However, orders have been lower 30% compared with normal between mid-July and early August At his power loom unit in Pipodara on the outskirts of Surat, Kamlesh Kotadiya of Renny Fashion is churning out designer clothes, sarees, and dress material at almost 90 per cent capacity utilisation. Over the past few months, Kotadiya has upgraded his unit by shifting from conventional power looms weaving grey cloth that require several value addition to advanced electronic jacquard machines that can churn designer clothes in large quantities. “It was a dismal start to the year in terms of sales and orders. Every year the industry hopes to compensate for the previous or forthcoming months’ losses through bumper sales during the festive season. It is with this hope that the capacity has been ramped up,” says Kotadiya. Short window Unlike other industry clusters, Surat’s synthetic or man-made fibre (MMF) textiles – the largest such cluster in the country – has a shorter order-to-product cycle of 45-60 days, especially for the festive season, which will begin from August this year and run till Diwali in October. In a normal year, the festive season forms almost 60-70 per cent of annual sales. “However, this year, more than covering losses, it has become a matter of survival for the industry,” says Jitubhai Vakharia, president of South Gujarat Textile Processors Association (SGTPA). This is because Surat’s end users largely tend to be middle and lower-income households, especially from non-metro and rural areas. Not promising According to industry representatives, the trend in orders so far has not been very promising. Festive orders start coming in from July 15 and pick up pace by August. “But this year, orders till the beginning of August were down 20-30 per cent. The textile value chain, including yarn makers, weavers, processors, and textile traders have enhanced their capacity utilisation in the hope of festive demand uptick by later this month. But only time will tell whether the gamble will pay off or not,” adds Vakharia. According to Narain Aggarwal, former chairman of The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council, the Surat industry was suffering from a slump because of multiple factors that had led to tightness in liquidity and almost 40 per cent underutilisation of capacity. “Everyone is hoping for good business now, since the last three-four months have been dismal, leading to liquidity tightness. Demand has been slack in the past few months. But textile suppliers in Surat are trying to be ready with their products with the expectation of at least a normal festive season,” said Aggarwal. Echoing these views, Manoj Agarwal, president of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA), says: “There is a hope that even middle and lower-income households might improve their spending during the festive season. Hence, manufacturers across the textile value chain are improving their capacity utilisation. However, orders by wholesale traders from other states have not been anywhere near normal.” In addition, with imported coal prices almost doubling, input costs have spiked anywhere between 25 per cent and 40 per cent, says Vakharia. “In addition, other input costs such as dyes and chemicals, especially sodium hydrogen sulphate and other discharging agents, have seen a price hike of 30-150 per cent, resulting in almost a doubling of input costs. At the same time, in order to make the most of festive demand, the industry has not been able to increase prices,” adds Vakharia.
• Surat has over 450 textile processing units, and around 600,000 power looms
• Over 180 textile markets, 70,000 textile traders or merchant manufacturers
• Surat employs roughly 1.2-1.5 million workers
• Hoping for a spike in business, industry has improved capacity utilisation to 80% from 60%
Source: Business Standard
Exports of petroleum products declined 7% on year in July to $5.8 billion; such exports had grown by 119% in June. Merchandise exports in July dropped 0.8% from a year before, albeit on an unfavourable base, to $35.2 billion, the first monthly decline since February 2021 and compared with a 23.5% year-on-year jump recorded in June, showed the preliminary data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday. Imports, however, surged 43.6% in July to $66.3 billion, driving up the trade deficit to a fresh monthly peak of $31 billion. Sequentially, exports in July were down close to 12% from the June level. Briefing reporters, commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said the export curbs on a range of products in recent months — including elevated export duties on select steel products and iron ore, a windfall tax on petroleum products and restrictions on wheat exports—dragged down outbound despatches of goods. “These were necessary steps to rein in domestic inflation but these also contributed to the static exports in July,” he said. Without these steps, exports would have recorded decent growth in July, he added. The supply chain disruptions in the wake of the Ukraine war and the interest rate tightening by key central banks played their part, too. Importantly, exports of petroleum products declined 7% on year in July to $5.8 billion; such exports had grown by 119% in June. Sequentially, these exports crashed almost 33% July from the June level, reflecting the impact of the windfall tax that was introduced from July 1, the data showed. Similarly, exports of iron ore crashed by 94% on year in July and those of iron & steel products dropped 2.5%. The government had on May 22 raised the export duty on iron ore to 50% from 30%. Similarly, an export duty of 45% was imposed on iron ore pellet, while that of 15% was slapped on select pig iron, flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloyed