BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said the existing business situation has created opportunities for Bangladesh and India to drive development in the RMG and textile industry in both countries. "Bangladesh is seeking to harness the potential of Man-Made fibre (MMF) apparel export as the demand for clothing made of synthetic materials is rising globally. On the other hand, India has a big textile sector having a considerable capacity of supplying Man-Made fibre and blended textile products while the country is also a promising destination for Bangladeshi RMG exports," he said. The BGMEA chief came up with the observations while speaking at a meeting with Dhiraj Raichand Shah, chairman of The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), reads a press release. BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim, Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on Trade Fair Kamal Uddin, Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on Cash Incentive Humayun Kabir Salim and Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on Schedule Bank Md Israfil Atique were also present at the meeting held at BGMEA Complex in Dhaka on Wednesday (14 September). In the meeting, Faruque Hassan laid emphasis on increasing more direct business interactions between Bangladeshi RMG exporters and Indian textile products suppliers to strengthen the reciprocal relationship that would be useful for both sides. Chairman Dhiraj Raichand Shah invited BGMEA to participate in the Source India Mumbai exhibition which will be held in Mumbai from 28th November to 30th November, 2022. Different categories of latest range of Indian textile products including Fibre, Yarn, Fabrics for Men's and Women's Wear, Home Textiles, Made-ups, Technical textiles, etc. will be displayed in the exhibition. The BGMEA president invited the SRTEPC Chairman to the "Made in Bangladesh Week" which will be organised by BGMEA to showcase prospects and strengths of the RMG industry.
Source: TBS News
Various counts and varieties of polyester and polyester-cotton yarn were traded lower by ₹5-10 per kg today in Indian markets. Traders feel that demand for yarn is not improving due to muted activities in domestic and export markets. Higher prices of polyester raw materials failed to boost market sentiments. Market will have to wait for better sentiments. According to trade sources, there was no significant buying for domestic and export market. Export orders for garment, fabric and yarn were not enough to boost market sentiments. A Ludhiana based trader told Fibre2Fashion, “Recent yarn orders from foreign markets were not enough to support entire value chain of the textile sector.” Last week, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) had increased prices of raw material but it did not lead to rise in prices of yarn. In Ludhiana market, polyester-cotton, poly spun and recycled yarn was priced lower as demand remained very weak. According to trade sources, market will have to wait for some more time for better market sentiments. 30 count PC combed yarn (48/52) was sold at ₹260-270 per kg (GST inclusive), according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. 30 count PC carded yarn (65/35) was priced at ₹225-235 per kg. 20 count PC (recycled-O/E) PSF yarn (40/60) was traded at ₹180-185 per kg. 30 count poly spun yarn was sold at ₹160-170 per kg. The price of recycled polyester fibre (PET bottle fibre) was noted at ₹90-92 per kg. Reliance Industries Limited had earlier increased prices of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), monoethylene glycol (MEG) and MELT for the current week. On last Friday, RIL fixed prices as: PTA ₹85.60 (₹+0.50) per kg, MEG ₹54.90 (₹+2.70) per kg and MELT at ₹92.28 (₹+1.35) per kg. PSF is priced at ₹113 per kg for the current fortnight. Meanwhile, cotton prices further eased in north India as new arrival increased while spinners’ buying remained limited. According to traders, cotton arrival increased to 5,000 bales of 170 kg each in the north Indian region. Cotton prices decreased by ₹200-300 per maund of 37.2 kg. New cotton was traded at ₹8,100-8,200 per maund for ready delivery in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. October delivery deals were finalised at ₹7,500-7,550 per maund. Full September delivery cotton was traded at ₹7,900-7,950 per maund.
