The textile products to be displayed are polyester, viscose cotton, blended fabrics, home textiles, medical textiles, hotel textiles, apparel and garments, and khadi products. Over 80 textile fabric manufacturers from Surat in Gujarat and other states will take part in the Global Textile Trade Fair organised by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) in Atlanta from June 9 to June 11. The textile manufacturers will also participate in the B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) meeting in New Jersey and California, on June 16 and 19 respectively. SGCCI president Ashish Gujarati said, “For the past few months, we have been working on this concept with the Union Ministry of Textiles. Around 60 participants are from Surat and the remaining are from other states who will exhibit their textile products… The event is being organised to increase the exports of textiles from Surat and other parts of India to the US and also to find out business opportunities to fulfill the dream of Union Minister Piyush Goyal of exports of textiles goods over 100 billion US dollars from Surat and India to the US.” The textile products to be displayed are polyester, viscose cotton, blended fabrics, home textiles, medical textiles, hotel textiles, apparel and garments, and khadi products. The event will be held at GAS South Convention Centre in Atlanta. Sources said that the stalls have been made on a 600 square metre area. Gujarati added, “We are hoping for a good business opportunity through the events… For the past couple of months, the Consulate General of India in Atlanta had been carrying out meetings with various associations to make this event successful. The Asian American Hotel Association also showed interest in this exhibition. The US Chamber of Commerce has also campaigned for the event.” The SGCCI president said they have plans to organise such events in other foreign countries.
Source: Indian Express
The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) is likely to hike the policy repo rate by 40 basis points to 4.80 per cent on Wednesday and increase the inflation forecast for the current fiscal to above 6 per cent from its earlier projection of 5.7 per cent, according to market analysts and economists. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI is certain to hike the policy interest rates as inflation has remained above the central bank's tolerance limit for the past several months. In a recent interview, RBI Governor Das said that the expectation of rate hikes in June is a "no-brainer". While the rate hike is certain, as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had indicated last month, the question remains on by how much? "We expect the RBI to hike repo rate by 40 bps in the June policy meeting. However, we should be open for a rate hike between 35-50 bps hinging on how the MPC wants to reach the pre-pandemic repo rate of 5.15 per cent or around that mark by the end of August policy," said Suvodeep Rakshit, Senior Economist at Kotak Institutional Equities. Last month, in its off-cycle monetary policy review the central bank hiked the policy repo rate by 40 basis points or 0.40 per cent to 4.4 per cent. This was the first increase in the policy repo rate in nearly two years. The repo rate is the interest rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds to banks. Inflation has been above the RBI's 2-6 per cent target band since the beginning of this year. As per the latest available data, India's Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation surged to an eight-year high of 7.79 per cent in April. It has been above 6 per cent since January 2022. Bank of America Securities said in a research note that the retail inflation is likely to be around 7.1 per cent in May. CPIbased inflation is likely to average 6.8 per cent during the current financial year, Bank of America Securities said. Considering the recent uptick in inflationary pressure, the RBI is likely to revise the inflation forecast for the current financial year to above 6 per cent. In April, the RBI revised upward the inflation forecast for the current financial year to 5.7 per cent from its earlier projection of 4.5 per cent announced in February. According to Bank of America Securities, the RBI is likely to further raise its inflation expectation for the current financial year to 6.5 per cent. The RBI is likely to do this upward revision in inflation projection either next week or in August. "Along with the repo rate hike, the RBI will also revise its inflation estimates higher, possibly indicating inflation remaining close to 7 per cent for the most part of CY 2022," said Rakshit."We expect the RBI to continue focusing on taking inflation and signalling its intent to continue raising rate and normalising liquidity, while not entirely losing its on growth given the uneven nature of growth recovery," he said. Pitching for a need to hike policy rates, Churchil Bhatt, Executive Vice President, NSE 0.21 % Life Insurance Company, said, "Failure to contain the inflation genie should scare the markets more than the policymaker's fight against it. We expect the MPC to deliver a no-brainer policy rate hike of 25-40 (basis points) bps in June." According to Bank of America Securities, the RBI is likely to raise the policy rate by 0.40 per cent next week and by another 0.35 per cent in August. The RBI may increase the repo rate by another 0.40 per cent next week. Apart from this, in the August review also, it can increase by 0.35 per cent. If this does not happen, then the RBI can make up its mind to increase by 0.50 per cent next week and 0.25 per cent in August, Bank of America Securities said in a research note.
