The Karnataka government on Wednesday, modified its earlier order to allow garment manufacturing units to operate with 50 per cent of its workforce during the State-wide lockdown.
The State government, on Monday, while issuing the lockdown guidelines had denied permission to garment manufacturing units to open and operate. The reversal of the order comes after garment industry – represented by the Karnataka Employers’ Association (KEA) and the Apparel Export Promotion Council – aggressively pitched for allowing manufacturing units to operate at 50 per cent capacity.
‘No stopping for production’
A Sakthivel, Chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council, in a representation to Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa and State Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar, had said, “The industry is concerned about the resurgence of Covid-19 across India. Being one of the most labour-intensive industries, while we are concerned about the health and safety of the workers, we are also concerned about their livelihoods. Hence, the industry does not want lockdown and stopping of production.”
Garment Industry Karnataka Employers’ Association (KEA) led by KEA president BC Prabhakar, too had pitched for garment factories to operate at 50 per cent attendance and with strict Covid-19 measures. Prabhakar, had 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.”
“The garment industry has already received 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 will result in huge penalty, losses and will result in unemployment,” he added.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
T-shirt import by USA has declined to US $ 2.92 billion in Jan.-Feb. ’21 period from US $ 3.27 billion in the corresponding period of 2020. This is a straight fall of 10.70 per cent on Y-o-Y basis.
Volume-wise, the import of T-shirt stood at 83.68 million dozen and plunged by 8.04 per cent on Y-o-Y basis in Jan.-Feb. ’21 period.
It’s worth mentioning here that T-shirt is the top commodity that USA imports in apparel segment.
All major apparel shippers declined in their value-wise T-shirt exports to USA, except China.
According to an analysis done by Apparel Resources, China clocked US $ 403.87 million from its T-shirt shipment to USA, noting 5.37 per cent Y-o-Y growth.
As far as quantity of shipment is concerned, China exported 13.51 million dozen T-shirts to its largest trade partner, growing 17.58 per cent on yearly note.
Bangladesh upped its quantity-wise T-shirt shipment to USA by 2.87 per cent to 5.35 million dozen, which valued US $ 129.10 million and declined by 3.52 per cent in Jan.-Feb. ’21 period.
India couldn’t see positivity and declined both in values and quantities of the shipped T-shirts. The country clocked US $ 140.42 million in Jan.-Feb. ’21, declining 19.62 per cent, to ship 4.21 million dozen of T-shirts and noted a marginal drop of 0.06 per cent on Y-o-Y basis in the mentioned period.
Source: Apparel India
The apparel retail and manufacturing segment is staring at another round of job losses in the wake of the lockdowns imposed by several state governments to contain the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“About 20-25 percent jobs were lost last year due to the lockdown, of which around 10-15 percent had found alternate employment. We can see a similar situation arise this year depending on how long the lockdowns last,” says Rajesh Masand, President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).
According to CMAI, the apparel manufacturing and retail segment employs about 12 million people, of which, around 1.3 million are in Maharashtra. The closure of retail outlets has impacted the industry severely, which was yet to recover from the last year’s blow. About 6 million migrant labour are dependent on the industry for their livelihood.
“About 60-70 percent of manufacturing units, which are not producing for exports have been forced to shut down due to cancellation of orders or manpower challenges,” adds Masand.
There are about 80,000 factories manufacturing apparel in India, as per CMAI. The lockdown in Maharashtra has particularly hit the industry as 18,000 units are located in the state and 10,000 in Mumbai itself, shows the data from CMAI.
The Maharashtra government has allowed the manufacturing units to open on the condition that the workers inhabit the premises, informs Masand, and since most units do not have this facility, they had to cease operations. The exodus of migrant population has also been witnessed and is impacting the production though not to the extent seen last year. However, the state has allowed the production for exports; Karnataka, on the other hand, has restricted manufacturing for export too.
The closure of apparel retail shops and shopping malls, however, has dealt the heaviest blow to the apparel industry. According to industry estimates, the retail segment had reached 80-90 percent of its pre-COVID levels in January and February but came to a grinding halt again with the new set of restrictions.
According to the CMAI president, the apparel manufacturing segment will take time to recover as even after the restrictions ease, the retailers will initially keep an eye on the situation before placing new orders.