Source: FIbre2fashion
Textile mills are one of the biggest employment generators in the State Maharashtra Textile Minister Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday announced that the State government will help ailing textile mills as it is one of the major employment generating sectors. Patil said that after agriculture, the textile sector provides the highest employment opportunities but many cotton mills and power looms are unable to operate due to various issues. “Many cotton mills in the State are in trouble for the last many years. Some have shut their operations and others are on their way to closure. All these mills must prepare a proposal explaining the problems they are facing and the State will support them” said Patil. He added that he would also visit some textile parks to understand the problems the operators are facing. Maharashtra accounts for about 65 million kg of cotton production which is 25 per cent of the country’s total.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
India's exports rose marginally by 1.62 per cent to USD 33.92 billion, while trade deficit more than doubled to USD 27.98 billion in August due to increased crude oil imports, commerce ministry data showed on Wednesday. The revised data showed that imports rose by 37.28 per cent to USD 61.9 billion in August this year. The preliminary data released by the ministry on September 3 had shown a 1.15 per cent decline in exports to USD 33 billion in August. During April-August 2022-23, exports registered a growth of 17.68 per cent to USD 193.51 billion. Imports during the fivemonth period of this fiscal grew by 45.74 per cent to USD 318 billion. Trade deficit widened to USD 124.52 billion in April-August this fiscal as against USD 53.78 billion in the same period last year. The deficit in August last year was USD 11.71 billion. Crude oil imports in August this year increased by 87.44 per cent to USD 17.7 billion. However, gold imports dipped by about 47 per cent to USD 3.57 billion, the data showed. On the other hand, silver imports jumped to USD 684.34 million during the month under review from USD 15.49 million in the same month last year. Rise in import values in August has been witnessed in major commodity groups such as coal, coke & briquettes (133.64 per cent to USD 4.5 billion), chemicals (43 per cent to about USD 3 billion), and vegetable oil (41.55 per cent to about USD 2 billion). Further, export products that recorded positive growth in August included electronic goods, rice, oil meals, tea, coffee and chemicals. Export of petroleum products rose by 22.76 per cent to USD 5.71 billion. Similarly, chemicals and pharma shipments increased by 13.47 per cent and 6.76 per cent to USD 2.53 billion and USD 2.14 billion respectively. Sectors which recorded negative growth in August included engineering (14.19 per cent to USD 8.3 billion), gems and jewellery (about 3 per cent to USD 3.33 billion), readymade garments of all textiles (0.34 per cent to USD 1.23 billion), and plastic (1.10 per cent to USD 747.21 million). Meanwhile briefing media here, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said they expect that exports would start picking up from October onwards. Reasons like rupee depreciation and moving away of buyers from China as manufacturing cost is going up in Beijing will help India's exports in the coming months, FIEO president A Sakthivel said. It expects the country to clock USD 470 billion in goods exports this fiscal. FIEO director general Ajay Sahai said that demand for low-value goods is increasing but volumes seem to remain intact. The WTO has already revised its forecast for the global trade growth to 3 per cent from 4.7 per cent in April and FIEO expects a further downward revision in October. "China is becoming costlier and less reliable with a zero Covid tolerance policy and anti-China sentiments are gaining ground day by day. A lot of orders for low-value products, which were a virtual monopoly of China, are now coming to India," the organisation said. On the production linked incentive scheme for the textile sector, Sakthivel said that after technical textiles and manmade fibre, the government is looking at incentives for more sub-sectors with relaxed investment and turnover criteria of Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore, respectively. "Uniqlo is in talks with the textiles ministry to have one complete PM Mitra park (for its operations)," Sakthivel told reporters. FIEO said that the demand for liquidity has gone up as buyers are delaying the payments and asking exporters to withhold further shipments or release small quantities of such shipments. "There is a need to extend further credit to the export sector by automatically enhancing the limits by 20 per cent or so as given under the Gold Card scheme, at least to the established exporters, and increase the incentives under Interest Equalisation scheme to 5 per cent for manufacturer exporters and 3 per cent for merchant exporters," he added.
