Polyester and polyester-cotton yarn prices dropped further by up to ₹20 per kg in India’s Ludhiana market today. Poor demand and cheaper man-made fibre were responsible for the downtrend. However, trade sources expect better demand from downstream industries by end of July. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) had cut prices of polyester raw materials last week. A Ludhiana-based trader told Fibre2Fashion, “Demand was still poor, but the market will get support because yarn prices have declined to an attractive level. Emptied pipeline will also force buyers to turn up to the market.” Polyester yarn prices are declining, which is adding value for the buyers. A Surat-based trader said that market conditions are turning to positive which will support market price very soon. Last week, market leader RIL had slashed prices of raw materials by 10 per cent after drop in crude oil and pressure on Chinese prices. Cheaper raw materials encouraged spinning mills to cut yarn prices. In Ludhiana market, recycled polyester-cotton yarn prices dropped further up to ₹20 per kg amid sluggish demand and cheaper raw material. 30 count PC combed yarn (48/52) was sold at ₹260-265 per kg (GST inclusive), according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. 30 count PC carded yarn (65/35) was priced at ₹220-230 per kg. 20 count PC (recycled-O/E) PSF yarn (40/60) was traded at ₹175-185 per kg. 30 count poly spun yarn was sold at ₹175-187 per kg. High tenacity recycled fibre was priced at ₹85 per kg. The price of PSF reduced to ₹120 per kg from ₹127 per kg in last week. RIL has fixed prices of raw material as: PTA ₹85.30 (-9.40) per kg, MEG ₹55.10 per kg (-1.70) and MELT at ₹92.09 (-8.66) per kg, as per TexPro. Meanwhile, cotton prices were stable in north India amid poor demand. According to traders, supply reduced to negligible, and quality was also poor. Cotton prices are varying as per quality. Therefore, the price determination became very difficult. Cotton was sold at ₹8,600-8,900 per maund of 37.2 kg in Bathinda, ₹8,100-8,500 per maund in Hissar and ₹8,700-8,900 per maund in Sriganganagar.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
The MoUs are in addition to the ongoing negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA). India and the UK will sign on Thursday three memorandums of understanding (MoUs), covering market access, health and education, sources told FE. The MoUs are in addition to the ongoing negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA). In April, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pitched for wrapping up the FTA by as early as Diwali in October. However, as Johnson stepped down from the position of the Conservative Party leader earlier this month (he will remain the Prime Minister until a new leader is selected, likely by October), there are fresh uncertainties as to whether the Diwali deadline could be met and whether there could be any realignment of priorities in the FTA negotiations Both India and the UK launched formal negotiations in January for the FTA, which could ultimately cover more than 90% of tariff lines. They aim to double bilateral trade of both goods and services to about $100 billion by 2030. The India-UK trade is dominated by services, which make up about 70% of the overall annual commerce. Johnson has favoured more visas to Indian skilled IT professionals to tide over a shortage in the UK
Source: Financial Express
The Ministry of Textiles has developed guidelines for introduction of new degree courses in Technical Textile in engineering colleges. The Ministry intends to provide financial assistance up to Rs. 15 Cr to the educational institutes meeting the eligibility criteria as per guidelines. These guidelines shall be released soon and applications from educational institutes will be invited. The intervention is part of the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM). Along with development of a new Degree Course, updation of the existing conventional degree courses with new papers of Technical Textiles, establishment of laboratory infrastructure involving upgrading of existing infrastructure, setting-up of New Laboratory Equipment facilities, and Training of trainers and faculty members across different application areas of Technical Textiles are also included in the guidelines. Technical textiles have contributed immensely in productivity improvement, public safety, cost reduction and durability of infrastructure projects, environment protection and improvements in living standards of citizens in the developed countries. India has nearly 6% of world market size of 250 billion USD. Penetration level of technical textiles is low in India at 5-10 % as against 30-70% in advanced countries. The mission aims at improving penetration level of technical textiles in the country. One of the major factors affecting the growth of technical textiles in the country is the lack of quality manpower, specially educated and trained engineers and professionals, and highly skilled workmen both for manufacturing and application areas of technical textiles. Therefore, in order to become a world leader and pioneer in the field of technical textiles in the next decade, India has to lay focused emphasis on creating an effective knowledge and world-class skill ecosystem.
