When the prime minister visited the UAE some years ago, the royal family promised $75- billion investment in India and now a formal agreement has also been signed,” she said, asking the exporters to scale up their businesses by identifying JVs to get a share of the promised investments Stressing that India’s trade pacts with the UAE and Australia will boost the country’s economic growth, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday urged exporters to tap these new-age agreements to improve their market access in these countries. In the case of the India-UAE free trade pact, Indian exporters could look at forging joint ventures (JVs) with the UAE’s industries to garner a major share of the promised investment of $75 billion in India’s infrastructure sector, she said. “When the prime minister visited the UAE some years ago, the royal family promised $75-billion investment in India and now a formal agreement has also been signed,” she said, asking the exporters to scale up their businesses by identifying JVs to get a share of the promised investments. She was addressing a stakeholders’ outreach programme in Chennai to sensitise exporters on the opportunities with regard to the recently-signed India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA). The India-UAE CEPA is expected to boost bilateral trade from $60 billion to $100 billion in five years, while it is anticipated that the India-Australia ECTA will enhance bilateral trade from $ 27.5 billion to $45-50 billion in the next five years. The trade agreements with the UAE and Australia are expected to create 2 million jobs in the next five years, raising the standards and enhancing the overall welfare of people, she said. Sitharaman said that it is important to create forward and backward linkages around the sectors to promote industries in which foreign investments are expected due to the trade agreements. The FM warned the industry about making the mistake of relying on raw material imports. The country has been witnessing a great deal of discourse and activity of late in chip production. Sitharaman said that overseas investments alone would not count for much if there is no raw material integration in local supply chains. “We need to check whether our forward and backward integration is in place or whether we will be reduced to importing our raw materials from other countries,” she said. Citing the example of India’s pharma industry, Sitharaman urged the manufacturers to learn from mistakes committed in allowing overseas suppliers to enjoy monopoly and thus play the deciding role in fixing raw material prices. “Take the example of the pharmaceutical industry; whatever drug you need to manufacture needs to have active pharmaceutical ingredients(API). While our country used to produce the maximum number of APIs, there was another country that came along and began manufacturing cheaper APIs and began enjoying an advantage over us,” she added.
Source: Financial Express
As prices of cotton are likely to touch as high as ₹100,000 per candy of 356 kg in the domestic market, India’s textile industry is all eyes on the proposed meeting convened by textiles minister Piyush Goyal to discuss how the industry can face challenges of exorbitant prices of cotton and cotton yarn in the next five months of current season. The meeting has been convened at a time when the industry voice is growing louder to ban cotton export. In Tiruppur and other areas of Tamil Nadu, the garment units and other stakeholders have given an ultimatum to go on strike due to indiscriminate increase in cotton prices. Recently, textiles secretary Upendra Prasad Singh told the media that the government would take a decision in the larger interest of the entire textile industry. Industry experts said that if the government accepts the demand on ban of cotton export, the prices may come down slightly due to selling by stockists and MNCs. Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is not in a position to cool down the prices through sale of its cotton stock, which is not sufficient enough. Therefore, the next five months of current season will be very challenging for the textile sector till the new crop arrival in October. Ludhiana-based yarn trader Ashok Singhal told Fibre2Fashion, “The removal of import duty on cotton has not brought down the prices. But cotton export ban may provide some relief as MNCs and other stockists will have to clear stock which they have held with them to sell on even higher prices.” He said that cotton export ban is the only option which can give some respite from high prices. “Our competitor countries are benefiting from cotton export,” said Tiruppur Exporters Association (TEA) president Raja M Shanmugam. He suggested that cotton should be brought under the purview of the Essential Commodities Act so that unnecessary hoarding can be checked. He informed that TEA and other Tamil Nadu based industry organisations have called for a five-day strike from June 16. They are demanding complete ban on cotton export, and also placing necessary restrictions on cotton yarn export. Mumbai-based broker BN Ladda said that ban on cotton yarn export is the only option to cool down the prices, but Tiruppur-based trader Purushottam Gupta argued that such a step may not provide much relief to the industry. It is because spinning mills also add value while production of yarn from cotton. According to Gupta, earlier, whenever restrictions were imposed on yarn export, it did not have a positive impact for the industry. It is to be noted that Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) did not procure any cotton in the current season because