steel, bars and rods and various flat-rolled products of stainless steel. Trade deficit in the first four months of this fiscal hit a record $100 billion. It will pressure the current account deficit (CAD), which is expected to be more than double to 3.1% of GDP in FY23, according to a Fitch estimate. Excluding petroleum and gems and jewellery imports, the deficit would have been just $37 billion until July this fiscal, Subrahmanyam said. However, given that goods exports have hit $156 billion in the first four months of this fiscal, they will likely hit as much as $500 billion in FY23, against $422 billion in FY22, the commerce secretary said. He conceded that any potential demand slowdown in the US and the EU due to recession is a matter of concern. However, possible diversion of orders from Covid-hit China, the benefits of trade agreements with the UAE and Australia signed earlier this year and stepped-up efforts to diversify markets will more than make up for any potential shortfall in any market, the secretary said. Interestingly, core imports (excluding petroleum and gems and jewellery) stood at only $38.44 billion, the secretary said. But overall imports spiked due to a 70% jump in purchases of oil and petroleum products, 164% in coal and 47% in edible oil. Of course, a spurt in prices inflated petroleum and coal import bill substantially Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA, said the CAD is likely to have crossed $30 billion in the June quarter, a fallout of the higher commodity prices and equivalent of around 80% of the full year figure for FY22. “Lower commodity prices should temper the trade deficit going ahead, although the strength of merchandise and services exports in the face of the global slowdown fears, remains crucial. Nevertheless, the sharp trade deficit in July does not augur well for the size of the current account deficit in Q2 FY23,” Nayar said. A Sakthivel, president of the apex exporters’ body FIEO, said: “Signs of a likely slowdown in exports can been seen as global inventories are pretty high and the merchandise exports is facing the triple whammy: i) there is again a shift in consumption from goods to the services with opening up of economies after Covid-19 pandemic; ii) the inflation affecting all economies reducing the purchasing power and iii) many economies entering the recession while some advanced ones already in recession.”
Source: Financial Express
The State government expects over 50 applications for the mini textile park scheme in a week. It has received 44 applications so far and another 10 are expected within a week. M. Vallalar, Textile Commissioner, Tamil Nadu, told The Hindu, “There can be any number of parks in the State. This is mainly for the small and medium-scale units. We are pushing for technical textile units, including medical, industrial and Defence textiles,” he said. A large number of applications had come from Karur district, he added. The mini textile park scheme was modified by the government to provide subsidy for industrial sheds too and thus support more small and medium-scale industries, said official sources. The District Collectors are also urging textile industries to benefit from the scheme. In Coimbatore district, the Collector said those interested can contact 0421-2220095 for details. Welcoming the scheme, Ravi Sam, chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association, said this was one of the schemes that would benefit the weaving and processing units in the State. Interested units could contact the Association for guidance.
Source: The Hindu
The Chief Minister launched three Startup Tamil Nadu Regional Hubs at Madurai, Tirunelveli and Erode and also 5 accelerator programmes in Industry 4.0 besides the iTNT Hub in Anna University here coming up at a cost of Rs 54.6 crore. The Tamil Nadu government will soon unveil a new Startup and Innovation policy to encourage new startups targeting the socio-economic development of the State, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Tuesday. In the process he would ensure the involvement of new entrepreneurs and youth into the economic mainstream and also work towards achieving the USD 1 trillion economy, he said. "My dream is Tamil Nadu should become the numero uno investment destination in South Asia. Development has been planned to ensure adequate representation of regions and districts in the State," Stalin said while speaking at the Tamil Nadu Startups and Incubators meet here. "The Dravidian model of governance aims at striving with the noble aim of making everything available to all," he said. Since his government came to power, six investor conclaves were organised with an investment commitment of Rs 2.20 lakh crore, he said. Previously, the Startup and Innovation Policy was launched in 2019 by the then AIADMK government for enabling the ecosystem for startups and make the State a global hub in the sector. The Chief Minister launched three Startup Tamil Nadu Regional Hubs at Madurai, Tirunelveli and Erode and also 5 accelerator programmes in Industry 4.0 besides the i-TNT Hub in Anna University here coming up at a cost of Rs 54.6 crore. The i-TNT Hub is India's first emerging and DeepTech Innovation Network coming up on about 25,000 sq ft area. It will function as an accelerator-cum-incubator for startups working in DeepTechnologies. Startup TN Accelerator is designed to propel growth stage startups with a minimum viable product to the next stage through rigorous upskilling, mentoring and access to the right resources. Under the third edition of the flagship Tamil Nadu Startup Seed Grant Fund (TANSEED), Stalin disbursed the first tranche of Rs 1.55 crore providing Rs 5 lakh each to 31 startup beneficiaries who included 18 women founders or co-founders, on the occasion.
