NATIONAL
Textile, RMG Exports Get Major Hit Amid Recessionary Trend: Centre
Budget 2023: Bold textile policy needed to create a world-class textile ecosystem in India
India's Technotex 2023 to host global technical textiles' fraternity
PAN being made single business identifier for firms
Startup India Innovation Week culminates today with felicitation of Winners of National Startup awards 2022
North India's cotton yarn market bearish, prices down in Ludhiana
India-China trade hits $135.98 bn in 2022, deficit crosses $100 bn
India's WPI inflation drops further to 4.95% in December 2022
INTERNATIONAL
Turkiye's home textile exports to US unlikely to surpass 2021 figures
Bangladesh’s sprawling textile industry is spewing toxic wastewater into its rivers
UK & UAE ink MoU to invest in clean energy
IMF likely to approve $4.5b loan to Bangladesh on 30 Jan
Vietnamese envoy for collaboration with Bangladeshi RMG makers to prosper together
Leading brands join to tackle textile waste in Spain
Kenya committed to fully revive manufacturing sector: Top official
UK & Colombia renew strategic partnership on sustainable development
EU's international trade deficit in goods reaches €20.7 bn in Nov '22
NATIONAL
The central government on Monday said that exports of Indian textile apparels and RMG textiles got a major hit due to recessionary trends in major economies. In the textile sector, Cotton yarn exports declined because there was a continuous price rise of raw materials throughout 2022, as per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The ministry added that the resilient growth of the Indian economy during the first half of the current financial year, the fastest among major economies, bespeaks strengthening macroeconomic stability. However, global growth forecasts indicate a downturn in global economic activity and trade. As per the Global Composite PMI report (January 2023), new export orders have been contracting for the tenth successive month in December. The report also indicated that India and Ireland were the only nations to register a growth of economic activity in December 2022. "Given the cumulative growth until December 2022 and the indicators of the slowdown in global economic activity, there is cautious optimism on international trade in the last quarter of the current financial year," the ministry said. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai said, "The double-digit decline in exports during December 2022 is on expected lines because of high base effect during the same month last year. The slowdown in overseas demand is clearly visible across all sectors, except ceramics and electronics." Kalantri said that six out of 13 agro product exports witnessed contraction in December 2022. But the good thing is that import has fallen for the first time in 24 months and this has helped in controlling trade deficit. "The trade deficit in December 2022 is the second lowest in the current financial year 2022-23 and it is showing signs of moderation in the last two months," he said. Meanwhile, India’s overall export declined by 5.26 per cent to USD 61.82 Billion in December 2022, as per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday. The ministry's data showed that overall imports in December 2022 stood at USD 73.80 billion, a negative growth of 1.95 per cent over the same period last year. Talking about merchandise exports in December 2022, it stood at USD 34.48 billion, as compared to USD 39.27 billion in December 2021.
Source: Business World
Budget 2023 for textiles: India's textile is central to our identity. The earliest surviving Indian cotton threads date to around 4000 BC. Many Indian regions invented astonishing and unique materials, weaves and dyes. The depth and range is unmatched. Assam's Muga, Benarasi silk, Kashmiri Pashmina, Bengal's Muslins, Lucknowi Chikankari, Rajasthani Block Prints, Gujarati Patola: the list is inexhaustible and spectacular. Roman and British trading networks burgeoned arbitraging Indian textiles. Replete with riches and heritage, one would expect India to house leading global apparel and home textile brands. However, among the world's largest apparel and home textile brands, a list that encompasses Uniqlo, Zara, H&M, Gap, Ikea and Williams Sonoma, not one is Indian. What explains this paradox? Government of India's Production Linked Incentive Scheme is a landmark legislation to springboard manufacturing in key sectors and make it globally competitive. Textile is deservedly part of the PLI scheme. It may enable textiles woven and manufactured in India to be competitively sold to global brands. However, PLI alone will not facilitate Indian textiles to mutate from tailor to retailer. China, despite emerging as the preeminent manufacturing superpower of the twenty first century foundered in creating a consequential ecosystem to enable businesses to understand and serve customers. Thus, companies like Apple, Target and Walmart, while valuing China as a key vendor, were able to resource their merchandise from alternative geographies. Geopolitical and post-Covid concerns have offered us a case study. India, along with other emerging markets, ought to be beneficiaries of the global retailers' “China Plus One” sourcing strategy. Becoming a factory to the world is a laudable aspiration that PLI seeks to thrust India into, however in textiles we ought to set a higher bar. We should certainly make, but also design, market and consume. Textile - apparel and home textiles - can provide an unprecedented opportunity for Indian preeminence in fashion, manufacturing, branding and marketing, and be globally recognised as a major producing country in an important sector of the economy, akin to the Swiss in watches, the French in luxury goods or Germany in 3/16 LATEST FROM BUSINESS NEWS Sebi plans to reward informants offering tips