Source: The Week
US's trade with its top 15 partners increased over the past one year, but the single biggest jump was with India, the country's Consul General in Kolkata Melinda Pavek said US's trade with its top 15 partners increased over the past one year, but the single biggest jump was with India, the country's Consul General in Kolkata Melinda Pavek said. Pavek, while addressing a session here at the East India Summit 2022 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said India-US trade stood at USD 67 billion during the first six months of 2022. "Exports to India were USD 23 billion, while Indian exports to the US stood at USD 44 billion during January-June. "US trade with its top 15 partners has increased over the past year, but I am proud to say that the single biggest jump was with India... US companies are consistently India's biggest source of foreign direct investment (FDI)," she said. In 2021, overall US-India bilateral trade in goods and services was USD 157 billion, as per official data. Some of the top trading partners of the US include China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Pavek also said several US agencies are involved in developmental projects in eastern India. "Being based in Kolkata, a key hub of India's Act East Policy, has helped us understand that the development of ports, inland waterways and multi-modal logistics infrastructure in this part of India has significant potential to improve regional connectivity, especially among the BBIN countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal). "We are closely following the progress of port infrastructure development at Kolkata and Haldia... and hold meetings with the Kolkata port authorities to explore potential areas of commercial engagement in their projects," she said. The US also engages with West Bengal Transport Department to find ways to support the World Bank-funded inland water transport projects in this state, Pavek added.
Source: Business Standard
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) on Wednesday said that the State Bank ofIndia has been zeroed in for the Rupee payment mechanism with Russia and Moscow is expected to announce its corresponding bank in 15 days. The apex body of exporters also said that India can export an additional $5 billion to Russia if the payment mechanism is put in place and logistics issues resolved. “While SBI is the bank identified here, Russia will soon identify a bank for rupee trade. We have a good rupee payment mechanism in Iran, so same thing will happen (with Russia). ” said A Sakthivel, FIEO president at an event. Ajay Sahai, director general, FIEO said that Russia could identify the bank in the next 15 days. In April-July 2022-23, India’s exports to Russia were $714.35 million and imports were $13.37 billion. The organisation also expects exports to pickup October onwards as India would benefit from Rupee depreciation and buyers move away from China as it is becoming costlier and less reliable to manufacture there with a zero Covid tolerance policy. It expects the country to clock $470 billion in goods exports in FY23. On India’s export scenario, Sahai said that demand for low value products is increasing but volumes seem to remain intact. The WTO has already revised its forecast for the global trade to 3% from 4.7% in April and FIEO expects a further downward revision in October. “China is becoming costlier and less reliable with a zero covid tolerance policy and anti - China sentiments are gaining ground day by day. Lot of orders for low value products, which were a virtual monopoly of China, are now coming to India,” FIEO said. On the production linked incentive scheme for the textile sector, Sakthivel said that after technical textiles and manmade fibre, the government is looking at incentives for more sub-sectors with relaxed investment and turnover criteria of Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore, respectively. “Uniqlo is in talks with the textiles ministry to have one complete PM Mitra park (for its operations),” Sakthivel told reporters. While there are inquiries from the UAE and Australia, with whom India has inked trade pacts, the FIEO officials said that India might allow imports of barrels of whiskey from the UK instead of bottles as part of the trade agreement being negotiated. FIEO said that the demand for liquidity has gone up as buyers are delaying the payments and asking exporters to withhold further shipments or release small quantities of such shipments. There is a need to extend further credit to the export sector by automatically enhancing the limits by 20% or so as given under the Gold Card scheme, at least to the established exporters and increase the incentives under Interest Equalisation scheme to 5% for manufacturer exporters and 3% for merchant exporters.
