2020 fashion show.
The same month, he wore a purple pant-gown with a purple hat for the Vanity Fair Oscars Party and a yellow-gold feathered bodice and skirt for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards.
“Why limit yourself when you can be neutral and creative at the same time?” says designer Sahil Kochhar, who has worked with Rohit Bal and has his own label under his name.
Time for makeup
Gender neutrality has made its mark not just in fashion, but also in the makeup industry. Men’s grooming is now no longer restricted to shaving kits, perfumes and hair gels, but includes mascara, foundations and even concealers.
“It is radical inclusivity. Generation Z in particular will drive this trend, with social media inspiring and encouraging them to reject gender-conforming identities, and search for brands that represent and reflect their desire for diversity,” says Jenni Middleton, director of beauty in London at WGSN, the global authority on consumer and design trends. The WGSN, she says, welcomes diversity in all its forms.
Brands specialising in makeup for men have already made their debuts. UK-based brands Shakeup Cosmetics and War Paint for Men have come up with makeup sets for them, including powder, foundations, tinted moisturisers, primer, bronzers and so on.
Phy, an Indian men’s lifestyle care brand in fact, exclusively deals in men’s grooming and styling products like facewashes, moisturisers, face masks, etc.
Not only celebrities but social media stars and influencers, too, have jumped on to the gender-neutral bandwagon. Comedian Benito Skinner, who goes by the name Benny Drama and has 1.3 million followers on Instagram, is known for putting on makeup and wearing gender-neutral clothing often.
In India, content creator Ankush Bahuguna has been normalising makeup for men through his Instagram videos. He advocates using makeup to cover flaws the same way women do. Influencer Siddharth Batra, too, has been normalising the topic through his #GuyBeauty series on Instagram.
Batra can be seen wearing bright and printed patterns with necklaces, including pearls, in his pictures.
Hidesign’s ‘Back to Work’ bag collection has a unisex appeal
Indian androgynous brands.
NorBlack NorWhite
The Indian brand is reviving traditional Indian arts and textile designs
Bloni
The Delhi-based brand, founded in 2017, is gender- as well as size-fluid
Bobo Calcutta
A non-conformist design label
Anaam
Founded in 2015, the brand advocates breaking stereotypes, barriers and prescribed norms in every aspect
Huemn
Launched in 2012, it is all about sustainability, inclusivity and mindful buying
Jaywalking
The Mumbai-based label, founded in 2019, is known for gender-fluid and custom-made clothing
Antar Agni
Founded in 2014, the brand is known for its relaxed and raw silhouettes
International androgynous brands
Californian genderless clothing label, founded in 2016, that sources fabric from California and Japan
Telfar
Unisex line established in 2005 in New York City
Bode
Founder Emily Adams Bode was the first woman to show a collection at the 2016 New York Men’s Fashion Week
No Sesso
Los Angeles-based fashion house founded in 2015 by Pierre Davis. No Sesso in Italian means ‘no sex’ or ‘no gender’
Older Brother
Makes universal garments tailored to fit all genders
Official Rebrand
Specialises in gender-free, anti-waste and upcycled garments
Bobblehaus
Eco-friendly and genderless New York-based label
Charles Jeffrey Loverboy
The brand ignores all gender norms, preparing the way for a post-gender world
Riley Studio
The unisex line designs sustainably-made heritage pieces
Casablanca
The label, which mixes leisure and luxury, has a number of gender-neutral clothing, including shirts
Source: The Financial Express
Stepan, a leading specialty and intermediate chemicals manufacturer, has purchased Invista’s aromatic polyester polyol business and associated assets. Included in the transaction are two manufacturing sites, one in Wilmington, US, and the other in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, and intellectual property, customer relationships, inventory, and working capital.
The business acquired has global sales of approximately $100 million. This acquisition was financed with cash on hand and is expected to be accretive to Stepan’s EBITDA margins.
The management will provide more perspective on this acquisition as part of Stepan’s fourth quarter and full year 2020 results conference call on February 18, 2021, according to Stepan.
“We are excited to add Invista’s polyester polyol capabilities to Stepan. This acquisition expands our manufacturing capability in both the US and Europe, enhances our business continuity capabilities for the market and supports the growth of our global rigid polyol business.
We expect that Invista’s available spare capacity, plus debottlenecking opportunities in both plants, will allow Stepan to support market growth in a capital efficient way.
We believe the long-term prospects for rigid polyol use in insulation remain strong as energy conservation efforts and more stringent building codes should continue to drive market growth.
Additionally, we believe the acquired technology will accelerate our product leadership initiatives, drive manufacturing efficiencies and output, and create increased value for the overall market.
We look forward to providing the highest level of service to our new customers and are excited to add the new employees and the two new sites to our global polyester polyol manufacturing network,”
Quinn Stepan, junior chairman and chief executive officer of Stepan said in a press release by the company.
Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection products and in agricultural and oilfield solutions.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
High price of raw material is still a challenge for Indian apparel manufacturers and various trade bodies are active in this regard.
The Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) recently held a meeting with the association’s members and discussed the issue of increasing prices of yarn.
It was decided in the meeting that the association will appeal to the Government to ban yarn exports to control prices in the domestic market.
Many apparel exporters of the hub participated in this meeting.
TEA will also appeal to job workers and other associations in the knitwear value addition sector to not hike prices.
Raja M. Shanmugam, President of the association, told that a committee will also be formed that will meet the textile mill associations and discuss the issue.
This committee will hold meetings with mill’s associations to bring down yarn prices and ensure uninterrupted supply of yarn and stability of yarn prices.
At the same time, apparel exporters will appeal to the international buyers to increase the price so that the apparel exporters are able to meet the higher production cost.
It is pertinent to mention here that almost since last 2 months, Indian apparel manufacturers are struggling due to high price of yarn. The supply of yarn is also under pressure at many clusters.
Source: Apparel Online
The finance minister has drawn a lot of praise for presenting a growth-oriented Budget that envisages greater role for the private sector and substantial investment in building infrastructure.
The statement of intent and strategies to push through reforms and increase the growth rate have boosted sentiments around the economy.
The remarkable rally in the equity markets shows this. The government expects the Customs revenue at Rs 1.36 trillion in 2021-22 against a revised estimate (RE) of Rs 1.12 trillion in 2020-21 and actual revenue of Rs 1.09 trillion in 2019-20.
This represents a growth of about 21.6 per cent next year over the revenue in the current year and 24.83 per cent over the revenue in the previous year. The revenue secretary said the tax revenue projections were based on estimates of about 14.5 per cent nominal growth and tax buoyancy of about 1.6 per cent.
This means that only about 5 per cent growth in Customs revenue is expected by way of increase in duty rates and exchange rate variation. That does not signal a strong return to protectionism.
The government has introduced the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess that will be levied on select imported goods and petroleum products. Many tax rates have been tweaked with the intent to encourage domestic production.
Some anti-dumping and countervailing duties have been suspended for a temporary period. Most exemption notifications are to be reviews by October this year after extensive consultations with trade groups. Thus, the concept of a uniform tariff rate for items in a Chapter is being abandoned and an element of uncertainty is introduced.
On Tuesday, in this newspaper, Sukumar Mukhopadhyay, former Member of the Central Board of Excise and Customs pointed out many complications in the tariff rate structure and how uncertainties in duty rates made it difficult for businesses to plan their operations.
The 2020-21 RE for basic customs duties (BCD) at Rs.88,884 crore shows a decline of Rs.1,714 crore from the previous year.
However, the Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS) levied at 10 per cent of BCD shows a growth of Rs.5,249 crore in the revised estimates for 2020-21 over the previous year. For next year too, the proportionate increase projected is more for SWS than the BCD.
The Budget documents do not give the current year RE or next year projections for anti-cumping or safeguard duties and some other items of revenue through import of goods.
Under the Duty Drawback Scheme, the allocation for 2021-22 to down to Rs.377 crore from the RE of Rs.497 crore in 20-21 and actual of Rs.640 crore in 2019-20. This may translate to a cut in drawback rates. The allocation for 2021-22 under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) scheme is only around Rs.13,000 crore.
This means the RoDTEP outlay will be nowhere near the Rs.50,000 crore that the finance minister mentioned when she announced the scheme in August 2019.
Also the RoDTEP rates can be around one-fourth of the rates under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
Similar cuts are seen under other schemes and so, the exporters must learn to not rely much on subsidies from the government.
The Finance Bill proposes many amendments to the tax laws based on the experience gained during the year. As usual, some facilitate the trade whereas many are revenue-oriented.
Source: The Business Standard
Even as farmers’ struggle against the three central farm laws continues, the raw cotton purchases witnessed a big jump in January in three northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. In January, 37.95 lakh bales (1 bale= 170 kilogram) were purchased from these three states, whereas in the previous combined three months of October, November and December only 15.90 lakh bales were purchased.
Out of the total purchases in the three months till January 2021, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has made almost half the procurement, as per the data compiled by trading body Indian Cotton Association Limited (ICAL).
The ICAL has prepared the estimated target of the purchase of 62.10 lakh bales in these states and out of it 53.85 lakh bales have been purchased so far, 86.71% of the set target. Out of the purchase of 53.85 lakh bales, CCI has purchased 24.76 lakh bales.
Punjab witnessed highest procurement by CCI as it bought 5.10 lakh bales or 61.90% out of total 8.24 lakh bales bought in the state. In Haryana, CCI procured 10.52 lakh bales out of total purchase of 18.49 lakh bales.
