Saying khadi sales had doubled over one year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday again urged people to purchase khadi products. Pointing out that there would be a month-long discount on khadi products from October 2, he said the income from handloom and khadi sales go to the poor weavers or their widows. "So I urge you all to give space to khadi in your homes this Diwali," the prime minister said in his Mann Ki Baat address on All India Radio. "It gives me great pleasure to announce that khadi sales have doubled over one year," he added, thanking people for having responded generously to a similar appeal he made last year. Modi also announced that over three million families had surrendered their cooking gas subsidy following his call. "Over 30 lakh families have surrendered their LPG subsidy, and not just the rich. Most are from the lower middle and middle classes like retired teachers, pensioners," he said. "This is nothing but proof of that a silent revolution is on," he added.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
Filatex India today said it proposes to put up manufacturing facilities of 100 MT/day of Polyester Fully Drawn Yarns at its existing unit at Dahej, at a cost of Rs 100 crore, to ramp up long-term profitability. "The company, in order to increase its profitability on long-term basis, proposes to put up manufacturing facilities of 100 MT/day of Polyester Fully Drawn Yarns at its existing unit at Dahej."This will lead to lower per tonne capital cost which in turn will put the company to a recurring advantage by way of lower depreciation and interest," Filatex India said in a BSE filing. Also, other fixed expenses like staff cost and factory overheads, would also be spread over bigger production volumes leading to improvement in profitability, it added. The company further said that total capital expenditure for implementing the expansion programme is about Rs 100 crore, adding that it has already made the financial closure with its bankers. "It is expected that the trial run will commence by end of March, 2016," Filatex India said.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
India will take up its concerns on Washington’s immigration reforms and the pending social security agreement, seek enhanced access to sectors including legal, financial and education services and technical assistance in developing smart cities, energy needs and skill development when commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman meets her counterpart on Tuesday. “There are three aspects to the commercial dialogue — trade, investment and economic. On the economic and investment front, pending issues related to the proposed India-US bilateral investment treaty would be discussed alongside issues related to skill development in India,” a senior official told The Indian Express. The official said that on the trade front, four joint working groups had been set up in areas including infrastructure, standards, technical textiles and services, and their progress will be reviewed. India will also showcase the work done so far on strengthening the intellectual property rights regime in the country. As such, the government has already announced that it will soon come out with a national IPR policy amid questions raised by US lobby groups on New Delhi’s existing regime.
US trade representative Michael Froman and Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a bilateral meeting on September 22 after attending India-US CEO Forum a day before. She will also meet US secretary of commerce Penny Pritzker. The meeting is a prelude to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ireland and the US from September 23-28. The Prime Minister’s visit to West Coast of the US will focus on start-ups, innovation and technology while he is also scheduled to meet top tech honchos such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and visit the campuses of the iconic IT firms. In New York, Modi will address the UN General Assembly besides interacting with Indian community in San Jose. “In August, Indian officials had made a presentation regarding the totalisation agreement, which has been pending for a long time now. Though the social security contributions are made by Indians in the US, they can’t avail it due to lack of such an agreement. Despite US President Barack Obama’s commitment to hold discussion on the elements required both countries to push an India-US totalisation agreement, there is no indication of it happening any time soon,” the official added.