Source: Economic Times
The largest gains for India could be in exports of vehicles, cotton, electrical machineries and equipment, iron and steel, knitted or crocheted fabrics, and machineries and mechanical appliances A joint feasibility study before the start of talks for a free trade agreement shows that trade between India and Bangladesh could grow by three times. The largest gains for India could be in exports of vehicles, cotton, electrical machineries and equipment, iron and steel, knitted or crocheted fabrics, and machineries and mechanical appliances. Bangladesh could see gains in textiles and apparel, wooden furniture, parts of machinery, chocolates, inorganic chemicals, footwear and processed goods. According to the study, as a result of the pact, Bangladesh’s exports to India would see a 190.15% increase while India’s exports to Bangladesh could rise by 188.34%. The study, conducted by the Centre for Regional Trade (CRT), New Delhi and Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI), Dhaka, was jointly commissioned by the two governments. The report also recommends allowing investors from Bangladesh to invest in India through automated route, and easier visa regime. Besides, the legislative process of Bangladesh for the entrance of a new investor should be made easier, it said. The study pointed out that there exists a potential of additional export from India to Bangladesh, ranging from $4 billion to $10 billion, within 5 years. Bangladesh could see exports increase between $3 billion and $5 billion in 10 years, the report accessed by Mint showed. According to the study, the pact had the potential to increase Bangladesh’s real GDP by 1.72% and India’s by 0.03%. India and Bangladesh had decided in October last year to start talks on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). PM Modi following a meeting with the visiting Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, said that India and Bangladesh will soon commence negotiations on CEPA.
Source: Live Mint
Industries in Coimbatore should look at how India can become self-reliant in availability of military grade raw materials and rare earth elements, Air Commodore K.A.A. Sanjeeb, Air Officer Commanding, 5 BRD Air Force, Sulur, said here on Wednesday. Inaugurating a three-day exhibition of raw materials (Raw Mat India 2022), he said industries should “invest in research and development, upgrade manufacturing infrastructure, and become truly self-reliant.” While government is taking several measures to enhance participation of MSMEs in the Defence sector, there is a challenge in identifying military grade raw materials in the country and reduce imports. A study group in Ministry of Defence report says there is a need to identify indigenous raw material and certify them, identify sources for strategic raw materials, and identify the actual requirements for these. Another challenging area is rare earth elements, for which China is the largest holder of resources. It has several applications. One way is to recover and recycle these elements from e-wastes used in the Defence. Another is to invest in research and development related to these elements, he said. Business Head of CRM Sales - JSW Steel Saji Samuel said the prices of steel has come down and hit the bottom. The prices are expected to stabilise or inch up slightly from this level. Coimbatore, a major hub for textiles and pumpsets, should look at ways industries can reduce use of imported products. The MSMEs should also explore ways to reduce the production cost. According to C.B. Senthil Kumar, who is the chairman of the event at Codissia Trade Fair Complex, the second edition of the fair has 92 exhibitors, displaying materials and products of steel, copper, aluminium, packaging materials, etc. The expo will benefit textiles, engineering, agriculture, aviation, electrical and electronics, Defence, and automobile sectors. It also has several special materials that are used by the Defence sector. V. Thirugnanam, president of Codissia, said raw materials are essential for the growth of MSMEs. Coimbatore district has nearly a lakh MSMEs and the units are hit by steep hike in raw material prices. With high prices, several industries have scaled down consumption of raw materials and production.
Source: The Hindu
India’s annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), declined further to 12.41 per cent (provisional) in August 2022, over August 2021. After increasing to a record 15.88 per cent in May, WPI inflation eased to 13.93 per cent in July. The month-on-month change in WPI index for August 2022 stood at -0.46 per cent. “Inflation in August 2022 is primarily contributed by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals, chemicals & chemical products, electricity, food products etc, as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Office of the Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the ministry of commerce and industry, said. The official WPI for all commodities (Base: 2011-12 = 100) for the month of August 2022 was 153.1 compared to previous month’s 153.8. The index for manufactured products (weight 64.23 per cent) for August 2022 increased to 143.2 from 143.1 for the month of July 2022. However, the index for ‘Manufacture of Textiles’ sub-group decreased to 146.4 from previous