on 'fine' defaulters 1 2 UPI could be a win-win for India & US Adani Enterprises files papers for Rs 20K cr FPO 3 FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM KOO APP YOUTUBE automobiles. Textile industry can employ our farmers to grow cotton, silk and wool, our weavers and factory workers to embroider, print and manufacture, our designers and marketing professionals to exploit their talents, and for our entrepreneurs to found online and offline retailers to serve global, including Indian, customers. What will it take to achieve this? Can we learn from home grown illustrations? An intriguing fact that deserves further research is that several incumbent apparel and home textiles brands started as exporters - they were founded by expats, or Indians who worked with international brands, who discerned the depth and breadth of India's textile craft heritage. Understanding and serving the global market with world class products can be the first step of building Indian brands Ensuring quality control, standardised production systems, on trend designs and cutting edge marketing are learnings that need to be employed in Indian textile industry. The forthcoming budget may consider a bold and comprehensive textile policy providing direction and resources to create a world class textile ecosystem in India. An opportunity that is millennia in the making should be grasped forthwith.
Source: Times of India
India’s Technotex 2023 will be held from February 22-24, 2023, at Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai. The 10th edition of the technical textiles flagship event, which comprises an international exhibition, conference, and seminars, is being organised by India’s ministry of textiles and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The event is expected to attract the participation of all major stakeholders from the global technical textiles’ fraternity as well as institutional buyers from the army, navy, air force, CISF, CRPF, paramilitary forces, police, hospitals, BRO, agriculture institutions, CPWD, PWD, municipalities, sports institutions, and others. The event will also be supported by all related industry associations. Technotex is one of the largest composite events of the technical textile industry of the Asia-Pacific region. The exhibition exemplifies the immense potential for bilateral trade and investment between India and foreign countries in the technical textile sector in a mutually beneficial way. The previous versions of the event witnessed overwhelming participation from 34 countries namely Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cambodia, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Uganda, United Kingdom, the US, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zambia and hosted focused country pavilions from China and South Korea respectively. Odisha was the partner state and other leading states like Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and NER States participated at the various business forums. The CEO’s roundtable conference, which will be held on February 22, 2022 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai is expected to be attended by several senior central and state government officials. Top CEOs from various fields of the technical textiles sector along with Piyush Goyal, the Union minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution and textiles, will be present at the event; its theme is ‘Envisioning Indian Technical Textiles@2047’. Technical textiles are high performance textiles which find application not only in clothing but in areas such as agriculture, medicine, infrastructure development, automotive, aerospace, sports, protective clothing, packaging, etc. Technical textiles have seen an upward trend globally in recent years due to improving economic conditions.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today said that the Government today thinks like a startup, relentlessly focusing on newer and better ideas and striving to saturate them throughout the country to improve efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, transparency and integrity of systems and processes. He was addressing the gathering after distributing the National Startup Awards 2022 in New Delhi today. The Minister congratulated all the winners and expressed hope that the Award would inspire them further expand their horizons. Applauding the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi as being both a generator and incubator of brilliant innovations to address the challenges that we as a nation face, Shri Goyal said that under his visionary leadership, the idea of startup India had taken root throughout the length and breadth of the nation. The Minister observed that many more innovative ideas and initiatives must be nurtured to ensure that the nation grew at a much faster pace than ever before in the Amritkaal and to meet the aspirations of a young India. He said that the initiatives taken by the government under the leadership of the Prime Minister in the last few years, were timely and had been successful in building the foundation for a powerful, resurgent India, a nation recognized as an emerging growth story, set to drive global growth. Shri Goyal noted that the Prime Minister placed great focus on speed, skill and scale in the execution of projects. Citing the example of Digital India Mission launched in 2015, he said that early on, the Prime Minister had recognized that unless Digital India was taken to the remotest corners of the country, the vision of equitable development wouldn’t become a reality. Initiatives like Digital India, 4G and now 5G rollout, broadband connectivity in villages drove the growth of this highly technology dependant startup ecosystem, especially in small towns and in remote parts of the nation, he opined. The Minister said