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Deputy Chief Minister Budi Mutyala Naidu said Andhra Pradesh government was extending support to the establishment of the small scale industries across the state. Inaugurating two textile powerloom units at LN Puram in Cheedikada mandal of Anakapalli district on Thursday, the Deputy Chief Minister said Madugula constituency would be developed as an industrial corridor.Employment opportunities would be increased for the youth by establishing micro and small scale industries, he added. Further, Mutyala Naidu said the government would continue to encourage micro and small scale industries in every constituency across AP. Speaking on the occasion, Anakapalli MP BV Satyavathi, who attended the inaugural of the units, said both the units of the micro scale industry were set up in collaboration with the MSME. They were established at a cost of Rs 36 lakh and would aid in employment creation for the people in rural areas, the MP conveyed. MSME representative Nadiya and local public representatives were present during the inauguration of the powerloom units.
Source: The Hans India
According to Global Data forecast, the global smart clothing market worth US $ 668 million in 2020 will expand to over US $ 4 billion in the next 10 years. The segment has the potential to even cross the bill mark of US $ 30 billion by 2040 with the help of technologies such as embedded sensors, actuators or conductive fibres. hile fitness trackers and smartwatches are getting all the attention when it comes to wearable technology, there’s another area that’s rapidly advancing: clothing made up of smart textiles. Smart fabrics embark on a journey that will completely change the concept of ‘clothing for the future’, both globally and across the country. According to Global Data forecast, the global smart clothing market worth US $ 668 million in 2020 will expand to over US $ 4 billion in the next 10 years. Therefore, it looks like the segment has the potential to even cross the bill mark of US $ 30 billion by 2040 with the help of technologies such as embedded sensors that track vitals, actuators that control fabric properties like stiffness and transparency, or conductive fibres that aid in communication or power transfer medium. The possibilities for smart clothing are truly vast and endless.
India is becoming a great potential market for wearable tech companies as more of the population is now putting health first on priority. As consumers increasingly look for methods to monitor their health and well-being, demand for smart clothing such as shirts, jackets, vests, socks and other categories seems to be on the rise. The large conglomerates may not be putting a lot of money into the concept of wearable tech, but Indian start-ups are taking it to the next level. With advances in technology and the slowly growing demand from consumers, India is providing market participants with growth opportunities.
There are a number of Indian start-ups working to develop smart clothing, and some have already achieved success in overcoming the phase of initial adaptions. One such company leading the way is Broadcast Wearables Pvt. Ltd. “Yes, the adoption of smart clothing has been very limited as compared to other kinds of wearables. The earlier versions of smart clothing had bulkier electronics. But if you compare offerings of today, technology has evolved by leaps and bounds; most of the quality smart clothing products today offer touch, feel and use factors, extremely similar to our regular clothing, so much so that at times, the user does not even realise that he/she may be wearing smart clothing and not the regular one. Although the earlier notion has yet lingered on, this may just be a contributing factor and not the primary reason,” Saumil Shah, Co-founder, Broadcast Wearables stated. The company offers SYNGAL, a whole range of smart garments, such as Fitness T-Shirt with Navigation, that connects to a mobile app. Its other offering is the programmable T-shirt that can be controlled via a mobile app, allowing users to tap, draw or animate on the T-shirt in real-time. The Motion Capture Safety Cycling Jersey is the most popular choice for cyclists who want to be visible and safe on the road. The LED hazard lights are activated by the motion capture technology when the riders raise their arms, making them highly visible to drivers.
