The steep hike in electricity tariff will erode competitiveness of the High-Tension consumers, especially power-intensive sectors such as textile industry, according to Southern India Mills’ Association. The textile sector is the largest HT consumer of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco). Tamil Nadu accounts for one-third of the country’s textile business and has nearly 45 % of the spun yarn manufacturing capacity. However, it sources 97 % of cotton, the main raw material, from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, etc. These States offer incentives to textile industry and the mills from there are selling cotton yarn ₹10 to ₹15 a kg lower price in Tamil Nadu. Ravi Sam, chairman of the Association, said the textile industry in the State is already uncompetitive and is unable to make sizable investments in modernisation, capacity expansion and green field projects compared to raw material rich (cotton and man- made fibres) State. Power cost accounts over 40% of the cost of production of yarn and with the revised power tariff, the spinning and weaving mills in the State will become uncompetitive. The approximate net power tariff increase for the textile industry works out to ₹1 per unit and five units of power are needed to produce one kg yarn. So, yarn price will increase by ₹5 per kg, affecting down stream industries. The increase of demand charges from ₹350 per KVA to ₹550 KVA, is abnormal compared to most of the States in the country. The increase in peak hours from six hours to eight hours and also increase in peak hour charges from 20% to 25% is very high. He suggested conducting a detailed study to assess HT consumers power consumption in each slot, including peak hours and night hours and determine the additional charge for peak hours and concession for night hours on a scientific basis. The decision of year-on-year increase with the cap of 6% without following the procedure of filing of ARR by Tangedco with the TNERC will lead to automatic year-onyear increase, which is not prevailing in any other States. He has suggested conducting a detailed study to decide the methodology for determining the annual rate of power tariff increase rather than adopting the inflation rate which has no corelation with the power tariff increase. Further, the steep increase of wheeling charges from ₹0.21 per unit to ₹.0.96 and transmission charges from ₹3,037.30 per MW/per day to ₹5,159/- per MW per day and system operating charges from ₹33.74 per MW/per day to ₹69.84 per MW / per day will make renewable energy and open access system unviable. He appealed to the government for reduction of demand charges, wheeling charges, transmission charges and consider increasing the night hour rebate.
Source: The Hindu
The roadshow was attended by more than 150 delegates and representatives of 15 textile and apparel industries. Ahead of the Make in Odisha conclave, the Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts department organised a road show in Kolkata on Wednesday.Speaking at the event, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts Rita Sahu said while the metal sector has been an inherent strength of Odisha owing to its natural resources advantage, the Government of Odisha has taken proactive measures to broaden the base of the industrial ecosystem in the State. Some of the measures include the identification of priority and focus sectors, development of sectoral policies, development of sectoral industrial parks and infrastructure. The Minister said textiles is one such focus area where Odisha hopes to achieve exponential growth in the coming years. She added that the State government is developing a Petroleum, Chemical, and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) in Paradip with IOCL as the anchor tenant. She further said that the government is developing a technical textile park in association with Indian Oil with a state-of-the- art facility and best-in-class facilitation at Bhadrak, which is close to Kolkata and West Bengal in general. She urged investors in the apparel and textile sector to come to Odisha and check the ecosystem and the investor friendly policy support for potential investors. Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the department Shubha Sarma extended an invite to everyone present at the event to visit Odisha and attend the Make in Odisha Conclave’22 to witness first-hand what Odisha has to offer. “Our government understands that to attract investors we need to build a conducive business ecosystem. While progressive policies are certainly a part of it, we also need to build infrastructure and improve the ease of doing business. And we have done that,” said Sarma.The roadshow was attended by more than 150 delegates and representatives of 15 textile and apparel industries.