month’s 147.2. On the other hand, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wearing Apparel’ rose to 148.6 from previous month’s 147.3. The index for primary articles (weight 22.62 per cent) also increased to 178.6 in August 2022 from previous month’s 177.5, while the index for fuel and power (weight 13.15 per cent) decreased to 157.6 from 165.6 in July 2022. Meanwhile, the all-India inflation rate for consumer price index (CPI) on base 2012=100 stood at 7.00 (provisional) in August 2022 compared to 6.71 (final) in July 2022 and 5.30 in August 2021, according to the National Statistics Office, under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Gaiam home textiles will hit retail across North America in spring 2023 Indo Count’s big launch for market is a 3-fer: its 1st comprehensive license, its 1st bath license and the 1st excursion into home for the global fitness brand. The vertical manufacturer – one of the Top 10 home textiles suppliers to the U.S. market – has signed an exclusive license with the Gaiam brand, which is owned by Galaxy Universal. The license includes bedding and bath, the latter a new category for Indo Count. The Gaiam home collection will be featured at next week’s New York Home Fashions Market and will launch in stores and online in the U.S., Canada and Mexico with retail partners in spring 2023. “We’ve been searching for the right brand partner to build innovative, value-add products and we will deliver on the Gaiam brand promise to make wellness accessible to all,” said KK Lalpuria, Indo Count’s executive director and CEO. Products will be technology-driven, with a focus on the concept of “Restore and Relax.” Product categories include sheets, fashion bedding, utility bedding, bath towels and bath mats. “We are thrilled to be partnering with a best-in-class home textiles manufacturer, Indo Count,” said James Setton, Galaxy’s COO. “With their extensive design and development capabilities, we are excited to show the retail community how Gaiam home can fit into their assortments.” Indo Count’s showroom is located at 390 5th Ave.
Source: Home Textiles Today
“Based on percentage of completion you book the revenues and in FY24, realty and engineering put together should be doing anything between 20% and 25% of the total revenues. In terms of EBITDA, we should consider 35% of the EBITDA coming from these businesses but our mainstay is the lifestyle business and we see very good trends coming in. “A very large retailer who has never looked at India, has given orders for suits to us. Maybe it is just 2% of their requirement but it is very large and it can offset some of the other large customers,” says Amit Agarwal, Group CFO, NSE 3.75 % A recent brokerage report says how they metthe CFO Amit Agarwal atthe Raymond premise and the management was extremely bullish on allthe businesses – textile, realty,tools and auto ancillary. Where are you super bullish on out ofthe four businesses and why? Post the pandemic, people are coming out and spending money and in the last three quarters, we have seen a very significant boost in demand. People have started to celebrate, going out on Diwali, Dussehra and based on our bookings for the textile business, we are looking at what they have booked and not booked in the last few years. The textile, the fabrics because we have the dealer franchise, wholesalers. The dealers have done booking in anticipation of how much they will be able to sell in Diwali and Dussehra.Is that booking at an all-time high? Alltime high. I will give you an example; we just launched Champion’s collection at our Thane location the day before yesterday. We were anticipating a booking to the tune of Rs 10-11 crore. We have seen Rs 22 crore booking for that product, one suiting fabric. So, we are seeing that kind of bullishness. Second, in the real estate market, out of the total inventory, whether launched or non-launched, we have sold 65% of the inventory and from the launched inventory, we have close to 80%. To give you a perspective, in our second project, which is a three-four BHK project that we launched in November of last year, out of 560 odd flats, we have sold 350 flats. That is kind of a bullishness as it is a five-year project. Traction is very strong on the project. Coming to auto and engineering, globally these are not doing so well, but India is doing phenomenally. In this quarter, a million cars will be sold and we are seeing the benefit with the kind of market share which we enjoy with the top OEMs in the country and we are seeing very good demand. Real estate business is the new entry. This business was notthe original business of Raymond. What could be the segmental breakup,the contribution to top line and bottom line from these four segments in FY23 and FY24? Based on percentage of completion you book the revenues and in FY24, realty and engineering put together should be doing anything between 20% and 25% of the total revenues. In terms of EBITDA, we should consider 35% of the EBITDA coming from these businesses but our mainstay is the lifestyle business and we see very good trends coming in. We are adding new lines in export because as we speak, today we are booked all the way till March, though we are seeing a slowdown in global markets but because of China plus one policy being followed