Source: Business Standard
To further tighten anti-evasion measures, the government has made goods and services tax (GST) e-invoicing mandatory for firms with a turnover of over Rs 10 crore from October 1 compared with Rs 20 crore now, bringing in 0.36 million additional firms under the digital reporting framework. A notification in this regard was issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). “This means any registered person with aggregate turnover exceeding Rs 10 crore in any FY18 onwards has to issue e-invoice from October 1. This has been done by the government to widen the net of GST digitisation and capture transaction details at the invoicing stage itself, which will help further prevent GST evasion,” said Abhishek Jain, partner, Indirect Tax, KPMG in India. For the business getting covered from October 2022, requisite ERP (enterprise resource planning) changes should be looked into along with timely testing so as to ensure smooth transition, Jain said. E-invoicing for business-to-business (B2B) transactions started with a very high threshold from October 1, 2020, when firms with a turnover of over Rs 500 crore came under its ambit. In the second phase, businesses with a turnover exceeding Rs 100 crore were mandated to issue e-invoices from January 1, 2021. In the third phase, firms with a turnover of over Rs 50 crore had to generate e-invoices from April 1, 2021. It has been extended to firms with a turnover between Rs 20 crore to Rs 50 crore from April 1, 2022. The e-invoice has resulted in bringing in more taxpayers into the net which rose from about 12.5 million in October 2020 to about 13.8 million at present. These system reforms have played a big role in the recent surge in GST collections from an average of Rs 0.9 trillion in FY18 to Rs 1.23 trillion in FY22 and Rs 1.5 trillion in the first four months of FY23, giving some relief to states as a five-year guaranteed GST compensation for shortfall has ended on June 30. One of the criticisms of GST after it was rolled out on July 1, 2017 was that the tax authorities have not been able to streamline the return filing process and were not able to do invoice matching between the buyer and supplier because of which there was a fear that there may be revenue leakages and non- compliance was going undetected. This phased move to bring more taxpayers under e-invoicing may deter the generation of fake invoices, thereby leading to better tax compliance and collections.
Source: Financial Express
The supply chain disruptions in the wake of the Ukraine war and the interest rate tightening by key central banks played their part, too.
Merchandise exports in July dropped 0.8% from a year before, albeit on an unfavourable base, to $35.2 billion, the first monthly decline since February 2021 and compared with a 23.5% year-on-year jump recorded in June, showed the preliminary data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday. Imports, however, surged 43.6% in July to $66.3 billion, driving up the trade deficit to a fresh monthly peak of $31 billion. Sequentially, exports in July were down close to 12% from the June level. Briefing reporters, commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said the export curbs on a range of products in recent months — including elevated export duties on select steel products and iron ore, a windfall tax on petroleum products and restrictions on wheat exports—dragged down outbound despatches of goods. “These were necessary steps to rein in domestic inflation but these also contributed to the static exports in July,” he said. Without these steps, exports would have recorded decent growth in July, he added. In the third phase, firms with a turnover of over Rs 50 crore had to generate e-invoices from April 1, 2021. It has been extended to firms with a turnover between Rs 20 crore to Rs 50 crore from April 1, 2022.