After launching PM Jan Dhan Yojana, India has intensified its push for clinching a social security deal, which it has already signed with countries like Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Portugal, and Australia for the protection of Indian professionals working in these countries. The US has been arguing that in absence of a social security scheme in India, the deal was not workable. Further, India will seek further cooperation with the US in developing smart cities. In January this year, the two nations had agreed to form a join working group for developing Allahabad, Ajmer and Vishakhapatnam as smart cities and had set a three-month deadline for preparing a road map. The bilateral trade stands at around $100 billion and the US-India Business Council had said that it could touch $500-billion mark over the next one decade. “We will also raise the issue of standards and conformity assessment in the sectors of agriculture, food processing, textiles and pharma. There should be mutual recognition of standards, conformity assessment and accredition. India will propose setting up a mechanism for this,” the official said adding that India is also trying to partner with industries in the US on technical textiles.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
Recent falls in India's trade have concerned many. Exports, in particular, seem to have shrunk precipitously in recent months. Much of this is believed to be due to fall in oil prices. The value of petroleum exported has fallen sharply in percentage terms. But petroleum is still the largest constituent of India's exports, even though considerably less in value than it was four years ago. However, even if driven by the fall in petroleum and other commodity prices, there is no denying the effect on India's balance of payments. It looks much more secure. This is all the more important in case foreign direct investment (FDI), which is strong, and foreign institutional investors (FII), where the sentiment is more doubtful, turn adverse. However, there is one disturbing trend: In spite of weak prices and physical controls that have caused considerable volatility, gold is trending upwards as a constituent of Indian imports. But are exports booming other than price-affected gold and petroleum? Exports excluding those sectors are also shrinking of late.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
India is likely to ratify an agreement on trade facilitation so that it can negotiate from a position of strength when taking up issues such as food subsidies at the next World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in December. The government has started simplifying trade-related processes and classifying them as per WTO norms as it plans to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement by November. India had earlier refused to sign the global protocol to speed up world trade until its demands related to public stockholding for food security purposes were met. Subsequently, it was agreed that WTO members would not challenge such programmes of developing countries until a permanent solution is adopted.
Recent measures by India such as the reduction in the number of documents required for export and import of goods and the facility of online filing of applications by exporters and importers are likely to make it to Category A of the agreement, which are provisions that can be complied with immediately and have to be implemented as soon as the accord comes into force. Similarly, online submission of applications for issue of online Importer Exporter Code in digital format, too, could be a Category A item. "We are readying the draft and are compliant with most of the provisions of the agreement. These commitments can't be taken lightly once notified," a commerce department official. The agreement has 13 articles with more than 130 provisions for countries to comply with.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
The Kerala government will be organizing Kerala Business to Business (B2B) Meet 2016, a three-day business meet in Kochi in February next year, exclusively to promote Small and Medium Enterprises of the state. Kerala is taking serious steps to make the state business friendly. The event will be organized by state's department of industries and commerce. In the run-up to Kerala Business-to-Business Meet 2016, State Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty launched the logo for a mega event slated for early next year. The logo, - with the slogan “Opportunities Face 2 Face for SMEs”, highlights the creation of a buyer-seller network that enables one-to-one interaction—was unveiled by the Industries and IT Minister at a function in the state capital. The SME sector in Kerala has witnessed a 12 percent growth—the highest in India—and the B2B meet will serve to strengthen the growth, said Kunhalikutty. Unlike other states, they do not have large areas to hand over to industries, and cannot give environmental clearances to polluting industries. In Kerala, they are keener on inclusive growth, such as seen in the SME sector. The meet will focus on promoting the products of key sectors including food processing, handlooms, textiles and garments, rubber, wood-based industries, ayurveda, herbal and cosmetics, engineering and handicrafts, State Minister for Industries and IT P K Kunhalikutty said here after releasing the logo for the meet. The meet will provide a platform for direct and one-to-one interaction between sellers and buyers and enable a mutually beneficial business relationship. FICCI is the 'trade and industry partner' of the event.
The Directorate of Industries & Commerce will identify and select 200 SMEs for the meet, while apex trade body and the event’s ‘trade & industry partner’, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, will bring in 300 national and 50 international buyers. The event, with Kerala Bureau for Industrial Promotion (K-BIP) as the nodal agency, is being organized in association with the Directorate of Industries & Commerce, the Directorate of Handlooms & Textiles, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) and the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation. The three-day meet, exclusively for the small and medium enterprise (SME), is scheduled to be held at the CIAL Trade Fair & Exhibition Centre at Nedumbassery in Ernakulam from February 4.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 45.62 per barrel (bbl) on 18.09.2015. This was lower than the price of US$ 46.29 per bbl on previous publishing day of 17.09.2015.