Source: New Indian Express
On a seasonally adjusted basis, industrial output contracted by 0.75% month-on-month, against -0.35% in the previous month, according to India Ratings. Growth in the index of industrial production (IIP) hit a four-month low of 2.4% in July from a year before, compared with 12.7% in the previous month, as a normalisation of a favourable base effect, slowing export demand and heavy monsoon downpour in select regions hit output. Although the index of industrial production (IIP) still exceeded the pre-pandemic level (same month in 2019) by 2.1% in July, it dropped 2.7% on a monthon-month basis. More importantly, the sequential slowdown remained broad-based across mining, manufacturing and electricity. On a seasonally adjusted basis, industrial output contracted by 0.75% month-on-month, against -0.35% in the previous month, according to India Ratings. However, this remained at odds with the PMI for the manufacturing sector, which remained firmly in the expansionary zone in July, with a reading of 56.4. Crisil chief economist DK Joshi said the impact of slowing global growth is beginning to be felt by domestic manufacturing. “Key export sectors such as textiles, petroleum products, machinery and equipment saw sequential fall in the IIP in July. This could gain pace over the next 12 months, as aggressive monetary tightening and elevated inflation hit demand prospects in major advanced economies,” Joshi said. Local demand didn’t seem to have lent support to manufacturing either, he added. Importantly, growth in consumer durables plunged to 2.4% in July from 25.1% in the previous month. Consumer non-durables output, in fact, shrank 2% in August, against an increase of 3% in the previous month. These suggest some shifting of demand from goods to services and persistent weakness in rural consumption. Capital goods output growth, too, slowed dramatically to 5.8% from 29.1%. According to Aditi Nayar, chief economist at Icra, a shift in discretionary consumption to contact-intensive services, too, weighed down the IIP growth in July, in addition to factors like a normalising base and heavy rainfall. She expected an improvement in the IIP growth to about 4-6% in August from a year before. Manufacturing growth slowed to 3.2% in July from 13% in the previous month. The electricity sector grew 2.4%, against 12.7% in the previous month. Mining, in fact, shrank by 3.3% in July, the first contraction after a gap of 16 months, even though coal output jumped by 11.4%. This is mainly due to heavy rainfall in select regions.
Source: Financial Express
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal says exporters shouldn’t rely on the crutches of rupee depreciation to stay competitive, and that a strong domestic currency is good for a net importer like India. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal says exporters shouldn’t rely on the crutches of rupee depreciation to stay competitive, and that a strong domestic currency is good for a net importer like India. “I’m happy that the Indian rupee has shown more resilience than most of the currencies in recent years,” he told Banikinkar Pattanayak in an interview. The minister expects Indo-US trade to jump from $159 billion to at least $500 billion in the next six to eight years. Goyal, who attended the first in-person ministerial of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) last week, says India could consider joining the trade pillar of the US-led initiative if it gets a good deal that is in the national interest. Excerpts:
On the desirable Rupee level to make export competitive There is no comfortable or uncomfortable level of the rupee, which finds its own place. The currency movement of a country against the dollar is driven by a number of factors—deficit, capital flows, inflation and risk-reward ratio in each country. I’m happy that the Indian rupee has shown more resilience than most of the currencies in recent years. In fact, the rupee depreciated at a CAGR of about 3.25-3.5% against the dollar until 2014 (for about two decades). After that, the rupee has depreciated at a CAGR of about 2.5%. So that’s a significant improvement in the strength of the Indian rupee. Going forward, the rupee is likely to retain its strength. I am one of those who believe that a strong Indian rupee is, in fact, good for the country. I don’t think exporters should rely on a depreciating rupee to stay competitive. Instead, they should stand on their own feet on the basis of quality of products and the ability to serve the needs of customers.
On EU move to scrap GSP benefits from next year I don’t think the GSP (generalised system of preference), under which select Indian products are exported to the EU at zero duty) is a necessary tool to widen bilateral trade engagement. It’s better to have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU, which we are focussed on. Without the GSP (with the US, which rolled back such benefits for India in 2020), our exports (to the US) have not suffered one bit. I believe our exporters will be able to supply significantly to the EU on the basis of their own strength, even without the GSP benefits.
On FTAs India is firming up Unlike what used to happen earlier (during the UPA period), FTAs are now being firmed up after a lot of consultations with a broad range of stakeholders where domestic industry is treated as a partner. Therefore, I feel each of the agreements will help us grow trade. Exports will grow, and, of course, there could also be some growth in imports. Ultimately, economic activity grows both ways. So, I see overall international trade taking a big upswing. As for exports, we are very confident that by 2030, India will achieve annual goods exports of $1 trillion and services exports of another $1 trillion. This will drive up the export share in overall gross domestic product. And this has been defining feature of developed economies as well (larger share of trade in GDP). That is the effort and direction in which India is moving today.