Source: Financial Express
July merchandise exports declined by 0.76% from a year ago to $37.24 billion, while imports grew 44% to $66.26 billion during the month because of high commodity prices and a weak rupee. India’s trade deficit swelled to a record $31.02 billion in July, as imports of goods surged despite curbs and merchandise exports contracted for the first time in 20 months. July merchandise exports declined by 0.76% from a year ago to $37.24 billion, while imports grew 44% to $66.26 billion during the month because of high commodity prices and a weak rupee, data released by the ministry of commerce and industry showed on Tuesday. As a result, the trade deficit—the gap between exports and imports—tripled from the $10.63 billion reported in July last year. The widening deficit is likely to exert pressure on rupee, which has been appreciating against the dollar in the past few days after touching a lifetime low of 80.16 two weeks ago. However, cooling commodity and energy prices on fears of a recession may temper any sharp depreciation of the rupee. While imports are expected to moderate on the back of easing commodity prices, a recession in the US and European markets may hurt exports, economists said. However, in a press briefing on Tuesday, commerce secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said India’s exports are on course to touch $470-480 billion in the current fiscal and may reach $500 billion with a further push. Key export sectors, including engineering, gems and jewellery, petroleum, pharma, ready-made garments, and cotton yarn, recorded a decline in July because of dampening demand in western markets. Other factors that may affect exports include India’s restrictions on selling wheat, steel, iron and petroleum products overseas. Overall exports reported a 12% sequential decline in July from $40.13 billion in June. “Exports are down because the government made a conscious decision to constrain exports in some segments," Subrahmanyam said, adding that overseas companies restricted taking deliveries in anticipation of a drop in demand. “In textiles, some buyers have booked orders but not taken deliveries as they want to exhaust stocks," he said. Economists expect the current account deficit to double to over 3% of GDP in FY23 from 1.2% last year. “The current account deficit is likely to have crossed $30 billion in the June quarter, equivalent to 80% of the full-year figure for FY22. Lower commodity prices should temper the trade deficit going ahead, although the strength of merchandise and services exports in the face of the global slowdown fears remains crucial," said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at rating company ICRA Ltd. Subrahmanyam added that the free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia would contribute significantly to India’s export growth. The trade data pertains to the month when the government hiked import duty on gold to rein in a widening current account deficit and arrest the rupee’s record decline against the dollar. It also introduced export tariffs on petroleum products and windfall taxes on crude production to improve domestic supplies, cut the need for imports, and lower the import bill. These are revised every fortnight based on global prices. Brent crude price has started easing and fell below $100 on Tuesday, down from $111 per barrel at the beginning of the month. Petroleum imports surged 70% in value terms in July to $21.1 billion from a year earlier. Coal imports nearly tripled to $5.17 billion but were lower than the $6.76 billion reported in June. Gold imports declined by 44% to $2.37 billion in July and were also lower than the $2.74 billion in June. The Centre hiked the import duty on gold from 10.75% to 15% amid a spike in yellow metal imports, with shipments exceeding 100 tonnes during these months. The non-oil, non- gems and jewellery imports, which signify industrial activity in the economy, stood at $38.44 billion in July, growing 43% from a year earlier. As for exports, engineering goods declined by 2.54% in July to $9.2 billion. Drugs and pharmaceuticals exports declined by 1.37% during the month to $2.11 billion. Gems and jewellery and ready-made garments exports also reported a 5.21% and 0.63% contraction, respectively. Petroleum products exports fell 7.7% during the month due to export restrictions. Subrahmanyam said the decline in exports to Russia and Sri Lanka also contributed to the exports slowdown and said trade settlement in rupees would help increase exports to Russia. “Exports to Russia collapsed by half, and Sri Lanka exports vanished. Rupee trade with Russia to increase exports of tea, coffee, pharma, chemicals, textile, leather, and telecom products. About $8-9 billion in additional trade is expected in the next two months with Russia and Sri Lanka," he said.
Source: Live Mint
Is America giving up on the free market? The United States is going to start making more of its own electronics, and taxpayers are going to pick up a good chunk of the tab. Congress has passed the CHIPS Act, a bill that devotes billions of dollars to the research and manufacture of semiconductor chips used in "the nation's smartphones, cars, computers, medical equipment, and weapons systems," Barbara Sprunt reports for NPR. The bill had support from both Democrats and Republicans, who say it "will lower U.S. reliance on China for chip manufacturing, which they say poses a national security risk." In the CHIPS Act — and in the new climate bill backed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — some observers see the United States drifting from free-market philosophies in favor of "industrial policy," giving the federal government a firmer hand in shaping the American economy. Even a few