The commerce ministry on Monday said it has started a COVID-19 helpdesk to help resolve issues of exporters and importers pertaining to international trade such as customs clearance delays and banking matters. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the ministry, took this initiative to monitor the status of exports and imports, and difficulties being faced by trade stakeholders in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
“DGFT has accordingly operationalised a ‘COVID-19 Helpdesk’ to support and seek suitable resolutions to issues arising in respect of international trade,” the ministry said. It added that the helpdesk would look into issues relating to import and export licensing, customs clearance delays and complexities arising thereon, import/export documentation, and banking matters.
“Helpdesk would also collect and collate trade related issues concerning other ministries/departments/ agencies of central and state governments and will coordinate to seek their support and provide possible resolution,” it said. Stakeholders can submit information on the DGFT website about their issues on which support is required. “The status of resolutions and feedback may be tracked using the Status tracker under the DGFT Helpdesk Services. Email and SMS would also be sent as and when the status of these tickets are updated,” the ministry said.
Source: The Financial Express
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the Commerce Ministry has set up a ‘COVID-19 Helpdesk.’ According to a statement, with trade facing difficulties due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, the help desk would look into issues related to import and export licensing, customs-clearance delays, import or export documentation, banking matters, etc.
The helpdesk will also collect and collate trade-related issues concerning other ministries, departments and State governments and co-ordinate with them to provide possible solutions. Exporters and importers can log on to the DGFT website and access the helpdesk or email their issues to dgftedi@nic.in with the subject header “COVID-19 Helpdesk”. They can also call the toll free number 1800-111-550. They can use the status tracker to know the status of the resolution, the release said.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
With growing cases of COVID-19 across the country, yet again Indian apparel industry has started facing lot of challenges. Owing to various curbs to control COVID-19, majority of apparel manufacturers across various hubs are working with around 30 to 40 per cent capacity.
With forced closure of non-essential stores in several states, apparel manufacturers could be staring at delayed orders yet again.
A report by brokerage firm Motilal Oswal tracking the business of malls, apparel retailers, as well as apparel manufacturers, paints a grim picture for the manufacturing sector whose business is directly dependent on stocks moving at large retailers.
Prior to this, a report of Icra Ratings had also said that the full recovery for Indian apparel players will be prolonged and pushed back to the financial year 2023 amidst rising COVID cases in India and some of the key export markets.
As pandemic lowered the demand for formalwear and subsequent lockdowns meant an inventory pile-up with retailers, garment manufacturers have faced a cut in orders both from domestic and export markets.
The report says that a large proportion of smaller players are closing down their businesses, plagued by an uncertain outlook, stretched working capital and liquidity, and rising raw material costs.
Around 80 per cent of the apparel manufacturing sector remains largely unorganised and is highly dependent on cash and credit, which means smaller players are the first to get impacted with state-level closures.
“Retailers were operating at sales of 70–80 per cent pre-covid levels over January–Feb’21. However, the industry has once again been put on the back foot due to fresh lockdowns being imposed; the impact from the second wave could be more severe given the already weak condition of many players,” the report says.
Along with the high price of raw material for manufacturers, a high credit period remains a concern.
Source: Apparel India
The garment industry Karnataka Employers’ Association (KEA) has urged the State government to allow garment factories to operate at 50 per cent attendance and with strict Covid measures.
Earlier in the day, the state Cabinet at its meeting decided to impose state-wide lockdown and allowed only construction activities and manufacturing industry to function normally. However Garment factories were ordered to be shut.
KEA president BC Prabhakar, citing the following reasons to allow garment factories to open, said, “Garment factories employ maximum number of employees next only to agriculture. In Bengaluru alone, there are more than 8 lakh workers employed in this sector.”
Whilst other industries have been permitted to operate with minimum or 50 percent strength, permitting garment industries also to work on the same basis will help a large number of workers.
European Orders
According to Prabhakar, the garment industry has already received a lot of orders with strict timelines to deliver. European markets have just opened and they have sent huge orders. If there is a delay in supply of finished goods to the buyers, it would result in huge penalties, losses and also it will result in employment loss.
“Most of the finished goods are exported to many foreign countries. If manufacturers don’t supply the finished goods within the stipulated period, the foreign buyers will divert it to other countries like Bangladesh thereby the garment industry will permanently lose even the future orders,” he added.
Total closure can lead to people leaving the city to their hometowns and they may not return for some time. Many of the workers in the garment industry are from North India and also from neighbouring villages and across Karnataka. “Once they go back to their hometowns, they are not likely to return back for quite some time. This will put the industry in further trouble when it is already struggling,” pointed out KEA president.