NYOKAS is into technical textile-based wearables that have developed product lines that can be used in both defence and civilian applications. The company has developed the ‘ZEAL’ wearable jacket, a textile-based wearable that remotely analyses physiological and biomechanical data in real-time. It is designed to protect the wearer from attacks or other life-threatening situations. The sensors detect any force applied to the wearer’s body and send data to a removable piece of hardware that analyses the data to determine if the situation is dangerous. If the situation is deemed dangerous, the jacket sends SOS messages with the wearer’s location to various numbers and emergency numbers, thus saving lives. Also in collaboration with iDEX , it is working on a project for Indian Army , building a wearable monitoring T-shirt that analyses physiological and bio-mechanical data in real-time remotely to judge the health status with the help of ECHO or Bluetooth low energy and which can be displayed and analysed on Nykoas softwares. Its R&D team is also developing an L1 & L5 bulletproof jacket for defence that can be useful to protect an individual from pistol bullets and AK47 bullets respectively. Moreover, it is also working on jackets for motorcyclists and forest rangers as protective gear. Despite the less acceptance on the consumer front, Co-founder Ajay Sangwan is quite hopeful for the market in next 5-8 years. “Although there is still a long way to go, consumer acceptance of smart textiles is starting to pick up steam. Regarding the defence application, however, we have signed a few contracts with the National Disaster Management Authority to cover a few zones and are also in discussion with the Andhra Pradesh Police force for the trial runs. As there are more conversations and prototypes are created, awareness is gradually catching up. The civilian segment will also see an adaptation of this and implementation of it. We have a great deal of faith that in the coming years, high-tech, utilitarian apparel will take precedence over everything else,” said Ajay Sangwan, Co-founder, Nyokas Technologies.
One study found that women exposed to higher levels of magnetic fields and non-ionising radiation had 2.72 times higher miscarriage rate. In addition, children exposed to mobile phones both before and after birth had a 50 per cent higher risk of behavioural problems.To address such a serious problem, DFF and AiQ collaborated with itie Knowledge Solutions to provide Anti-Radiation Wear Solutions. DFF is a platform that combines smart textile technology with world-class digital expertise to provide solutions for health and wellness, high-performance sportswear, industrial apparel and edgy fashion. One of its products is a smart garment that uses conductive yarn to protect the expectant mother and newborn from non-ionising radiation. This includes products such as office wear, blankets and baby wraps. The fabric is a blend of regular textiles and special yarn-level 8-micron anti-rad fibres whose effectiveness has been certified by Indian and international testing laboratories.
Launched by IIT Delhi, this start-up is founded by researchers from IIT Delhi’s Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, and is working to develop cutting-edge technologies to help the Indian textile and apparel industry commercialise new and competitive categories of smart and functional products. Products include textiles with nanocoating, functional yarns and smart fabrics that can change their properties such as colour, opacity or even stiffness in response to external stimuli. Applications of this technology include antibacterial fabrics, self-cleaning fabrics, UV-protective fabrics, fire-retardant fabrics, etc. Swatric is currently working to develop commercial prototypes of these products that can be used in all industries, including apparel. A more recent development involves aramid fibres, a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibres. They have also collaborated with the Flag Foundation of India to develop advanced textile solutions for National Flag.
BigPhi Technologies is an angel-funded start-up that owns the smart menswear brand Turms. It is one of India’s first technologically advanced apparel and wearables companies and was awarded with the ‘Intelligent apparels & performance’ fashion brand. It offers smart clothing with functional surfaces for various needs of the common man in everyday life. It has anti-stain, anti-odour, anti-fungal and cool-tech properties and can be worn 3-4 times without washing. Considering the increasing immune deficiency, it has refined technology to add an anti-germ agent that is capable of protecting against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and a wide fungal spectrum. It can also protect against enveloped viruses like SARS-COV and non-enveloped viruses as well.