CCI has made relatively less purchases in Rajasthan at only 33.70% or 9.14 lakh bales out of total purchase of 27.12 lakh bales.
Source: The Times of India
The Southern India Mills’ Association has sought a rollback of the 10% customs duty on cotton imports announced in the Union Budget, as it would escalate the cost of garments and result in higher import of garments, especially from countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Ashwin Chandran, chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association, said that India imports mainly extra-long staple (ELS) cotton, organic cotton, contamination-free cotton and sustainable cotton. The production of these varieties is either nil or meagre in India.
Indian mills consume about 15 lakh bales of ELS cotton annually as against the domestic production of about five lakh bales, Mr. Chandran said.
India is a major importer of Pima and Giza cotton varieties.
The country imports about 33% of total Pima exports from the U.S. and 45% of Giza cotton from Egypt.
Several garment exporters in the MSME segment do not have capacities to make yarn from such premium cotton varieties and buy yarn from the domestic mills.
Such exporters will not get Advance Authorisation Scheme benefits that the integrated mills that import cotton can avail of.
Thus, Indian products made of imported cotton will become expensive in the international market, which will give competitors an edge.
In the case of the domestic market, the cost of garments made of imported cotton will increase, leading to higher import of garments, he said.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
The Economic Survey 2020-21 and the Union Budget 2021-22 are remarkably different from previous ones. While the survey provides the analytical backstop for the government’s intent to borrow, build and grow, the budget itself is directionally clear and unambiguous about broad strategy.
To build and support local industry — the AatmaNirbhar Bharat (ANB) programme — it is recalibrating the entire range of tariffs on imports and exports.
“Our customs duty policy should have the twin objectives of promoting domestic manufacturing and helping India get onto global value chain and export better,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech. “The thrust now has to be on easy access to raw materials and exports of value-added products.”
Sitharaman said the government was overhauling the entire structure; it had already eliminated 80 outdated exemptions and was reviewing another 400. On October 1, 2021, a new customs duty regime “free of distortions” will be put in place.
The Medium-Term Fiscal Policy cum Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement in the budget says the customs duty rate structure was guided by a conscious policy of the government to incentivise local value addition under Make in India and ANB.
That requires low duty on raw materials and high tax on imported products that compete with local goods.
“Since the 2000s, every government has been trying to find a way to raise the share of manufacturing in GDP, without reverting to the failed policies of 1950-80,” says Arvind Virmani, former chief economic advisor (CEA) and chairman, Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare.
Virmani points to IMF estimates which show that average tariff rates rose by 1.3-1.5% during 2014-19 while the Make in India policy was in operation.
The AatmaNirbhar Bharat policy brings the focus back on increasing competitiveness through domestic policy reforms.
Duties are now structured to incentivise investment in areas like petroleum exploration and electronics manufacturing. They have been raised on products that are already made in India or which domestic manufacturers aspire to make.
Over the past six years, basic customs duty (BCD) on 4,000 tariff lines or about a third of the total has been raised. The BCD rates on components used in mobile phones, for instance, are set differently under what it calls a phased manufacturing plan.
“Domestic electronic manufacturing has grown rapidly,” said Sitharaman in her speech. “We are now exporting items like mobiles and chargers. For greater domestic value addition, we are withdrawing a few exemptions on parts of chargers and sub-parts of mobiles. Further, some parts of mobiles will move from ‘nil’ rate to a moderate 2.5% (customs duty).”
In a bid to encourage local manufacturing, the 2016 Budget removed BCD exemption for chargers, adapters, battery, wired headsets and speakers used in manufacturing mobile phones and inputs used to make these components duty free.
The 2021 Budget points out that free trade agreements and information technology agreements under the WTO have badly hit domestic manufacturing.
“In the absence of an industrial policy, India’s WTO-plus tariff liberalisation under these FTAs was carried out without any strategic coherence,” says Smitha Francis, economist and consultant at Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, in her paper “FTAs and Export Competitiveness: Policy Lessons from a Decade of WTO-Plus Tariff Liberalisation”.
Francis points out that a telling indicator of weak export competitiveness is that India’s exports rose in capital and technology-intensive sectors such as vehicles and parts, non-electrical machinery, organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electrical machinery, iron and steel and articles of iron and steel. But “the share of its manufactured exports going to the mature developed country markets has declined. It is in the case of developing country markets that India’s exports have been relatively strong”, she points out in the paper.
The Union budget says an analysis of import data of manufactured commodities showed that wherever import taxes were raised, the import volumes from FTA partner countries increased, indicating re-routing to take advantage of the treaty. It, however, remains to be seen whether moving customs duty up and down can raise competitiveness of domestic industry.
“Starting with corporate tax reforms in September 2019, there has been a series of economic reforms, including in the 2021-22 Budget, designed to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the Indian economy, including the manufacturing sector,” says Virmani.