Raw Materials
Talking about raw materials, he said: “materials dispatched from suppliers are in transit from across the country. If the garment industry is allowed to work with at least 50 percent employee’s strength, they will be able to download the materials. Otherwise, they will be burdened with additional transport charges and demurrages.”
“Raw materials are outsourced from several small enterprises who in turn source from cotton growers. Closing down the entire Garment industry will therefore badly affect the cotton growers in particular and farming community in general,” he added.
Garment industries have been strictly adhering to all the guidelines and Covid protocols and they will continue to follow the same. Moreover, their Covid protocols and production processes are monitored by foreign buyers under UN protocols for strict compliance.
“There are certain processes operating in three shifts, which are continuous in nature. Full closure will affect maintenance operations which will result in corrosion of machinery,” said Prabhakar adding, “Considering all the points, we request the government to allow the garment industry to operate with at least 50 per cent manpower strength. You are therefore kindly requested to issue a suitable clarification in this regard to allay the apprehensions of the employers and employees of garment industries.”
Source: The Hindu Business Line
“It is noteworthy that economic activity in India is holding up admirably against COVID-19’s renewed onslaught,” the RBI said.
“Apart from contact-intensive sectors, activity indicators largely remained resilient in March and grew beyond pre-pandemic levels on the back of strong momentum rather than statistical base effects,” it added.
India’s coronavirus infections hit a record peak for a fifth day on Monday with 353,991 new cases.
The country still has localised lockdowns in some states to contain the spread of the virus but stricter norms could disrupt supply chains and add to inflation concerns as they did in 2020.
The RBI, however, is hopeful the economic recovery will continue based on data points like early corporate earnings, and steady rises in capacity utilisation and electricity consumption.
“It is not out of place to hope that these positive monthly developments reinforce each other and extend into a continuum that spans the medium-term,” the RBI said.
The RBI said policy makers know from painful experience that it is perilous to withdraw stimulus too soon and that inflation is less sensitive to demand pressures than once feared, hence most central banks would lean towards growth in pandemic times, knowing that inflation is still only catching up.
The RBI has repeatedly assured bond markets that it would ensure ample liquidity in the banking system and help smoothly execute the government’s massive 12.06 trillion rupees ($161.15 billion) market borrowing programme.
Bond yields, however, have remained sticky above 6% and broadly traded in a 6-6.25% range over the last two months.
“But when markets cannot keep the faith and take the inverse bet - that monetary policy cannot stay loose for long – they are frontrunning the economy. By anticipating monetary policy tightening, markets may bring it about sooner than it is right,” the RBI warned.
($1 = 74.8390 rupees)
Source: Reuters India
Many Indian companies procuring raw material from China have been instead delivered chemicals mixed with water, chalk powder and paper by their suppliers. To make matters worse, they are charged customs duty and IGST based on the actual invoice.
Most of the duped companies said they would take up the matter of fraud in international forums. They are also looking to approach Indian courts for some leeway on taxes.
In many cases, officials of importing companies said integrated goods and services tax (IGST) and customs duty applicable on the invoice amount is more than the actual cost of the fake or adulterated goods they received from China.
One company that had imported ‘re-melted lead ingots’ from China, instead, was delivered chalk power. But it was asked to cough up duties on the amount paid for importing ingots.
Many companies are taking the legal route to seek tax refunds.
“The refund of taxes becomes inevitable when a higher amount of duty was paid on an assumption that the correct goods have been imported,” said Abhishek A Rastogi, partner at Khaitan & Co, who is representing several defrauded companies. “Customs duty is levied on the value of imports and when the low value items are imported by mistake or otherwise for any reason, the question of paying the duty on a wrong higher value does not arise,” he said.
Take the instance of another company that had imported some organic chemicals from China a few weeks back. The company has received some unrelated, unidentifiable chemical, which is not at all useful, a person close to the firm said.
“So, if the cost of import is, say, Rs 100, the chemical we received would be worth Rs 2. We are expected to pay customs duty on import costs still even when we are not taking the delivery,” the person said.
In almost all cases of fraud, the suppliers based in China turned out to be fly-by-night operators who have made sure that the Indian companies make at least half the payment, sources said.
Many Indian companies are forced to depend on new suppliers for their urgent need of raw materials due to disruptions in their global supply chains amid the pandemic.