On scope for further trade expansion with largest partner US In fact, sky is the limit. There is scope for further expansion in India’s exports to the US in every possible sector, given the size of the American market and the fact that it’s a big player in international trade and is looking for a massive expansion in technology. I think the Indian IT sector, particularly, will stand to gain consistently because of the huge talent pool that we have. In goods, whether it’s textiles, ceramics, or auto components (and going forward cars), electric vehicles, there is a huge scope. We have to focus our energies on producing high-quality products at competitive prices. We aim to raise bilateral trade with the US from the current $159 billion to at least $500 billion dollars in the next six to eight years. Also, the US is going be a big source of investments in India as well.
Source: Business Standard
The objective of this PLI scheme is to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive, create global champions in manufacturing, boost exports and create jobs. The government last year rolled out the scheme with an outlay of about Rs 2 lakh crore for as many as 14 sectors, including automobiles and auto components, white goods, textiles, advanced chemistry cell (ACC) and speciality steel. Government discussions to extend production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to more sectors such as certain electronic components, pharma and medical devices are underway, reported PTI citing a senior government official. According to media reports, discussions are also going on to bring PLI scheme for toys, furniture, bicycles and containers. The objective of this PLI scheme is to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive, create global champions in manufacturing, boost exports and create jobs. The government last year rolled out the scheme with an outlay of about Rs 2 lakh crore for as many as 14 sectors, including automobiles and auto components, white goods, textiles, advanced chemistry cell (ACC) and speciality steel. "So, from Rs 1.97 lakh crore, there are savings from some sectors. So against those savings, things are being planned. Proposals are under consideration," PTI quoted an official said. Demand for including sectors like certain electronic components, toys, furniture, bicycle, and containers has come against the backdrop of the government's move to cut imports and boost domestic manufacturing. The strategy behind the scheme was to offer companies incentives on incremental sales from products manufactured in India, over the base year. The scheme has been specifically designed to boost domestic manufacturing in sunrise and strategic sectors, curb cheaper imports and reduce import bills, improve cost competitiveness of domestically-manufactured goods, and enhance domestic capacity and exports. Currently, the scheme covers sectors like automobiles and auto components, specialty steel, telecom and networking products, electronic/technology products. The PLI scheme has also been extended to white goods (ACs and LEDs), food products, textile Products - MMF (man made fibre) segment and technical textiles, high efficiency solar PV modules, and ACC battery.
Source: Economic Times
India ITME Society, India’s apex industry body,recently organised “India Networking Programme” at Uzbekistan coinciding with CAITME. The event aimed at highlighting the strengths and opportunities offered by India, home to 2nd largest textile market in the world & invites business delegation from Uzbekistan to “India ITME 2022,” the most prestigious textile machinery and accessory exhibition hosted in India once in 4 years from 8 to 13 December 2022 at Greater Noida. This year the exhibition is expanded to include end-to-end solution for fibre-to-end products and complete sourcing solutions and latest technology. It was highlighted during the event that the Uzbekistan, strategically located in the heart of central Asia, is the 6th largest cotton producer. Cotton contributes 68 per cent to the country’s export of fibre, which was recorded to be US $ 2.66 billion in 2021. Foreign investments are huge in the country with around 300 textile companies established through foreign investment from China, South Korea, Russia, India, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and others. The country is having high exports of textile vis-à-vis its imports in 2021. Its exports in overall textiles and apparel are increasing at a CAGR of 18 per cent. The export of value-added apparel was worth US $ 6.45 billion in 2021. The country majorly imports manmade fibres alone contributing 95 per cent to the total imports worth US $ 0.37 billion in FY ’21. Having a well-developed spinning segment, the country exported US$ 32.53 billion in FY ’21. The fabric exports were US $ 8.06 billion in the same year. With the dynamics of youth and urbanisation in Uzbekistan combined with India’s brand image and strong engineering background, a strategic partnership by mapping the skill-set of both countries will bring prosperity to both countries. Both India and Uzbekistan having the strength and rich heritage in cotton will only benefit from one another. S. Hari Shankar, Chairman, India ITME Society, formally extended an invitation to India ITME 2022 in December to “Explore the Soul of Textiles.” He also encouraged an official delegation from Uzbekistan, which could mark a beginning of a stronger bilateral trade and investment activities in textile sector between India and Uzbekistan.