Building a tariff wall may be counter-productive in the long run, says NR Bhanumurthy, vice-chancellor, Bengaluru Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics University. “Segmented duty structures lead to ambiguity and micro-management of public policy by customs,” says Bhanumurthy.
“If we continue to stay with it (high customs tariffs), it will have an adverse impact on domestic producers. There will be permanent damage to export competitiveness.”
Virmani says India needs a dualistic foreign trade policy, which reduces import dependence on a monopolistic manufactured goods producer like China, while attracting supply chains from the rest of the world, through lower, more uniform import tariffs.
“There are some hints of this in Part B of FM’s budget speech, relating to numerous customs duty exemptions and inverted tariff structure.
Though the production-linked incentive scheme is a good start (for efficient import substitution in manufacturing), the government needs to go much further in reforming customs tariff structure, to achieve the goals of a dual trade policy,” he says.
Source: The Economic Times
India and the European Union are likely to begin work on an investment facilitation mechanism, remove trade barriers and address issues related to clean economy and intellectual property rights in the next few months before the leaders of the two sides meet in May.
This comes in the wake of India pitching for a quick early harvest deal followed by a time-bound free trade agreement with the EU.
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis had the first High-Level Dialogue (HLD) on Friday and are likely to meet again in the next three months that will also serve as a final push for quick deliverables before the meeting of the leaders.
Officials said the objective is to take forward any of the possible deliverables before the India-EU Leaders’ Summit which is scheduled in May.
“These could be launching an investment facilitation mechanism, removing trade barriers, clean economy and continuing on the IPR dialogue,” said an official.
India has reiterated its commitment to environment issues and told the EU that it has exceeded its commitment to the Paris Agreement by being part of only a few countries to file three biennial reports.
Regulatory cooperation, multilateral issues of mutual interest, sharing experience in building resilient value chains and research and innovation are the other areas where deliverables could be worked out.
Source: The Economic Times
FASHINNOVATION, a platform which mixes traditional enterprises with fashion tech start-ups & emerging brands, is all set to host its 4th Worldwide Talks on 11 February.
The digital event will see over 60 speakers discussing a variety of topics and issues which are of most interest to the fashion industry stakeholders.
According to Jordana Guimaraes, Co-founder, FASHINNOVATION, the event will involve great minds from the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability for the fashion industry.
“Some of those minds are: Steve Madden; Donna Karan; Tonne Goodman; Manish Chandra; Raissa Gerona; François-Ghislain Morillion, amongst many others,” told Jordana.
The registration is free for all and the link to register to the event is: https://fashinnovation.nyc/events/worldwide-talks/4th-edition/
Furthermore, prior to Worldwide Talks, FASHINNOVATION will be hosting a Virtual Blue Carpet on Instagram LIVE on 8 and 9 February to give attendees a sneak peak of what to expect from the 11 February event.
Source: Apparel Online
Led by one of the youngest governments in the world, Lithuania is looking to broadbase ties with India in high-growth areas and Indian companies can use the Baltic nation as a "gateway" to expand their presence in Europe, its ambassador Julius Pranevicius said on Sunday.
The envoy said the new Lithuanian government was keen on expanding collaboration with India in areas of financial services, life sciences, digital technology and pharmaceuticals, and promised to offer a dynamic business environment to Indian investors.
The Baltic nation has fast emerged as a burgeoning fintech hub in the world on the lines of Luxembourg with leading global financial services and digital technologies companies setting up bases in the country.
Lithuania''s new dispensation led by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, which assumed office in December, is being hailed as one of the world''s most gender-balanced and young governments.
Out of 15 members in the cabinet, seven are women and nine ministers are under the age of 40 years.
Pranevicius said the "young" government of Prime Minister Simonyte is leading Lithuania with "new energy and dynamism" with a focus on high-growth areas for economic growth, and the relations with India stand high on its priority.
Lithuania, a prominent Baltic nation, is a member of the powerful NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as well as the European Union.
In a historic first for the country that regained its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, the new government was formed by three conservative parties which are all led by women the main agenda of the government is to deal with the challenges of the coronavirus crisis as well as to focus on growth in futuristic areas for strengthening Lithuania''s economy and make it a hub of new innovation and technologies.
"The new government is looking at expanding cooperation with India in the emerging areas of financial services, life sciences, digital technologies, pharmaceutical and education," Pranevicius told PTI.
The ambassador said there has been a steady increase in leading financial technology firms setting up bases in Lithuania as a result of the Brexit, and Indian companies too can take advantage of the favourable investment climate in his country.
"Lithuania is a young dynamic country which is trying to focus on innovative and high-tech areas to spur growth. I think the image of the young country has been further strengthened by the new gender-balanced and young government," Pranevicius said.
Describing India as a world leader in the pharma sector, the envoy said Lithuania was looking forward to bolstering cooperation with it in biotechnology, life sciences and related areas that will have mutual benefit.