Source: The Apparelresources
Blue Lotus raises a toast to the entrepreneurial spirit of artisans of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. As this network of weavers, dyers and designers turns seven this November, the team headed by Dharmendra Vaddepalli looks back at their journey. ““Blue Lotus is represented in Buddhism as a partly opened flower that symbolises excellence and the perfection of wisdom. For us at Blue Lotus, our own journey is in this quest of knowledge and excellence,” says Durgalakshmi Venkataswamy, who co-founded the organisation with Dharmendra in 2015. Blue Lotus raises a toast to the entrepreneurial spirit of artisans of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. As this network of weavers, dyers and designers turns seven this November, the team headed by Dharmendra Vaddepalli looks back at their journey. ““Blue Lotus is represented in Buddhism as a partly opened flower that symbolises excellence and the perfection of wisdom. For us at Blue Lotus, our own journey is in this quest of knowledge and excellence,” says Durgalakshmi Venkataswamy, who co-founded the organisation with Dharmendra in 2015. Textile technologist Durgalakshmi, one of the founding members of Khamir, a platform to showcase Kutch’s craft heritage, and Dharmendra, an art graduate hailing from a weaving community, had worked together in Dastkar Andhra (that works directly with handloom co-operatives) before setting up Blue Lotus. The Blue Lotus enterprise was envisioned as a means to bring value to three entities — artisans, customers and entrepreneurs (who bridge the gap between the two). “The material (cotton ) and the handloom process are sustainable and environment-friendly, but what does it take to sustain institutions that form the ecosystem of an enterprise? It needs to give fair value to the maker (weaver), the organisation and the customer,” points out Durga. Housed on the second floor of the Crafts Council of Telangana building in Banjara Hills, Blue Lotus tells stories of exquisite textile traditions and handspun weaves. “Every region has a unique handloom and we aimed to build a community by bringing this identity to the fore,” she says. The Blue Lotus team comprises Dharmendra, the face of Blue Lotus, Panchala Narasimha Rao (dyer), and Kurma Sambasiva Rao and Reddam Narasimha who handle the production and stocks. The enterprise is connected with 55 looms, over 50 weavers and seven dyers across the two Telugu-speaking states Blue Lotus’ product line includes handspun saris and garments that are supplied to brands such as Nalli Silks and Fab India as well as a sustainable denim line that is exported.
Source: The Hindu
In a relief to exporters, the government on Thursday reduced the export obligation under a key incentive scheme for 192 products whose exports declined more than 5% on-year in FY22. These products include certain types of silver, precious metals and concentrates, revolvers and pistols, wrist watches, citrus fruits and some textiles. In a notification, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that its regional offices will re-fix the average annual export obligations under the EPCG scheme, which allows import of capital goods for pre-production, production and post- production at zero customs duty. “This implies that the sector/product group that witnessed such decline in 2021-22 as compared to 2020-21 would be entitled for such relief,” the DGFT said. Spices such as ginger and turmeric, woven cotton fabrics, cheese and curd, paint varnishes, garments, and tomatoes are also among the goods identified for the relief. The relief comes amid India’s merchandise exports contracting a sharp 16.65% to $29.78 billion in October with key sectors such as petroleum products, engineering goods and textiles. India’s goods exports in FY22 were $422 billion as against $291.8 billion in FY21.