Source: PIB
Acknowledging the free trade agreement between the two countries that has huge potential to accelerate bilateral trade, Kalantri pointed out, in a statement, the need to amend the double taxation agreement between two countries that was signed 30 years ago. India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can explore more than $2 billion in new export opportunities in Australia following a memorandum of understanding signed by MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai with an Indo-Australian body. “This opportunity lies in sectors such as auto, auto-components, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, insecticides, textile, chemicals, rice, shrimp, footwear etc. This MoU will act as the catalyst for accelerating trade between India and Australia in these sectors, besides others, and will encourage Indian MSMEs to explore Australia as the key export destination,” said Jagvinder Singh Virk, Chairman of the India Australia Strategic Alliance (IASA), in a statement. Virk, who is leading a business delegation from Australia to promote bilateral trade and investment, was speaking at an interactive session after signing the MOU between IASA and MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai and AllIndia Association ofIndustries. Rent a home in your desired location & budget Ad Squareyards VISIT SITE Sponsored by In a statement Eric Abetz, former senator for Tasmania in Australia, said, “Today, Indians have become the largest migrant population in Australia. There should be no limitation to India- Australia co-operation. Australia is willing to cooperate with India in the field of education, healthcare and knowledge transfers.” Acknowledging the free trade agreement between the two countries that has huge potential to accelerate bilateral trade, Kalantri pointed out, in a statement, the need to amend the double taxation agreement between two countries that was signed 30 years ago. Rupa Naik, Executive Director MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai extended an invitation to Australian business delegates to participate in WTC Mumbai’s flagship Trade Show ‘Connect India 2022’ which will further improve the business relations. Connect India is set to commence virtually on August 1, 2022 and is a digital platform to help Indian companies to connect globally.
Source: Economic Times
AfCFTA brings together the 55 countries of the African Union and eight regional economic communities to create a single market for the continent With the signing of the world’s largest free trade area–African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)--the time is right for India to explore a trade with the union, commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyan said on Wednesday. “The African Continental FTA came into force in January last year. I know it's early years, a lot of it has to get operationalized, I think the time has come for India and Africa to also start talking about engaging in a comprehensive economic partnership or a free trade agreement,” Subrahmanyan said at the 17th CII-Exim Bank conclave. “Officials (from India) will be engaging with some of your colleagues (from African nations) on trade matters to do that….We can help each other with raw materials, technologies, manufacturing, ideas and potential investment. We can help each other in education, health, in pharmaceuticals, and we can help each other become part of global value chains. And I think that is something that's very important for both of us. We can do that. There is a great feature for our partnership,” he said. AfCFTA brings together the 55 countries of the African Union and eight regional economic communities to create a single market for the continent, with an aim to enable the free flow of goods and services across the continent and boost the trading position of Africa in the global market. The commerce secretary’s statement comes at a time when the Indian economy is rapidly opening up, and has signed two trade pacts with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia in February and April, respectively. Negotiations with developed nations such as the United Kingdom, European Union and Canada are underway. “We are going to sign one (trade agreement) with the UK by Diwali which is in October. We'll finish one with Canada by the end of the year. We'll have one with the EU by the middle of next year. That's almost pretty much a very large part of the developed world,” he said. India is already thinking of similar free trade agreements with Israel with the GCC Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries–Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and possibly even the South African Customs Union, the secretary added. “India would be more than happy to engage with fellow countries in Africa or collectives or even the large African African continental free trade agreement in terms of actually can we have a partnership there,” he said, adding that India’s trade with Africa is booming and was about $90 billion.