the prices remained above the Minimum Support Price (MSP). CCI cannot cool down the prices by selling its stock because, as per market estimate, CCI has stock of around 10 lakh bales (170 kg per bale). But the real problem is that this stock is of many years old cotton, which cannot meet the industry’s requirment due to poor quality. In April, the Cotton Association of India (CAI) had cut down domestic cotton production further to 335.13 lakh bales. From October 2021 to March 2022, 343.68 lakh bales cotton was supplied to the Indian market, including 75 lakh bales of opening stock and 6 lakh bales of import. In the first six months of the season (October 2021 to March 2022), 175 lakh bales of cotton were consumed by the industry. Apart from it, 35 lakh bales of cotton were exported. Thus, 133.68 lakh bales of cotton were left at the end of March. Out of this, the stock of 75 lakh bales of cotton is with the mills. The remaining 58.68 lakh bales are stocked with MNCs, ginners, traders, commodity exchanges, CCI and Maharashtra Federation. CAI estimates that the total consumption of the textile industry is expected to increase from 335 lakh bales to 340 lakh bales for the entire season. Cotton prices are also currently at higher level in international market. According to the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), the global cotton production is estimated at 26.44 million tonnes in 2021-22. Last year’s global production was 24.32 million tonnes. Global cotton production slipped last year from the production of 26.13 million tonnes of 2019-20. Global consumption is estimated at 25.62 million tonnes in the year 2021-22 as against 25.66 million tonnes in the year 2020-21. Cotton consumption increased in last year from the 22.69 million tonnes of 2019-20. Therefore, lower production and higher consumption had driven cotton prices for last one and half years in the international market. Commodity analysts said that the US ban on cotton and its products from China’s Xinjiang region and aggressive buying by commodity funds also fuelled the global prices. After the ban on cotton from the Xinjiang region, countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Turkey have started importing cotton from other countries. Unfavourable weather is feared to dent production prospects in the coming season. Dry weather in cotton producing regions of the US has also fuelled ICE cotton.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the UK have resulted in the draft treaty text advancing across the majority of chapters at the end of the third round of talks, the British government said on Wednesday. The Department for International Trade (DIT) issued a "Joint Outcome Statement" at the end of the latest round of technical talks between the negotiators on both sides, which was held in New Delhi in a hybrid fashion. The experts held 60 separate sessions in-person and virtually to cover 23 policy areas, with the fourth round of talks now scheduled to be hosted by the UK next month. "On 6 May 2022, the Republic of India and the United Kingdom concluded the third round of talks for an India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA)," the statement read. "Negotiation officials undertook these technical talks in a hybrid fashion - with some of the teams meeting in New Delhi and the majority joining virtually. For this round of negotiations, draft treaty text was advanced across the majority of chapters. Technical experts from both sides came together for discussions in 60 separate sessions covering 23 policy areas," it said. In the first two rounds since the FTA talks began in January, four out of 26 chapters have already been agreed upon and those close to the negotiations said that there had been "significant progress" in the remaining 22 chapters. During his visit to India last month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced that the negotiating teams on both sides must work towards a Diwali timeline for the completion of a draft agreement. The new target of October 24 brings forward from the previous timeline of concluding FTA talks by the end of this year. "This could double our trade and investment by the end of the decade, driving down prices for consumers, and increasing wages across the UK by as much as GBP 3 billion," Johnson said at the time. Indian High Commissioner to the UK Gaitri Issar Kumar has said that officials have been working round-the-clock towards the deadline and Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal is also scheduled for a UK visit at the end of this month to hold discussions with stakeholders to move things along. "The minister is leading the negotiations on the Indian side on achieving the target of doubling our bilateral trade by 2030," said Kumar, with reference to the ministerial visit planned for May 27. "He has offered to come to London and speak to explain what's in store for both sides at a roundtable, where stakeholders from business and industry will get an opportunity to weigh in where necessary. So far, the feedback from the Chief Negotiators is that things are very cordial and going in the right direction," she said. Earlier this week, a new UK India Industry Taskforce was also announced by the industry bodies on both sides as a joint commission to increase cross-industry collaboration to push the UK-India FTA over the line. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) say their Taskforce will provide oversight and meet ahead of key milestones to reflect views on trade-offs, breakdown barriers to market access and help feed in onthe-ground business intelligence at a ministerial level in both countries.