Source: The Economic Times
Every year in April, Saumil Shah, a textile trader in Surat used to be busy with handling orders from other states and ensuring that the parcels are dispatched on time to different part of the country ahead of the marriage season. But this year, Shah’s business is down to 10% despite there being no lockdown in Gujarat.
Shah, who runs his business from New Ambaji Market here, is not the only trader who is facing the brunt. Due to the lockdown in states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and self-imposed lockdown in some cities of Gujarat, textile trading in Surat has started to feel the heat.
“The months of March, April and May are the ones when we do most of our business because we get orders from other states for the marriage season. Last year due to the lockdown there was no business, but we recovered during the festive season and hoped that 2021 would be much better. But all orders are getting cancelled now,” said Manoj Agarwal, president of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA).
“We usually take 15-20 days to prepare the order and dispatch it. But during that period, lockdowns have been announced in the state from where we had got the order. So, the trader there cancels the entire order and we end up in helpless situation,” said Shah.
While the traders’ orders are getting cancelled, the transporters too have stopped taking the booking. Before the pandemic, 400 trucks used to leave Surat daily for different states with textile goods, now that number has come down to just 70 to 80 trucks.
“Even if traders in Surat want to dispatch the goods, it is becoming difficult for us to take the booking because our godowns in other states are filled to the capacity and there is no place to store more parcels,” said Yuvraj Desale, president of Surat Textile Goods Transport Association. “Because the markets in other states are closed due either to state-declared or self-imposed lockdown, traders are not picking goods from our godowns,” Desale added.
Looking at the grim Covid-19 situation, the industry is not expecting recovery anytime soon. “Last year we faced losses of around Rs 15,000 crore. We are again in the same position this year. The cases are still increasing in states where our products used to be sold. So, we are not expecting any recovery before September,” said Champalal Bothra, general secretary of FOSTTA.
After the virtual meeting of chief minister Vijay Rupani with business leaders last week, FOSTTA had written to the CM to declare a week’s lockdown. “The government has not declared any lockdown, but we are voluntarily keeping our businesses shut on weekends for the past three weeks,” said Agarwal. If the Covid-19 cases keep rising, the association may extend the weekend voluntary shutdown to next month too.
Source: The Times of India
The South India Spinners Association (SISPA) on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to liquidate their yarn stock or extend help to fully dispose the stocks, since there have been no buyers for the last 20 days. In a letter to Modi, a copy of which was also addressed to the Union Textile Minister, SISPA refuted reports,"whether fake or unrealistic", being fabricated and projected by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) that the spinning mills have formed a cartel to hold the yarn and fix prices. Stating that the yarn prices have been reduced about Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg for all counts in April, SISPA President N Murugesan said that due to multiple factors there were no buyers and stocks had been piling up for the last 20 days. In reality, major centres like Mumbai, Biwandi, Ichalkaranji, Malegaon, Surat, Kolkata and Erode were unable to procure yarn as demand was very poor, he said.
Though all the spinning mills associations had informed the AEPC of yarn requirements, there has been no response to date from the Council, he said "The spinning mills are in a very grim situation regarding the future, as they are unable to sell cotton yarn, polyester cotton yarn, polyester viscose yarn and polyester yarn of all counts," he said. Being an association representing the interests of the spinning mills, primarily in the MSME sector, the mills are located in the rural areas and predominantly provide job opportunities to uneducated and unskilled women, he said. Giving details of prices from September 2020 taken from 400 mills, SISPA said they are running at only 50 to 60 per cent utilization. The cost of packing material, spares, transport, labour and diesel has increased, making the cost of production higher. "Most of the mills are in huge financial crisis for the past 10 years and are still not out of debt. We request that the MSME textile industry be saved from false propaganda for unknown reasons," Murugesan said.
Source: Outlook The News Scroll
Cotton futures traded marginally weaker at Rs 21,780 per bale on April 26 as participants increased their short positions as seen from open interest. Natural fibre had gained Rs 410, or 1.91 percent last week on the MCX.
The agri commodity pared gains after a gap-up start on a negative global trend.
The soft commodity has been trading higher than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200 days’ moving averages on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 54.69 which indicates upbeat movement in prices.
Textile supply chains have recovered following the most acute phase of the COVID-related disruption; many spinners have enjoyed good profits and some have been adding new capacity.
Abhijeet Banerjee, Senior Research Analyst-Agri Research, Religare Broking Ltd said, “Cotton ended the week on a positive note and posted moderate gains on Friday. A strong trend in global markets supported the trend. The world cotton stocks (93.5 million bales) are forecast lower in 2020/21, bolstering this season’s cotton price expectations.”