Source: Business Standard
The rupee settled just below 80 per US dollar on Wednesday as market interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and dollar sales by banks on behalf of exporters reined in depreciation in the domestic currency, said dealers. The rupee settled at 79.99 per dollar on Wednesday — a fresh closing low for the Indian unit versus the greenback On Tuesday, the rupee had breached the 80-per-dollar-mark for the first time, weakening to a low of 80.06 to a dollar, before recovering ground to settle at 79.95 per dollar. The rupee has given up 7.1 per cent versus the dollar so far in 2022 amid record outflows of overseas investment and a rising current account deficit (CAD) for India. Foreign portfolio investors have made a beeline for the exit, selling $29 billion of Indian equities so far in the year due to a blend of high domestic inflation, upward pressure on CAD, and higher interest rates in the US. With the central bank’s hand seen preventing the rupee from weakening past the 80-per-dollar-mark on Wednesday, the domestic currency was confined to a narrow range versus the dollar, moving in a band of just 7 paise. “The RBI was there at 79.98-79.99 per dollar, as were exporters,” said a dealer with a public sector bank, adding, “With the RBI showing signs of protecting the 80-per-dollar-level, exporters are locking in dollar sales in the hope that the rupee may not depreciate further from the current levels.” The RBI aggressively sold dollars from its foreign exchange reserves to shield the rupee from excessive volatility ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The RBI’s headline reserves have dropped around $51 billion since February 25.A decline in the US dollar index, a fall in crude oil prices, and strength in domestic equities also lent heft to the rupee on Wednesday. “Although the trend is bullish (for the dollar), near-term profit booking cannot be ruled out amid broad-based weakness in the greenback. Technically, spot USD/INR is having resistance at 80.3 and support at 79.7,” wrote HDFC Securities, in a note.
Source: Business Standard
The announcement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow cross border trade transactions in rupee is a timely move and a step towards internationalisation of the currency, according to experts. announcement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow cross border trade transactions in rupee is a timely move and a step towards internationalisation of the currency, according to experts. Earlier this month, RBI had asked banks to put in place additional arrangements for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/ imports in rupee, a step aimed at promoting growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency. Speaking at an event organised by IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, RBI's former Executive Director G Padmanabhan said, 'for internationalisation, one of the things to happen is that increasingly the currency gets used for trade transactions. This (RBI's rupee invoicing move) is definitely a step forward as far as internationalisation is concerned". DBS Bank's Senior Economist and Executive Director Radhika Rao said rupee invoicing will help in establishing rupee's role as the settlement currency internationally. "It is a very timely and definite step towards an eventual internationalisation. Now this eventuality is few years to few decades away but nonetheless the timing of this circular has understandably drawn many to conclude quite swiftly that this is meant to be here now, she said. Rao, however, said that one should not see this announcement as a move to make the rupee stronger. "It basically is more about expanding its (rupee's) usage than pushing the currency in a certain direction," she said. The circular said that before putting in place rupee invoicing mechanism, Authorised Dealer (AD) banks will require prior approval from the Foreign Exchange Department of RBI. "The bank of a partner country may approach an AD bank in India for opening a Special INR VOSTRO account. The AD bank will seek approval from the Reserve Bank with details of the arrangement," it said. Padmanabhan said with this approval process, the central bank wants to keep a tab on whether the accounts are getting opened for the purpose they are intended for. "Who is opening the account? Which country is opening the account? What kind of transactions are happening? Initially, RBI would like to keep a tab of what is happening. So, this approval process has been put in place, he added.
Source : Business Standard
A day after the state cabinet approved reduction in Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) land lease rates up to 80%, state industry minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain on Wednesday said Bihar will now offer abundant industrial land at affordable rates to interested investors. He said after the transfer of 2,900 acres of land of closed sugar mills by the state government to BIADA, Bihar has a huge land bank for setting up industries. As per the state cabinet decision, out of the 54 industrial areas of BIADA, lease rates at 15 places have been reduced by 80%, at 12 places by 60%, in another 12 industrial areas by 40% and at the remaining 15 places by 20%. The BIADA land rates have been rationalised. We are also developing infrastructure in remote areas, so as to enhance its utility for investors. The rate of industrial land in Bihar is now cheaper than in other states. I would appeal to the investors and firms to come to Bihar and set up their units here," Shahnawaz said. He said e-auction will be done for the land for which multiple buyers have shown interest. "Recently, Bihar Textile and Leather Policy, 2022 has been launched in the state and now the decision of BIADA land lease rates reduction in 54 out of the total 74 industrial areas will be a big help in achieving the goal of taking Bihar ahead in the industrial sector," Shahnawaz said. As per the existing practices, BIADA provides its land to interested industrialists on lease for specific period for setting up industrial units. Officials said the land lease rates revision has been done on several factors, including distance of industrial area from National Highways, big towns and state capital and availability of infrastructure, including approach roads and drainage. For instance, the land lease rate of industrial area at Gopalganj, which is around 150km from Patna, has been reduced from Rs 2.97bcrore to Rs 59lakh per acre. Similarly, the industrial land lease rate at Siwan has been reduced from Rs5.75 crore to Rs1.15crore per acre. For Aurangabad, it has been reduced from Rs 5.58 crore to Rs 1.12 crore per acre. For Munger, it has been reduced from Rs 4.50 crore to Rs 90 lakh per acre. "There is a wonderful environment for setting up industries in Bihar and investors from all over the country are coming forward. The need was to rationalise the land price for the industry. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with the blessings of chief minister Nitish Kumar, the resolution of industrialization of the state will be fulfilled," Shahnawaz said.