On April 27, the Retailers Association of India (RAI), too, urged the government for timely intervention given the dire state of the retail industry as about 80 percent of shops are closed due to the pandemic-induced lockdown.
The association said that this could risk three million jobs. It also asked for an extension of the benefits of the emergency credit line guarantee scheme to retail companies, too, and requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to instruct banks to increase the working capital limit for retailers by 30 percent.
“Retail sector represents an investment of Rs 2,50,000 crore and almost Rs 75,000 crore could turn NPA if urgent measures to ease the working capital challenges are not taken,” it said.
Apart from various relief efforts required to tide over the COVID situation, the industry body has requested the government and the RBI to announce a moratorium on principal and interest for six months for the 26 stressed sectors. As the second wave hits the industry, the clarion call to re-introduce moratorium on servicing debt for COVID relief returns as a big ask.
Source: Money Control News
Punjab
has drastically decreased the
cultivation
target for the area under
cotton
for the 2021-22 crop year to 3.25 lakh
hectares
. In the 2020-21 season, the Punjab government had claimed that the area under cotton cultivation had increased to 5 lakh hectares.
The drastic cut in the cotton cultivation area was effected despite the fact that farmers got good remuneration in 2020-21 after many years of misery. The prices hovered above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,725 per quintal for 27.5-28.5 mm staple. The prices had also breached the psychological mark of Rs 6,000 per quintal in February 2021.
The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) purchased over 50 percent of the total crop that landed in mandis in Punjab. It is after many years the CCI made such a big purchase and stopped after the prices had gone beyond the MSP.
When questioned about the rationale behind decreasing the cultivation target area for cotton, the Punjab agriculture department claimed that during actual ‘girdawari’ (revenue assessment), the area under cotton in 2020-21 was found to be 2.51 lakh hectares not 5 lakh hectares. So, Punjab government’s claims last year were
inflated by almost two times.
Punjab agriculture department director Sukhdev Singh did not respond to repeated calls and text messages sent to him.
However, additional chief secretary (development) Anirudh Tiwari in a text message confirmed that “actual area after girdawari was 2.51 lakh hectares under cotton during 2020-21.”
On May 26, 2020, the then ACS (development) Viswajeet Khanna in a press statement had claimed Punjab had almost accomplished its target to bring 12.5 lakh acres (5 lakh hectares) under cotton with the sowing on 10 lakh acres (4 lakh hectares) and target would be completed very soon, in the first week of June.
Again, on August 3, 2020, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh lauded the state farmers for the successful diversification of crops over 2.28 lakh hectares by withdrawing from the conventional wheat-paddy cultivation cycle in the Kharif sowing season. It was also claimed that the decision would save nearly 2.7 billion cubic metres of groundwater and Rs 200 crore in power consumption.
ACS (development) Tiwari had said at that time that cotton cultivation has been carried out across 5.01 lakh hectares, which was 1.09 lakh hectares more compared to the previous year acreage of 3.92 lakh hectares.
The sowing of cotton this year is getting delayed due to delayed procurement of wheat.
Bathinda
chief agriculture officer (CAO) Bahadur Singh said, “The state government has put the target at 3.25 lakh hectares in Punjab and it is 1.05 lakh hectares for Bathinda and cotton has so far been sown on 1,400 hectares.”
Farmers are perplexed over the Punjab government’s decision to decrease the target for cotton sowing. “We were satisfied with the cotton crop last year as the prices remained good all around the year and were hoping the area under cotton would increase as after the central government coming up with the farm laws there is uncertainty over procurement of paddy. Under such circumstances, the state government should have made efforts to increase the area under cotton but astonishingly it has been decreased,” said farmers from Sangat and Jai Singh Wala villages in Bathinda district.
Cotton trading body Indian Cotton Association Limited (ICAL) president Mahesh Sharda told TOI: “It is learnt that the Punjab government was inflating figures to show more cotton sowing in the state. This year, the farmers got good prices for the crop and the decreasing target of sowing is unimaginable. The state government should have gone for cotton sowing over more area.”
Aam Aadmi Party MLA and party’s kisan wing head Kultar Singh Sandhwan said: “The government must look into this serious issue. It should investigate how the area set up for all crops was made, how many cotton seed packets were used and how much pesticide was used. All these point towards a scam”.
Source: The Times of India
The US has begun consultations on easing some of the patent and other intellectual property rights rules for Covid vaccines and drugs as the issue was flagged by PM Narendra Modi during his interaction with American president Joe Biden on Monday.