Source: Apparel Resources
The Niti Aayog and the proposed SITs will play a critical role in India achieving goals set for 2047, the 100th year of independence It has been seven years since the 65-year-old Planning Commission was replaced with the Niti Aaayog by the Modi government in January 2015, mainly as a think-tank for forging a national vision on development. (IE) The Niti Aayog, the think-tank at the Central level, will handhold each state to set up similar bodies, replacing their outdated planning boards, for faster and inclusive economic growth, in tandem with the national vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047. The move is in recognition of the fact that except for sectors like defence, railways and highways, the national gross domestic product (GDP) growth is an aggregation of states’ rates of growth. Health, education and skilling are primarily with the state government. The Niti Aayog notes that state governments’ role is critical to improving ease of doing business, land reforms, infrastructure development, credit flows and urbanisation, all of which are vital for sustained economic growth. In his Independence Day speech last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set an ambitious target of making India a developed nation by 2047. The Niti Aayog has already got cracking on the “state support mission” by holding a meeting of state planning secretaries on September 6. The think-tank, which will likely extend support to states including experts from IIMs and IITs, has received positive responses from states, according to sources. Initially it aims for 8-10 states to set up such bodies, before reaching out to all by March 2023. Four states — Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam — have already begun work in this regard while Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat will likely commence work soon, sources said. It has been seven years since the 65-year-old Planning Commission was replaced with the Niti Aaayog by the Modi government in January 2015, mainly as a think-tank for forging a national vision on development. The government has since given the plan fund allocation powers to the Union finance ministry. However, most states so far have done little to rejuvenate their planning departments/boards, which were earlier dealing with the central Planning Commission and preparing parallel, state five year-plans with the Centre. “Most states’ planning departments, with huge manpower, are almost defunct and have no clarity what work they will do,” a senior official said. “A plan has been chalked out by the Niti Aayog to help in the creation of teams that will examine the existing structure of state planning boards, and in the next 4-6 months conceptualise the State Institution for Transformation (SIT).” Lateral entry of professionals will be encouraged in SITs to undertake high-quality analytical work and policy recommendations. Besides reorienting the state planning boards as SITs, a blueprint will be prepared on how it will guide the states in policy formulation, take up monitoring and evaluation of government policies and programmes, as well as suggest better technology or models for delivery of schemes. The Niti Aayog and the proposed SITs will play a critical role in India achieving goals set for 2047, the 100th year of independence. The Centre has set up 10 working groups under various secretaries to set those socio-economic goals to achieve sustainable, inclusive and job-creating high growth, while addressing carbon footprint and energy security.
Source: Financial Express
Need for greater clarity on India’s larger FTA objectives. India has for now opted out of the trade pillar of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which had its first in-person ministerial in Los Angeles. IPEF is a grouping of 14 countries which account for 40% of global GDP, and marks the US’s pivot to the Indo-Pacific region to counter China’s dominance. Trade is one of the four pillars of this bloc that aims to enhance supply chain resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness and competitiveness. India’s decision is a step in the right direction as it is unsure of making binding commitments and hasty pledges on sensitive issues like the digital economy, data flows, labour and environment standards and public procurement which the trade pillar entails, according to a report in the FE. India’s concern is that it will undermine its still-evolving policies on the digital economy and data privacy. The ruling NDA regime recently withdrew its personal data protection Bill to introduce a more “comprehensive legal framework”. However, India has joined the other three pillars on supply chains, tax and anti-corruption, and clean energy, and has endorsed IPEF’s underlying objective to foster “high standard, inclusive, free and fair trade”, according to the joint statement issued after the conclusion of the ministerial. While India has rightly upheld its interests in not joining IPEF’s trade pillar, there is a need for greater clarity on its objectives to ink deep free trade agreements with the UK, EU and Canada. Recently, there were reports that India Inc is ready to embrace