In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket decreased to Rs 3007.60 per bbl on 18.09.2015 as compared to Rs 3078.12 per bbl on 17.09.2015. Rupee closed stronger at Rs 65.93 per US$ on 18.09.2015 as against Rs 66.50 per US$ on 17.09.2015. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on September 18, 2015 (Previous trading day i.e. 17.09.2015) |
Pricing Fortnight for 16.09.2015 (Aug 28 to Sep 11, 2015) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
45.62 (46.29) |
47.42 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
3007.60 (3078.12) |
3147.27 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
65.93 (66.50) |
66.37 |
SOURCE: PIB
The United States is Pakistan’s biggest export destination and one of the few countries where Pakistan enjoys a substantial trade surplus. During the last three years, the annual trade balance has been around $2 billion in favour of Pakistan. In 2014, Pakistan exported goods worth $3.6 billion and imported $1.5 billion of goods from the US. Pakistan’s exports predominantly comprise textile made-ups with shipments of home textile standing at more than $1 billion and accounting for about 10% market share in the total US global imports of $13 billion. Despite the trade surplus, Pakistan’s total share in the US market of $2.3 trillion is just 0.2%. The US is also Pakistan’s biggest donor and contributed over $4 billion since 2009 to projects relating to energy, economic growth, education, healthcare and women empowerment. Moreover, Pakistan also receives $500 million annually for the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) in support of counter-terrorism efforts along the Afghan border.
Pakistan is also a beneficiary of the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme that provides duty-free access for approximately 3,500 products from 120 designated countries including Pakistan. It has been exporting an average of $200 million worth of goods under the GSP scheme which include gems and jewellery, carpets, sugar, cutlery and surgical items. The GSP does not include Pakistan’s core textile exports for duty-free market access.
Unjust tariff
There is an impression amongst policy circles that the US tariff system is unfair for countries such as Pakistan that depend on exports of textiles to the US. Edward Gresser, a renowned trade policy scholar while testifying in the US senate, argued that “Pakistan’s exporters have to pay $315 million in tariffs on exports of $3.2 billion worth of bed sheets, towels and clothes compared to British exports of $47 billion comprising airplanes, medicines and oil on which only $280 million is levied as customs duty.” He also made a general comparison of exports made by the EU, China and Pakistan and noted that 66% of EU’s and 57% of Chinese exports enter duty-free in the US, but only 12% of Pakistan’s exports get this treatment.
Push for market access
The market access has been in the agenda of bilateral engagements at the highest level where Pakistan has been persistently requesting the US leadership for such opportunities. The Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) was a step in this direction that visualised duty-free import of goods manufactured in the conflict region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistan’s quest for market access intensified in 2010 when it was hit by floods due to unprecedented monsoon rains. All the four provinces were affected as a quarter of the country’s territory came under water displacing 20 million people and resulting in loss of life, property and infrastructure. The government saw this as an opportunity to request market access in the US and EU on humanitarian grounds to rebuild the country’s economy. The US assured Pakistan that it would include the flood-stricken areas in the ROZ legislation so that products manufactured there were provided duty-free access.
The US also supported Pakistan in a similar quest for market access to the EU that resulted in specific trade concessions. The EU also agreed to modify its GSP Plus scheme to enable Pakistan to apply for these concessions. The EU trade concessions required consensus among 154 members of the WTO for the Pakistan-specific package. There have been precedents where the international community has supported least developing countries through trade concessions but this gesture of the EU was unprecedented. Sceptics were not very optimistic that the WTO members would be able to reach consensus. The members including India and Bangladesh, who initially opposed the EU’s proposal, however, agreed on the waiver for Pakistan-specific concessions.
ROZ legislation gets stuck
In the meantime, the US government got the ROZ legislation approved from the House of Representatives and submitted it to the senate for approval after which ROZ could have been established. Since then, the legislation is pending and there has been not much movement on the US side for market access to Pakistan. One of the plausible reasons could be the lack of mandate for the US administration to negotiate such concessions. Recently, the US Congress has given this authority to President Obama that would enable the government to complete work on pending trade agreements. This is a time-specific window and provides an opportunity for Pakistan to reiterate market access and revival of the ROZ initiative. The trade-led development model would create more sustainable livelihood opportunities for the conflict-prone region than donor-driven projects.