"India is a world power in pharmaceuticals. We hope major breakthroughs will come from India in the sector. In our case, we are also a regional hub for biotechnology as we are enjoying an annual growth of 20 percent in the life sciences sector," he said.
"We expect that 5 percent of our GDP will come from the life sciences sector and we have the potential to become number one in Europe in the life sciences sector. We think both India and Lithuania can expand cooperation in the sector," Pranevicius said.
He also identified digital technology and financial services as potential areas for expanding cooperation, noting that it will transform the economic engagement between the two sides.
"If you look at the number of fintech companies in different European countries, you will see that Lithuania is on top. Our government has established a favourable condition for international companies to start their operation in Lithuania," he said.
"Any company from anywhere in the world can choose Lithuania as a gateway to the broader European market. As the government, we surely will provide the best conditions for them," the envoy added.
Pranevicius said Indian companies in Lithuania will be able to get faster access to the European market and their expansion will be relatively easier because of the investor-friendly regulatory environment and infrastructure.
The envoy also hoped that India and European Union would be able to move forward on the long-pending free trade agreement and said it would help in further boosting trade ties.
"We expect that the negotiations will intensify in coming months and I strongly hope that the agreement will be signed and come into force. It will be helpful for Lithuania and other EU member countries as well as India," he said.
Launched in June 2007, the FTA talks have been stalled since May 2013, when both sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security status for the IT sector.
The bilateral trade between India and Lithuania reached a record USD 367 million in the year 2016-17 before decreasing to USD 339 million in 2018-19, according to Indian statistics.
Major items of import from India include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles and consumer goods while export to India include machinery and mechanical appliances, high tech optical instruments, base metals and articles of base metal, chemicals, sulphur, lime and cement.
India''s HCL Technologies (HCL) has been operating in Lithuania. HCL''s Operation Centre was formally inaugurated on December 11, 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Lithuanian language, which is the oldest living Indo-European language, has a lot of similarities with Sanskrit, signifying a possible close ancient link. PTI MPB RT RT
Source: PTI
The US Chamber of Commerce has come out in strong support of efforts to negotiate free trade agreements (FTAs) with the United Kingdom and Kenya. The one with Kenya may serve as a model for future trade and investment engagement with Africa, it said, urging the US administration to favorably explore these FTAs and continue halted negotiations.
US companies are falling behind in the Asia-Pacific: while US exports to the Asia-Pacific market have steadily increased in recent decades, their market share has been shrinking in relative terms.
One reason is that a number of countries maintain steep barriers against US exports. A typical Southeast Asian country imposes tariffs that are five times higher than the US average while its duties on agricultural products often soar into the triple digits. In addition, a web of non-tariff and regulatory barriers block market access in many countries.
However, Asia-Pacific nations are clinching preferential trade deals among themselves that have left the United States on the outside, looking in, the chamber noted in a press release.
According to the Asia Regional Integration Centre of the Asian Development Bank, Asian countries have implemented 165 bilateral or regional trade agreements.
Against this backdrop, re-engaging with the 11 countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership may be the best chance for the United States to secure a level playing field for trade in the Asia-Pacific region, the chamber feels.
The United States should also seek out new trade agreement partners in other regions, the chamber suggested. The list of prospective partners includes emerging markets such as Turkey, Brazil, and a number of countries in Africa as well as Southeast Asia.
In a number of these prospective partner countries, diverse obstacles will have to be addressed before formal negotiations can be launched, but even in such cases, addressing even these initial obstacles brings benefits.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
The Indonesian Embassy and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Mexico City have facilitated business cooperation between Indonesian and Mexican companies for export of furniture, home decor items, and textiles.
The cooperation is part of efforts taken since early this year to increase Indonesia's exports to Mexico, the Indonesian Embassy in Mexico City said in a written statement issued on Saturday.
The agreement includes cooperation to export Indonesian furniture to Mexico and market Balinese clothes and textiles to the country.
Indonesia exported a container load of furniture and home decor items to Monterrey City, Mexico, via the Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta on February 1, 2021.
The products, which mostly came from West Java, will be displayed and sold at a gallery in Monterrey, which has so far sold home decor products from the United States.
On February 3, 2021, PT. Asia Garmen Internasional of Indonesia and Pareos Del Mar of Mexico inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) online on business cooperation.
Indonesian Ambassador to Mexico Cheppy T. Wartono and Director of Promotion and Image Development at the Indonesian Trade Ministry Tuti Prahastuti witnessed the signing of the MoU, the embassy informed.
Under the cooperation agreement, Pareos Del Mar will serve as a representative agent for PT. Asia Garmen Internasional’s products in Mexico.
Source: AntaraNews.com
THE Philippine garment industry is preparing to petition the European Commission, asking it not to consider calls for the country to lose its Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) access to European Union (EU) markets.