The global stock reduction is supportive of cotton prices, particularly in an expanding global economy with rising world cotton mill use, he said.
MCX April Cotton trade at a discount of 15 percent from Cotlook A price of 92.20 cents as on Thursday.
In the futures market, cotton for May delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 21,960 and an intraday low of Rs 21,710 per bale on the MCX. So far in the current series, the commodity has touched a low of Rs 20,680 and a high of Rs 22,950.
Cotton futures for May delivery dropped Rs 70, or 0.32 percent, to Rs 21,780 per bale at 16:22 hours IST on a business turnover of 8,150 lots. The same for June contract gained Rs 70, or 0.32 percent at Rs 22,190 per bale with a business volume of 58 lots.
The value of May and June’s contracts traded so far is Rs 100.48 crore and Rs 0.11 crore respectively.
Though short term gains could be seen in ICE Cotton, rising COVID cases in Asian countries may drag cotton from higher levels in coming sessions, said Kotak Securities.
At 1054 (GMT), US Cotton futures were down 0.99 percent quoting at 87.92 cents/pound on Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
Source: Money Control News
Despite the fact that Indian apparel exporters are struggling due to COVID-19 and other challenges, few of the export houses are coming forward to support the society to overcome this pandemic.
Indore (Madhya Pradesh)-based leading apparel exporter Pratibha Syntex has donated 1,000 beds and hospital clothing for 2,000 patients.
The unique Maa Ahilya Covid Care Centre has been created at Radha Swami Satsang Beas campus in Indore. The company donated the above-mentioned stuff for this campus.
Pratibha Syntex shared this information on its social media platform.
It is pertinent to mention here that due to COVID-19, Madhya Pradesh is also amongst the worst affected Indian state. More than 88,000 new cases have been reported across the state in past 7 days, of which 59,000 people have recovered from the infection.
Known for its many sustainable initiatives, Pratibha Syntex recently also distributed around 10,000 kadha capsules (immunity booster) to residents of Sagore. To ensure that its employees are in pink always, the company also conducted vaccination of 335 employees.
Source: Apparel India
Cotton production in 2020-21 season, which will conclude in the next few days, in the Central African country of Cameroon is expected to witness a new record of 350,000 tons, according to the country's cotton development corporation Sodecoton. Cameroon's cotton production was 328,000 tons in the previous season, most of which was exported.
Cameroon exports its cotton to Asian countries, with China being the main destination. Other Asian countries importing Cameroon cotton are Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia.
In 2019, 18.4 per cent of Cameroon's cotton production was exported to China (compared to 22 per cent in 2018), followed by 12.2 per cent to Italy, and 11 per cent to India.
Sodecoton is planning to increase the country’s annual cotton production to 600,000 tons by 2025. To reach the ambitious target, Sodecoton plans to develop high-yielding seed varieties, instead of the earlier planned introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops.
Last year, as part of its 2020-30 National Development Strategy, the Cameroon government merged Sodecoton and Cotonnière Industrielle du Cameroun (Cicam) to boost the country's cotton textiles industry. Prior to merger, Sodecoton organised the production and marketing of cotton in Cameroon, while Cicam specialised in the manufacture of 100 per cent cotton loincloths and towels.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
The country's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli recently held a meeting with ministers of trade and public enterprise to follow up on the construction of a textile factory in Mahala which is meant to be the largest in the world.
According to a report published by Egypt Today, Minister of Public Enterprise Hisham Tawfik said the factory spans more than 62,000 square metres and its daily production is estimated at 30 tonnes. The inauguration is scheduled for March 2022.
Madbouli is also said to have instructed farming incentives to grow high-quality cotton to the extent that fulfills the needs of local factories.
Egypt's plans to attract significant foreign investment in its garment and textile manufacturing sectors were recently delayed due to the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic – prompting the government to step in to spur development.
The government's Vision 2025 strategy had targeted attracting some US$17.5bn in foreign investment to quadruple textile and garment exports. But with the pandemic leaving the global clothing sector in the doldrums – and Egypt's exports down 20% last year – the government has earmarked some US$600m in public money to be invested in two tranches this year.
A focus of this spending routed by the ministry of public enterprises is previously allocated land and infrastructure for two major industrial park projects for clothing and textile manufacturers, one in El Minya, in upper (southern) Egypt, and in Sadat City, outside of Cairo. In early 2019, Cairo had hoped to attract 50 textile companies from China, South Korea and Bangladesh to the parks.