Source: Economic Times
The visit comes amid reports Oman has been keen on an FTA between India and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Days after India’s free trade agreement (FTA) with the UAE entered into force, a 48- member delegation from Oman, led by its commerce, industry & investment promotion minister, Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef, will be in India from May 11 to 14 to hold talks. The visit comes amid reports Oman has been keen on an FTA between India and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Interestingly, the GCC group had dithered on whether to seal an FTA with India a decade ago. However, talks for a possible FTA gained traction after India and the UAE signed an FTA in February, which came into force on May 1. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE is expected to serve as a template for the fast conclusion of any such deal with the GCC countries, according to sources. In fact, some of these GCC nations want to sign a pact at the earliest, they added. According to the CEPA, the UAE will allow as many as 99% of Indian goods (in value term) at zero duty in five years from about 90% in the first year. Similarly, India would allow duty-free access to 80% of goods from the UAE now and it would go up to 90% in ten years. During the visit, senior officials from both the sides would be participating in the 10th Session of the India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting (JCM), to be held on Wednesday. This will be co-chaired by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and his counterpart from Oman. In a separate statement, the commerce ministry said another delegation, led by Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE’s minister of economy, is also on a visit to India from Wednesday. During the trip, the delegation would meet Goyal to discuss bilateral trade and investment relations.India-Oman trade grew 82% on year in FY22 to hit $ 9.94 billion. The visiting delegation from Oman includes senior government officials and business representatives from diverse areas spanning health, pharmaceuticals, mining, tourism, telecommunication, energy, shipping and real estate, according to an official statement here. “The visit provides an excellent opportunity to renew and further strengthen the already close and dynamic economic ties between the two countries,” the ministry said in the statement.
Source: Financial Express
Synopsis Power and renewable energy minister RK Singh said the directive mandating imported coal-based plants to keep producing power might be extended beyond October . India's power, coal and railway ministries face a "major challenge" in ensuring adequate electricity supplies with demand unlikely to decline, power and renewable energy minister RK Singh told ET in an interview. Singh said the directive mandating imported coal-based plants to keep producing power might be extended beyond October and the ministry has facilitated finance to about 4 GW of stressed imported coal-based plants that are expected to be ready to operate in three-four days. The power ministry on Wednesday directed Power Finance Corp (PFC) and NSE -2.82 % to take necessary action to arrange short-term loans for a period of six months with adequate safeguards for imported coal-based plants which are under stress or in the bankruptcy process. These plants need working capital to buy coal and start generating power in order to restart operations. 'Power Tariffs may go up by 50 paise to ₹1 per unit' "My assessment is perhaps this (ad hoc arrangement for imported coal-based projects) will have to continue because I don't see demand coming down. So, I believe the requirement of imported coal for plants will continue for the next two years because expanding coal production takes three years," Singh said. "Expect demand to stay at 200 GW-plus for the coming years. That's good news because it shows our economy has grown. It's a major challenge for us, the coal and railway ministries to ensure power supplies continue at that level." India's peak power demand hit nearly 215 GW earlier this month amid a heatwave. Though India has nearly 400 GW capacity, about 65 GW, including gas-based stations, is constantly under outage and renewable energy, with a 27% share in capacity, is intermittent. Imported coal plants had stopped producing power after prices of those fuels rallied sharply. The power ministry has invoked a legal provision to get imported coal-based plants that are shut to start generating power. It has also mandated 10% imported coal blending for domestic coal-based plants to reduce pressure on local supplies. The arrangements may raise power tariffs by 50 paise to Re 1 per unit but that's better than load shedding or buying from exchanges at Rs 12 per unit, Singh said. Coal imports by power plants fell to a record low of 24 million tonnes in the April-February period on high prices. This is a 43% decline against 42 million tonnes in the corresponding period of FY21, while power demand rose sharply, putting pressure on domestic supplies and logistics. Power plants have about nine days of coal stocks, much less than the norm. "We have decided to make arrangements for providing finance for running some of these plants from Power Finance Corp and REC and we have worked out escrow arrangements for that so that working capital does not become a problem," Singh said. He said the current power crisis will lead to an expedited thrust on renewables, without committing to a ban on new coal projects.