The call follows a resolution adopted by the European Parliament in late September calling on the European Commission to temporarily withdraw the Philippines’ access from the scheme because of human rights abuses.
Members of the European Parliament acted over what it regards as “the seriousness of the human rights violations” committed by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who infamously encouraged extra-judicial killings of suspected drug dealers.
Access to GSP+ can be suspended if a country breaches a wide range of human rights conventions – such concerns, for instance, led to Sri Lanka losing this status in 2010 (it was restored in 2017).
Robert Young, trustee for the textiles, yarns and fabrics sector of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) and the president of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap) said the clothing sector would resist a loss of GSP+ status.
It was planning an official communication to the European Commission, which would have to propose such a move. Fobap will also request an easing of origin rules that have prevented the Philippine clothing sector from making the most of this trade status, Young added.
The industry lacks local backward linkages, preventing it from purchasing enough fabrics and yarns locally that will help qualify it for GSP+ privileges.
“It is heartbreaking to see that garment-makers have no way of replacing imported inputs with locally made inputs and we are thus preparing a petition for the EU Commission,” said Young.
The GSP+ program grants the Philippines the benefit of exporting more than 6,000 products to any of the 27-EU member countries at zero tariff. Products on the list include textiles, garments, headwear, footwear, furniture and chemicals.
Young said the Philippines only exported apparel worth EUR100 million to the EU market in a 2019, a performance that it needs to improve to better cope with the Covid- 19 pandemic.
Latest data by the Philippine Statistics Authority painted a bleak picture, with industrial output of the country’s apparel and footwear sector and apparel volume-wise dropping by 35.7 percent year-on-year in August, much deeper than overall industrial output’s contraction of 13.8 percent.
Textile output declined by 25.1 percent- which would impede the clothing sector’s ability to meet local input rules associated with GSP+.
Source: Yahoo News
India and the UK have held discussions on promoting bilateral trade and investments between the two countries, and decided to launch an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) during the visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson here.
The issue came up at a meeting between commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, and UK Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss MP on February 6.
“In a significant step forward, the ministers agreed that this partnership would formally be launched during the visit of the UK Prime Minister to India, later this year,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
Johnson, who had cancelled a trip to India where he would be the Chief Guest of the Republic Day celebrations citing the need to oversee the Covid-19 pandemic response in the UK, is likely to visit India ahead of the G7 Summit in June.
As per the statement, the two sides reviewed the ongoing engagements between the two sides for an ETP to develop a roadmap that would lead to a potential comprehensive FTA (free trade agreement), including considerations on an interim pact on a preferential basis. Last year, the two sides said they were committed to a free trade agreement that will start off with early harvest agreements.
It added that both the ministers agreed to deepen trade cooperation between the two countries through an ETP.
India's goods exports to the UK were $4.55 billion in April-November FY21 while imports were $2.61 billion.
“They also reviewed progress in removing market access barriers on both sides and ongoing cooperation in response to Covid-19,” the ministry said.
The two sides also expressed commitment to relaunch the UK-India CEO Forum and agreed on the Forum’s meeting at the earliest, according to the statement.
Source: The Economic Times
Nordic lifestyle brand Arket has announced that it will be opening a new flagship store in the Chinese capital of Beijing during autumn 2021. The new store will be Arket’s first physical location in China, following the launch of its digital store on online retail Tmall last year in August as well as a WeChat Mini Program store earlier this year.
Based in Stockholm, Arket is a modern-day market and lifestyle destination offering essential products for men, women, children and the home, as well as a New Nordic vegetarian café. With the opening of the new Beijing location, all Arket concepts and collections will be available on the Chinese market.
“We are incredibly happy to announce our upcoming opening in Beijing and we are looking forward to finally meeting our many Chinese customers in person.
The new store gives us an opportunity to welcome people into our world and invite them to experience the rich diversity of our collections from beautifully-made fabrics and fashion designs to nature-inspired interiors, sustainable children wear and contemporary Swedish cuisine,” Pernilla Wohlfahrt, managing director at Arket, said in a press release.
The men’s and women’s departments combine a foundation of effortless wardrobe staples with seasonal fashion drops capturing current trends and cultural expressions. The collections are carefully made to leave a lighter footprint and intended to be used and loved for a long time.
Arket café will be located inside the store and serves as a space to slow down and enjoy the everyday with all senses. The vegetarian menu focuses on seasonal ingredients and consciously combines traditional Nordic flavours with influences from around the world.
The wide assortment of fashion, food, scents, beauty and functional home items is curated to simplify good choices and provide inspiration for a more beautiful everyday life.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
A surreal, blood-red river has inundated the Indonesian village of Jenggot in the wake of floods hitting a nearby textiles factory, causing a frenzy on social media.
Thousands of Twitter users have shared photos and videos of the village south of Pekalongan in Central Java being flooded by crimson-coloured water, with some saying it reminded them of blood.