new generation FTAs that entail regulatory policy reform, intellectual property rights protection, labour rights etc. But if—as Amitendu Palit , senior research fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, is suggesting—India does not have enough experience in dealing with such issues, how will these FTAs materialise? After exiting the EU, the UK is eager to stitch up a deal with India as part of its wider outreach to the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership by end-2022. CPTPP is a higher order agreement and will serve as a template for the UK’s deal with India, unless it is only an interim FTA covering selected goods and services. The EU is a leader in new generation FTAs and recently concluded one with New Zealand, which had provisions that respect the Paris Climate Agreement and core labour rights, enforceable through trade sanctions as a last resort. Will India gain experience negotiating such deals to later signal its readiness to rejoin IPEF’s trade pillar? India’s stakes in re-engaging with IPEF’s trade pillar are high. Last fiscal, the US emerged as our leading trading partner. There are also relatively greater comfort levels in trading with the US with which India enjoys a trade surplus of $32.8 billion. India has also indicated that it would be “happy and willing” to negotiate with the US should the Biden administration look for a new free trade partner. Even without a deal, both partners are engaged on investments, technology and boosting trade. Whatever issues that bedevil such a deal can be resolved through bilateral dialogue and at the forthcoming trade policy forum meeting by this year-end. Although the IPEF is only a putative bloc, the relatively greater attractions for India are that its two-way trade with the 14 members is similar to that of RCEP but with a smaller deficit of $18.8 billion.
Source: Financial Express
India must review its IPEF stand India’s decision to opt out of the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is disappointing and will adversely affect longer-term economic prospects. Although India joined the other three pillars of the framework related to supply chains, tax and anti-corruption, and clean energy, the stand on trade will weaken its overall position. The government has argued that in the context of trade, the contours in terms of commitments to be made in areas such as labour, environment, and public procurement are still emerging. It is not clear what member countries will gain and whether some of the conditions would discriminate against developing countries. The government has said that it will continue to engage with the trade track and wait for the final contours to take shape. India would have been better off being part of the process deciding those conditions.
Source: Business Standard
“Coimbatore Nxt” will redefine the scope and potential of the city, said District Collector G.S. Sameeran here on Monday as he launched the initiative of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). “It (Coimbatore) is a super star city. Like many super stars we think of our glorious past, bask in our legacy...We need somebody to reinvent ourselves. The CII has done that by launching the Coimbatore Next initiative,” he said. The logo for the initiative stands for audacity, courage, and ambition. Coimbatore Next is about re-imagining what Coimbatore will be at India at 100. The initiative is a right step at the right time, he added. Chairman of CII, Coimbatore, Prashanth Subramanian, said “We need to build on the strengths and welcome new investments.” Coimbatore is among the top five in comparable cities in parameters such as infrastructure, human capital, cost, and industry. The mission of Coimbatore Next is to re-imagine the economic potential of the region through inclusive and sustainable growth. It will have three pillars - growth, visibility, and advocacy that will go on for five to 10 years. The initiative will focus on scaling up existing, local businesses; build new businesses; attract investments; promote Coimbatore, and score on living standards. Ravi Sam, former chairman of CII Tamil Nadu, said Coimbatore has room for more players and the best in all sectors, including manufacturing, education, and healthcare. Better flight connectivity will enable the region broaden its presence in all these sectors. Shankar Vanavarayar, vice chairman of CII Tamil Nadu, who spoke on “Coimbatore So Far”, said the region has had an enterprising past as Coimbatore was a centre of trade even in the ancient times. Limited availability of resources made its people enterprising. According to Arjun Prakash, former chairman of CII, Coimbatore zone, the new Coimbatore saw its entrepreneurship spread from textiles to engineering and to various other sectors and today has a vibrant industrial ecosystem in a host of sectors - jewellery, poultry, precision engineering, etc. It is also known for many firsts and now has to make an impact in sunrise sectors. Ramesh Babu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Karur Vysya Bank, Kamal Bali, deputy Chariman of CII, Southern Region, and Suchitra K. Ella, Chairperson of CII, Southern Region participated in the event.