Source: Economic Times
It has also scaled down its global growth projection by as much as 120 bps to just 2.9% for 2022. It warned that the Ukraine conflict has added to the miseries of the pandemic and many countries could potentially face recession. The World Bank on Tuesday scaled down its FY23 growth forecast for India to 7.5% from 8% predicted in April, citing the damaging impact of rising inflation, supply-chain disruptions and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. These headwinds would offset “buoyancy in the recovery of services consumption from the pandemic”, it said. With this, the multilateral body has revised down its India growth projection for a second time since the Ukraine war began — it had cut its forecast by 70 basis points in April. The country’s GDP grew 8.7% in FY22, albeit on a sharply-contracted base. In its latest issue of the Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank pegged India’s FY24 growth at 7.1%, up 30 bps from its April forecast but slower than the latest projected growth of 7.5% for the current fiscal. It has also scaled down its global growth projection by as much as 120 bps to just 2.9% for 2022. It warned that the Ukraine conflict has added to the miseries of the pandemic and many countries could potentially face recession. As for India, the multilateral body, however, added that growth will be supported by fixed investment undertaken by both the private sector and the government (the latter has introduced incentives and reforms to improve the business climate). With this, the World Bank joined a number of agencies that have trimmed their growth projections for the country in recent months, after the Ukraine war pushed up global prices of commodities, especially oil. Moody’s recently scaled down the GDP projection to 8.8% for the calendar year 2022 from 9.1% earlier. S&P cut its FY23 projection to 7.3% from 7.8%. The International Monetary Fund had in April revised down its India forecast to 8.2% from 9% earlier. The Bank said growth in India slowed in the first half of 2022, as economic activity was disrupted both by a surge in Covid cases, coupled with more-targeted mobility curbs, and by the Ukraine war. The recovery is facing headwinds from soaring inflationary pressure. Retail inflation hit an almost eight-year high of 7.79% in April, while wholesale price inflation scaled an over 30 year high of 15.08%. While the unemployment rate has dropped to the pre-pandemic level, the labour force participation rate remains below the pre-Covid level and workers have shifted to lower-paying jobs. The focus of government spending in India has shifted towards infrastructure investment. Labour regulations are being simplified, underperforming state-owned assets are being privatised, and the logistics sector is expected to be modernised and integrated, the multilateral body said.
Source: Financial Express
In the previous fortnight ended May 6, bank credit grew by 10.82 per cent and deposits at 9.71 per cent Bank credit grew by 11.04 per cent to Rs 120.27 lakh crore and deposits by 9.27 per cent to Rs 165.74 lakh crore in the fortnight ended May 20, RBI data showed on Tuesday. In the fortnight ended May 21, 2021, bank advances stood at Rs 108.31 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 151.67 lakh crore, according to the 'Scheduled Banks' Statement of Position in India as on May 20, 2022'. In the previous fortnight ended May 6, bank credit grew by 10.82 per cent and deposits at 9.71 per cent. In FY 2021-22, bank credit rose by 8.59 per cent and deposit by 8.94 per cent.