that the government came up with highly impactful innovations like COWIN app, One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC), PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, UPI which has powered so many startups and unicorns, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which will democratise e-Commerce and save millions of mom and pop stores across the country and JAM Trinity that ensured that the truly deserving received assistance from the government directly, ushering in honesty, integrity and transparency in entire system. The Minister appreciated the ‘MAARG’ portal and said that it would help focus, refine and fine-tune ideas. He referred to the investor connect portal and said that it would help innovators from remote parts get access to crucial opportunities and give many deserving startups access to the funding ecosystem. Technology can be an enabler to leapfrog into the new age where the fruits of development can be taken to every last citizen, helping them achieve a better quality of life, he said. Referring to the MAARG portal, the Minister said that the focus of the government is to simplify the interaction of citizens with the government. In line with this approach of the Government, PM had removed the need to notarise documents, placing trust in the common man and this has never been misused, he noted. He urged startups to give suggestions to improve processes to make it simple, economic. He also mentioned that over 39000 compliances have been reduced, he asked for suggestions on what more can be decriminalized to reduce compliance burden. The Minister emphasized on the need for a more robust database on startups to connect them in a better manner with the government, industry bodies and the general public and to capture more ideas of our innovators. Shri Goyal concluded by reiterating that this is a government that listens and wants to engage more with everyone to build the future of India. Shri Som Prakash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, spoke about how government has been providing handholding and support to the startups of the country, in terms of funding, mentorship and much more. Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Jury, National Startup Awards, congratulated the contribution of Startup India, DPIIT and highlighted the pivotal role of the government in promoting startups. A ‘National Startup Awards 2022 Report’ was also released on the occasion today. The report provides detailed insight into the support provided to previous National Startup Awards recognized startups and the National Startup Awards 2022 winners. The MAARG platform which stands for Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth was also launched during the felicitation ceremony today. This platform is envisioned to facilitate mentorship between startups and entrepreneurs across sectors, stages, and functions. There are over 600 mentors and over 800 startups registered on the platform currently. The portal will now allow for live matchmaking of mentors with startups, helping startups to access the guidance that will help them grow and increase their impact in India and globally. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had conceived the National Startup Awards to recognize and reward outstanding Startups. The National Startup Awards recognize exceptional startups across various categories that provide innovative solutions which lead to large-scale employment and sustainable economic development. The first edition of the National Startup Awards was concluded in October 2020. 36 startups, 1 incubator, and 1 accelerator were recognized as winners in their respective categories. The third edition of the National Startup Awards was launched on 1st February 2022. In line with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, National Startup Awards 2022 acknowledges startups and enablers who have been instrumental in revolutionizing the development story of India and in demonstrating exceptional capabilities not just in terms of financial gains but also for the measurable impact on society. National Startup Awards 2022 focused extensively on diversity, inclusion, and innovation. The sectors and sub-sectors covered under the National Startup Awards 2022 have been increased to 17 and 50 respectively from the previous editions, thereby increasing the coverage of the startup ecosystem. 2 sectors, 5 sub-sectors, and 2 special categories have been added to this edition. Manufacturing Excellence and Startups from North-East and Hilly States and Union Territories are the two new special categories added to further encourage startups. A total of 2,667 applications were received from startups, incubators, and accelerators from 31 states and union territories across the country. These applications were screened and evaluated by more than 50 jury members. These jury members include senior Government officials, Venture Capitalists (VCs), startup CEOs, Industry stalwarts, and renowned educationists, among others. In this third edition, 41 startups, 2 incubators, and 1 accelerator were recognized as winners in their respective categories. Winners have emerged from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, indicating the spread of the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation across the last mile in the country. The winning startups (per category) will be awarded Rs. 5 lakh each, and the winning incubator and accelerator will be awarded Rs. 15 lakhs respectively. The results for National Startup Awards 2022 can be found on the Startup India website. (https://www.startupindia.gov.in/nsa2022results/). National Startup Awards is a long continuous journey. The call for applications for National Startup Awards 2023 will be live soon. For details, https://www.startupindia.gov.in/ may be seen.