On Monday, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai held consultations with Pfizer chairman & CEO Albert Bourla and AstraZeneca US business head Ruud Dobber, even as India and South Africa, the joint proponents of the TRIPS waiver proposal at the WTO, heldtalks.
The details of what transpired during the meeting between commerce minister Piyush Goyal and his South African counterpart Ebrahim Patel was not immediately known but, as reported first by TOI last week, the two countries are looking to revise their proposal.
Many see the move as a repeat of the joint effort launched at the start of the millennium when South Africa highlighted the need for access to cheap AIDS drugs, while India pushed hard and managed to build a coalition that led to compulsory licensing provisions for all countries under TRIPS.
This time, while European countries have openly announced their moves to block efforts for relaxation that will enable manufacturers in countries such as India to supply vaccines and other drugs to Africa and others poor and developing countries, the US has not backed the plan, prompting Modi to take it up with Biden during a call between the two leaders.
This will include allowing companies such as Serum Institute to not just make vaccines under licensing agreements in India but also to export.
“For the US, the opposition is coming from the huge pharma lobby, which has invested heavily in vaccines and may need to invest further as there is already discussion around second- and third-generation vaccines. Their argument is that if countries erode the value of intellectual property, there is a huge disincentive for companies,” said Sachin Chaturvedi, who heads Research and Information Systems for developing countries, a think tank. He said that with the emergence of companies such as Bharat Biotech, India was no longer just a producer of generic drugs but also an IP holder. “There is pressure coming from senators and other supporters of Biden for the US to soften its stance,” Chaturvedi added.
Biswajit Dhar, a professor at JNU, however, does not see the issue going through. “In 2000-21, there was much greater engagement with other countries. Besides, with the US government itself throwing money into some of the vaccine development, the Biden administration is turning a blind eye to the profits that the drug companies are going to earn,” he said.
Source: The Economic Times
Bengaluru and other apparel manufacturing hubs of Karnataka are stuck in middle as the State Government has imposed a state-wide lockdown and ordered apparel manufacturing units to be shut.
Bengaluru alone offers employment to around 8 lakh workers in apparel manufacturing industry.
Karnataka Employers’ Association (KEA) has requested the Government to allow apparel units to operate at 50 per cent attendance but with strict Covid measures.
Garment manufacturers are in double dilemma! On one hand, work was in progress in their factories with all probability of goods now getting delayed to be shipped to overseas countries. On the other hand, their raw materials too are in transit as they can’t even download the material.
AEPC has also written a letter to the State Chief minister BS Yediyurappa and urged to operate factories with 70 per cent workforce.
“Most of the exporting units are also manufacturing medical textiles/PPE kits and masks for domestic market, hence it is important to allow exporting units to function fully or partially with 70 per cent of the capacity,” said Dr. A. Sakthivel in the letter and further added that we assure that the high level of social distancing, healthy practices and sanitisation be maintained as per covid Norms laid down by the Government.
Jayaram, President, Garment and Textile Workers’ Union said “I really do not know why the Government has closed the garment sector while allowing other manufacturing activities. Several companies are using guards between machines.”
Source: Apparel India
Garment workers in India are struggling as a ferocious second wave of COVID-19 has seen the number of new cases reach more than 360,000 per day and the death toll pass 200,000.
India is among the world's largest producers of textiles and apparel with an estimated 45 million people working in the industry which is among the oldest in the world.
Bengaluru, state capital of Karnataka and home to one of the biggest clusters of garment manufacturers in India, has seen the biggest rise in COVID cases after the national capital of Delhi.
Source: Ecotextile News
In a move to counter China’s dominance of supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region, trade ministers of India, Japan and Australia on Tuesday formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) in a virtual trilateral ministerial meeting.
“The SCRI aims to create a virtuous cycle of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the region. The ministers consented that expansion of the SCRI may be considered based on consensus, if needed, in due course," the three trade ministers said in a joint statement.
In 2019, the cumulative GDP of the three countries was $9.3 trillion, while cumulative merchandise goods and services trade were $2.7 trillion and $900 billion, respectively.
The meeting held by videoconference was attended by India’s trade minister Piyush Goyal, Australia’s minister for trade, tourism and investment Dan Tehan and Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry Kajiyama Hiroshi.