globally, we have got some new customers coming our way. I will give you a very large fashion player. He has recently given 10% of his total demand to us for the shirting business. Next week or in ten days, we are launching a new theme at our flagship store in Thane. Suppose you come to our store, buy the fabric, give your measurements, go for a meal and picture or something and we will deliver your shirt and a suit when you come back. That is the kind of revolution which we are bringing into the market. ButI am guessing that will be across the….? We are launching this service at Thane first, but then it will spread across all our stores and we are present in 600 cities with 1,000 plus stores. Also talk about your exports. It is quite different from the commentary that we are hearing from other corporates wherein on account ofthe Europe slowdown,there is a slowdown in demand itself. A bit of manufacturing is coming India’s way butthere is a slowdown in demand and thatis quite visible with whatis happening with Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. How much scaling up is possible with respect to exports? While the existing customers have created the demand and account for 65-70%, we have added new customers and because of the China plus one policy, some of the customers who were destined to go to China, have started to look at India. A very large retailer who has never looked at India, has given orders for suits to us. Maybe it is just 2% of their requirement but it is very large and it can offset some of the other large customers plus we are selling the suits at let us say $300 and at that price, it is not worn by common men in those parts. I always say that at Raymond, there is a want customer and a need customer. We cater to the want customer and not really to the need customers. Food inflation and everything which is impacting globally affects the need customers more. Looking atthe financials, in terms of where your margins could be headed, what could give a big fillip would be the factthat cotton prices have corrected about 11%. The availability of cotton is expected to improve from October onwards. What would be your outlook in terms of margins? This year, I will not give specific guidance but I can tell you this will be a record year for the Raymond Group. In terms of profitability, in terms of revenue, if you look at three quarters, third quarter of last year, fourth quarter and first quarter, all respective quarters, considering seasonality, have shown record profitability and revenues. So, I am very bullish. It was about 27% EBITDA margin in Q1 ifI am not mistaken? No, it would not be 27% EBITDA margin, it is 14% EBITDA. But we are very strong in branded textiles, which we are famous for. There we are comfortably seeing 17-18% EBITDA margins. In a cotton shirt, 20% of the selling price is the value. Of that 20%, even if the Rs 32,000 candy has moved to Rs 100,000 a candy, I need to do a price increase of 16-17- 18%. Over the years, with our branded product, we have been able to increase the price. Our consumers should not start saying that we have increased the prices slowly and since it is not a daily buy, people can absorb it. One ofthe triggers for the stock has also been the business reorganisation with the entire demerger and subsidiarisation of your business. How has that been progressing and is there any value unlocking on the cards? The pandemic showed us the need to restructure and overhaul the business. One, we took out almost Rs 400 crore cost on a sustainable basis and that is adding to the profitability. Second, we used to run with close to 97-98 days of working capital. We brought it down to sub 45 days. Considering these two big factors, we have deleveraged our balance sheet and as we talked about that over the next three years we will become a zero debt company. In terms of restructure, in September, we put the apparel business from a subsidiary into NSE 3.75 % because we have consolidated all B2C businesses under Raymond Ltd. Otherwise, we had a store TRS which was managed by the suiting business, we had an EBO which was managed by Raymond Apparel and so double costs were being managed. We consolidated and saved a lot of cost. Then we went to the next item. We said engineering is a very attractive, mature business with high ROCE. It is a good margin growth business. We have put into a subsidiary, filed the DRHP and are in the process of doing an IPO. Third, real estate initially started as a monetisation of the land. Now we have progressed and it is one of the core businesses. Willthere be a separate IPO for this as well eventually? Eventually, we will consider because we are putting it into a subsidiary; we want to see what would be the best way because that is the only business in the group which would require capital. The rest is a significant cash flow generating business. Willthe current Raymond become more of a holding company which is incubating different businesses? Not really, because today the largest piece, which is the textile business, will sit at Raymonds. So it is an operating entity, it is not at all a holding company. But it has the businesses which are not directly connected to the textile business and it has different kinds of players. We need to provide a separate focus on engineering. We talked