Source: PIB
To further reduce the compliance burden, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) will likely be made as a single business identifier of each company that would be acceptable to all departments or ministries at the Central and state level. Using the unique identifier PAN, the common information and documents could be auto-fetched across systems. An integrated system at the central and state level will provide relief to the user from repeated submission of documents, ensure the authenticity of the same and lead to quicker processing of requests, sources told FE. This integration would also help in easy return filings and fulfiling other compliances for businesses. Plans are afoot to prod every central, state and local government authority or agency to map the ID generated at their end to the PAN of the entity. Companies deal with multiple identities (PAN, TAN, CIN, GST, EPFO, ESIC, Profession Tax) which are issued by different Central and state government agencies. Currently, a business unit is required to submit the same information or document to multiple agencies to obtain various approvals as various departments within a state and Centre tend to work in silos. In the last decade or so, various reforms have been implemented by the central ministries and states to improve the business environment in the country. However, policy-level reforms and technological interventions are required at the Central, state and district levels to achieve minimum government and maximum governance, sources said. As far as practical, standardisation of regulatory requirements and service delivery mechanisms across the Centre and the states would prove to be critical towards minimising the compliance burden. Compliances which could be done on a self-certification basis might also be identified. A self-certification regime would require changes in the statutes to remove provisions related to licences, sources said. Delay in the issuance of certificates, approvals and no objection certificates (NOCs) is one of the major challenges faced by the industry, leading to an increase in the costs of capital and project. For instance, a preliminary study of the single window system of a state showed that details of the directors of the company are to be submitted eight times to different departments for various purposes such as factory plan approval, consent to establish, factory licence, contract labour registration, etc. During the next five years, the sectors such as medical devices, drugs and pharmaceuticals, electronic products, textiles and auto components will likely be targeted for minimising regulatory compliance for higher growth and employment creation, sources said. To ensure uniformity in the enforcement of contracts across states, the Centre might adopt a model contract template. There is a need to streamline judicial mechanisms and digital processes to fast-track dispute resolution, sources said. In the last two decades, India has transformed from an agriculture-led economy to a service-led economy. However, the share of manufacturing value added to GDP was stagnant at 15%. The Centre aims to increase the manufacturing share to 27% by 2047.
Source: Financial Express
Startup India Innovation week culminated today with felicitation of Winners of National Start up Awards 2022 on National Start up Day. The awards were presented by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal in the presence of Shri Som Prakash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry in New Delhi. National Startup Awards 2022 acknowledges startups and enablers who have been instrumental in revolutionizing the development story of India and in demonstrating exceptional capabilities not just in terms of financial gains but also for the measurable impact on society. Several events were also held across the country to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit of the nation. The StartUp Cell, Government of Gujarat and the International Automobile Centre of Excellence (iACE) in partnership with Startup India, organised a one-day physical event today for startups, incubators, investors, and ecosystem enablers in Gandhinagar. The event had sessions on the Startup India Initiative, the Seed Fund Scheme, fire-side chat on the way forward for the startup ecosystem, industry sensitisation, mentor connects for student entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, and a mock pitching session for participating startups. It witnessed participation of more than 150 entrepreneurs, mentors, incubators, and other ecosystem enablers. Startup India organised the final webinar in the 7-day series of industry-focused webinars on the topic – Championing the billion-dollar dream. The webinar focussed on propelling gender equality within the startup ecosystem to address the huge gender divide in the startup funding landscape. The webinar can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n37-J_DcPv0 Various centres joined Startup India in hosting both offline and online events across cities, such as Bengaluru, Raisen, Gurugram, Indore, Bhopal, Gandhinagar, Ghaziabad, Mohali, Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Kottayam, Imphal, Kolkata, and many more. Events including capacity-buidling workshop, expert panel discussion, state-level competitions and challenges, startup showcase, startup summit, roundtables were organised.
