The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 16TH MARCH 2021

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

Taking a shot with textiles

Textiles are the passion de jour. They pervade every creative sphere from design to art to photography to couture. Gopika Nath of the many talents wears several hats textile artist, writer and healer. Which one does she identify with herself the most?

No surprises here. Textiles. “My training is in textiles. Thread and fabric define my identity. However, without the other two derivatives, it would be incomplete,” says Nath who is showing at Gallery Art Positive, Delhi, along with seven other artists.

The exhibition, titled ‘Fibre of Our Lives’, offers an insight into the versatility of contemporary art practices inspired by textiles, weaving and embroidery techniques.

But the new twist in Nath’s weft is the camera. Like many successful artists today, she is at ease with amalgamated innovations involving other mediums: in her current exhibition, her work is a combination of photography on canvas, pen and ink, embroidery and stitching, and crochet, says the artist.

Inspired to embroider, rather than paint, Nath has given new meaning to the form and function of textile as a medium.

From crocheting shells onto delicate lace using a finer count of yarn that she dyes to her specification, to sometimes having the edges singed—her ultimate creation is often a mash-up of patches, but at the same time surprisingly presents a smooth visual.

Against a grey gallery wall, a Nath canvas framed in broad white seems like a wild display of emotions. It has anguish, despair and hope together woven into a beautiful tapestry of life.

Sixty-two-year-old Nath has been working with textiles for over four decades, “I trained to be a weaver; hence thread is fundamental to my creativity,” she says.

She started painting saris and scarves. “In the beginning, I held biannual sari exhibitions. But I couldn’t keep pace with the demand,” says Nath, who now is full time textile artist.

Nath uses a variety of textile techniques such as weaving, screen printing, block printing, knitting, crochet and embroidery. The innate relationship between different mediums is the force behind the final piece.

Nath is currently working on a series of works that interprets the idea of ‘washed ashore’ inspired by the sea and its relationship with consciousness. So you have the brilliant work that she calls ‘Thought Net’.

Using wool, she knits together a colourful, but haphazard, canvas that instantly reminds us of the chaos in our minds.

“It took me four years to arrive at the creative core of the series, but more is left to explore,” she admits, going into artspeak, “The elevation of consciousness and taking control of one’s life by totally surrendering to the nature of being becomes more than just a visually creative endeavour.

It becomes the fulcrum of life’s purpose and the journey towards it. It’s about being present. It’s about savouring every moment for what it brings the rasa that experience includes every emotion from love, separation, disgust and more. The key is to be the rasa and the rasika.”And to the tapestry of the past.

Source: The Indian Express

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1,400 Jetpur textile units battle high input costs

Jetpur’s textile units, famous for their colourful cotton saris and other printed fabrics, are facing a challenging time owing to increased input costs and low demand and supply disruption over the last year. Unit owners are barely able to hold back their permanent workers, but say they might have to begin lay-offs sooner or later given the situation.

Jetpur is one of the largest MSME clusters in the country  for screen-printing, block printing and yarn dyeing. Located 70 km from Rajkot, the cluster is well-known for its printed cotton saris, and is also a major exporter of ‘khanga’ and ‘kitange’ variety of fabrics used widely in all of Africa for various purposes .

Export hub battling crises

Leading Jetpur businessman and  exporter Anand Jasani said, “Already businesses were badly hurt by the lockdown as there was no supply of raw material or demand for clothes. But even after the market opened, the entire industry is battling with high cost of materials and several other issues.”

“Poplin and 190 gm cotton are the raw materials we use in production of fabric. Prices of both input materials have jumped in the past one year with poplin going from Rs 35 to Rs 43 for one metre and cotton cloth increasing from Rs 30 to Rs 36. Also, waste disposal costs have increased. Till now, there were pipelines to dispose of dye waste. Now, due to pollution concerns, the units are required to use tankers to carry liquid waste to other places for disposal. The price of printing dyes, another essential input, has increased by 30% while finishing chemicals have become costlier by 50%. The reason for this price rise is improper import cycle and freight price hike. Both dyes and chemicals are imported mostly from China.”

Procuring from afar driving

Local manufacturer Sanjay Vekaria, who is also a committee member of Jetpur Dyeing and Printing Association, said, “Besides material costs, domestic transport has also become dearer because of constant fuel price hikes.” About 20% of the textile factories in Jetpur may be completely closed down, said Vekaria. Of the rest, about 30% of the units may be running at a mere 20% utilisation, and another 30% of them are operating at only half the capacity, he said. According to association president Jayantibhai Ramolia, Jetpur has a large number of MSMEs with earnings of less than Rs 5 lakh a year. “We are asking the government to help. The total production of textile in Jetpur crosses Rs 2,000 crore per annum, but this time it is expected to stay well below Rs 1500 crore,” said Ramolia.