SOURCE: The Tribune
Sri Lankan's South Asia Textile Industries has begun investing in what will ultimately be over Rs.1 billion in total, in the latest 5th Generation hybrid nano technology used in state-of-art textile machinery in all its division, according to media reports in the island nation. These upgrades, comprising high-speed knitting machines from Santoni of Italy and Singapore's Unitex, will be capable of developing and producing new and innovative knitted fabrics. Additionally, new equipment to be installed includes high-end fully computerized printing machines imported from Stork, in Austria and Holland, the company said. The company has also made a number of other recent improvements, including the introduction of specialised textile machines from world-famous brands such as Santex from Switzerland, Tandematic from USA, Marlo and Corino from Italy, and Fongs from China. “This large scale expansion will allow South Asia Textiles Industries Lanka to reach a completely new dimension in textile manufacturing in Sri Lanka. Not only will it facilitate extensive benefits to local apparel manufacturers in terms of speed and flexibility, but it will also result in a greater availability of the latest fabric styles and colours, in keeping with international trends,” said the company's CEO Prithiv Dorai. South Asia Textile Industries Lanka is a subsidiary company of Lanka Century Investments PLC and Ceylon Leather Products PLC.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
With 400 exhibitors, Apparel Sourcing, the first European trade fair dedicated to global garment sourcing to have an accessories section, closed its doors on September 15 on a satisfactory note.“The offer was noted and appreciated, from stockings through underwear, handbags and headgear to scarves,” Messe Frankfurt, the organiser said in a press release.Jenny Janil, a buyer said, "I appreciated the new, clearer and more open presentation as there was a significant time saving in finding suppliers and it was enjoyable and well organised."
According to Messe Frankfurt, Avantex made a remarkable debut, breathing life into a fashion textile industry looking to the future. "Avantex was good for everyone as it focused minds on the fashion of tomorrow and adding a fourth day of fashion shows proved successful,” Michael Scherpe, CEO of Messe Frankfurt France too said. Everest Thailand echoed the same sentiments when expressing its satisfaction with Avantex by saying, “We met many visitors and were surprised by their quality and number.” “Texworld too remains the international meeting place most appreciated by trade visitors and remains a flagship trade fair in the Messe Frankfurt France portfolio,” the organiser informed. Commenting on Texworld, Nishat Mills from Pakistan said, "We really are delighted as all of our contacts were buyers with 90 per cent of them being existing customers, while the rest were new."
The content of the fairs matched the expectations of French visitors in particular as their numbers showed a strong increase of 12 per cent on the third day, ahead of UK and Spain. Countries which are traditionally suppliers to Europe displayed strong growth, coming to source new materials and learn about trends or economic conditions in the industry. “Among them were visitors from Tunisia, Morocco and Portugal, drawn by the dynamism and attractiveness of the manufacturers at Apparel Sourcing,” Messe noted. However, there was a dip in the number of transatlantic visitors, due to the economic crises in South America and fluctuations in the rate of exchange affecting the whole continent. “All the three trade fairs confirm that in France, it is the leading international trade event, with 88 per cent of visitors coming from abroad,” the organiser stated.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) chairman SM Tanveer has appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to announce the package for textile industry.In a statement here, he said that the textile industrialists were planning downstream integration to add another $13 billion to the exports and help the country to get rid of loans from the international donors at 8 per cent mark-up. He said that an increase of $13 billion export in the next three years would create another 13 million jobs in the country. He said that the prime minister had himself agreed in a meeting with representatives of textile sector on September 11 that the textile industry had been lagging behind in the region and he (Nawaz) had assured of announcing a textile package in five days. The industry was eagerly waiting for the textile package, he added.
Tanveer said that high cost of business was constantly resulting into closure of textile units. Therefore, the prime minister had directed to reduce power tariff by Rs 2.15 per unit soon after the meeting when the textile industry associations had advocated for supply of electricity at 9 cent per unit in line with the regional competitors. He, however, lamented that in a situation where the textile industry was not viable on Rs 13 per unit, the mills had received Rs 18 per unit electricity bills for the current month. He said that it was ironical that the industry was demanding Rs 9 per unit while the power distribution companies had issued Rs 18 per unit electricity bills. He said that the textile industry was facing losses over the last one year and the mills were finding it hard to pay salaries to their staff. He said that the imposition of Rs 200 per MMBTU gas infrastructure development cess had added fuel to the fire. The issue is pending with the Supreme Court after a decision in favour of the industry from the courts, he added. The government should immediately implement the Senate Committee on Textile Industry recommendations on the GIDC issue, he demanded.