Source: The Economictimes
The commerce ministry is in talks with the finance ministry to address fresh payment issues with Russia involving Indian exporters, an official source told FE. “While payments for Indian exporters are flowing in, efforts have been on to expedite the payment flow. All the issues raised by exporters are being looked into,” he said. In a meeting with commerce minister Piyush Goyal on November 7, some exporters had also flagged concerns about Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, charging a premium to settle trade payment, in addition to the delay in the flow of payments for supplies to Russia. Arun Kumar Garodia, chairman of engineering exporters’ body EEPC India, had said Sberbank was “charging higher exchange rate than the market, leading to a rise in transaction costs”. The meeting was convened to brainstorm ways to boost exports in times of a global turmoil. At present, Indian exporters are getting payments in the dollar or euro through small Russian banks that have not yet been sanctioned by the US and its allies in the wake of the Ukraine war. But the process is very time-consuming and causes delay in the payment flow. Consequently, while sanctions-hit Russia has offered to buy a wide range of products from India, persisting payment challenges, on top of logistics challenges, have dragged down despatches from this country. India’s exports to Russia dropped 19% in the first half of this fiscal to $1.3 billion, far underperforming a 17% rise in the country’s overall merchandise exports during this period. With key western markets facing a demand slowdown, Indian exporters are scouring for alternatives to divert their supplies. Russia could emerge as a strong buyer if logistics challenges, mainly caused by the reluctance of global shipping companies to carry goods there, and payment issues are addressed swiftly. From farm and food products to pharmaceuticals and FMCG products, firms in sanctions-hit Russia have already evinced unusual interest in sourcing a broad range of items from India. But, as FE had earlier reported, shipping goods to Russia by taking advantage of the opportunities is easier said than done. The latest firm to show interest in scaling up its imports from India was X5 Group, Russia’s top food retailer. Similarly, in a communication to its members on April 7, state-backed pharma export body Pharmexcil has said the Indian embassy in Moscow has been approached by Russian firms.The Russian companies that have shown interest include New Technologies, Pharmstandard, Appolo, Pharmamed and Simkodent.
Source: The Financialexpress
As India looks to seal modern free trade agreements (FTAs) with advanced economies like the UK and the EU, a report has cautioned that taking binding commitments on new areas, including environment, labour and sustainability, in the trade deals may hamper the country’s export prospects in future. Modern or “new-age” FTAs differ from the traditional ones, as they cover, and involve the country’s commitments on, a wide range of subjects. These may include labour, climate/environment, digital technology, public procurement, supply chains, e-commerce, gender, health, education and even some evolving sectors, in addition to the traditional pillars of goods, services and investment. A report by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) suggests that India, like many developing countries, still has an evolving regulatory mechanism concerning most of these new areas. “International commitments must be taken only after the domestic regulatory framework is in place. And both must be in sync. New non-trade issues may serve as non-trade barriers and hamper our exports in the future,” said the report. The GTRI report, titled, FTAs: Fabulous, Futile, or Flawed? An evaluation of India’s FTAs with ASEAN, Japan and South Korea, is authored by its co-founder and former Indian Trade Service officer Ajay Srivastava. He had a long stint with the commerce ministry until March 2022 and was a part of negotiations for trade deals, including the recent one with Australia. The report acknowledges that most of the new areas that are sought to be included in modern FTAs are important and are being discussed at the multilateral and regional institutions. But it also warned “commitments on these issues in FTAs may prove too onerous and would increase the cost of manufacturing and services”. It cited the example of taking commitments in data flows. “…taking commitments in data flows and digital trade when the domestic policy frameworks are not ready may not be in India’s best interests,” it added. The report suggested that the increase in India’s trade deficit in the aftermath of the FTAs with ASEAN, Japan and South Korea will continue even in the agreements once they are reviewed. Stressing that India requires a comprehensive strategy that goes beyond just forging FTAs, the report highlighted less than 20% of global trade takes place at concessional duties. “India’s weak export performance with FTA partners …happened because of high tariffs in India and significantly lower tariffs in its FTA partners,” it said. However, the report flagged what it called “myths” about FTAs, including the notion that most world trade happens through FTAs, and that FTAs weaken the WTO, lead to accelerated increase in exports, promote domestic manufacturing, result in enhanced participation in global value chains, promote investment and lower prices for consumers.