Pekalongan is a city known for batik, a traditional Indonesian method of using wax to resist water-based dyes to depict patterns and drawings, usually on fabric.
"Fear mongering narratives about signs that it is the end of the world, bloody rain etc."
It is not uncommon for rivers in Pekalongan to turn different colours.
Bright green water covered another village north of the city during a flood last month.
A 2018 study found that wastewater from the batik industry was having a negative impact on the environmental health of residents in Pekalongan, and recommended the installation of wastewater treatment facilities.
"The red flood is due to the batik dye, which has been hit by the flood. It will disappear when it mixes with rain after a while," he said.
Police told local media they were looking for those responsible for discarding the used dye that discoloured the floodwaters.
The Pekalongan Environmental Service said it had used a truck to suck up the floodwaters.
Source: ABC News
The UK fashion industry recently urged the government to urgently discuss solutions to help save the sector facing several critical issues that may jeopardise the immediate and long-term future of the industry. The sector is at a real risk of decimation by the Brexit trade deal and government policies at present, think tank Fashion Roundtable said recently.
Following an industry-wide meeting held on January 20, the industry highlighted the key issues, impacts and unforeseen consequences of Brexit in an open letter to the government, with a call to action.
The fashion industry contributes £35 billion to UK gross domestic product and employs almost a million.
“To survive post-Brexit and safeguard our future, we need to ensure we can trade with overseas businesses and are also supported to grow the internal market,” the think tank said in a press release.
The letter has received cross-party parliamentary support and backing of industry leaders across manufacturing, retail, modelling, creative business, education, brands and journalism.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
The European Union has said its first high-level dialogue on trade with India saw interest by both sides in resuming negotiations for an ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade and investment pact once their respective approaches and positions are "close enough".
It said the two sides had "open and constructive" exchanges on a broad range of issues with an aim of enhancing EU-India bilateral trade and investment relations.
The EU said the dialogue covered issues like impact of the coronavirus pandemic as well as production of vaccines and their distribution.
The decision to establish the high-level dialogue mechanism on trade and investment was taken at the 15th EU-India summit in July last.
The meeting on Friday was co-chaired by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Valdis Dombrovskis, the executive vice-president and commissioner for trade of the EU.
The negotiations between India and the EU on a free trade agreement have been stalled since May 2013, when both sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security status for the IT sector. The negotiations were launched in June 2007.
"Minister Goyal and Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis reiterated their interest in resuming negotiations for ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade and investment agreements once their respective approaches and positions are close enough," the EU said in a statement.
"In the meantime, they examined alternative approaches and looked into the possibility of opening new areas of cooperation, for instance in relation to the resilience of global value chains and regulatory cooperation, notably in relation to new technologies," it said.
The statement was released by the EU's office in India on Monday.
"In the run up to the Leaders' Meeting, the co-chairs tasked experts to look into the feasibility of resuming work on trade and investment agreements; new areas of cooperation (regulatory aspects and resilient value chains); as well as enhancing collaboration on WTO reform," the EU said.
"This will be followed by another meeting of the high-level dialogue to take stock of experts' discussions ahead of the Leaders' Meeting," it said.
The EU-India annual summit is expected to be held later this year.
The EU said Dombrovskis and Goyal discussed trade and investment issues with emphasis on the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as vaccine production and distribution mechanisms, including value chain linkages.
The two sides exchanged views on "the state of play of EU-India bilateral trade and investment relations, and possible ways forward", it said.
"The two sides recalled their continued attachment to the rules-based multilateral trading system," the EU added.
It said Dombrovskis and Goyal further exchanged views on various key policy developments and market access issues.
"The EU side provided an update on the ongoing review of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, which expires end of 2023, and on the work towards EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism under the European Green Deal, while the Indian side provided an updated on the 'Make in India' and 'Self-Reliant India' initiatives," the EU said.
Source: The Economic Times
The country's apparel exports to the United States fell by 11.73 per cent to US$ 5.22 billion in 2020 year on year mainly due to the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh fetched $ 5.92 billion in 2019 through exporting readymade garments (RMG) to the single-largest export destination, according to data of the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) affiliated with the US Department of Commerce.
The country shipped 1.88 billion square metres of apparel items in 2020 which was 2.0 billion square metres in 2019.
Experts and exporters have attributed sluggish demand followed by higher Covid infection rate, changing pattern of sales and election related uncertainties for the poor performance there.
The OTEXA data also showed that the total apparel imports by the US declined by 23.46 per cent to $64.07 billion last year which was $83.70 billion in 2019.
China, the largest exporter to the US, also witnessed a 39.16 per cent negative growth with earnings of $15.15 billion in 2020. The country shipped apparel items worth $24.91 billion in 2019.