They had first met in September to explore the possibility of a supply chain initiative.
“Based on the high-level consultations among Australia, India and Japan since September, the ministers noted the importance of risk management and continuity plans in order to avoid supply chain disruptions and affirmed their commitment to strengthen resilient supply chains. Possible policy measures may include: (i) supporting the enhanced utilization of digital technology; and (ii) supporting trade and investment diversification," said the joint statement by the ministers.
Initially, SCRI will focus on sharing best practices on supply chain resilience and holding investment promotion events and buyer-seller matching events to provide opportunities for stakeholders to explore the possibility of diversification of their supply chains. The ministers instructed officials to implement the initial projects and further develop the initiative.
Source: The Mint
China on Wednesday sharply reacted to a trilateral initiative by the trade ministers of India, Japan and Australia to launch the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), saying shifting of industrial chains is against economic laws and disrupts global supply chains.
Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Japan’s Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Kajiyama Hiroshi virtually launched the SCRI, which media reports described as an initiative to counter China’s dominance on international trade.
The SCRI seeks to enhance the resilience of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region and develop dependable sources of supply and attract investment.
When asked for his reaction to the meeting of the three ministers and the launch of the SCRI, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that the formation and development of global industrial and supply chains are the result of market rules and choice of enterprises.
“The upper and lower reaches of industrial chains have a relationship that is cooperative and for win-win results. It is not a gift from one side to the other, he said.
“Shifting industrial chains is against economic laws and facts. That would be not helpful to solving problems faced by countries and would disrupt global industrial supply chains and they would not be conducive to stability and recovery of the world economy, he said.
“With COVID-19 in place, we hope the relevant parties can value the achievements in international cooperation on fighting the virus, respect market rules and free trade rules, do things that are conducive to mutual trust and cooperation and jointly safeguard the steady and smooth operation of supply and industrial chains to move the world economy towards sustainable, strong, balanced and inclusive growth,” he said.
The trade ministers of India, Australia and Japan have instructed their officials to implement certain steps such as holding investment promotion events and share best practices as part of the SCRI of these three countries, according to a joint statement issued after the meeting.
Noting that some supply chains have been left vulnerable due to a range of factors, the ministers acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had revealed supply chain vulnerabilities globally and in the region. According to a joint statement, which was adopted at the meeting, the ministers instructed their officials to implement certain steps as initial projects of SCRI and further develop the initiative.
The steps include “sharing of best practices on supply chain resilience; and holding investment promotion events and buyer-seller matching events to provide opportunities for stakeholders to explore the possibility of diversification of their supply chains,” it added.
The ministers also decided to convene at least once a year to provide guidance to the implementation of the SCRI as well as to consult on ways to develop the initiative.
“The SCRI aims to create a virtuous cycle of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the region,” it said.
In his speech, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal proposed that sharing of information should lead to capacity building, which will further help in making the matching events more result-oriented.
Based on the information that will be shared, he said, officials should map the existing supply chains, identify the gaps and discuss possible options to make them more resilient and efficient so that an outcome with a better score on account of quality, cost, and delivery can be achieved.
“I would like to urge our senior officials to select five products for which a larger part of their supply chains exist in India, identify the gaps therein and then disseminate the related information to the Japanese and Australian companies looking at diversifying or relocating themselves,” the minister added.
Goyal further said that India has announced the PLI schemes worth USD 26 billion covering 13 champion sectors in the next five years to create and nurture manufacturing global champions for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
“I would like to invite companies in your countries to utilise these incentives to increase their commercial viability while achieving diversification of supply chains,” he added.
Source: The Financial Express
Finally, cotton yarn prices have dropped from the peak seen at the beginning of this year and could decline further from 1 May when a revision in rates is due owing to slack demand.
Yarn demand and prices are, notably, low due to the second wave of coronavirus. This deadly second wave of coronavirus has affected the yarn movement over the past 15 days.
As per a report of The Hindu Business Line, leading English daily, prices of almost all yarn counts have dropped by at least Rs. 10 a kg as demand. The production in textile mills has dropped and it is impacting yarn offtake.
High yarn price is one of the biggest challenges for the Indian apparel industry and since last few months the issue has been in limelight.
Just few days back, spinning mills claiming overstocked yarn, requested PM for intervention to liquidate yarn.