Source: The Hindu
FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) is organising a Textile and Handloom Show, ‘Anshukam’ on October 6-7, 2022 in New Delhi to provide direct access to the weavers to market their products domestically and internationally. The theme set for the two day event is ‘Weaving Stories Through threads’ which will help weavers and artisans from various parts of the country to meet national and international buyers, including designers, exporters. It will also help provide market linkages to manufacturers of handloom and textiles and introduce new products and services, said Jyanti Dalmia, President, (FLO). “FLO to mark the 75th year of India’s independence through Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is organising this event which will go a long way in ensuring our textile and handloom weavers’ livelihoods, instilling pride amongst our weaving community and ensuring sustenance of our cultural heritage,” said Dalmia. She also said that there’s need for new ideas to promote the sector in novel ways and promote the business of Textile and Handloom through effective marketing. The major highlights of event will include stalls put up by artisans and designers showcasing latest trends in textiles and handlooms from various states in the country, series of fashions shows, talk shows, screening of documentaries, Ikebana demonstration inspired by Textiles, Organic dying work, textile painting show, and cultural events.
Source: KNN India
Vietnam has exported garments worth $92.4 million to the UK in August 2022, which is an increase of 88.6 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year and 3 per cent month-on-month, according to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC). The surge in exports can be attributed to the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA). Despite being included in the top 10 biggest markets for Vietnam’s garment exports, the UK accounts for less than 2 per cent of Vietnam’s total export value. Lower tariffs enabled by the UKVFTA have made it possible for Vietnam to develop its share in the market. Around 42.5 per cent of Vietnamese textile and garment exports will be liberalised at entry and some garment goods will have their tariffs removed after six years as per the UKVFTA. However, textile industry regulations introduced by the European Union (EU) such as using green products, replacement rates, and opting for sustainable fashion instead of fast fashion make it more difficult for Vietnamese apparel goods to gain a foothold in the European market. Total earnings from garment exports for the Southeast Asian nation added up to $26.3 billion for the last eight months — 24.3 per cent more than those for the same period in 2021, as per Vietnamese media reports. At present, Vietnam is the third biggest garments exporter in the world and among its main markets are Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
As sizeable amount of Pakistan’s domestic cotton crop was ravaged by the floods, textile millers have geared up to source the silver fiber from around the world in an effort to maintain the export momentum. “As we are facing shortage of cotton in the domestic market due to multiple factors including devastating floods, we need to get cotton from across the world with a view to meeting export orders. Surplus cotton is available in a host of countries. In Africa, Tanzania is one of the leading producers of good quality lint, so we are not only interested in imports but also want to learn from their experience of producing quality fiber,” Abdul Rahim Nasir, Chairman, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) told The News on Monday. In order to explore cotton imports, an APTMA delegation led by Dr Gohar Ejaz, its Patron-In-Chief and senior members Fawad Mukhtar and Anwaar Ghani left for Tanzania. Pakistan has been hit by the worst flood in its history, affecting 33 million people and inflicting an estimated loss of more than $10 billion in infrastructural damages. Floods have destroyed the cotton crop on a fairly large area. The current estimates of cotton losses are 3.5 million bales which are 36 percent of the crop that was expected this year, valuing at $1.5 billion. Pakistan has to arrange this cotton at the lowest cost possible on an emergency basis for the sector to continue meeting the export orders. Any delay or non-delivery of export orders would further worsen the balance of payments, which was already under extreme pressure. At the same time, the industry would lose hard-earned international clients, according to the textile body. Coming back to the dilemma of stagnating output of cotton in the country, APTMA chairman admitted to being wary of cotton research and development in the country. “Unfortunately, our institutions have not been able to contribute in abundant production of quality cotton in the country. Despite spending billions of rupees every year, we have failed in developing high-yielding, diseaseresistance cotton varieties,” he said. Regrettably, one of the reasons of cotton fiasco has been low allocation for research and development of new seeds, he said, adding that Pakistan needs to forge partnerships with leading global technology giants in the field of agriculture R&D for introducing quality cotton seeds in the country like several top cotton producers in the world did in the past. In the last couple of decades, China, India, Australia, Uzbekistan and Somalia introduced quality cotton seeds through major developers. “In contrast, we have allowed mushrooming of seed companies involved in low quality cotton seeds under an unregulated marketing system. We need to pull our socks and only allow those seed companies that have infrastructure, knowhow and gene pool for developing superior quality cotton seed,” he stressed. Earlier, APTMA, however did not support the idea of importing cotton from neighboring India. Participants of a meeting convened by the textile body discussed in detail the issue of import of Indian cotton and recalled that India had imposed ban on Pakistani products worth $1.5 billion as against export of Indian products to Pakistan amounting to $10 billion. Pakistan had waited for four months for reversal of Indian restrictions and then had to impose similar restriction on Indian goods as counter measure till it was resolved on bilateral basis. Participants unanimously decided that trade of any sort should not be allowed with India unless the ban on import of Pakistani products was lifted. Unilateral lifting of ban by Pakistan would hurt Pakistani growers, who were already suffering from flood. To address the issue of availability of raw material for export-oriented industry, it was proposed that, as an alternate, duty and anti-dumping duty on import of polyester fibre be reduced to zero for one year.