Vietnam's RMG exports to the market declined by 7.25 per cent to $12.57 billion last year, down from $13.55 billion in the previous year. The US RMG imports from Cambodia, however, increased by 5.45 per cent to $2.82 billion.
The US apparel imports from India fell by 25.58 per cent to $3.02 billion in 2020.
Indonesian exports to the US also decreased by 20.09 per cent to $ 3.51 billion, data showed.
When asked, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Dr Rubana Huq said that when the outbreak of Covid-19 shattered the whole world, the lockdown and restrictions were immediately imposed to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
"As a result, the retail sales and demand in the western world led towards the worst-ever Christmas sales the world has ever seen," she noted.
Cambodia surprisingly did better with a positive growth and Bangladesh is holding a very shaky position compared to its fellow opponents.
Citing data of July-December period of 2020, Ms Huq said the US apparel imports from Bangladesh declined by 3.19 per cent y-o-y whereas their global apparel imports dropped by 17.25 per cent, and their imports from Cambodia and Pakistan puffed-up with positive growth of 6.89 per cent and 8.16 per cent respectively.
The growth in the last half of 2020 indicated the possible impact of the second wave of Covid-19, she said, adding that Bangladesh's performance looked more challenging.
Talking to the FE, Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, director of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said the overall RMG exports to the major destinations in 2020 witnessed a negative growth, and the US market was not an exception, mainly because of the pandemic.
The demands were also slow due to the shutdown of retail shops amid lockdown in the US, he added.
Moreover, the Covid-19 has changed the sales pattern that resulted in placing small-quantity orders instead of bulk ones, he said, adding Bangladesh could not take the advantage of or cope with such changes.
Regarding Vietnam, he said the country did better as compared to Bangladesh due to their Covid management that lured more US buyers placing orders there.
The exporters, however, said that better export performance in the days ahead largely depends on successful implementation of the vaccination programmes in the apparel importing countries, especially the European Union and the USA.
Explaining the better performance of knitwear items, they said Bangladesh is in a good position for quick delivery of knit items thanks to its backward linkage industry.
And the USA, a large market for woven items, has been hit hard by the pandemic, they said, adding that for woven items, the buyers prefer countries having strong backward linkage industries.
Bangladesh is largely depended on imported woven fabrics as local suppliers can meet only 30-35 per cent of the demand.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, the export of woven items to the US decreased by over 22 per cent to US$ 3.49 billion in 2020 which was $4.49 billion in 2019.
Knitwear items fetched $1.56 billion last year, up from $1.52 billion in 2019, the EPB data showed.
Source: The Financial Express
Bear Fiber, the company which has been promoting hemp fibre for fashion since the 1990s, has created the first socks from American hemp. The company aims to help the American hemp fibre industry by developing a commercially sustainable market to support farmers, processors, yarn spinners, textile manufacturers and the apparel industry in the country.
The company wants everyone to know Hemp Makes It Better and support “Made In The USA” sustainability. With proprietary methods that produce a soft, stronger, cotton-like hemp fibre, the company is helping re-establish industrial hemp domestically and bring back a “new” natural technical fibre to make better, longer-lasting apparel and wellness products from farm to fashion.
For more than a year the company has been working to develop the perfect hemp/cotton sustainable sock with the expert knitters at the Catawba Valley Community College’s Manufacturing Solutions Centre in Conover, NC.
The goal has been to make comfortable socks of the highest quality and most sustainable yarns. The socks, made with a proprietary technology, do not slouch or droop, do not have the irritating toe seam, breathe naturally and have been “intimately blended” with organic cotton and Repreve recycled performance fibre Nylon 6.
“Bear Fiber would like to thank the many Carolina farmers and processors, Catawba Valley Community College’s Manufacturing Solutions Centre, Gaston College’s Textile Technology Centre, NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles, Fashion For Good, Textile Exchange, Outdoor Retailer, SEAMS, NC Board of Science, Technology or Innovation, and the many others (you know who you are) who have been involved on this journey,” said Guy Carpenter, president and CEO Bear Fiber.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
The World Trade Organization has pushed back its dispute panel’s rulings on the US’ tiff with India, the EU and four others nations over higher duties on some steel and aluminium products to the second half of this year on account of the pandemic.
The development gives the Joe Biden-led US government more time to resolve the dispute through consultations.
Russia, Norway, Turkey, Switzerland, and European Union too had dragged the US to the WTO on Washington's move to impose 25% and 10% import duties on certain steel and aluminium products in 2018. The US had said the duties were measures for national security.
India had complained that the duties were inconsistent with provisions of the WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, and of the Agreement on Safeguards.
New Delhi had listed multiple violations of WTO norms, such as discrimination against its imports, introduction of restrictions in form of quotas and using tariffs to get other countries to agree to "voluntary export restraints”, as the basis for the complaint, after which a panel was established by the Dispute Settlement Body in December 2018.
Source: The Economic Times