As many states across India have imposed curfew/lockdown, there has been a fall in the demand of cotton yarn.
Atul Ganatra, President, Cotton Association of India, says, ““Last six months were a good period for Indian spinning mills because there was a huge shortage of cotton yarn due to last year’s lockdown (to tackle Covid) and huge demand for yarn came from domestic and international markets. So, spinning mills performed well. The problem has slowly started due to the increase of COVID-19 cases again, with many states now announcing lockdowns. This has forced many spinning mills’ workers, who have come from other states, to go back to their villages due to fears of another strict lockdown as it happened last year.”
K Selvaraju, Secretary-General, Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), opines “Warp yarn prices have dropped by Rs. 30 per kg as there is surplus. Even weft yarn demand is down due to closure of mills in Maharashtra. From 1 May onwards, prices could drop further.”
He added that spinning mills were put under tremendous pressure to bring down yarn prices despite their overheads rising due to a slew of factors.
“The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) bought cotton at MSP. Still, it cuts prices of the current season’s crop by only Rs. 100 a candy. It cuts rates of cotton produced last year by Rs. 1,100 a candy. And cotton from Gujarat, whose quality was affected, was offered Rs. 800 lower,” he said.
The slowdown in yarn demand comes at a time when cotton prices have gained nearly 13 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Source: Apparel India
Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture Jihad (MAJ) says cotton output in the country would increase by 21% in the year to March 2022 as the government keeps encouraging more cultivation of the strategic crop to lower imports of around 130,000 metric tons per year.
MAJ’s cotton project manager said on Wednesday that output for unprocessed cotton is expected to top 327,000 tons in the current calendar year.
Ebrahim Hezar Jaribi said that lands dedicated to cotton farming would increase by 16% to meet the output target.
Once a major producer and exporter of cotton, Iran is been a net importer of the crop over the past two decades.
Many cotton farmers have opted for other crops, especially wheat and barley, to benefit from government schemes that guarantee the purchase of their harvest.
Nearly a third of cotton processing factories in Iran have closed down in recent years, according to the agriculture ministry figures.
However, the government hopes increased activity in the Iranian textile industry could cause a fresh boom in cotton farming in the country.
Hezar Jaribi said that current domestic output of cotton stands at around 270,000 tons per year from nearly 100,000 hecrates of lands that are mostly concentrated in east, north and southern Iran.
He said that the country imports around half of its demand for processed cotton from aboard, adding that Uzbekistan continues to be the top supplier of the crop to Iran while textile factories also rely on shipments imported from Tajikistan and India.
Source: PressTv News
The Board of Investment (BoI) organised a “CPEC Industrial Cooperation Textile Business to Business (B2B) Webinar” in collaboration with China Council for International Investment Promotion (CCIIP) and China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) on Tuesday.
The webinar offered a platform for analysis of industry trends, bilateral investment opportunities and potential collaboration between companies of the two countries.
Speaking on the occasion, BoI Secretary Fareena Mazhar said the webinar aimed to rejuvenate the process of enhanced B2B matchmaking between Pakistani and Chinese enterprises. She appreciated the overwhelming support of CNTAC and the Chinese ministry of commerce. Owing to the sector’s financial gains many international companies, including Chinese enterprises, are already operational in the country.
She disclosed that Challenge App¬arel, a Chinese company, has been successfully operating in Pakistan for years and now it plans to expand with an additional investment of over $150 million.
The BoI official invited export-oriented hi-tech Chinese enterprises to make investments in Pakistan.
She informed the private sector enterprises about Pakistan’s advantageous investment policies pertaining to SEZs, electric vehicles, cellular device manufacturing policy and emphasised Pakistan’s commitment to facilitate B2B matchmaking. Ms Mazhar underscored that ‘CPEC Industrial Coope¬ra¬tion’ follows an all-inclusive policy and is open for third party participation.
BoI Project Director Asim Ayub informed the meeting that the Textile Diagnostic Study on Pakistan’s Textile Sector in 2019 was very well received by the Pakistani side. However, there exists a need for a follow-up action plan.
Source: The Dawn News
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, many enterprises in India cannot guarantee normal delivery, including textiles, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and electronic devices. In order to ensure the supply of goods, European and American retailers have transferred many orders originally produced in India to China.
IHS Markit, a London-based global information provider, said in a research note on Wednesday that the prolonged COVID-19 surge has negatively affected India's economic outlook.