Source: Economic Times
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath has invited Bangladeshi investors for trade in the state, saying that UP is the largest consumer and labour market of India. Uttar Pradesh – with a population of 24 crore – is the largest producer of food grains and milk in the country, Adityanath said during a meeting with High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India Muhammad Imran in Lucknow yesterday, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting an official release. Wheat, sugar, dairy-related machinery and cotton yarn are exported from Uttar Pradesh to Bangladesh, the chief minister said. Adityanath said that as India and Bangladesh have strong bonds of history, language, culture and there are great possibilities of investment and employment in Uttar Pradesh, Bangladesh can become a natural partner of the state. Adityanath said UP has emerged as a leading economy in the last five years and cited various works undertaken during this period. "There are many opportunities for the investors of Bangladesh in the fields of fabric production, weaving, spinning as well as defence manufacturing in the state," Adityanath added. The chief minister said the government and the people of Uttar Pradesh are hopeful for mutual cooperation, a great business environment and major economic partnership in South Asia, the release added.
Source: The Daily Star
Costlier cotton drove polyester-cotton (PC) yarn prices in north Indian markets today as mills’ costing is increasing. The price of PC yarn increased by up to ₹15 per kg even though the demand from weaving industry remained average. Polyester spun fibre (PSF) remained stable, but its raw material PTA and MEG surged. Acrylic yarn prices were also steady. A trader told Fibre2Fashion, “PC Yarn prices gained ₹5-15 per kg because mills’ costing was increasing. Spinning mills are increasing yarn prices as cotton is still touching new highs. The demand from downstream industry was average. However, shifting of consumption from pure cotton to polyester-cotton may support market sentiments. Many garment brands and unbranded manufacturers have shifted to PC yarn because cotton yarn’s record high prices are unbearable for the entire value chain.” In Ludhiana market, 30 count PC combed yarn (48/52) was sold at ₹305-320 per kg (GST inclusive), according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. 30 count PC carded yarn (65/35) was priced at ₹280-290 per kg. 20 count PC (recycled-O/E) PSF yarn (40/60) was traded at ₹200-205 per kg. 30 count poly spun yarn was sold at ₹190-200 per kg, while recycled 30 count poly spun yarn at ₹175-185 per kg. Acrylic NM (2/48) was priced at ₹330-340 per kg, whereas acrylic NM (2/32) was at ₹280-290 per kg. The price of PSF remained unchanged at ₹123 per kg. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has fixed prices of raw material as: PTA ₹92.40 per kg (up ₹0.50) and MEG ₹61.30 per kg (up ₹0.50) and MELT at ₹106.20 per kg, as per TexPro. In the global market, ZCE cotton yarn May 2022 futures traded higher by CNY 120 at CNY 26,795 per ton, and September 2022 traded up by CNY 100 at CNY 27,670 per MT today. ZCE cotton May lost CNY 90 to CNY 21,225 per MT and September contract traded up by CNY 10 to CNY 21,230 per MT. ICE cotton futures settled Tuesday’s session higher, after declining in the previous session, tracking gains in broader financial markets. ICE cotton contracts for July rose 0.01 cent to 142.94 cents per lb. December contract rose 0.54 cent to 124.17 cent per lb. In north India, cotton prices remained firm for the second day in a row due to good demand from spinning mills, while daily arrivals declined. Cotton futures also gained at local exchange. In Punjab, cotton was quoted at ₹97,400 to ₹97,700 per candy of 356 kg. In Haryana, cotton prices were ruling at ₹96,000 to ₹97,600 per candy. In Upper Rajasthan, cotton was sold at ₹97,600 to ₹97,750 per candy. In Lower Rajasthan, cotton prices were noted at ₹95,500 to ₹99,400 per candy.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
The Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) on Wednesday wrote to heads of all the banks seeking help to tide over the financial crisis faced by the knitwear exporters, mostly small units, who are reeling under the high yarn prices. TEA has asked all the banks to handhold the exporters who are customers of the respective banks and provide ample financial assistance. TEA president Raja M Shanmugham pointed out that the Tirupur knitwear sector is now passing through a difficult situation at its peak again due to the unprecedented surge in cotton prices of more than double and subsequent hike in the yarn prices, which also doubled compared to last year. Tirupur knitwear sector comprises 95% of MSME exporters and is solely dependent on bank funds for their operations. He said TEA is seeking bank support from their MSME customers to tide over the liquidity crisis and help them bring back normalcy in their export business. “Considering the need to protect MSMEs in the garment sector, we request you to kindly review the issue empathetically, handhold the customers to tide over the current situation, help for the sustenance of the units and protect the employees attached with these units,” said Shanmugham. Tirupur garment cluster has had exports to the tune of Rs 33,525 crore in FY2021-2022 and in terms of the dollar, exports recorded $4.51 billion. Highlighting the graveness of the issue at hand, he said that around 18 months ago, the knitwear units could buy one kilogram (kg) of yarn for Rs 200 whereas now, with the same amount, the units could buy only 400 g of yarn. “This apparently reveals how much knitwear exporting MSMEs are now undergoing financial stress on the operational front and the major concern is that liquidity has been drained off from its sanctioned limits and MSMEs can execute only 40% of their own capacity. As an impact of a liquidity crisis, the rest of orders are also got struck up in the pipeline itself,” he said. The price escalation cannot be easily equated with price realisation just like that as it takes its own time and ultimately, all MSMEs have got into stress and couldn’t rotate as desired or originally planned, Shanmugham added. TEA had appealed to the textile mills associations SIMA Coimbatore, TASMA Dindigul and ITF Coimbatore to advise their members to revoke the cotton yarn price hike of `40 per kg for all counts immediately and restore it to April 2022 price level. The association had in last week urged the Centre to ban cotton and cotton yarn exports immediately till the time prices are stabilised as the knitwear garment exporters are running out of solutions, fearing that they could not complete the orders taken already based on the previous input costs. “We apprehend that the severity of impact on the value-added knitwear garment sector will have a cascading effect on each stage of manufacturing and thousands of workers employed with these units, apart from the banks,” Shanmugham had said in a letter to the Union textile secretary. While the government had removed the 11% of import duty on cotton in mid-April, the textile mills on Monday increased the yarn prices by Rs 40 per kg for all counts and according to TEA, this has happened at a time when the survival of knitwear exporting units are at a stake due to various other adverse factors like Russia – Ukraine war, increase in accessories, a job working and freight charges. He said that the softening of cotton and cotton yarn prices could be witnessed only when the government takes a serious view and ban the cotton and cotton yarn exports till the prices are regularised in the domestic market.
Source: Financial Express
A depreciated rupee while supportive for exports, could mean more pain for inflation as the pass through of imported inflation becomes higher, economists have said. Keeping global energy prices constant, a 2% depreciation in the rupee leads to 10 basis points increase in headline inflation. The rupee on Monday fell to an all-time low of 77.44 against the dollar driven by both the outflow effect as the US Federal Reserve tightened the monetary policy amid expectations of further rate hikes and the fallout of geopolitical tensions. The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) surprised markets last week by raising key interest rate by 40 basis points to 4.4% to fight inflation, its first hike in nearly four years. India's retail inflation accelerated to almost 7% in March, its highest in 17 months and above the upper limit of the central bank's 2-6% tolerance band for a third straight month.
"The rupee has finally broken away from its comfort zone. Keeping global energy prices constant, a 2% depreciation in the rupee leads to 10bps increase in headline inflation, representing only the direct impact on the domestic fuel and energy costs," said NSE -2.87 % economist Sakshi Gupta.