Source: Ahmedabad Mirror

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India's foreign-exchange reserves become world’s fourth-largest

India’s foreign-exchange reserves surpassed Russia’s to become the world’s fourth largest, as the South Asian nation’s central bank continues to hoard dollars to cushion the economy against any sudden outflows.

Reserves for both countries have mostly flattened out this year after months of rapid increase. India pulled ahead as Russian holdings declined at a faster rate in recent weeks.

India’s foreign currency holdings fell by $4.3 billion to $580.3 billion as of March 5, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday, edging out Russia’s $580.1 billion pile. China has the largest reserves, followed by Japan and Switzerland on the International Monetary Fund table.

India’s reserves, enough to cover roughly 18 months of imports, have been bolstered by a rare current-account surplus, rising inflows into the local stock market and foreign direct investment.

Analysts say a strong reserves position gives foreign investors and credit rating companies added comfort that the government can meet its debt obligations despite a deteriorating fiscal outlook and the economy heading for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades.

“India’s various reserves adequacy metrics have improved significantly, particularly in the last few years," Kaushik Das, chief India economist at Deutsche Bank, said before the latest data were released. “The healthy FX reserves position should give enough comfort to RBI for dealing with any potential external shock-driven capital-stop or outflows in the period ahead."

The RBI bought a net $88 billion in the spot forex market last year, central bank data show. That helped make the rupee the worst performer among Asia’s major currencies last year and earned India a place on a U.S. Treasury watchlist for currency manipulation.

A recent RBI report recommended further strengthening of foreign-exchange reserves, citing swings in the rupee around the time of the global taper tantrum in 2013. Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that emerging market central banks need to build reserves to prevent any external shocks, irrespective of being put on watch by the U.S.

Source: The Mint

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100% of estimated GST compensation shortfall of Rs 1.1 trn released: Govt

The Finance Ministry has released the final weekly instalment of Rs 4,104 crore to the states to meet the GST compensation shortfall.

Out of this, an amount of Rs 4,086.97 crore has been released to 23 states and Rs 17.03 crore to 3 Union Territories with Legislative Assemblies.

With the current release, 100 percent of the total estimated GST compensation shortfall of Rs 1.1 trillion for year 2020-21 has now been released to the states and UTs with Legislative Assemblies.

Out of this, an amount of Rs 101,329 crore has been released to the states and Rs 8,879 crore to the 3 UTs with Legislative Assemblies.

The Central government had set up a special borrowing window in October 2020 to meet the estimated shortfall of Rs 1.1 trillion in revenue arising on account of implementation of GST. The borrowings are being done through this window by the Centre on behalf of the states and UTs.

Starting from October 23, 2020, the borrowings were completed in 20 weekly instalments.

Under the special window, the Centre has been borrowing in government stock with tenure of 3 years and 5 years.

The borrowings made under each tenure are equally divided among all the states as per their GST compensation shortfall.

With the current release, the proportionate pending GST shortfall with respect to borrowing under both 5 years tenure and 3 year tenure has been concluded for 23 states and 3 UTs with legislatures. The remaining five states doesn't have any GST compensation shortfall.

The amount released this week was the 20th instalment of such funds provided to the States. The amount has been borrowed this week at an interest rate of 4.9288 per cent. The total amount of Rs 1,10,208 crore has been borrowed by the Central government through the special borrowing window at an weighted average interest rate of 4.8473 per cent.

In addition to providing funds through the special borrowing window to meet the shortfall in revenue on account of GST implementation, the Centre had also granted additional borrowing permission equivalent to 0.50 per cent of Gross States Domestic Product (GSDP) to the states choosing Option-I to meet GST compensation shortfall to help them in mobilising additional financial resources. All the states have given their preference for Option-I. Permission for borrowing the entire additional amount of Rs 1,06,830 crore (0.50 per cent of GSDP) was granted to 28 states under this provision.

Source: The Economic Times

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INTERNATIONAL

Garment industry wants early approval of textile policy 2020-25 by ECC

The garment industry on Sunday called for the final approval of new textile policy 2020-25 by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet as it is vital for new investment and marketing plan in this major export-oriented sector.

Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) vice chairman Adeeb Iqbal Sheikh said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has already approved the five-year textile policy for onward submission to the ECC. However, the ministry was unable to oblige due to undisclosed reasons.

He said the government announced several schemes including settlement of outstanding refund claims, rationalization of refund regime, establishment of Exim bank, duty-free import of textile machinery and reduction of mark up rate for export refinance in past but the sector was not getting benefits yet.

Textile sector contributed about 60 percent to the country’s total exports, besides providing direct and indirect millions of jobs which required a proper policy, he added.