Source: Times of India
The Assam Chief Minister – Himanta Biswa Sarma noted that ‘Swanirbhar Naari’ is a scheme to empower indigenous weavers and ensure the preservation of textiles & handloom heritage. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Swanirbhar Naari’ on Tuesday, Sarma highlighted the significance of promoting the indigenous products, particularly – the handloom-made gamosas. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the favourable ecosystem, Sarma also urged the Handloom & Textile Department to generate more awareness on the concerned product. Under the scheme, the state government will procure handloom items directly from the weavers through an online portal. Taking to Twitter, Sarma wrote “Happy to launch Swanirbhar Naari, a scheme to empower our indigenous weavers. Govt will procure handloom items directly from them through an online portal. I am sure this scheme will help preserve our heritage of handlooms & textiles by ensuring assured income to our weavers.” “Adarniya PM Shri @narendramodi ji’s love for Assamese gamosa has made it known far and wide. Taking advantage of the favourable ecosystem, I urge Handloom & Textile Dept to generate more awareness on gamosa. I also urge all concerned to procure handloom-made gamosa only.” – he added.
Source: North East Today
Famous fashion, textile and jewellery designer Mohua Chakraborti on Thursday urged the State Government to promote and encourage new age entrepreneurs for innovations and setting up experimental workshops, eyeing the modern market, as the State has unique potential in apparel, handlooms and handcrafts sector. While interacting with artists and artisans, Chakraborti said the State Government through its Start-up policy should incentivize them. Chakraborti called for a mix and match of appliqué craft with that of West Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat batik craft, Shantiniketan stitch, etc. She said innovations could be made on CD cover, garden umbrella, lampshades, bags and bed sheets with match and mix craft with batik patches. Artists and artisans should be trained to learn new techniques like tie-dye, batik, kanth stitch, mirror work and different stitches, so that they would innovate and learn. Talking about Puri, she said as international tourists are arriving here, the primary producer groups, artisans and primary cooperatives need to be well trained to create and develop local crafts like appliqué, Pata paintings and coir products, so that there would be a value addition of export oriented crafts. The primary responsibility of the Government should be more on promoting innovation, research and training besides strengthening promotions in international market, she said.
