Indian minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal recently invited Australian businesses to ‘make in India’, saying start-ups from both sides must engage with each other. Hoping that for a faster flow of Australian investment into India, he said Western Australia can be at the forefront of the expanding relationship between the two nations. Goyal, who also holds the portfolios of consumer affairs, food and public distribution and textiles, was addressing a gathering at the business luncheon hosted by Australian deputy premier Roger Cook in Perth. India has become a part of QUAD and the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), he said. He said the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA) will take the bilateral relationship to greater heights. Outlining areas of focus under the agreement like education, research, innovation, technology and manufacturing, he called for deepening engagements in areas like space and sustainability, according to an official release.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The entire value chain of Indian textile industry needs to work in a coordinated manner to expand its wings in the global market, said Union minister of state (MoS) for textiles Darshana Jardosh while inaugurating the CMAI FAB Show in Mumbai. She expressed hope that the textile industry will benefit from this exhibition being held after two years due to COVID-19. The minister addressed the participants of the FAB Show being organised by the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI). The FAB (Fabrics, Accessories & Beyond) Show has visitors from the entire garment industry, and the exhibitors at the event include accessories and other input manufacturers. Speaking at the inaugural session of the FAB Show currently underway at Jio Convention Center, Jardosh said that the industrial exhibitions being held after a gap of two years are getting a good response. The minister said that the entire value chain of the textile industry like spinning, weaving and garment industry will have to work in harmony and cooperate with each other. She added that there is also a need to increase the number of suppliers in the value chain. There should be multiple companies manufacturing buttons, accessories etc. in the country. Jardosh also said that the government and the industry understand each other's expectations and that the ministry remains active to promote the industry. On the industry's pending demand for removal of import duty on cotton, the minister said without giving any clear indication that the ministry of textiles shares the industry’s view, but the ministries of finance and agriculture are also involved in the decision. She said that discussions are going on and the industry will be informed soon. She further said that the country's cotton prices are almost equal to the world market. The farmers are getting a good income as per the vision of the government which is focusing on doubling the income of farmers. There is a possibility of increasing cotton production in the next crop year as farmers are expected to increase their production as returns increase. At the inauguration ceremony, Rajesh Masand, president, CMAI, also spoke about the importance of the FAB Show for the industry and the success of the previous exhibitions organised by the association. He also drew the attention of the minister towards several issues facing the industry.
The CMAI FAB Show began today and will conclude on April 13.
Source: Economic Times
Weak demand from the downstream industry caused polyester-cotton (PC) yarn prices to remain steady in Ludhiana market on Saturday. Bearish trend in domestic and global cotton and polyester spun fibre (PSF) prices also dampened the PC yarn market. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has decreased the prices of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) but it increased the prices of monoethylene glycol (MEG). However, polyester staple fibre (PSF) and another raw material MELT were rolled over by RIL. PC yarn market has remained unmoved for over one week and the prices were quoted at previous levels. Sanjay Garg, president of North India Textile Mills Association (NITMA) and executive director of Punjab based Longowalia Yarns Limited, told Fibre2Fashion that PSF prices are likely to come down, so yarn prices were not supported. PC yarn prices remained steady due to poor demand. Crude oil, which is a source material of PSF, has seen a downward trend in the last couple of days, but increased slightly on Friday in the global market. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose by 2.19 per cent to $102.78 per barrel. Earlier, it had dropped below $100 per barrel. PSF and intermediary products are likely to remain under pressure and cotton prices remained bearish, or range bound. Trade sources said that downstream industry’s demand is not picking up because of lukewarm response from end users. Additionally, the weaving sector has sufficient stock of raw material to run their units at partial capacity. Ludhiana, the country's most prominent manmade yarn market, noted steady trend in PC and acrylic yarn. 30 Count PC Combed Yarn (48/52) was sold at ₹295-310 per kg (GST extra). 30 Count PC Carded yarn (65/35) was priced at ₹260-275 per kg, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. 20 Count PC (Recycled-O/E) PSF yarn (40/60) was traded at ₹190-195 per kg. Acrylic NM (2/48) was priced at ₹315-320 per kg and Acrylic NM (2/32) at ₹280-290 per kg. PSF also remained unmoved at ₹123 per kg. RIL kept prices of MELT unchanged at ₹99.52 per kg. But it changed the prices of PTA to ₹90.80 per kg (-0.30) and MEG to ₹63.80 per kg (+1.50).