conservatives are on board. "What we are doing is industrial policy unlike people of my free-market background have done before," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said after the CHIPS Act passed. Is the United States really returning to an era of industrial policy? Why? And how will that shape the nation's future economy? Here's everything you need to know: What is industrial policy? Industrial policy uses a combination of carrots and sticks — subsidies, taxes, and regulation — to steer sectors of the economy "that the government has identified as critical for national security or economic competitiveness," Anshu Siripurapu writes for the Council on Foreign Relations. If you've grown up hearing paeans to America's history of laissez-faire economics, that might sound alarming. Aren't we supposed to let the market decide? But industrial policy has deep roots in American history. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton — you may have heard of him — was one of the first proponents. He urged Congress to jump-start America's fledging industrial sector with tariffs on foreign goods, bans on the exports of some raw materials, and subsidies for the manufacturing of goods like textiles, sailcloth, and glass. "Arguing against those who insisted that the government should 'leave industry to itself,' he insisted that deliberate government encouragement was needed to ensure that American manufacturers continued to thrive," Bruce Katz and Jessica Lee wrote for the Brookings Institution in 2011. Hamilton's ideas have echoed down through history. The modern internet — which now enables and includes billion-dollar companies like Amazon and Facebook — is one example: The federal government built the bones of today's web when it created Arpanet in the 1960s, after all. That's been true of a lot of tech. "During the 19th and early 20th century, public policy pushed the expansion of communications technologies — the postal system, the telegraph, the telephone — throughout the country," Ganesh Sitaraman writes for the Yale Journal on Regulation. Siripurapu points out, though, that industrial policy has often been a tool of last resort for American officials: "Washington has typically embraced it only in response to a perceived external threat." Why a return to industrial policy now? If that's the case — and if Washington is indeed turning once again to industrial policy — there must be threats facing the country, right? Some observers think so. "Devastating climate change, a deadly pandemic, and the rise of China as a technological powerhouse require an active government pushing the private sector to achieve public purposes," Robert Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor, writes on his blog. Let's take those items one by one. Climate change requires the world to shift from carbon-based energy to renewables like solar and wind. Government backing can make that transition speedier. The pandemic sparked an ongoing supply chain crisis that in turn has pushed up the cost of just about everything, taking a toll on American consumers and companies: The new CHIPS Act will eventually shorten at least one of those supply lines. And the growing tensions with China — as well as its threat to Taiwan, a major center for chip manufacturing — have convinced some officials that America needs to make more of its own stuff. "The national security implications are plain," Stewart Baker writes at Lawfare. "If commercial products from China are cheap enough to sweep the market, even security minded agencies will be forced to buy them, as it turns out the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have both been doing with Chinese drones." What are the criticisms? Industrial policy mostly fell out of favor during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. "To conservative hardliners, it had the whiff of Soviet economics," Bob Davis writes for Politico, while "many more opponents dismissed it as the government picking winners and losers." Some of those criticisms still stand, although elements of industrial policy started to make a comeback during Donald Trump's presidency when he imposed tariffs on China and other foreign rivals. The practice can get most controversial when the government ends up picking the losers. During Barack Obama's presidency, the federal government spent millions to subsidize Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer. The company failed, and scandal ensued. And the winners can often be the same companies that were winning even without the government's help. For those (often conservative or libertarian) critics, industrial policy is "just another term for corporate welfare — a lovely name for the unlovely practice of a government granting subsidies, protective tariffs, and other privileges to politically influential industries or companies," Reason's Veronique De Rugy writes about the CHIPS Act. The left tends to be more amenable to industrial policy, but there are limits. The CHIPS Act, for example, doesn't contain enough worker protections for progressive critics. "Intel can build fabs in America, receive investment tax credits and direct public-subsidy grants to do so, and still undercut workers on wages and fight unionization in those facilities," Lee Harris writes at The American Prospect. That's why Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — a proponent of industrial policy proposals like the Green New Deal — opposed the new law. Industrial policy, he said, "does not mean the government providing massive amounts of corporate welfare to profitable corporations without getting anything in return." Even if America decides to fully revive the era of industrial policy, we'll probably still fight about getting those policies right.