Source: Just-Style Newsletter
Cone Denim, a leader in denim authenticity and sustainable innovation, has announced its next phase of water reduction initiatives which includes the completion of the Zero Liquid Discharge waste water treatment facility at the Cone Denim Parras (CDP) facility located in Northern Mexico. The company is known to deliver advanced denim capabilities.
The new customised ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis system by the company will recycle 90 per cent of the water used at CDP back into the manufacturing process, leaving only a small amount of water that is lost due to evaporation needing to be replaced with fresh water. As a result, no wastewater will be discharged into the environment, and once completely operational this summer, the Zero Liquid Discharge facility will save over 140 million gallons of water a year, the equivalent of 16,000 gallons per hour, the company said in a press release.
Cone Denim’s Ozone Flash Finish, introduced last year across its manufacturing platform in Mexico and China, allows significant water savings in the creation of sustainable denims. In partnership with Jeanologia and their G2 Dynamic system, Cone is able to use 85 per cent less water in the finishing of denim fabrics, compared to conventional finishing methods. In addition to significant water savings, this eco-efficient ozone technology uses less energy, fewer chemical and allows fabrics to be engineered with an affinity for laser and eco garment washing techniques, offering additional water savings down the line, according to Cone Denim.
As further commitment to raising awareness and ending the global water crisis, Cone has introduced its newest Cone Community Denim, called Clean Water selvage, featuring a teal selvage I.D. symbolic of global water awareness and made with OCS-certified organic cotton. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this collection will be donated to Water.org to support their efforts to increase access to clean water worldwide, Cone Denim said.
“We are focused on a sustainable future and minimising our impact on natural resources. To support these efforts, we’ve affirmed our commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals with our water conservation initiatives focused on Goal number 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. We are driving conservation efforts throughout our manufacturing processes and establishing greater transparency and improved ways to monitor, track and report our progress. We are glad to participate in the UN Global Compact and CEO Water Mandate to further collaboration among global leaders and drive meaningful change,” Steve Maggard, president at Cone Denim said in a statement.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
ICE cotton futures rose to their highest since early March on Monday on persistent worries that unfavourable weather in key growing regions may hurt the natural fibre crop.
Cotton contracts for July rose 0.7 cent, or 0.79 %, to 89.50 cents per lb by 12:25 EDT (1625 GMT).
The contract touched its highest since March 3 of 89.66 cents per lb earlier in the session.
“The main ingredient is the weather, particularly in the Southern plains. Demand is better than what the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates are saying,” said Sid Love, commodity trading adviser at Kansas-based Sid Love Consulting, adding inflation is also playing a role in prices.
Source: Business Recorder News
Citing data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, a report in local publication Thu Trang, said export turnover of textiles and garments in the first quarter was estimated at $7.2bn, up 1.1% over the same period. The export turnover of fibres and fibres of all kinds increased by 31%, while turnover of curtain fabrics and other technical fabrics was up 8.8%.
The recovery of the sector has been assisted by government marketing which has promoted trade promotion, market search, and commodity trade as well as the Free Trade Agreements Vietnam has signed. While the recovery is a good signal for the second quarter of 2021, a flare-up of the pandemic could cause further problems with goods transportation.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is expected to take advantage of opportunities from Free Trade Agreements to find solutions to develop markets and remove barriers to enter new markets, as well as prioritise the implementation of export promotion activities and export markets likely to recover from the pandemic in the near term, the report stated.
Last week, the US Department of the Treasury dropped Vietnam from its list of currency manipulators, a move that could reassure that the US might not impose new tariffs, quotas or other restrictions on Vietnamese imports as part of its Section 301 investigation.
Source: Just-Style Newsletter
Kenya aims to increase its commercial production of GMO cotton by ten times next year. Its target is to involve over 200,000 farmers to boost production from 20,000 bales currently to 200,000 bales by 2022. GMO cotton is believed to have a high germination rate, early maturation and the ability to resist common pests.
Controlled farming of GMO cotton was approved by the Kenyan government in 2019 after successful field trials, and it identified 1,000 farmers last year to receive the first GMO cotton seeds, according to Kenyan media reports.
The country has a demand of 38,000 tonnes of cotton lint, but produces only 5,300 tonnes. The deficit is imported from its neighbouring countries.
Besides Kenya, African countries like Sudan, South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi and Eswatini also produce GMO cotton.
Source: Fibre2Fashion News