Source: The Financialexpress
India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will likely start fresh negotiations for a planned free trade agreement (FTA) here on November 24, an official source told FE, as both the sides aim to scale up bilateral trade at a time when key western markets are facing a demand slowdown. Interestingly, the GCC group had earlier dithered on whether to clinch an FTA with India, having started discussion for this purpose more than a decade ago. However, talks for a possible FTA gained traction after India and the UAE signed an FTA in February, which came into force on May 1. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. India’s exports to the GCC members jumped by 58.3% in the last fiscal to $43.9 billion, albeit on a contracted base, showed the official data. Together they accounted for 10.4% of India’s overall merchandise exports. However, the UAE alone made up almost 64% of India’s shipments to the GCC members. Similarly, thanks to its reliance on the sourcing of crude oil from this region, India’s imports from the GCC members stood at $85.8 billion in FY22, up 85.8% from a year before, aided by a low base. Following its exit from the Beijing-dominated RCEP in November 2019, New Delhi has stepped up efforts to forge “fair and balanced” trade pacts with key countries. In February, India signed an FTA with the UAE, the first such pact by New Delhi with any economy in over a decade. Then followed an interim trade deal with Australia in April. Similarly, India is either negotiating or planning to start FTA talks with key economies, such as the EU, the UK, Canada, Israel and members of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). Together these economies (excluding the UAE, with which an FTA was signed in February) contributed as much as $108 billion, or 26%, to India’s merchandise exports in FY22.
Source: The Financialexpress
The Uttar Pradesh government is set to leverage the Varanasi-Haldia inland waterway to boost exports, including those of farm commodities and manufacturing goods. The government is targeting increasing of merchandise exports from Rs 1.56 trillion to Rs 3 trillion in the next three years. The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector contributes 75 per cent to the state’s export basket.The plan is to harness easy and cheaper cargo movement from Varanasi through the Ganga to the seaport in West Bengal to export agricultural and horticultural produce, dairy products and MSME items. Growing number of expressway projects, coupled with 4-6-lane state and national highways, provides faster connectivity between destinations. The integration of the Varanasi-Haldia inland waterway with the road and expressway network will provide a seamless transportation channel for the state’s export cargo. Although the Varanasi-Haldia inland waterway, operated by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is operational, the state aims to develop alternative intrastate inland waterways systems to cater to both passenger and cargo movements. “The state government will offer full support to the Centre to develop such waterways projects, which will go a long way in providing jobs to the youth and benefitting the farmers,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said. He said the state was at the crux of the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors and is fast developing as a multimodal logistics hub in India.Meanwhile, the Varanasi inland port has already clocked exports of one district one product (ODOP) items worth Rs 3,700 crore to date. According to Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, the inland waterways cargo movement had jumped from 16 million tonnes (Mt) in 2016 to 109 Mt in 2021-22. Recently, he inaugurated seven community jetties and laid the foundation of eight others on the Ganga. In UP, jetties are being developed on a 250 km stretch between Varanasi and Ballia to facilitate small-scale industries, enhance the region’s cultural heritage and generate local employment opportunities.
Source: The Business-Standard
For the first time since February 2021, India’s goods exports shrank this October, dropping 16.7% from last year (and 16% from September 2022) to slip below $30 billion after a 20-month-streak above that mark. Most sectors were hit hard: engineering goods, pharmaceuticals and chemicals and employment-intensive gems and jewellery, textiles and handlooms. Just six sectors recorded an uptick, with electronics goods being the only manufacturing segment. Imports grew 5.7% year-on-year, expanding the country’s trade deficit over 50% to $26.9 billion. This is the fourth straight month of a $25 billion-plus goods trade deficit that hit a record $30 billion in July. To be sure, imports have now been moderating sequentially for four straight months and dropped 7.3% from September to an eight-month low of $56.7 billion. But a marginal dip in petroleum imports, along with a 10.3% shrinking of non-oil, non-gold imports from September, can also be construed as a sign of slackening domestic demand. India’s trade deficit so far this year is now over $175 billion, from $94.2 billion a year ago. With high energy prices likely to escalate with winter’s onset, a significant easing in deficit levels is not on the horizon yet. While the Government acknowledged forecasts of a slump in global shipments growth to just 1% in 2023, it attributed the October trade blip to a seasonal Deepavali effect — production dips as workers go on leave and imports rise with festive demand. Though the pre-Deepavali and Deepavali month exports did have a $5 billion gap in 2021, this was not the case in pre-COVID 2019. Officials conveyed there is no need to be ‘overly depressed’ as India has a very low share of global trade which can only grow. But that growth will not accrue automatically — in a shrinking buyer’s market, rivals such as Vietnam cannot be expected to simply wait out the slump. In contrast, a new Foreign Trade Policy to replace the current policy from 2015, was recently deferred yet again till April 2023 for reasons that included waiting out the current global turmoil. If anything, the tumult in trade flows will be much worse by then. Policymakers must stop dithering and be more pro-active in recalibrating their stance — for instance, the steel export duty amid lower global prices has triggered higher imports, while exports, including those of engineering goods, have collapsed. The Finance Ministry recently identified external pressures as a key challenge — with a depreciating rupee making imports pricier and slowing global demand hurting exports. More actions are needed to match these concerns; waiting and watching is not an option.