Source: The Week
Bangladesh’s garment industry, the world’s No. 2 exporter after China, is facing a double whammy from slowing global demand and an energy crisis at home that’s threatening to thwart the nation’s pandemic recovery. Plummy Fashions Ltd., a supplier to PVH Corp., the parent company of fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger, and Inditex SA’s Zara, saw new orders in July drop 20% from a year earlier, its Managing Director Fazlul Hoque said. “Retailers in both European and US markets are either deferring the shipments of finished products or delaying orders, he said in an interview. “As inflation is soaring in our export destinations, it has a serious impact on us.” Waning orders are a risk to the economy, where the garment industry makes up more than 10% of gross domestic product and employs 4.4 million people. It couldn’t be happening at a worse time for Bangladesh as authorities are resorting to productivitykilling power cuts to preserve fuel reserves amid a region-wide energy crisis, caused in part by the war in Ukraine. “Uninterrupted energy supply is the key to delivering products in time,” Hoque said. “We’re facing a combination of multiple problems at home and abroad. 3-Hour Outages As the energy crisis struck, the cost of doing business has surged. Standard Group Ltd., one of the leading exporters that supplies to Gap Inc. and H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB depends on generators for at least three hours a day to power up its dyeing and washing units in the manufacturing hub of Gazipur on the outskirts of Dhaka. “The cost of electricity from generators is three times what we get from the national grid because diesel is costly,” Atiqur Rahman, chairman of Standard, said in a separate interview. “We can’t keep our dyeing and washing units shut due to the power outage. If we do, all the fabrics will go to waste.” Add to that is the euro’s weakness against the dollar that’s eroding the appeal of Bangladesh’s exports, which are priced in dollars. “Clothing is a discretionary item,” said Charlie Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital. “If your energy bill in Europe is shooting up, then people have to cut back on discretionary spending and clothes will be one of those areas,” he said. Regional Contagion Concern in the South Asian nation’s garment industry is reminiscent of canceled orders in the early days of the pandemic. Clothing exports fell to a five-year low of $27.95 billion in the fiscal year to June 2020, before staging a recovery. The nation saw garment exports climb to a record $42.6 billion in the year ended June, accounting for 82% of total exports. Exporters also see ominous signs from Walmart Inc.’s full-year profit forecast cut and its pledge to reduce clothing prices. And there’s a regional contagion effect from Sri Lanka, said Robertson, pointing to Pakistan’s exports getting “so much cheaper” because of its currency’s weakness. “That adds to pressure on Bangladesh and key export markets like Europe will be buying less textiles” as sales growth takes a hit. Bangladesh has sought a loan from the International Monetary Fund, the latest South Asian nation to ask for assistance as costlier oil eats into the region’s dollar stockpiles. Foreign exchange reserves in Bangladesh slipped to $39.79 billion as of July 13 from $45.33 billion a year earlier. That’s enough to cover roughly four months of imports, slightly higher than the IMF’s recommended three-month cover. The country’s trade deficit widened to a record $33.3 billion in the fiscal year ended June. “We’ve just recovered from the Covid pandemic and then came the war,” said Standard Group’s Rahman. “We’re just unwitting victims.
Source: Economic Times
Inflation in Sri Lanka rose to 60.8 per cent in July, up from 54.6 per cent in June, according to the country's department of census and statistics. Food inflation increased to 90.9 per cent year on year (YoY) in July from 80.1 per cent in June, while non-food inflation rose to 46.5 per cent YoY in July from 42.4 per cent in June this year. The country's central bank has said inflation may peak at 75 per cent. The monthly change in Colombo consumer price index (CCPI) was 4.51 per cent in July due to price increases observed in both non-food and food categories which were 2.31 per cent and 2.20 per cent, respectively. Sri Lankans have faced a shortage of essentials amid the ongoing economic meltdown, the worst since 1948. The country has been negotiating a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). President Ranil Wickremesinghe's office in a statement last week said the negotiations with the IMF have been progressing.
Source : FIbre2fashion
Puma will discuss solutions for some of the fashion industry’s most pressing sustainability challenges such as waste, materials and climate change at a global event on September 6. Ahead of the event, Puma launched the platform PUMACOP.com, where users can learn more about the event and register. The event will also be streamed live on this platform. Taking place in London and to be streamed worldwide, Conference of the People will feature Puma’s industry peers, activists, NGOs, experts, ambassadors and consumers, who will discuss tackling waste, using more sustainable materials, stopping climate change, protecting forests and finding ways for the industry to collaborate to achieve results sooner. “We will focus on Gen Z during this event, as we want to give this generation a voice when it comes to the decisions that have to be made today to shape a more sustainable future,” said Bjørn Gulden, CEO of Puma. “At the United Nations they call it Conference of the Parties, we call it Conference of the People.” Actress, model and activist Cara Delevingne will host the event alongside Puma CEO Bjørn Gulden and Puma CSO Anne-Laure Descours. “Together with Puma, I have worked on sustainability topics for several years and together we have launched more sustainable collections such as Exhale,” said Delevingne. “It is important to continue the debate about this topic so we can find solutions to environmental issues such as climate change, waste management and biodiversity.” Becoming more sustainable as a company has been an important pillar of Puma’s strategy for many years. Earlier this year, the company announced that it had reduced its carbon emissions, including the use of renewable energy certificates, between 2017 and 2021 from both its own operations (-88 per cent) and its supply chain (-12 per cent), in spite of strong sales growth in the same period. By 2025, Puma aims to make nine out of 10 products with more sustainable materials, the company said in a press release. The company was the most sustainable brand in the industry according to the latest ranking by Business of Fashion, which analysed the 30 largest companies in the fashion business.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