Source: Business Standard
Why do we need a sustainable approach more than ever before? India is among the world’s biggest manufacturers and exporters of textiles. In terms of economic activities, the Indian textile industry constitutes the second largest sector of global trade market. In 2019-2020, the domestic market for textiles in India was valued at $100 Bn with increasing exports valued at $50 Bn, with the market estimated to reach $1230 Bn by 2024. The Indian government has undertaken significant measures to empower the textile industry to attract major investments, generate employment, and compete globally. In recent times, our environment has increasingly come under multiple threats such as pollution and global warming. Industries have multiple implications on the environment – huge dependency on water and energy resources, lack of proper disposal, and harmful chemicals involved in manufacturing. It is, therefore, more important than ever before for enterprises and industries such as Textile industry to adopt mindful practices in their production processes. An effective monitoring system and compliance to necessary guidelines can help make industries sustainable for the environment. The need of the hour is innovation and research, followed by adoption of sustainable solutions on a large scale. Globally as well as in India too there is a shift among consumers towards sustainable, cruelty free fashion, which needs to be encouraged and fostered and imbibed by enterprises in their way of doing business.
How to make the textile industry sustainable Sustainability focus at every step of the process: There needs to be a sustainable and circular approach in all operations, from the sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing, and supply chain to the final product delivered- all this and more to leave a greener earth for future generations. As a result, the inputs and outputs will be healthy and safe for consumers and the environment. Producing and processing sustainable textiles, which are made from renewable or recycled sources, will help reduce the harmful effects on the environment as well as ensure that millions of workers earn fair and work under safe conditions. Developing eco-friendly products such as paper from agri-residue, manufacturing organic yarn, managing resources that are under- or non-utilized, and rainwater harvesting are some of the options that enterprises need to act upon. The preferred strategy should be to focus on input management rather than just tailpipe management. This can be defined as a 5R approach – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reengineer and Re-design.
Recycling resources to remodel and restructure from linear to circular operations, enterprises need to focus on using pre- and post- consumer waste. This means to focus on how water can be saved by using techniques such as Zero Liquid Discharge facilities to recover million gallons of water every year. This water can then be recycled for various purposes. Water is also reused by treating wastes generated from various production units. Similarly, waste fibre is recycled to make yarn and other eco-friendly textiles. This method reduces the loss of essential resources. Discarded PET bottles are converted into flakes which are then finely churned into a thread and cut for spinning into yarn. In terms of performance, such recycled 100% polyester fibres are just like virgin polyester fibre.
The Bottom Line Sustainable techniques of textile production are still in the testing phase. Efforts are underway to develop low-cost methods for treating polluted water. If implemented effectively, these developments can help create a sustainable environment. Earlier, textile production was solely focused on one specific need without giving a thought to its future impact. Today, widespread awareness has transformed the whole scenario. Industry stakeholders are leaving no stone unturned to develop sustainable fibres and fabrics. Therefore, to sustain the textile industry, we need to bring in sustainability by enhancing resource productivity, cost efficiency, co-efficiency, customer satisfaction, and environmental conditions.
Source: Times of India
Fear crisis in export-focused industries, worsening of trade deficit The export sector has demanded that the government should restore gas supplies to the power plants to avert any crisis in export-oriented industries and further worsening of trade deficit. “Immediate restoration of full supplies of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) to power plants is essential to avert any calamity in export-oriented industries,” said FPCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh. Expressing concern, he said “Pakistan is struggling with an enormous trade deficit, which stands at $43.3 billion in 11 months of 2021-22, and state reserves have fallen to a mere $9.72 billion, which are not even sufficient to cover two months of imports as Pakistan’s imports have surpassed $6 billion.” Towel Manufacturers Association of Pakistan Chairman Kashif Mehtab Chawla expressed fear over the recent hike in petroleum product prices by 40%, gas tariff by 45%, water cost by 30% and electricity cost by Rs8 per unit, plus time-to-time imposition of fuel adjustment charges. “These are the basic inputs for any industry but are the most significant for the exportoriented sector because we have to match prices of our exportable commodities with our competitors,” he said. He cited that it had become a challenge for Pakistan’s export industry to offer a good price to its buyers as the government frequently increased the prices of basic commodities, causing an adverse impact on the prices of raw material and increasing the