Source: PIB
North India’s cotton yarn market witnessed a bearish trend today due to poor demand. Cotton yarn prices were down by ₹5 per kg in Ludhiana as demand was sluggish from the consumer industry. But the prices were steady in Delhi. Traders said that the demand is poor because the garment industry is still reeling under reduced buying from consumers. Ludhiana market witnessed a drop of ₹5 per kg in cotton yarn prices. “Buyers were not keen to buy at current prices. The downstream industry was still uncertain. Payment conditions were also tight which further hampered buying,” a trader from Ludhiana market told Fashion2Fashion. In Ludhiana, 30 count cotton combed yarn was sold at ₹277-287 per kg (GST inclusive); 20 and 25 count combed yarn were traded at ₹267-277 per kg and ₹272-282 per kg respectively; and carded yarn of 30 count was steady at ₹257-267 per kg, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. In Delhi, cotton yarn prices remained stable and trading volume was also limited. A trader from Delhi market said that demand from the downstream industry once again softened. Cotton yarn was unable to receive confident buying from the consumer industry. In the market, 30 count combed yarn was traded at ₹280-285 per kg (GST extra), 40 count combed at ₹305-310 per kg, 30 count carded at ₹255-260 per kg and 40 count carded at ₹280-285 per kg. Panipat’s recycled yarn market also noticed noted weak buying. Traders said that negligible export orders caused buying from manufacturing units to decline. Few counts of recycled yarn slipped by ₹2-5 per kg. But comber and recycled polyester fibre remained steady. Today, 10s recycled yarn (white) was traded at ₹88-90 per kg (GST extra), 10s recycled yarn (coloured - high quality) at ₹105-110 per kg, 10s recycled yarn (coloured - low quality) at ₹80-85 per kg, 20s recycled PC coloured (high quality) at ₹110-115 per kg, and 30 recycled PC coloured (high quality) at ₹145-150 per kg. 10s optical yarn was priced at ₹100-110 per kg in the market and comber prices were noted at ₹150-155 per kg. Recycled polyester fibre (PET bottle fibre) was at ₹80-82 per kg, as per TexPro. North India’s cotton prices were steady despite lower production estimates. Cotton Association of India reduced production estimate by 9.25 lakh bales of 170 kg each to 330.50 lakh for the current marketing season 2022-23. According to local traders, demand remained weak from spinners, which did not support the price rise on account of lower production. Prices are unlikely to rise because of lower consumption due to price disparity. Cotton was traded at ₹6,250-6,375 in Punjab, ₹6,200-6,350 in Haryana and ₹6,400-6,500 per maund in upper Rajasthan; and at ₹60,500-62,000 per candy of 356 kg in lower Rajasthan. Cotton arrival was noted at 14,000 bales of 170 kg in north India.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
India-China trade touched an all-time high of $135.98 billion in 2022—an 8.4 per cent increase year on year (YoY)—while the former’s trade deficit with the latter crossed for the first time the $100 billion mark in spite of frigid bilateral relations, according to data released recently by Chinese customs. The bilateral trade value was $125.62 billion in 2021—a rise of 43.32 per cent YoY. Chinese exports to India last year rose to $118.5 billion, a year-on-year (YoY) rise of 21.7 per cent, while its imports from India fell to $17.48 billion, a YoY decline of 37.9 per cent. India’s trade deficit with China stood at $101.02 billion last year, crossing the 2021 figure of $69.38 billion, a news agency reported. The trade deficit in 2021 stood at $69.56 billion as India's imports from China rose by 46.14 per cent to reach $97.59 billion. India's exports to China rose by 34.28 per cent YoY to reach $28.03 billion in 2021. According to the customs statistics, China's overall exports in 2022 rose by 7 per cent YoY and imports rose by 1.1 per cent YoY, while China's trade surplus last year stood at $877.6 billion.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
India’s annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), declined further to 4.95 per cent (provisional) in December 2022, over December 2021, according to the ministry of commerce & industry. India’s WPI inflation had gone up to a record 15.88 per cent in May 2022, compared to single digit figure of 7.39 per cent in March 2021. The WPI inflation was 8.39 per cent in October 2022, and 5.85 per cent in November 2022. “Decline in the rate of inflation in December 2022 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food products, textiles and chemicals & chemical products,” 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 December 2022 was 150.4 compared to previous month’s 152.1. The index for manufactured products (weight 64.23 per cent) for December 2022 decreased to 141.1 from 141.5 for the month of November 2022. The index for ‘Manufacture of Textiles’ sub-group too decreased to 138.4 from previous month’s 140.3. However, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wearing Apparel’ increased to 149.9 from previous month’s 149.4. The index for primary articles (weight 22.62 per cent) decreased to 172.4 in December from previous month’s 177.7. Similarly, the index for fuel and power (weight 13.15 per cent) declined to 158.0 from 159.6 in November 2022. Meanwhile, the all-India inflation rate for consumer price index (CPI) on base 2012=100 stood at 5.72 (provisional) in December 2022 compared to 5.88 (final) in November 2022 and 5.66 in December 2021, according to the National Statistics Office, under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