He urged the government to redress the problems of the industry by taking comprehensive and innovative solutions in the new textile policy.

Adeeb Iqbal added that a clear long-term policy will provide investors a clear vision that the government of Pakistan is ready to support the apparel sector of Pakistan on long-term basis.

He said that the garment industry has been affected seriously due to long delay in the final announcement of the new textile policy by Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, as the PM has already given approval in this regard. He was of the view that further delay in textile policy would result in delay or even backing out of investors from future local and foreign investment in the industry. Presently, we are in short production capacity and several exporters are refusing export orders because there is not enough capacity available in the country.

He claimed that targets set were ambitious and financial commitments of Rs188 billion and Rs65 billion respectively for first 2009-14 and second 2014-19 Textile Policies were made by the past governments to achieve them. However, commitments were not fulfilled and timely payments were not doled out in financial support schemes. Further, funds were not allocated for public sector development under infrastructure, vocational training, productivity and compliance related programs.

He urged the government to redress the problems of the industry by taking comprehensive and innovative solutions in the new textile policy.

He maintained that the timely implementation of a long-term policy would not only bring new investments in the country but also enable the industry to achieve the target of $30 billion exports in the next five years.

Source:  The Daily Times

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Electronic textiles made with new cellulose thread

A research team led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has presented a thread made of conductive cellulose, which offers fascinating and practical possibilities for electronic textiles.These fabrics could provide “revolutionary” new opportunities in various fields, in particular healthcare, according to the researchers. But, to be sustainable, they need to be made of renewable materials.

“Miniature, wearable, electronic gadgets are ever more common in our daily lives. But currently, they are often dependent on rare, or in some cases toxic, materials.

They are also leading to a gradual build-up of great mountains of electronic waste. There is a real need for organic, renewable materials for use in electronic textiles,” says Sozan Darabi, doctoral student at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology and the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, and lead author of the scientific article which was recently published in ASC Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Together with Anja Lund, researcher in the same group, Sozan Darabi has been working with electrically conductive fibres for electronic textiles for several years. The focus was previously on silk, but now the discoveries have been taken further through the use of cellulose.

Built-in electronics in non-toxic, renewable, and natural materials

The results now presented by the researchers show how cellulose thread offers huge potential as a material for electronic textiles and can be used in many different ways.

Sewing the electrically conductive cellulose threads into a fabric using a standard household sewing machine, the researchers have now succeeded in producing a thermoelectric textile that produces a small amount of electricity when it is heated on one side – for example, by a person’s body heat. At a temperature difference of 37 degrees Celsius, the textile can generate around 0.2 microwatts of electricity.

“This cellulose thread could lead to garments with built-in electronic, smart functions, made from non-toxic, renewable and natural materials,” Darabi says.

The production process for the cellulose thread has been developed by co-authors from Aalto University in Finland. In a subsequent process, the Chalmers researchers made the thread conductive through dyeing it with an electrically conductive polymeric material. The researchers’ measurements show that the dyeing process gives the cellulose thread a record-high conductivity – which can be increased even further through the addition of silver nanowires. In tests, the conductivity was maintained after several washes.

The benefits of e-textiles and cellulose

Electronic textiles could improve our lives in several ways. One important area is healthcare, where functions such as regulating, monitoring, and measuring various health metrics could be hugely beneficial.

In the wider textile industry, where conversion to sustainable raw materials is a vital ongoing question, natural materials and fibres have become an increasingly common choice to replace synthetics. Electrically conductive cellulose threads could have a significant role to play here too, the researchers say.

“Cellulose is a fantastic material that can be sustainably extracted and recycled, and we will see it used more and more in the future. And when products are made of uniform material, or as few materials as possible, the recycling process becomes much easier and more effective. This is another perspective from which cellulose thread is very promising for the development of e-textiles,” says Christian Müller, research leader for the study and a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

This work of the research team from Chalmers is performed within the national research center Wallenberg Wood Science Center, in cooperation with colleagues in Sweden, Finland and South Korea.

Source: EP&T News

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Swedish scientists convert cotton into sugar, to make textiles

In a major step towards recycling, scientists at Sweden’s Lund University have found a way to convert cotton into sugar, which in turn can be made into spandex, nylon or ethanol. Every year, an estimated 25 million tonnes of cotton textiles are discarded around the world. In total, 100 million tonnes of textiles are thrown out. A lot ends up in landfills.

In Sweden, most of the discarded material goes straight into an incinerator and becomes district heating. In other places, it is even worse, as clothes usually end up in landfills.