cost of production. Earlier, it was easier to successfully compete with the regional countries before the increase in the utilities’ cost but “now the cost has risen to more than 100%”, he added. “Survival is difficult in the international market.” Economic managers must try to understand the difficulties of the exporters, otherwise exports would decline day by day under the present cost factors, he added. The FPCCI president stressed that “the minimum the government can do is to not disturb the industrial production in the export-oriented through disruptions in gas and power supplies”. Sheikh reiterated that “textile sector is the backbone of Pakistani exports and they are all geared up to break the psychological barrier of $20 billion this year”. He underlined that goodwill and reputation means everything in the export markets; and damages the reputation if an order is not fulfilled, resulting difficulties to earn new orders. w “The tragedy is that even with a 59% increase of textile exports in May 2022 ($1.69 billion) over May 2021 ($1.06 billion), exports are not being given their due importance,” said APTMA Chairman Rahim Nasir. Gas or RLNG is being continuously supplied to non-export industries – ceramics, glassware, steel and not the export sector, against all economic rationale, he added. He rejected the government’s decision to halt the supply of gas and RLNG to exporters, and declared it highly illogical as it is a critical input to textiles, the single largest contributor to Pakistan’s exports and the mainstay of Pakistan’s economic future. The sector has sizeable investments in state-of-the-art machinery and high efficiency generation, with over $5 billion worth of investments for expansion and modernisation made in the last 1.5 years. The potential losses thus accruing to the shutdown of gas and RLNG supply are phenomenal, he said. On the contrary, the industry can bring substantial economic benefit from enhanced exports if the stable and consistent supply of gas is guaranteed. He highlighted that the new plants and expansions completed since November 2021 are still awaiting gas and power supply. Sheikh further proposed that PLL, gas terminals, gas companies, private licensees for LNG import and all relevant government ministries should sit together under the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif to reach a resolution and mechanism to avoid any future disruptions. He, as President of FPCCI, assured all possible help to the government in bringing the business together and help the government reach a win-win solution for all.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Technologies to make sustainable textiles exist today and it is only a matter of scaling them up, collaboration across the value chain is crucial to fast-track innovation, and replacing polyester with bio-based materials can have the most impact in reducing textile industry emissions, speakers said at the Sustainability Conclave 2022, which ended today. “The global textile market is valued at $1.7 trillion and is still growing and new polyester plants are being built. Polyester is the most problematic fibre in the textile industry as each ton of polyester emits 29 tons of CO2 during production. Polyester stays for 1,000 years once it is discarded. It is responsible for 30 per cent of all microplastics in the ocean. Only 1 per cent of all textiles are recycled today, and hence there is a need to bring new concepts as quickly as we can to market today,” Carlo Centonze, CEO & Co-Founder of Switzerland-based HeiQ, said during a panel discussion on ‘Material innovation: Pulse of research in sustainable textile materials’ on the second day of Sustainability Conclave 2022. Stating that 17-20 per cent of global wastewater comes from the textile dyeing and finishing industry, Maddi Koteswara Rao, Huntsman Textile Effects’ Regional Technical Manager - SE & NE Asia and Vietnam, said that there is lot of emphasis on resource saving in the last 10-15 years. He said that new technologies are coming for saving resources like water, energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). “If a process or material is designed in such a way that it saves 30-40 per cent of gas emissions, that is an incredible step.” Rao highlighted that resource saving, clean chemistries, and long-lasting materials is important as the textile industry moves towards becoming more sustainable. “Gen Z is looking for long lasting materials, as the life cycle is better and reduce landfills.” Adding that design of material and product design is important, Rao said that sustainability starts with the design of the material, i.e., how will be the lifecycle during i. production, ii. when consumer is using, and iii. when he wants to dispose. The second part is how the material is produced and what type of technologies are being used to produce. Participating in the discussion, Sydney Gladman, Chief Scientific Officer at the US-based Material Innovation Initiative, said there is a demand for next-gen alternatives like plant-based and bio-based materials. However, at present, there is no large-scale production, but the materials are being tested by brands by launching collections. Pointing out that textiles should be long lasting, Centonze said that unfortunately most textiles on the market today are worn for less than a year. It is because these textiles are of poor quality as consumers want to buy cheap. So, a sustainable solution has to be “circular that works with short cycle of consumers using them. Circularity in fashion is to keep materials in the loop so we don’t have to waste.” Giving a comparison, Centonze said that the paper industry recycles 85 per cent while textile industry recycles