INTERNATIONAL
Turkiye’s home textiles exports to the US in the year 2022 are unlikely to surpass the shipment of 2021. As the golden period of home textiles that started during the pandemic globally has ended, the shipment from Turkiye to the US slowed down to reach $961.116 million in the first ten months of in 2022, which was far behind of the figure of 2021. Turkiye’s exports of home textiles to the US had recorded a consistent increase till 2021 when it soared to $1,590.728 million from $1,224.894 million in 2020. Industry experts believe that as most of the world’s population was confined to their homes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, and were forced to work from home, the consumption and purchase of home textiles increased drastically during that period. Turkiye’s exports of home textiles to the US soared to more than double in 2021 compared to the shipment of $725.660 million in 2017. The country had exported home textile products worth $815.040 million in 2018 and $920.750 million in 2019, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. The outbound shipment stood at $961.116 million in the first ten months of 2022. On a quarterly basis, the exports amounted to $260.682 million in Q3 2022, $313.563 million in Q2 2022 and $295.701 million in Q1 2022, as per TexPro.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Ashfiq Mohammad Khalid, a rice farmer, has been making losses for years. His paddy fields rot from the bottom up before his crop can mature during the growing season. For Khalid, who lives in the central district of Gazipur, and other farmers along the Balu River, farming is tough. Gazipur is just north of Dhaka, and has become a local hub of mass-produced garments in Bangladesh’s sprawling textile industry. Pollution in the rivers around the capital has reached very high levels. Farmers claim the indiscriminate release of wastewater from nearby clothing factories has turned the area’s agricultural fields to tar, and causes long-term skin disease. “I have been suffering from itching all over my body and sores developed on my hands, as I had to work in my paddy field,” Khalid told The Third Pole. “When farmers hoe and plough land for crop cultivation, it is as if we are digging through tar. There are no fish in the river, because of pollution with toxic wastewater released from factories, mostly those manufacturing garments.” The area is also facing an acute drinking water crisis, 35-year-old Khalid added.
River pollution
Textiles are an important industry in Bangladesh, with knitwear and other garments accounting for about $44 billion of the total $52 billion it exported from July 2021 to June 2022. Most of the apparel factories have been set up in Gazipur, Narayanganj and Savar, districts that fall under the metropolitan area of Dhaka. Out of a total of 2,220 factories in Gazipur, 1,222 manufacture ready-made garments, employing about 1.6 million people as day labourers, according to the Industrial Police. However, only 556 of all the factories have effluent treatment plants on paper, Muhammad Monir Hossain, chair of the Bangladesh River Foundation, told The Third Pole. Of these, he said, just 18 have installed inter-process communication cameras, which allow the Department of Environment to monitor the effluent treatment plants remotely. The Labandha river is one of the major victims of industrial pollution, as there are about 500 factories along it. Industrial waste from Gazipur and the city of Sreepur flows from the Labandha into the Turag, then joins Dhaka’s main Buriganga river at Mirpur. “If effluent treatment plants are as efficient as the [factory] owners claim, then how have these rivers become so polluted that even the nearby agricultural lands have become tar black?” asked Hossain. In collaboration with other research groups, Hossain’s organisation surveyed 149 rivers along industrial areas and found alarming levels of wastewater pollution, showing effluent treatment plants are barely protecting the environment, he said. Ready-made garment factories that dye, wash and colour textiles, and cement and medicine manufacturers, among others, have been discharging wastewater into the Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Turag, Dhaleshwari and Balu rivers indiscriminately, even though there is a legal prohibition against this, Hossain added.