Source: The Hindu
This latest edition of our flagship series of reports contains statistical data, information and insight into the textile and apparel industries in East Asia. In particular, it identifies important trends and includes information on textile and clothing production; textile and clothing imports by importing country and supplying country; and textile and clothing exports by exporting country and destination country. Also, it discusses industry strategy and provides an outlook for the future. The report presents a wealth of information and is essential for anyone who is considering sourcing from, selling to or investing in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and their export markets. China continued to be the world's largest producer and exporter of textiles and clothing in 2021. Furthermore, clothing exports from the country rose during the year but textile exports declined. In Hong Kong domestic exports and re-exports of textiles and clothing rose following several successive years of decline. Also, there were rises in textile and clothing exports from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In Japan there was an increase in textile production, but clothing production declined, and in South Korea and Taiwan there were increases in textile production and clothing production.
Source: Innovationintextiles
Business ties between China and Thailand will be bolstered by the growth of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as their complementary trade in goods, according to market watchers and business leaders. With the two countries making substantial progress in big-ticket projects — including the China-Thailand Railway, and a number of manufacturing and energy programs — they said that their business relations will create vitality and stability to ensure stable supply chains across the Asia-Pacific region and the world in the coming years. Benefiting from closer business ties and the RCEP pact, China-Thailand trade grew by 5.1 percent year-on-year to $102 billion between January and September, data from China's General Administration of Customs show. The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its five free-trade agreement partners: China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The implementation of this agreement will not only bring tax cuts to Thai exporters, but also encourage Chinese manufacturers to ship more goods to Thailand, said Hong Junjie, vice-president of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. Besides agricultural products, Thailand's exports to China include rubber, chemicals, raw materials for plastic goods, data storage devices, automotive parts, integrated circuits, refined oil and rubber-made medical items, according to customs statistics. China ships mainly computers, telecommunication equipment, trains, diesel oil, steel, lighting products, medical equipment, textiles and household appliances to Thailand. Its passenger vehicles and trucks have also become popular in the Southeast Asian country in recent years. "With both countries pursuing green, high-quality and innovation-led growth, the two-way investment cooperation has expanded from sectors such as agriculture, energy, finance, infrastructure and manufacturing to other fast-growing areas," said Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. He said these areas include trade in services, the production of electric vehicles, 5G, big data and cloud computing, with scientific and technological innovation acting as a driving force. For instance, Chinese carmaker BYD announced in September that it will build a plant in Thailand. After its completion in 2024, vehicles manufactured from this factory will be sold in the country and exported to other Southeast Asian economies. "Thailand has a solid base in the automotive industry with mature manufacturing capabilities so we chose to build a factory here after careful deliberation," said Liu Xueliang, general manager of BYD Asia-Pacific Auto Sales Division. As China has created more favorable conditions for global companies to grow their businesses in its vast market, Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TCP Group, a Thai beverage company, said his company will expand its market presence in the country. Eager to secure more market share in China's western region, the Thai company invested 2 billion yuan ($283 million) to build a new production base in Sichuan province in late March.