only one per cent. So, there’s a need to work on circularity, recycling, better quality and long-lasting products. Here he mentioned that one component of functionality is odour control. “One-third of environmental footprint is happening because of washing. In order to make people wash less, we need to make textiles that do not give odour.” Next important thing is cooling, i.e., creating textiles that cool skin. “As the earth gets warmer, people will need to wear clothes that cool,” he said. Speaking about financing material innovators to scale-up, Gladman said that since 2015 over $2 billion has been invested into the startups in the space for finding new sustainable materials. And about half of that funding came in 2021, when business was not as usual. She said that investors are interested in funding and the need is to just make sure that they are aware of the exciting technologies. When asked about innovation and its cost-effectiveness, Rao said, “Innovation should meet economical and environmental goals. It should meet sustainable and financial performance.” Citing the example of Huntsman, he said the company holds around 750 patents, and has launched 150 products in the last 5 years. Gladman informed that Material Innovation Initiative tracks more than a hundred companies on development in biotech-based approaches, and also mycelium and mushroom leather. However, there are several challenges like R&D, where to get the sustainable materials, meeting performance requirements to produce at scale, etc. “Many a times brands want to check the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report and want to check the environmental footprint of products of the startups, which they do not have as they are still in the starting phase.” Spinning the fibre, manufacturing equipment, optimising the process and scaling it up— all can be challenging. But R&D is where there is the most friction, because it requires getting talent into the workforce, Gladman said. Agreeing with her, Centonze said that the textile industry deserves a lot more investment in R&D because it is a huge volume industry. “Demand is there as consumers are buying textiles everyday. Brands are desperate for sustainable solutions. They have committed to lower their environmental footprint, but they just don’t know how. So, besides getting the right people in R&D, it is important to give LCAs and documentation on sustainable products to brands, so they can educate their consumers. In next 10 years, we need to decrease the usage of polyester by at least 50 per cent, which is a gigantic task. For that to happen, $350 billion investment is needed, which is not easy.” He said the message is to go for disruptive innovation rather than incremental. “While we don’t like change in our industry, we have to change.” Mentioning that the current capacity of innovative materials is very less, Gladman said that less than one per cent are incorporated into the market. She quickly added that traditional players like Lenzing are working with small players to come out with new innovative products. “World is seeing explosion in the next-gen material space, and it is hard to keep track of how many new companies are being created every day in this space. Last year’s MII report had 91 companies and by the end of first quarter of 2022, the number increased to 150. So, we need to have a little bit of patience to get these companies to scale and get to the market.” People need to be aware that material development takes time and things are not instantaneous, she said, but added that there are instances where people have gone from prototype to pilot production in a year. Centonze briefly interrupted here and said that as industry goes greener, standards need to be reviewed too. Talking about future, Rao said that three technologies are going to make a big revolution in the textile value chain—bio-based materials, direct air capture (DAC), and resource saving. DAC captures CO2 from air and makes ethanol. On the same topic, Centonze said the most relevant in terms of impact is replacing polyester. Second, he said, is bio-based odour control technologies, like the one launched by HieQ, by which people will wash less and thereby increase life span of their clothing. Third will be the cooling technology which will be a must have in future. Fourth will be making textiles that help in purifying air, as urbanization is ongoing, and air pollution is also a huge problem in cities. He mentioned that HeiQ has a dyeing process that reduces CO2 emissions by 35 per cent. Sharing the challenges, Gladman said that infrastructure to process textiles at the end of life is almost non-existent. Secondly, getting all stakeholders—academics, machinery suppliers, startups, investors, entrepreneurs, brands—to work together is also a big challenge. Concurring that collaboration across the value chain is important to fast-track innovations, Rao said that circularity, closing the loop, and transparency are also crucial. He stressed that brands should support technology vs price points at initial stages. “Sourcing also makes a big impact. Technology innovation to produce in less time and improve efficiency is going to make a big impact. Optimising the whole eco system and creating a shared value is most important for the future.” Centonze concluded that the biggest challenge is that the industry is not going to be fast enough to change and have an impact. Though the industry has started to realise this, it is a challenge as to how this realisation can be accelerated. “Sustainable technologies exist today. It is only a matter of funding them and scaling them up quickly. It is a choice that we have now. Sometimes this choice requires courage.”