He said the total impact would be higher if the second round impact on prices of other goods and services is taken into account. Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, Thai baht, Philippine peso, South African rand and Indonesian rupiah too have depreciated. "A 5% depreciation of the rupee will make imports expensive by ₹3-4 per dollar. So, imported inflation will go up as the cost of coal, oil, edible oil and gold rises," said NSE -3.21 % chief economist Madan Sabnavis. Exports boost "A rise in India's current account deficit, along with monetary policy tightening across the globe, dollar strength and a general risk aversion towards emerging market assets are expected to impart a depreciating bias to the rupee," said NSE -0.81 % chief economist Aditi Nayar, adding that the rupee is likely to trade between 75-79 per dollar in the remainder of H1 FY23. As per Ajay Sahai, director general at FIEO, India's traditional exports such as leather and textiles would benefit from the depreciating rupee but cautioned that the overall volatility is not conducive for the sector. Nayar said India's merchandise trade deficit is expected to widen to $250-252 billion in FY23 from around $190-192 billion in FY22. "However, a robust services trade surplus is expected to temper the worsening in the current account deficit to $90-95 billion (2.6% of GDP) in FY23 from $45 billion in FY22," Nayar added. As per Radhika Rao, senior economist at DBS, the negative terms of trade shock from high commodity prices (wider current account shortfall) and slowing capital flows this year make a case for gradual depreciation in the currency as an adjusting mechanism.
Source: Economic Times
India is likely to trail its neighbour by $200 in 2027-2028, as per IMF projections. The data is based on gross domestic product per capita at current prices in dollars. India may have overtaken neighbouring Bangladesh on the per capita income front in 2021-22 after Dhaka took an edge on the economic metric in the last few years, according to International Monterey Fund (IMF) projections. However, the lead will be difficult to maintain as India’s per capita income is expected to trail that of Bangladesh’s in the next few years starting 2022-23, according to a report in Business Standard. India’s per capita income is projected to take a minor lead of $38 over Bangladesh’s in 2021-22. The average income earned by a Bangladeshi citizen was found to be $1,962 in 2020-21 against $1,935 pocketed by an average Indian. India is likely to trail its neighbour by $200 in 2027-2028, as per IMF projections. The data is based on gross domestic product per capita at current prices in dollars. It is to be noted that Bangladesh is a notable exporter of textiles, which is a labourintensive industry. The industry contributes 20% to Bangladesh’s GDP and accounts for 80% of Dhaka’s merchandise exports. Bangladesh is the second-biggest South Asian economy after India. It has managed a consistent 6% GDP growth over the last 6 years. It managed to grow even during the pandemic while other nations, including India. contracted.
Source: Times Now
In a relief to the mid-sized powerloom operators in the state, the textile commissionerate has decided to restore the power subsidy. The commissionerate had stopped the subsidy to mid-sized powerloom units, which have power consumption between 27 and 201 HP, as most of the powerloom operators had failed to register the details sought through an online portal. The deadline for registration ended on December 31, 2021. Since then, the operators had been receiving non-subsidised bills. After several complaints, textiles minister Aslam Sheikh directed the commissionerate to restore the subsidy and extend the deadline for registration of details on the portal. The details were sought to ensure ineligible operators do not get the benefit of the subsidy. On May 4, Shital Teli-Ugale, the textile commissioner, wrote to the MSEDCL to restore the subsidy. Vinay Mahajan, the president of Ichalkaranji Powerloom Owners’ Association, said, “It is relief to 2,500 powerloom units in Ichalkaranji. We had received bills worth double the amount we used to get earlier.” State grants subsidy of almost half the power rate. For instance, in mid-sized powerloom units, power tariff is Rs 8 per unit. Of this, Rs 4.5 per unit is subsidised. The state grants over Rs 150 crore power subsidy to the textile industry every year.