Source: The News
Industries in Bangladesh continuing to deal with power supply crunch amidst energy shortage, the garment and textile sector in the country is increasingly turning towards solar power to combat the same. This was claimed by media reports which further added some entrepreneurs were also installing sophisticated energy-efficient equipment to reduce power consumption to deal with the situation. One of the largest garment and textile mills in Bangladesh, Rising Group, has recently installed rooftop solar power plants on its two factories in Manikganj and Gazipur at an investment of US $ 2 million, claimed reports adding, Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd., a sister concern of Noman Group (one of the top textile manufacturers in the country), already has a 400 kW solar plant, while a new solar plant with 1 MW capacity is under construction even as Narayanganj-based Fakir Fashions Ltd. has started the installation of a 2MW solar plant while Gazipur-based Mosharaf Composite Textile Mills Limited is checking the feasibility of installing a solar plant, as per its Managing Director Md Mosharaf Hossain.
Source: Apparel Resources
Thank you for sharing this story! However, please do so in a way that respects the copyright of this text. If you want to share or reproduce this full text, please ask permission from Innovation Origins (partners@innovationorigins.com) or become a partner of ours! You are of course free to quote this story with source citation. Would you like to share this article in another way? Then use this link to the article: https://innovationorigins.com/en/selected/new-solutions-for-the-reuse-of-textile-arebrought-up-during-innovation-challenge-refashion/ 715,000 tons of clothing, household linen and shoes are discarded each year in France, and only 34 percent of them are collected and recycled. To find a solution, the sector’s eco-organization, Refashion, is organizing an annual innovation challenge in France. The organization aims to identify the most relevant projects for the reuse of textiles, says NL in France in a press release. Recycling of sneakers In recent years, this innovation challenge has supported several initiatives that could be of interest to the construction industry. The winners of the 2021 edition, for example, include Revival, which aims to establish the first industrial platform for the recycling of sneakers in France. With its partner Bouyer-Leroux, known for its terracotta products for the construction industry, Revival wants to develop a subfloor for parquet floors from the recycling of elastomeric polymer from the soles of sneakers. Acoustic wall tiles Previous editions have also featured original projects that take advantage of the soundabsorbing properties of textiles. For example, Prémices & Co has developed acoustic wall tiles made entirely of recycled fibers. These products are marketed under the name “pierreplume”. Dyeing textiles black in sustainable process Textile dyes still contain harmful chemicals for which no efficient, sustainable alternative has yet been found. Recycled ceiling tiles Another example is Le Relais with its acoustic ceiling tile Ekoroom. These ceiling tiles are made of recycled textiles, but have not yet appeared on the market. Ventilation systems The company Wecosta, which operates in the automotive industry sector, is now also focusing on the construction sector and is developing a material for ventilation systems inside homes using textiles to reduce noise pollution. Wooden buildings With the project Mobiotex, the French technological institute FCBA, is studying the possibility of using recycled textile fibers as essential components of wooden houses. And the company Vert-Tical Nord has developed a plant wall whose substrates have been replaced by recycled textiles. Finally, FabBrick develops structural, insulating and aesthetic bricks from used and recycled textiles. Mandatory collection According to the EU Waste Directive, from January 1, 2025, EU countries are obliged to collect used textiles separately. This therefore makes available a large amount of material that can also be used in the construction sector to replace new materials.
Source: Innovation Origins