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Reusing existing materials creates a wealth of business opportunities, reduces Taiwan’s dependence on imported energy resources and raw materials and curtails greenhouse-gas emissions “Circular economy” isn’t just a buzzword. Transforming the economy, so the emphasis is on recycling and reusing materials already in circulation, instead of extracting natural resources from the Earth, is a national goal. As one of the planks of the “5+2 Major Innovative Industries” plan set out by President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration, the push for a circular economy is expected to create a wealth of business opportunities, reduce Taiwan’s dependence on imported energy resources and raw materials and hopefully also curtail greenhouse-gas emissions and other forms of pollution for which the country is responsible. Taiwan is making progress toward a circular economy on multiple fronts. Several of the country’s larger hog farms now convert pig manure into biogas which is then burned to generate electricity. The per kWh carbon footprint of biogas is greater than that of solar, wind or hydropower, but considerably smaller than that of fossil fuels including natural gas. According to Circular Taiwan Network’s Web site (circulartaiwan.org), biogas residuals could be used as fertilizer, adding nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to fields. Currently, many of the inputs used to make fertilizer in Taiwan (including 100 percent of the uera) are imported. As reported in this column two weeks ago (“Environmental Impact Assessment: Reducing Taiwan’s virgin plastics,” May 25, 2022), Taiwan’s world-class textiles industry turns flakes and pellets of plastic recycled from PET beverage bottles into apparel and footwear for global brands. At the same time, innovators are working to close some less obvious gaps in the circular economy. One concerns a seafood-production technique that Taiwanese have been using for at least 300 years. The other is also connected to food, but wasn’t an issue until much more recently. OYSTER SHELLS Oyster beds dot Taiwan’s west coast, especially in the southwest. The method by which oysters are raised hasn’t changed in generations. Old shells attached to grids made of bamboo poles attract oyster larvae (spat) which in turn are nourished by microscopic creatures carried in on the tide. The spat grow for four or five months, after which they’re mature enough to be harvested. Because some oysters generate new shells, rather than inhabit old ones, Taiwan’s coastal villages end up with approximately 169,000 tonnes of oyster shells per year — far more than they can use in aquaculture. n the past, oyster shells were pulverized, burned and used as a cement. This use is unlikely to make a comeback: As recently as 2013, local scientists concluded that pulverized shells had “no positive effect” on concrete strength. Powdered oyster shell contains a small amount of nitrogen, so some is sold as fertilizer. Because it’s also rich in calcium and manganese, powdered shell is added to animal feeds, especially those for poultry. Some oyster shells are turned into decorations or handicrafts. Yet a considerable surplus remains, as is obvious to anyone who visits an oystercultivating community like Wanggong in Changhua County or Baishueihu in Chiayi County. In those places, and a dozen others, oyster-shell dumps occupy vacant plots of land. Cooperation between two state-run entities, Taiwan Sugar Corp (TSC) and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), led to the construction in 2018-2019 of a TSCowned facility in Tainan’s Yongkang District . It has the capacity to crush up to 50,000 tonnes of oyster shells annually, then calcinate (treat at high temperature but with a limited amount of oxygen) the fragments. For reasons of energy efficiency, temperatures inside the furnace don’t exceed 300 degrees Celsius. Each year, around 40,000 tonnes of calcium carbonate are extracted from calcinated shells. This chemical compound is sold to pharmaceutical companies (including a unit of TSC) which use it in the manufacture of calcium supplements, antacid tablets and excipients (the non-active ingredient in pills). TSC isn’t the only enterprise to convert discarded oyster shells into something that has commercial