Source: Daily Pioneer
The global apparel supply chain is one of the most complex of any industry. It's been reported that one T-shirt can travel thousands of miles before a customer purchases it, expertly shown in this KQED presentation. But these numerous international stops along the supply chain lead to a holistically unsustainable and globally spanning industry. Everything from environmental inefficiencies to human labor abuses can plague the supply chain for that one T-shirt. This is where the Higg Index comes into play. Created by the Walmart- and Patagonia-sponsored Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) in 2012, Higg (the official name of the business) became an independent software company in 2019. It collects and quantifies data regarding textile manufacturing and supply chains from any apparel company willing to share, compiling the information in one place (the Higg Index) with the intent of creating a global standard for effective and efficient textile production. A standard based on certifiable information that clearly addresses resource use, labor equity and environmental impact is desperately needed in the unregulated and unpredictable apparel industry. But in the past few months, the Higg Index has come under scrutiny for its lackadaisical approach to environmental impacts of synthetic fiber production and the unimpeded misrepresentation of its data by brands. It’s even been criticized for "trivializing the amount of change that the fashion industry needs to take to become sustainable." The Higg Index is an example of a well-intentioned concept struggling to stick the landing. Its critics fault the index for not fully addressing the systemic change that nearly everyone agrees is needed throughout every stage of the apparel industry. And yet, for better or for worse, Higg remains the best catalyst of this transformation. Increased visibility of the needlessly wasteful global fashion supply chain is the first step. The only question is, how to proceed? The answer, like everything else within the sustainability sector, is: "It’s complicated." The most obvious response is to make the environmental and societal impacts of each stage of the supply chain visible (exactly what Higg set out to do) to all stakeholders, thus enabling the market to reward those who meet its standards and punish those who don’t. Customers would stop purchasing products that come from companies with problematic supply chains, subpar companies would change or die, and the fashion industry would become more sustainable. Everything from environmental inefficiencies to human labor abuses can plague the supply chain for that one T-shirt. At least, that’s the theory of change. Manifesting that utopian future requires digging into those supply chains and emerging with accurate data — a task proven to be easier said than done. This is where blockchain enters the chat. To ensure that comfy T-shirt arrives on time and ready to go, a growing number of apparel companies are employing the use of blockchain technology. Best described as a decentralized ledger that provides visibility of the product at every stop of its journey, blockchain serves as a remote and secure log of any sort of information. For example, such visibility can let a distributor know if there is a holdup or other problem in the supply chain. The distributor can then adjust accordingly, reducing customer fallout and negative economic impact. But what if your supply chain is made up of thousands of small designers, cutters, sewers, dyers, finishers and other businesses? The complexity can grow manifold, although there are solutions. Walmart, for example, uses blockchain to track its leafy green and bell pepper supply chains, which includes thousands of small farmers around the world. Tejas Bhatt, senior director of Walmart’s global food safety innovation team, explained to me the advantage of the immutable nature of blockchain data: "Suppliers are a lot more careful about the accuracy of the data they put onto the blockchain because it cannot be retroactively updated." Bhatt said that Walmart aimed to reduce human error by "verifying that the digital footprint that [Walmart] sees on the blockchain actually matches the physical footprint of the product as its flowing through the supply chain," by employing automation. Walmart has even created a solution for suppliers that lack the financial and human capital to integrate blockchain. Bhatt and his team worked with each supplier at the capacity specific to their operational capability. Smaller suppliers, for example, can use Excel spreadsheets as opposed to a more expensive counterpart unnecessary for that supplier’s size. Rather than attempt to integrate a complicated process into a company that can’t support the technology, Walmart works to create a scaled, digitized data set that could easily upload into the chain without exceeding economic limitations. And although this example is specifically rooted in produce, Bhatt is optimistic that "while the Walmart model specifically" may not translate to fashion, blockchain in general can most definitely make the jump from one industry to another. But Higg isn’t one company focused on one product’s supply chain. Instead, Higg endeavors to catalog all environmental and societal inputs along every step of the entire global fashion industry’s thousands of supply chains and then simplify that data into clear industry benchmarks. Blockchain can help simplify this process. And it’s a move the company seems to be considering. James Schaffer, chief strategy officer at Higg, told me, "[Higg] has a number of fronts of technological innovation underway, some of which pertain to this new generation of digital traceability companies." While he would not go into any further detail, he agreed with the critics’ call for "much better governance and quality assurance on every single piece of data in and out of the system." The aforementioned critiques leveled at Higg are legitimate and deserve thoughtful and deliberate action and responses. No company should be able to wield Higg’s data out of context without serious repercussions from the data’s origin company, and the environmental impact of synthetic fibers (such as those used to create vegan leather) should be scrutinized and clearly labeled as reliant upon the petroleum industry. Condemning Higg, however, for these fumbles instead of helping it to move forward doesn’t further the ultimate goal of a sustainable global fashion industry. Only Higg itself can determine how it intends to proceed. Currently, SAC and Higg have paused the consumer-facing transparency program globally to address the criticisms and redesign the process so clearly in need of an update. Schaffer commented during our conversation: "I think our [Higg’s employees and staff] hearts are really in the right place, but we’re working on something that’s super hard. … And we just want to have that honest back-and-forth so that we can genuinely improve." And, regardless of whether you’re a Higg critic or loyal supporter, we can all agree with Schaffer’s sentiments.