“Considering that cotton is a renewable resource, this is not particularly energy-efficient,” says Edvin Ruuth, researcher in chemical engineering at Lund University. “Some fabrics still have such strong fibres that they can be re-used. This is done today and could be done even more in future. But a lot of the fabric that is discarded has fibres that are too short for re-use, and sooner or later all cotton fibres become too short for the process known as fibre regeneration.”

At the Department of Chemical Engineering in Lund where Edvin Ruuth works, there is a great deal of information about using micro-organisms and enzymes to transform the “tougher” carbohydrates in biomass into simpler molecules. This means that everything from biological waste and black liquor to straw and wood chips can become bioethanol, biogas and chemicals.

In the new research, scientists have succeeded in breaking down the plant fibre in cotton – the cellulose – into smaller components. However, no micro-organisms or enzymes are involved. Instead, the process involves soaking the fabrics in sulphuric acid. The result is a clear, dark, amber-coloured sugar solution.

“The secret is to find the right combination of temperature and sulphuric acid concentration,” explains Ruuth, who fine-tuned the ‘recipe’ together with doctoral student Miguel Sanchis-Sebastiá and professor Ola Wallberg.

Glucose is a very flexible molecule and has many potential uses, according to Ruuth. “Our plan is to produce chemicals which in turn can become various types of textiles, including spandex and nylon. An alternative use could be to produce ethanol.”

From a normal sheet, they extract five litres of sugar solution, with each litre containing the equivalent of 33 sugar cubes. However, you couldn’t turn the liquid into a soft drink as it also contains corrosive sulphuric acid.

One of the challenges is to overcome the complex structure of cotton cellulose.

“What makes cotton unique is that its cellulose has a high crystallinity. This makes it difficult to break down the chemicals and reuse their components. In addition, there are a lot of surface treatment substances, dyes and other pollutants which must be removed. And structurally, a terrycloth towel and an old pair of jeans are very different,” says Ruuth.

“Thus, it is a very delicate process to find the right concentration of acid, the right number of treatment stages and temperature,” Ruuth adds.

The concept of hydrolysing pure cotton is nothing new per se, explains Ruuth - it was discovered in the 1800s. The difficulty has been to make the process effective, economically viable and attractive. “Many people who tried ended up not utilising much of the cotton, while others did better but at an unsustainable cost and environmental impact.”

When he started making glucose out of fabrics a year ago, the return was a paltry three to four per cent. Now he and his colleagues have reached as much as 90 per cent. Once the recipe formulation is complete, it will be both relatively simple and cheap to use.

However, for the process to become a reality, the logistics must work. There is currently no established way of managing and sorting various textiles that are not sent to ordinary clothing donation points.

A recycling centre unlike any other in the world is currently under construction in Malmö, where clothing is sorted automatically using a sensor. Some clothing will be donated, rags can be used in industry and textiles with sufficiently coarse fibres can become new fabrics. The rest will go to district heating. Hopefully, the proportion of fabrics going to district heating will be significantly smaller once the technology from Lund is in place.

Source: Fibre2Fashion News

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Minister attends signing of contracts to establish Misr Company for Textiles complex

Minister of Public Enterprises Hisham Tawfik on Sunday witnessed the signing of contracts for the construction works of Misr Company for Textiles Complex in Kafr el Dawar city of Beheira governorate.

In a statement released on Sunday, the ministry explained that the project will cost 2.4 billion not including the value of machinery.

The complex will be established on an area of 175,000 square meters and will comprise 6 factories for the spinning, weaving, knitting of fabrics as well as preparing of textiles for exportation.

The complex's targeted production is 50.7 million of fabrics annually, up from the current 13 million.

Source: Egypt Today

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Bangladesh apparel exports decline 3.73% in July-Feb FY21

Readymade garment exports from Bangladesh declined by 3.73 per cent in the first eight months of fiscal 2020-21 compared on year-on-year basis, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau. Bangladesh fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

Category-wise, knitwear exports increased by 4.06 per cent to $11.345 billion in July-February 2020-21, as against exports of $1.898 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal, as per the data.

However, exports of woven apparel decreased by 11.49 per cent to $9.691 billion during the period under review, compared to exports of $10.948 billion during the comparable period of 2019-20.

Woven and knitted apparel and clothing accessories’ exports together accounted for 81.32 per cent of $25.862 billion worth of total exports made by Bangladesh during the first eight months of the current fiscal.

Meanwhile, home textile exports (Chapter 63, excluding 630510) increased 38.92 per cent to $730.82 million during the eight-month period under review, compared to exports of $526.08 million during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

In the fiscal ending June 30, 2020, readymade garment exports from Bangladesh declined 18.12 per cent to $27.949 billion compared to exports of $34.133 billion in the previous fiscal, mainly on account of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. For the current fiscal, the country has set an export target of $33.785 billion.

Source: Fibre2Fashion News

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