Source: Times of India
It has urged the textile mills to extend full support to the downstream sectors by shouldering the increase in cotton price to the maximum possible extent Ravi Sam, chairman of Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), has appealed to all stakeholders in the textile value chain to stand united and adopt a win-win strategy to mitigate the grave crisis of high raw material prices. Some segments of the value chain were seeking short-term policy decisions such as ban or quantitative restrictions on cotton and yarn exports.
Source: The Hindu
Vietnam’s ministry of industry and trade (MoIT) is implementing procedures for infrastructure investment for two centres facilitating industrial development in the northern and southern regions, according to its industry agency. Meanwhile, the country’s index for industrial production (IIP) increased by 9.4 per cent year on year and 2 per cent month-on-month in April. The two centres, which received in-principle approval from the ministry, will help industrial producers and enterprises support industries, boost innovation and technology transfer, improve productivity and quality, increase added value in their products and take part in global supply chains. They will also target improving science and technology capacity for enterprises in supporting industries and those in processing and manufacturing, strengthen domestic and international cooperation in research and development and facilitate the application of science and technology, besides enhancing the public-private partnership mechanism in technological innovation, research and development projects, according to a Vietnamese media report. The development and operation of such centres will help create key economic zones to support businesses in promoting innovation, improving production techniques and trade connections, and creating added value for the industry. Initially, these centres had implemented several activities to facilitate enterprises in supporting industries in some localities, including bettering links among firms in the automobile industry, electronics, mechanical engineering, textiles and footwear and cooperating with multinational corporations operating in Vietnam to find suitable local suppliers to participate in the value chain of these corporations. During April, the manufacturing and processing sector, which created 80 per cent of industrial growth, expanded by 11.3 per cent year on year, much higher than 5.8 per cent and 9.6 per cent seen in 2018 and 2019. According to general statistics office, the IIP also saw a positive increase of 7.5 per cent on year in the first four months of this year. The processing and manufacturing industry had a yearly IIP rise of 8.3 per cent.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
China is expected to meet its 2022 annual growth target of around 5.5 per cent with the help of government measures to control COVID-19 and stabilise market expectations, according to economists and experts, who recently said the country has plenty of policy tools to stabilise the overall economy, while the impact of outbreaks is likely to be temporary. Citing China's faster-than-expected 4.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in the first quarter, they said there still exists a gap between first-quarter growth and the country's annual growth target, calling for more steps to accelerate macroeconomic policy support, especially for hard-hit enterprises and sectors, an official Chinese media outlet reported. Compared with major economies, China reported higher GDP growth with lower inflation in the first quarter, demonstrating robust economic resilience despite downward pressures, said Wang Yiming, vice chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges. Wang said at a recent seminar on the country’s economic situation in Beijing that while China witnessed sustainable industrial growth, rising investment demand and strong innovation momentum in the first quarter, the growth of major economic indicators have slowed since March because of the COVID-19 cases and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. With many market entities like micro and small businesses facing difficulties and mounting pressures, he said, more efforts should be made to actively respond to the concerns of those entities to stabilise market expectations and provide stronger macroeconomic policy adjustments to stabilise the economy. Considering the strong resilience of the economy and China's ample tools, Liu Qiao, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, believes China has the confidence to meet its annual growth target of around 5.5 per cent this year. Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Economy at the University of International Business and Economics, said China's economy will remain in the process of recovery this year while facing pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and monetary policy adjustments in the United States and Europe. A new survey released by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and Roland Berger consultancy showed China's domestic COVID-19 cases and the RussiaUkraine crisis are creating severe challenges to European business operations. The survey said 23 per cent of respondents are now considering shifting current or planned investments out of China to other markets, more than double the number that were considering doing so at the beginning of 2022. Vice minister of commerce Sheng Qiuping said that given challenges in the foreign trade sector, the ministry of commerce will work to safeguard smooth logistics and production activities, improve financial support and encourage new business forms, such as crossborder commerce. China's consumption market will further expand, as the country has 1.4 billion people, including 400 million middle-income earners, he added.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