Source: Greenbiz
Fashion council reveals more than a billion items arrive in Australia each year and calls for levy on clothing imports to reduce textile waste Australians buy 14.8kg of clothing, or 56 new items, every year, a new report has found, making Australia one of the highest consumers of textiles per capita in the world. There are 1.42bn pieces of clothing – amounting to 373,000 tonnes of fabric – arriving in Australia each year, the report by the Australian Fashion Council (AFC) has revealed. The report, funded by the Australian government, said the annual cost to consumers was $9.2bn, meaning Australians were paying on average just $6.50 for each item of clothing. The AFC has used the findings to call for a levy on clothing imports to reduce textile waste. The volume of clothing imports dwarfs local production, which sits at 38m units of clothing a year – or 3% of the import market. At the other end of the fashion cycle, roughly 260,000 tonnes, or 10kg a person, reaches landfill each year, the lead author of the report, Peter Allan, said. “And in addition, all that we export, which is around four kilos per person, eventually reaches the same end of life,” he said. The report was launched by the AFC at the second town hall for the National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme – which is tasked with halving national textile waste by 2030. Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, the AFC chief executive, Leila Naja Hibri, said the fashion industry added $27b to the Australian economy each year and had a “deserved” reputation for its negative impact on the environment. “There needs to be a change in the way we design, produce, use and dispose of products,” she said. On top of the huge amount of landfill, the textile industry also relies heavily on fossil fuels and other chemicals. Globally, 98m tonnes of nonrenewable resources are used in the fashion industry, including oil to produce synthetic fibres, fertilisers to grow cotton, and chemicals to produce dye. In Australia, two-thirds of clothing is made up of synthetic fibres, which are often derived from petroleum. The report will guide the product stewardship scheme, which will then recommend a levy on all clothing imports, the chief executive of Charitable Recycling Australia, Omer Soker, said. It is unclear how much the suggested levy will be, but it will be structured by unit weight, value and the size of the clothing brand importing the product. “The scheme when its co-designed will raise a small levy on every item of new clothing put on to the market,” Soker said. “Which collectively will raise the many millions of dollars required for the interventions across the waste hierarchy.” The fashion industry is one of the biggest emitters in the world, and Soker said the task of curbing waste in Australia would be hard. “Clothing is probably one of the most complicated areas to tackle,” he said. “This is not a product stewardship scheme for golfballs and Chuppa Chups” The head of Wrap Asia Pacific, Claire Kneller, said a scheme requiring a legislative framework would be slow-going, but that “we’re not pulling things out of the air when we say that maybe a co-regulatory scheme is the way to go”. Only 7,000 tonnes of textiles are recycled in Australia – an amount Kneller described bluntly at the round table as “pretty much none”. On top of a levy, more consumers need to be encouraged to donate their old clothes to charities, Soker said. “Australia’s reuse charities are already the biggest network diverting clothing from landfill and currently extend the life of $527m worth of preloved clothes,” he said. “With data and evidence-informed reuse interventions, the [scheme] can further encourage consumers to donate and reuse clothing, and provide automated sorting and disassembly infrastructure needed to scale domestic onshore solutions, with better tracking and accreditation for clothing reuse overseas.”