Source: Fibre2fahsion
The package may be discussed at the next GST Council meeting and could include financial assistance for specific projects, permission for a special levy and flexible borrowing options among others. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said last week in Parliament that the compensation period will end in June 2022. The Centre may offer a special package to states to tide over financial difficulties as the compensation regime for the goods and services tax (GST) ends in June this year after the agreed five-year period. The package may be discussed at the next GST Council meeting and could include financial assistance for specific projects, permission for a special levy and flexible borrowing options among others. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said last week in Parliament that the compensation period will end in June 2022. Officials in the finance ministry said the government is aware of the financial difficulties of some states and is working on both short-term and long-term measures to support them. "Some states have genuine difficulty, mainly hill states. Some states have also requested permission for a special levy," a senior ministry official told ET.
Hill States Lack Revenue Sources
"All these options are being looked at and will be discussed at the next GST council meeting," the official said. With assistance from the Niti Aayog, the Centre is also planning to help revenue-deficit states identify projects and sectors that can shore up revenue collections. States were guaranteed compensation for any loss of revenue for the first five years when GST was rolled out on July 1, 2017. According to MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India, while there is a remarkable improvement in total GST collection, there is divergence among states that needs to be analysed. "There is significant divergence amongst states with increases in the range of 2% to 23% amongst the large states," he said. Key opposition-ruled states such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh have demanded that the compensation period be extended. Some of the BJP-ruled ones like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have also asked the Centre to extend the compensation period beyond June 30. levy on GST could help them meet financial difficulties. However, such levies distort the tax structure and are usually avoided.
Source: Economic Times
The US dollar index last week posted its largest weekly percentage gain in a month, backed by the prospect of the Federal Reserve (Fed) tightening at a more aggressive pace to curb rising inflation. The index also rose to as high as 100.19, its highest in two years since May 2020. Meanwhile, the euro dropped to a one-month low of $1.0837.The euro last changed hands at $1.0853, down 0.3 per cent on the day. It has fallen in seven straight sessions. Minutes of the Fed's March meeting showed ‘many’ participants were prepared to raise rates in 50-basis-point increments in coming months, according to a top global newswire. Meeting minutes from the European Central Bank suggested its policymakers are keen to act to combat inflation, but the eurozone has so far taken a more cautious tack than other central banks, weakening the euro. The euro has been under pressure due to investor concerns about the economic costs of the war in Ukraine and the presidential election in France. A tightening election race between President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Le Pen has added pressure on the euro, raising investor concerns about the future direction of the eurozone's second-biggest economy.
Source: Fibre2fashion
US firms perceive Turkiye as a regional hub, according to spokesperson of the US Embassy in Ankara Julie Eadeh, who recently said US foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in the country reached $5.8 billion (TL 85.4 billion) in 2020, while US-owned affiliates employed nearly 60,000 people in 2019. The bilateral merchandise trade neared $28 billion in 2021, a 32 per cent rise from the year before. "Turkish goods find an increasingly attractive market in the United States. The United States was the number two market for Turkish exports in 2021. In fact, 2021 saw an almost 45 per cent increase in Turkish exports to the US to $16 billion," Eadeh said in a statement. Her comments came during a two-day visit by the US under-secretary of commerce for international trade Marisa Lago. She noted that the United States remains Turkey's fourth-largest trading partner. "There is room for further growth on both sides of the trading relationship," she said. Lago held separate meetings with the Turkish deputy minister of energy and natural resources Alparslan Bayraktar and deputy minister of trade Mustafa Tuzcu to advance commercial ties and promote clean technologies. She said the United States is committed to partnering with Turkey to advance clean and renewable energy generation sources in the region, and the United States looks forward to more energy security cooperation soon.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The European Commission has spent the last 18 months carrying out a scoping exercise, which included a study in 2020 to assess member states practices on by-product and end-of waste and has concluded the priority streams should be textiles and plastics. The Commission reached its decision following a stakeholder consultation and an online stakeholder workshop, which took place on 14-15 September 2021 where the organisation presented its ongoing end-of-waste scoping project, information gathered and preliminary findings. The Joint Research Centre/European Commission also published a report on scoping possible further EU-wide end-of-waste and by-product criteria (europa.eu), which aimed to identify the most suitable candidate streams for further EU-wide end-of-waste criteria based on a methodology that aims to ensure added EU value. The European Commission explained the assessment was built on data and information provided by stakeholders during the stakeholder consultation period. The aspects of the textiles stream that are being prioritised include separately collected clothes and other textiles prepared for re-use, as well as cellulosic fibres recovered/recycled from textile waste and mixed fibres recovered/recycled from textile waste. While, the aspects of the plastic stream that are being prioritised include polyethylene terephthalate recovered/recycled from plastic waste, low and high-density polyethylene recovered/recycled from plastic waste. Other priorities for the plastic stream include mixed plastics waste recovered/recycled from plastic waste and polystyrene and expanded polystyrene recovered/recycled from plastic waste. The EU Commission said it will start work on the development of end-of-waste criteria for plastic waste with its Joint Research Centre in Q2 this year. The final technical assessment is expected to be ready by Q1 in 2024. In a report published last month, independent advisors to the European Commission, Eunomia, revealed fashion is one of the least regulated manufacturing sectors, but produces mountains of waste that are burned or buried at an estimated rate of one truckload per second. In ‘Driving a Circular Economy for Textiles through EPR’ Eunomia explained the EU should charge textile and fashion retailers a fee on every item they sell, to deal with the waste.