about the professionalization of the boards. Our engineering business is a completely independent board and the chairman is Mr Ravi Uppal. In the FMCG business, we have got Rajiv Bakshi and now we have Vice Chairman Mr Atul Singh also joining the board. We want focussed companies with their growth aspirations, boards and professional management, so that everybody can drive individual growth. You are developing a land parcel in Thane that is your own land. My understanding is you are planning to make the real estate business bigger. Somewhere the real estate business will be growing on the balance sheet of Raymonds which means Raymonds the existing company will be giving guarantees and loan guarantees for the real estate business.Is that risk worth taking? It is a standard practice. Today with four million square feet, we are constructing. We are sitting on a net cash positive. At the end of the day, we have a slightly different mindset when we are working on real estate. The mindset is very simple that I have to construct fast. When people cast a slab in 15 days, we do it in seven days. At the end of December 2022, we are delivering 900 apartments which we were supposed to deliver in December 2024. In this business, one has to construct fast because we have milestones coming in and we get the cash and the sales velocity. I may not be the highest priced in the market and even 1% lower could work well for me because the cash flow rotation is very fast. So what is happening is on the JDA route, we are not going and buying the land. These are joint developments and we enter only after every possible approval is done. That way, we can get into a project and can construct it faster. ET now has repeatedly asked Mr Singhania about his plan for the FMCG business. Economic Times did reportthat the FMCG deal has not gone through. Whatis the update there? We will evaluate the options; however, we are very bullish on the FMCG business. We have iconic brands in Park Avenue, KS on the deo side and Kamasutra on the sexual wellness space. Now between these three brands, we see a very good growth opportunity as demand is strongly coming back. Second, the commodity prices are easing off. We have seen margin improvement in this business of going over 10% now in the FMCG business. So with the distribution network of over 600,000 points of sale, in the next three years, this business will do at least 2x to 2.5x. So itis no longer on the block? No. Itis going to stay with the entity and you are quite bullish on it? Yes, because we see there is a good growth opportunity in this business.
Bangladesh is yet to tap the full potential of the European Union (EU) and the UK markets and can earn an additional $20 billion by exporting products to these regions, according to a research paper by the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID). Of the $20 billion, apparel export potential worth $18 billion remains unutilised. B RAPID chairman M A Razzaque said in the research paper that China is losing its share in the global market due to rising tension with the West, emerging geopolitical scenario, and long COVID restrictions in the former, and therefore, Bangladesh can further raise its share. China moving away from low value-added apparels to more sophisticated ones also works to Bangladesh’s advantage, he said. China’s share in the EU market in 2010 was nearly 44 per cent, which declined to around 31 per cent in 2021. Data shows Bangladesh fetched nearly $28 billion from the EU and the UK markets in fiscal 2021-22, posting a 32 per cent export growth, of which around $26 billion came from readymade garment (RMG) exports. The EU and the United Kingdom jointly account for 45 per cent of the global apparel market with more than $200 billion worth annual imports, Bangladeshi media reported citing the research paper. Some challenges, including inefficiency in ports, complex customs procedures and lack of technological upgradation, should be addressed, the RAPID study pointed out. The research paper also recommended attracting more foreign direct investment in backward linkage, investment in non-cotton fabric and diversification of RMG products to grab more shares of Chinese export. By 2030, the apparel market size of the EU and the UK would be more than $260 billion, and Bangladesh's export there could reach $65 billion.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The import of textiles and apparel by the US continues to grow at high rate and it rose by 29.83 per cent to $78.402 billion in the first seven months of 2022, compared to $60.388 billion in the same period of 2021. With 26.90 per cent share China continues to be the largest supplier of textiles and clothing to the US, followed by Vietnam with 14 per cent. Apparel constituted the bulk of textiles and garments imported by the US in January-July 2022, and were valued at $58.911 billion, while non-apparel imports accounted for $19.490 billion, according to the latest Major Shippers Report, released by the US department of commerce. Segment-wise, among the top ten apparel suppliers to the US, imports from Indonesia and India shot up by 59.69 per cent and 59.39 per cent year-on-year respectively. Imports from Cambodia and Bangladesh too grew 55.90 per cent and 54.43 per cent respectively. Additionally, imports