Source: The Guardian
Pakistan’s earnings from Italy in exports and remittances crossed $2 billion in Financial Year 2021-2022. In addition a substantial growth in FDI from Italy was also witnessed during the record breaking year. Italy became the seventh billion dollar export country for Pakistan during the year with a record growth of export volume to $1,146 million, while the remittances from Italy were also on the path to touch billion dollars soon with a total of $857 million during the year. June 2022 also set the record for highest export volume ever to Italy in a single month crossing $144 million. Italy posted the highest growth both in workers remittances among all countries with high numbers of Pakistani diaspora and for exports among the top ten export destinations. This phenomenal growth in exports and remittances has come at a time when European economies in general and Italian economy in particular is slowing down and facing multiple challenges due to Ukraine war. The exports to Italy of $1.15 billion in FY 2021-22 are 46% higher than the previous year, while the remittances are 41% higher for the same period than the last year. While talking to media, Pakistan`s Ambassador to Italy, Jauhar Saleem paid glowing tributes to the Pakistani exporters for their initiative and hard work and to the Pakistani diaspora in Italy for standing by the country in a most challenging economic environment. He also shared that Pakistan had posted a record trade surplus of $573 million during the financial year 2021-22 which is 91% higher than the previous year. According to the envoy, the value added sectors were the main drivers of the exceptional export growth with exports of plastic products increasing by 208%, sports goods 80%, leather 42%, home textiles 36% and garments 35%. The ambassador also shared that even as the pandemic hit global footwear market witnessed a contraction of shrank demand during the year, Pakistan’s exports of footwear to Italy increased by 19% in the year and Italy has become the 3rd largest export destination for Pakistani footwear. Italy is also the 5th largest destination for Pakistani home textiles and ranks No.6 in garments exports. Ambassador Saleem also informed that that with the revival of market activities after removal of pandemic related restrictions in Italy, the Pakistan Embassy in Italy was further pacing up its activities to connect Pakistani businesses with Italian firms to sustain the exports and FDI growth. During the just concluded financial year, Pakistan received Italian investment in the sectors of food processing, chemicals, construction, leather, footwear, energy related equipment and IT. The Ambassador also shared that some of the recent joint ventures between leading Pakistani and Italian footwear firms were enabling technology transfer, international marketing skills and supply chain management to Pakistani firms. Moreover, Italy was also providing technical support in agriculture sector especially related to olive and olive products. Similarly, Italy is supporting the efforts for reduction of risks of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) and hydrogeological hazards in mountainous areas by establishing an evidence-based assessment and monitoring system for glaciers in Gilgit Baltistan. Ambassador Jauhar Saleem also informed the media that Italy has announced to allow 69,700 seasonal workers from selected countries in 2022 to come to Italy for work. Pakistan has already been included in the Italian Seasonal Work Visa Programme for 2022, which would offer many opportunities to our workers in agriculture and services sector to work in Italy. He added that Italian government has recently reduced the timelines for work visa processing which has been a long standing demand from Pakistani workers. With the record increase in remittances during the last 3 years, Italy has become the largest contributor to this financial sector from the European Union. In 2021-22, around 25% of the total Pakistan workers remittances from the EU came only from Italy. The envoy stated that the dynamic diaspora in Italy had helped post highest growth in workers remittances among all remittances destinations in the world making Italy Pakistan`s 8th largest destination for remittances globally and number one within the EU . Keeping in view the Italian labor market conditions and employment opportunities for Pakistani workers, the growth momentum would be maintained by connecting more Pakistani workers with Italian job market.
Source: Pakistan Today
The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has launched the ‘Good Clothes, Fair Pay’ campaign to demand legislation on the living wages for garment workers. The ECI wants European Union (EU) laws to make it compulsory for companies selling garments, textiles, and footwear in the EU to regulate living wages in their supply chains. If this law gets passed, brands and retailers would be legally mandated to evaluate wages, and publicly disclose their development. The year-long campaign requires at least one million signatures from EU citizens to appeal to the European Commission to establish laws on the issue of wages in the fashion industry, according to a press release issued by Fashion Revolution. A coalition of citizens, supported by NGOs, policymakers, and experts on living wages is behind the initiative. Currently, many garment workers around the world earn poverty wages even as brands continue to rake in high profits. The workers, who are mostly women, earn on average 45 per cent less than what they require to support themselves and their families. The EU fashion industry alone employs 1.5 million people and many of them are not paid living wages, the release said. The EU is the world’s largest importer of clothes and one of the largest fashion consumer markets — more than €260 billion in sales are anticipated in 2022. This places the onus on the EU to tackle these inequitable standards, the release added. “For too long, brands have promised to do the right thing. They mostly haven’t. We cannot wait any longer for voluntary measures. As EU citizens, we have the power to change this and give garment workers a decent pay for their hard day’s work. For real, industry-wide change, fashion companies need to be held accountable,” said Kirsten Kossen, senior advisor human rights at ASN Bank and member of the ECI’s Citizens’ Committee.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