value. Changhua Countybased Ecomax Textile Co makes and markets oyster-shell fiber which can be used in the manufacturing of fabric. The process begins with the drying of collected shells, which are then pulverized, formed into pellets, melted and spun. The company also makes yarn out of the carbonized remnants of rice husks that were burned in biomass power plants. SOYBEAN PULP Soy has been grown in Taiwan since well before the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule, but the ubiquity of soy foods is a postwar phenomenon that was made possible by imports from the US. In the 1960s and 1970s, demand for soy came overwhelmingly from pig and poultry farmers. They fed their herds and flocks with soybean meal, a useful protein supplement made by crushing yellow soybeans, extracting the oil, then drying and toasting the pulp. For a long time, meal for animals was the key product. Until Taiwanese consumers realized it worked well as an inexpensive cooking oil, food-processing companies regarded soybean oil as a low-value by-product. Taiwan imports more than two million tonnes of soy per year, but demand for the pulp that’s left over once beans have been processed to make soymilk or oil has declined. Fear of African swine fever has caused many pig farmers to reject soybean dregs. (Last year, the same concern prompted the authorities to impose a temporary ban on feeding kitchen waste to hogs.) What’s more, in Taiwan there has never been much call for a human food derived from soybean dregs. Some Westerners know it by its Japanese name, okara; Mandarin speakers call it doufu zha This surplus has become a major problem for the companies that crush soybeans, as they need to dispose of approximately 400,000 tonnes of residual matter each year. Because these leftovers are prone to putrefaction (at room temperature, dregs begin to rot and smell bad within 72 hours), they can’t — unlike oyster shells — simply be dumped on unused land and forgotten about. Recognizing this issue, ITRI has been working with members of the Taoyuan Tofu Industry Association to find other uses for soybean dregs. And they’ve hit on one that might turn out to be a winner: turning these unwanted leftovers into cat litter. Most of the cat litter sold around the world is made of some kind of clay. Certain brands, however, are made from pine chips, wheat, walnut shells, corn cobs, sawdust or recycled paper. According to an article published on ITRI’s Web site on June 15 last year, the development of low-cost technology that makes it possible to dehydrate and store dried soybean pulp was a breakthrough. Once the water content has been reduced to 10 percent, the material’s water-absorption properties make it highly suitable for use as cat litter. According to ITRI, cat litter consisting of 50 percent to 80 percent processed bean dregs could one day appear on pet-shop shelves. With the average pet feline requiring at least 150kg of cat litter per year, such a product — if popular — would certainly get rid some of Taiwan’s surplus soybean pulp. What’s more, ITRI scientists think, it may be possible to use these dehydrated soybean dregs as a base material in the production of pet biscuits. The pet-food market is huge: In 2019, Taiwanese pet owners reportedly spent more than NT$22 billion on edibles for their dogs and cats. However, persuading consumers to feed their animal companions on something that livestock farmers are known to reject might actually be more difficult than devising flavors that tempt pampered pets.
Source: Taipei Times
The taka fell by Tk 2.05 within two days recently in its value to Tk 91.95 against the US dollar. On June 5, it depreciated by Tk 1.60 against the greenback. The Bangladesh Bank weakened it further the next day by another Tk 0.45 per dollar—the 10th depreciation this year—allowing the exchange rate to be determined by the natural course of demand and supply. The currency is facing depreciation pressure as the supply of US dollars has narrowed due to higher import bills against moderate export and remittance receipts. As a result, many banks had faced the shortage of US dollars to settle import bills as the central bank fixed the exchange rate for them to buy remittance US dollars from foreign money exchange houses, Bangla media reports said.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