Source: The Chinadaily
Europe’s textile and apparel association EURATEX recently identified several key elements necessary to implement and recognise the full potential of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology and to break down the complexity of the term ‘sustainability’ into distinct, understandable and clear building blocks. These include optionality, accessibility, robustness and usability. Making environmental claims using PEF should remain voluntary. The process to develop a sector-specific PEF needs to be fully transparent and easily accessible to all key value/supply chain actors, no matter the size, EURATEX said in a position paper. Legislation fostering PEF must ensure a level playing field, avoiding the proliferation of different methods in order to improve comparability and avoid unfair comparisons among materials/products. For a robust environmental claim, the use of PEF needs to relay on high quality and verified data. This is a continuous process to update and enlarge the database of materials, processes and products, and to avoid misleading results. SMEs shall be able to process the necessary data without additional burden and without having to overly depend on (non-EU) dataset owners. PEF needs to be scientifically sound and provide for periodic scientific and independent review. The PEFCRs development process shall be open to new industries and product groups. The development timeline shall be flexible, with a continuously open call for applications and a more adaptable schedule, the position paper said. The PEF is an essential step forward for EU harmonised life cycle assessment (LCA calculation, which currently still has some methodological shortcomings. Existing limitations can cause misleading results and information can lead to incorrect purchase decisions and wrong environmental strategies. The European Commission is preparing different policy measures, such as Ecodesign requirements for textiles (ESPR), mandatory green criteria for public procurement, EU Ecolabel scheme and measures to substantiate green claims. The PEF is visioned to support setting these policies, to improve comparability and prevent from greenwashing. However, EURATEX is concerned that the current single PEF score method is not able to make enough distinction and fulfill the requirements set in other EU policy measures. To be effective and fit for purpose, the PEFCRs must be regularly reviewed and updated in line with the unfair commercial practices directive, where companies are obliged to underpin the benefits of their products with adequate evidence, the position paper said. Therefore, the European Commission should not exclusively adopt the green claims system based on PEF, the uncertainties on the underlying PEF rules shall be first addressed, it noted.
Source: The Fibre2Fashion
UK Export Finance today launched a product to help support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through challenging market conditions. Announced by minister for exports Andrew Bowie at UKEF’s annual Finance Forum, the new Bills and Notes product is now open to guarantee payments by overseas buyers and will be available to more financial institutions with a simpler, more streamlined process. “To deliver growth, level up the country, and future proof our economy, we need to export more. That’s why UKEF helps businesses of all sizes to expand and start their exporting journeys….In the last year UKEF has provided record support for small and medium businesses across the UK and I am committed to building on this momentum,” Bowie said in an official release. Bills and Notes are a standard method of payment where money is due under bills of exchange or promissory notes. UKEF has now improved its offer to enable overseas buyers of UK goods to benefit from extended payment terms structured using these methods. It means small UK businesses can get paid more quickly and easily for their exports. This helps with crucial cash flow and liquidity. As part of its wider package of support for SMEs, it is the latest announcement by UKEF in its mission to remove barriers to trade. Through partnerships with specialist lenders, UKEF can now support a greater range of UK exporters - including those with smaller transactions - by arranging tailored, deferred payment facilities for companies worldwide. In 2021-22, 81 per cent of companies supported by UKEF were SMEs, a new record for UKEF, which offered support worth £27 million to ensure UK SMEs got paid upfront to fulfil export contracts.