from Pakistan, which is among the top 10 suppliers, registered a growth of 46.84 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year. In the non-apparel category, among the top ten suppliers, imports from Cambodia soared by 70.93 per cent year-on-year. Imports from Vietnam and Italy too climbed 27.95 per cent and 23.20 per cent respectively. On the other hand, imports from Turkey dipped by 11.20 per cent. Of the total US textile and apparel imports of $78.402 billion during the period under review, cotton products were worth $34.707 billion, while man-made fibre products accounted for $39.637 billion, followed by $2.156 billion of wool products, and $1.900 billion of products from silk and vegetable fibres. In 2020, the US textile and apparel imports had decreased sharply, mainly on account of the COVID-19 pandemic induced disruption, to $89.596 billion compared to imports of $111.033 billion in 2019. But imports rebounded again in 2021 to surpass prepandemic level and ended at $113.938 billion.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Supporting the idea of ‘green economic or investment zones’ in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen recently said his country is ready to host the first of its kind hub. He said this at the opening ceremony of the second day of the 2022 ASEAN Leadership and Partnership Forum in Phnom Penh. These zones are a proposed new class of special eco-friendly business areas, to transform the bloc into an attractive and dynamic trade and investment hub run by cleaner and greener energy solutions. The prime minister also backed the establishment of the Cambodia Economic Development Fund, which he said would support digital transformation, spur development in the artificial intelligence landscape, and provide the country’s workers with the necessary skills and tools to adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Held on September 11-12 under the theme ‘Partnership for Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN’, the forum was jointly organised by Malaysian think tank KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council—the bloc’s apex private sector body—as well as the local Asian Vision Institute (AVI) and the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce. Hun Sen said he had proposed establishing the ‘ASEAN Green Deal’ initiative at the recent 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which would allow the bloc to gradually transition into a sustainable and resilient community that effectively uses resources. He had suggested that the climate change mitigation-oriented deal cover a wide range of areas such as infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, consumption, agriculture, transport, environment and finance, with technology, innovation and circularity being the enabling factors. Hun Sen also announced the launch of the ASEAN Economic Club, which he said would make ASEAN economic integration work more cohesive by improving monitoring, evaluation and advisory capacity regarding multilateral, bilateral and regional agreements and other pertinent economic deals, while ensuring independence and professionalism, according to media reports from Cambodia.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
ISLAMABAD: Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar on Wednesday said that the government was committed to providing a level playing field and reducing the cost of doing business for export-oriented sectors to bring down the current account deficit. He expressed these views while addressing a virtual session organised by South Punjab Investment Forum in collaboration with USAID.“I am glad to inform you that textile exports during FY22 reached a historically high level of $19.3 billion despite the fallout of Covid-19 and severe economic challenges,” said the minister. It was time to promote value-added products, he said, insisting: “I assure you that our incentives would only be available to value-added products.”Mr Qamar highlighted the steps taken by the government, including the supply of energy at competitive tariffs, disbursement of around Rs42bn from April to June 2022 to mitigate prevailing liquidity issues due to severe economic challenges, duty-free import of cotton and reduction of customs duties on import of dyes and chemicals, adding that duty-free import of textiles and apparel machinery has been continued. He said the commerce ministry had formulated the Textiles and Apparel Policy 2020-25, which would address matters like value addition, product diversification, skill development, productivity and ease of doing business, etc. “We need to attract investment in the textiles and apparel sector to enhance our manufacturing capacities. I would also like to remind you that SMEs across the world are engines of growth for any country,” he remarked. He stressed the need to encourage “Make in Pakistan” products, noting Pakistan had less than 2pc share in the global textile market, which needed to be enhanced with practical steps. Meanwhile, Mr Qamar also held a meeting with Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and National Food Security Minister Tariq Cheema to discuss the import of weed-resistant cotton seeds. The industry has urged the government to allow the import of cotton from India.
Source: Dawn