Unique four-sensor technology combined with an intelligent clearing algorithm. A total of 5,500 Loepfe yarn clearers are already integrated into the spinning operations of Kohinoor Textile Mills (KTML) in Pakistan, and a first 1,112 of the company’s winding units are now being fitted with the latest YarnMaster Prisma yarn clearer generation. KTML has nine separate spinning operations with a total of 180,000 spindles covering the complete range of coarse and fine count yarns from natural to man-made fibres and is known for its consistent yarn quality. “Loepfe yarn clearers have helped us to improve the appearance of our yarns and increased customer satisfaction,” said Muhammad Irfan, general manager of KTML’s plant in Gujar Khan. “We are delighted to continue our relationship by installing YarnMaster Prisma on our lines and we are already seeing the benefits of this new leading-edge sensor technology.” With the Prisma units, KTML is achieving a new level in yarn quality as a result of a unique four-sensor technology combined with an intelligent clearing algorithm. Of specific importance for the company’s compact ring yarn production are the additional fine classes of SFI/D (surface variation) and OffCount clearing. The refined matrices simplify the settings and provide flexibility to adapt the clearing curve to all market needs, ensuring compact spinning operatives are given the best yarn structure overview of the yarn that is being produced. KTML uses the unique feature based on the continuous monitoring length of 80 metres for SFI/D clearing and 50 metres for OffCount clearing. Removing long faults in one piece delivers significant advantages including certainty in yarn quality, since no remnants of longer faults are further processed. Other yarn clearer models cut longer faults on their set curve and can as a result slice faults into pieces. “KTML is a vertically integrated set up producing yarn for its own requirements and at the same time selling in the local market,” said Jahanzaib Baloch, general manager of the company’s Rawalpindi plant. “Finished goods are sold to world-famous brands in the US and Europe and quality is ensured in each and every step. The export market is very sensitive to contamination and to avoid this Loepfe and its Indian partner Service Traders have been our partners for decades. Prisma is an excellent product making it possible to optimise production at the deepest level, with a world full of opportunities in a single sensing head.”
Source: Innovation in Textiles
The Australian Fashion Council (AFC), a non-profit organisation for the fashion and textile industry in Australia, recently launched a trademark for brands to become Australian fashion certified. For brands to be certified they must meet at least two of the following criteria; demonstrating a contribution to jobs and the local economy, Australian made, Australian owned, majority Australian employees, and Australian tax domiciled. In May 2021, the AFC was awarded a federal grant to create an Australian fashion certification trademark and campaign to drive demand for Australian brands locally and internationally. Instantly recognisable, the Australian fashion trademark will drive industry growth, more jobs and a greater contribution to the local economy that will future-proof the Australian fashion and textile industry. Leila Naja Hibri, CEO of Australian Fashion Council, said, “More than a trademark, this is an opportunity to showcase the best of Australia’s fashion talent. For example, when Italian fashion is mentioned, we immediately visualise a distinct brand identity of quality and elegance. In a similar way, we have now identified four key pillars that distinguish Australia’s Fashion DNA: effortless style, raw nature, boundless optimism and fearless innovation. This, together with the trademark, will help us clearly articulate the unique creativity and the progressive social and environmental values of Australian fashion on the world’s fashion stage.” “With women’s economic security now front and centre of Australia’s policy agenda, and with women representing more than 77 per cent of our industry’s workforce, the fashion and textiles sector can play a pivotal role in advancing gender equality in our country. This is a cause very close to my heart,” she further said. In addition to the trademark, AFC also launched ‘Fashion Evolution: From Farm to Industry’ an EY report that models the extraordinary economic potential of the fashion and textile industry, with support from Afterpay. The report is based on four key policies: to promote the Australian Fashion campaign, build future manufacturing capability, boost women’s economic security and build a workable and sustainable circular economy. CEO of Afterpay, Anthony Eisen, said, “The Australian fashion industry is a key creative and economic contributor to our nation. It’s an industry that employs hundreds of thousands - many of whom are women - it builds our cultural identity, showcases our capacity for innovation, and contributes to wider economic growth.” Brands can apply for the Australian Fashion trademark on australianfashion.org. The multi-channel campaign and consumer website will launch in August 2022 in Australia, followed by the UK in September 2022 with the objective to align with the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Source: Innovation in Textiles