Electronic manufacturing, one of the pillar industries that contributed nearly 20 percent to India's GDP, is among the hard-hit list, according to statistics from National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency of India.
Canalys, a global IT analyst firm, predicted a sudden plunge in smartphone shipments for the second quarter in the Indian market due to the worsening pandemic situation. India is one of the largest country markets for smartphone brands, including Chinese ones such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo.
"The smartphone supply chain will be affected in the manufacturing, transportation and retail sales stores, since the epidemic hit various Indian localities," Richard Ma, an internet industry practitioner who just returned from working in India last year, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
While some Chinese textiles enterprises are seeing a huge rise in international orders, making their factories working in full swing, they also worry the trend could be temporary, making it unnecessary to increase production capacity, industry insiders have said. Some other textiles enterprises also revealed that they haven't seen overseas orders shifting from India to China but instead rising domestic orders.
Back-up supplier
A source with Zhejiang Textiles Import & Export Group told the Global Times on Wednesday that there is rising number for orders from Western markets to flow back to China from India after the production disruption since the epidemic last year. The recent new outbreak is definitely accelerating the trend.
The Indian textile industry is the second largest manufacturer and exporter in the world, with a share of 5 percent of the global trade in textiles and apparel, after China. The textile industry contributes to 2 percent of India's GDP and to 12 percent of the country's export earnings, according to the Ministry of Textiles of India.
China's textile trade with India is small. Because both China and India are large textile manufacturers, with the Western countries being their major target markets for exports, said the source.
The insider added that as long as India's epidemic is not contained, its textile supply will not be secured. International orders will still shift to China.
But analysts said the flow of textile orders from India should be temporary, as textile industry is labor-intensive. Labor costs in China have been rising over a number of years and many such factories have been transferred to Southeast Asia.
Some other Chinese enterprises see it differently. A manager surnamed Chen from Quli Textile company in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang, told the Global Times that orders were "slightly up" since March this year, but mostly from rising domestic demand.
China is shifting from a cost-driven to innovation-driven manufacturing destination. Also, the focus of Chinese manufacturers is expected to increase toward their fast-growing domestic market. Its global share is likely to reduce and this is expected to create export market vacuum of around $50 billion by 2025, which is a great opportunity for countries to cash in on newly available market share, including India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and Myanmar, according to a report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
New supply chains emerging
The situation of COVID-19 epidemic has reached new crisis levels in India, with 2.97 million active cases and 201,166 deaths in total according to latest data, global buyers worry that industries in India cannot provide sufficient supply and are looking for backup sources, for example, China.
"Given the very limited net profit margin for textile industry, the textile supply chain is rather short, almost within one country, which is different from the production of medical drugs that involves many participants in different countries before delivering to the final market," one industry insider said.
Normally, India is a processor on the API supply chain between China and the final destinations in Europe and the US. But buyers are seeking to skip India on the supply chain due to its serious epidemic outbreak.
There are 10-20 percent of the API from the company exported to India for proceeding before exporting to the West, a secretary of the board of a large API company based in Zhejiang Province surnamed Dong, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
"We are looking at the possibility of directly exporting to the third countries instead of through India to fend off the potential disruption over supply chain," said Dong.
A manager surnamed Yang with an API exporting company based in East China's Shandong Province, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the orders directly from the third countries are increasing in the past two weeks by around 10 percent after India's epidemic, including countries in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.
Source: The Global Times
The mills would be reopened under private management on a lease basis. The minister also added that international tenders have already been called in this regard.
He made these remarks while speaking to the press after joining the monthly coordination meeting of the ministry online yesterday afternoon.
The minister said jute farmers are currently getting a fair price for raw jute as the value and demand of jute has increased across the world. The average price of raw jute in the current jute season is up to Tk 3,000, which is about 50 percent higher than last year, he added.
He also said Bangladesh earned $953.56 million by exporting jute and jute-made products in the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2020-21, which is 22.94 percent more than the same period last year.
The growth is also around 10.64 percent higher than the target, the minister said.
He hoped that not only would the old workers be rehabilitated, but also that new employment opportunities will be created once these privately run mills become operational.
On July 1 last year, 25 jute mills under the control of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) were declared closed with the aim of creating a competitive environment in the jute sector.
Source: The Daily Star