He asked the government to impose 20 per cent regulatory duty on import of textile raw material – from yarn to garments, which would ensure revival of the industry. He said that the domestic textile industry had a potential of $7 billion per annum, which was being marred by unbridled entry and dumping of highly subsidised textile products from India and China. The import duty on textile products in Pakistan was merely 5 per cent against 30 per cent in the competitor countries, he said, adding that it needs an immediate upward revision. He said that the government should also announce rebate on textile exports as an incentive under the focus market policy even if it was unable to devalue Pak rupee against dollar. The competitor countries were already offering heavy rebate on exports, he added. He suggested the government to constitute a joint committee of the APTMA and the SBP to deal with the situation. He said that the step would boost investors’ confidence.
SOURCE: The News
Vietnam International Fashion Fair (VIFF) 2015, jointly held by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) and Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), opened in Ho Chi Minh City on September 18. The fair, is part of the activities in the national trade promotion programme and is held annually to introduce domestic and foreign customers production capacity and export of textile enterprises throughout the territory of Vietanem, reflecting the fashion industry’s latest achievements as well as brand new collections are being introduced at the fair. At the same time this is also an important event created the opportunity to exchange among providers of materials, designers have access to the textile manufacturing enterprises and various fashion products.
Featuring nearly 200 booths, the event draws the participation of famous textile businesses such as Viet Tien, Duc Giang, Nha Be, May 10, Hoa Tho, Viet Thang and Dong Xuan together, with a line-up of designers and small and medium garment providers. Entertainment programmes and fashion shows are scheduled during the event. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa speaking at the opening ceremony highlighted garment as a leading export of Vietnam, adding that the sector has made significant progress with a raft of highly-competitive and prestigious brands. She noted that enterprises need to give a push to the sector’s development by following the Government’s strategy and taking advantages of free trade deals to build brands favoured in both domestic and foreign markets.
According to VITAS Chairman Vu Duc Giang, the annual fair aims to introduce garment production and export capacity of Vietnamese enterprises to domestic and international customers while linking garment material providers, designers and producers. VIFF this year 2015 represents a profound and comprehensive than Vietnam's garment image with the style of fashion designers in the country. The entire space and communication activities of the fair will be conducted by experts in designing and staging professional. The VIFF will run until Septemer 25 at the Exhibition Centre and Tan Binh Exhibition (TBECC), a Ho Chi Minh City.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
Increasing regional integration through enhanced role of private sector and cooperation in areas like trade, energy security and connectivity will help South Asian nations boost economic growth, says a report. South Asia is facing the world's worst challenges - poverty, unemployment and illiteracy irrespective of the immense potential the region has to become the frontrunner of growth and prosperity in the 21st century, said the report by industry body CII. "Time is ripe to unleash these potentials. Regional integration by creating regional value chains and a favourable investment climate can boost the region's share in global trade, investment and economic growth," it said. This can be done through a right mix of internal and cross border economic policy reforms, improving physical connectivity and a range of other measures, it said. The report has enlisted areas where attention is required by the South Asian economies and that includes increasing private sector participation to boost investments, removing non-trade barriers, improving physical connectivity and liberalising services sector through relaxed visa norms.
"EU, ASEAN and NAFTA are successful examples of how regional economic integration can lead to rapid economic growth and rise in investment. However, South Asia, as a region, is lagging behind in regional integration," it said. It said that SAFTA (South Asia Free Trade Agreement) needs to shift its focus towards integration led by intra-industry trade and investment within the region. "For example, Sri Lanka can be the hub for rubber-based industries in South Asia...since almost all member countries share border with India, India can be a fruitful partner in many possible areas for them," it added.
On increasing energy cooperation, it said India, Bhutan and Bangladesh share a rich network of rivers and this provides rich ecosystems to the region. "Joint development of energy projects can help explore this huge potential," it said. It also said that easing visa for entrepreneurs and businesses can have significant positive impact in the region. Keeping the security concerns under consideration, governments can coordinate to approve lists of businessmen who can have benefits of free travel or visa on arrival, it said. "Trade within South Asia is far below its potential and only shows how poorly integrated the region is. Trade within South Asia was $8-9 billion a few years ago which has gone up to about $23 billion in 2013," it said.
CII is organising a three-day 'South Asia Economic Conclave' starting from September 28 to discuss all these issues. South Asian countries are India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