Source: Just Style
The WTO said that the Russian invasion had not only created a humanitarian crisis of "immense proportions" but had also dealt a "severe blow" to the global economy. Russia's warin Ukraine could almost halve world trade growth this year and drag down global GDP growth too, the World Trade Organization projected Monday. The WTO said that the Russian invasion had not only created a humanitarian crisis of "immense proportions" but had also dealt a "severe blow" to the global economy. The Geneva-based global trade body said that while the shares of Russia and Ukraine in overall world trade and output are relatively small, they are important suppliers of essential products, notably food and energy.
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"Using a global economic simulation model, the secretariat projects that the crisis could lower global GDP growth by 0.7 to 1.3 percentage points, bringing growth to somewhere between 3.1 percent and 3.7 percent for 2022," the WTO said. "The model also projects that global trade growth this year could be cut almost in half from the 4.7 percent the WTO forecasted last October to between 2.4 percent and three percent." Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and the war is grinding toward its seventh week. The WTO said that some regions would be more strongly affected by the war than others. Europe is the main destination for both Russian and Ukrainian exports and therefore is likely to experience the heaviest economic impact, the organisation said. Reduced shipments of grains and other foodstuffs will boost the prices of agricultural goods, with negative consequences for food security in poorer regions, it added."The brunt of the suffering and destruction are being felt by the people of Ukraine themselves but the costs in terms of reduced trade and output are likely to be felt by people around the world through higher food and energy prices and reduced availability of goods exported by Russia and Ukraine," the WTO study said. “Poorer countries are at high risk from the war, since they tend to spend a larger fraction of their incomes on food compared to richer countries.
"This could impact political stability."
Source: Economic Time
Bangladesh continues to maintain very close relations with Russia and it is "very difficult" for the country to try to "adjust" the relationship, even if anyone would like it to amid the current situation in Ukraine.Talking to a small group of reporters yesterday, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen conveyed that Bangladesh has taken its positions on the successive UN resolutions in line with its "historical relations" with Russia.Foreign Secretary Masud recently visited the United States and accompanied Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at the bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the US State Department on April 4.The foreign secretary also led the Bangladesh delegation at the Eighth Bangladesh-US Security Dialogue held in Washington.The Russia-Ukraine war was discussed in the regional and international contexts and Bangladesh conveyed its position to the United States, highlighting Bangladesh's relations with Russia which are still extensive and close. The foreign secretary also said Bangladesh will continue to focus on its economic priorities like the Rooppur project, which Bangladesh wants to complete. He reiterated that Bangladesh wants to have friendly and diversified relations with all countries.
Source: Daily Star
Despite the impact of the pandemic and sluggish global economic recovery, trade between China and five countries along the Mekong river basin has continued to surge. Such trade hit almost $400 billion in 2021, up by 23 per cent year on year. The figures were disclosed at the ongoing Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Week 2022, which opened in Kunming on April 7.
In 2016, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism was launched by six countries—China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. It derives its name from a river that is called Lancang in China and Mekong in the five other countries. The LMC mechanism has since become a landmark cooperation model in the region and continuously injected vitality into regional development, a Chinese state-run news agency reported.
Source: fibre2fashion