Source: The Fibre2Fashion
Chinese and Australian companies see a stronger potential for cooperation in textiles, a major sector in bilateral trade, with a good number of deals signed at the China Clothing Textile Accessories Expo 2022 held in Melbourne from Tuesday to Thursday. During the three-day expo, co-hosted by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles (CCCT) and Jiangsu Department of Commerce, 152 enterprises participated. The event drew up to 2,810 professional visitors, mostly Australian clients, during the first two days, CCCT said. Judging from the active participation of visitors who attended the expo and from the feedback from exhibitors, the event is deemed a success, Cao Jiachang, the chairman of the CCCT, told the Global Times. Many deals were clinched during the expo, with more expected to follow. For example, a group based in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, a textile industry hub, signed deals worth a total value of about $6.5 million during the first day. Ma Ying, general manager of HBT Garment, a domestic fashion and clothing company, was among the most active participants of the event. As in previous sessions, Ma held many talks with Australian clients about possible deals. Most of the clients have been Ma's partners for years. While they didn't meet for three years due to epidemic, it didn't stop them from agreeing on orders, which Ma said shows the trust of Australian clients in China-made quality products. "Chinese textile products have gained popularity among Australians, not only because we are leading the world in the innovation and usage of carbon-neutral and recyclable fabrics, but also because of the complete supply chain and efficient business operations in China, which is more competitive than many other countries," Ma said. Strained bilateral relations will thaw following high-level meetings at the G20 Summit in Indonesia. Frequent high-level interactions between the two countries have brought a significant change from the stalemate that has been in place since 2019, experts said. "It marks a 'coming out of the cold' between Beijing and Canberra, as both sides have expressed their willingness to improve relations through dialogue," Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies, told the Global Times. "China-Australia relations are stable and improving after falling to a low point, which gives strong confidence to the economic and trade circles of the two countries," Cao said. Australia, with its vast land and sparse population, is a net importer and consumer of labor-intensive products. For example, Australia imports more than $10 billion of textile and clothing products every year. China is its largest source, accounting for about 60 percent of the total, much higher than China's 38-percent global market share by value, Cao said. The trend didn't change much despite the pandemic. In 2021, Australia imported $6.82 billion worth of textile and apparel products from China, a year-on-year increase of 13.3 percent. In the first three quarters of this year, Australia's imports from China stood at $6.02 billion, up about 22 percent year-on-year. It is expected that this year's imports will far exceed those of 2021, Cao said. Australia is also a resource-based country, with wool and cotton, the raw materials for textiles and clothing, among its main export commodities, which Cao said shows the high complementarity of the two countries in trade. "It is always easier to break than to make. But as long as both sides are genuinely motivated to repair the relationship, significant improvement can be made quickly," Chen said. With 50 years of mutually beneficial partnership, China-Australia relations are mature and resilient enough to recover quickly, the expert noted.
Source: The Globaltimes
Major apparel brands are intensifying collaborations with their supply chains in response to the ambitious EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which was published by the European Commission in March 2022. Furthermore, the strategy has prompted several organisations to launch new initiatives which are aimed at promoting recycling and circularity. For example, Euratex (the European Apparel and Textile Confederation) has launched an initiative called ReHubs which calls for the establishment of 150-250 dedicated new recycling centres in Europe in the next few years. The aim of the initiative is to achieve the fibre-to-fibre recycling of 2.5 million tons a year of Europe's textile waste by 2030. Elsewhere, the CISUTAC (Circular and Sustainable Textiles and Clothing) project aims to remove bottlenecks in the supply chain where they pose a barrier to achieving circularity. The project will develop new, sustainable and integrated large-scale European value chains in order to minimise the total impact of the textile and clothing industry on the environment. A number of apparel brands are backing work in Scandinavia on the development of new cellulosic fibres made from textile waste. Elsewhere, the brand Napapijri, which is owned by VF Corporation, is employing mono-materials in the manufacture of its Circular range of outdoor jackets while C&A and Primark have entered into new agreements with Recover—a producer of high-quality recycled fibres which have a low impact on the environment—to employ recycled cotton fibres and cotton fibre blends in the manufacture of their products. Hugo Boss, meanwhile, has entered into a partnership agreement with the textile chemicals company HeiQ for the supply of AeoniQ yarn, which is recyclable and made using a closed-loop process.
Source: The Innovationintextiles