Microplastics and more
Of all the textile goods produced globally, up to 65% are made from synthetic fibres, such as polyester, said Shahriar Hossain, secretary-general of the Environment and Social Development Organization, a non-profit in Bangladesh. Synthetic fibres shed tiny bits of plastic, smaller than five millimetres in diameter. These microplastics do not break down easily and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. They are also often consumed by marine animals, which mistake them for food. A series of recent studies has highlighted the extent of the problem. Research published in November found that treatment plants in Bangladesh remove 62% of microplastics on average. This means that even with a working treatment plant, 38% of the microplastics generated by the dyeing, washing, pharmaceutical, battery and printing industries are being released into the environment – and ultimately the food chain. Research published in January revealed micro plastics are present in the water, sediment, fish and other aquatic animals of the Buriganga River. And in May last year, a study concluded that the Dhaka watershed is “heavily polluted”, noting that, the “Dhaleshwari, Buriganga, Shitalakshya, and Balu rivers, in particular, were discovered to be black in colour visually and were experienced with unpleasant smells during the visual investigation”. The rivers of the watershed contained multiple contaminants, from high levels of organic pollutants to heavy metals. These heavy metals leach out of open landfills, the most common way of disposing of solid waste in Bangladesh, into surface and groundwater. The researchers noted that the Dhaleshwari, Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Turag and Tongi rivers are “seriously contaminated” and that their waters “should not be used for irrigation”. Shafi Mohammed Tareq, one of the authors of the study on the efficiency of effluent treatment plants, told The Third Pole that water contamination due to toxic metals made crops grown from such water unsafe. He added that the economic cost to nature and human health of the pollution caused by inefficient treatment systems would be much higher than the profits generated by the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.
Waste management challenges
According to Shahriar Hossain of the Environment and Social Development Organization, fewer than 1% of factories in Bangladesh use or maintain the effluent treatment plants they have. He told The Third Pole that factory owners keep the effluent treatment plants shut most of the time and only run them during an inspection. Mohammad Azaz, chair of the River and Delta Research Centre, which brings experts in the fields of river basin management, sustainability and delta studies together, told The Third Pole that the Department of Environment has limited capacity to properly monitor effluent treatment plants inside factories. The dyeing industry in the Shyampur industrial area of southern Dhaka produces a massive amount of oil, grease and ammonia, which heavily contaminates local water bodies. Azaz told The Third Pole that no one can use this water and people have reported various physical problems, according to a recent study by the River and Delta Research Centre. Its survey of river water and agricultural fields in Sreepur and Shyampur in Gazipur found pollution was 10 times higher than the permitted level. “Though the owners [of factories] claim to have 15% recycling capacity, we measured that the industries [related to ready-made garments] barely recycle 2-3% of the water they use in factories,” Azaz told The Third Pole. Tareq, who is also a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, said effluent treatment plants are a costly method to treat the water used in textile factories. “Therefore, factory owners remain reluctant to install effluent treatment plants or mechanisms to recycle factory wastewater, and those factories that have effluent treatment plants have been found inefficient,” he said, adding that more local companies would adopt effluent treatment plants if the technology was more advanced and cost-effective, instead of dumping sludge waste, a common practice. Sludge is a semi-solid byproduct of wastewater treatment. Tareq and Hossain allege it is often illegally dumped in landfills, agricultural fields and used in some other factories like cement and brick kilns. Worryingly, during the monsoon this sludge waste spreads from where it is dumped and ends up in rivers. Tareq said that heavy metals remain in the sludge waste, which can be absorbed by crops and enter the human body. If consumed, it carries the risk of causing diseases, including cancer.
‘Huge cost’
Sector insiders admitted at the Dhaka Apparel Summit held in November that waste management and recycling are major challenges for the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. They said that the fashion industry has a global waste problem and more attention should be paid to innovation and technologies that reduce water and environmental pollution. Mohiuddin Rubel, a director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, admitted that there are some challenges when it comes to the waste management and recycling capacity of the sector. “We have a lot to do in terms of enhancing recycling capacity. Many owners don’t want to move to enhanced recycling, due to the huge cost,” Rubel added. Nonetheless, Rubel asserts that things have improved greatly in the recent past due to environmental laws, improving business conditions, buyers’ requirements and government monitoring and support. He said that the ready-made garment sector has now reached its highest-ever compliance with environmental requirements. According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the country’s clothing sector currently has 178 factories that hold certificates for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the US Green Building Council. This rating system is used to determine the environmental performance of a building. Rubel claimed that the audit mechanism and automation in obtaining environmental clearance from the Department of Environment is a transparent process that cannot be manipulated, referring to online monitoring and submission of documents. He added this has contributed to the improved factory environment for clothing manufacturers, such as the increasing number of green factories, in Bangladesh. The Third Pole contacted Abdul Hamid, the director-general of the Department of Environment, who declined to comment. Officials in his department also declined to comment.
Source: The scroll.in
The UK and the UAE have signed the Clean Energy Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to confirm the joint ambitions of both countries regarding clean energy investment and cooperation. The MoU will help facilitate the sharing of technical knowledge, advice, skills, and expertise, opening up new avenues for cooperation on energy and climate, while boosting jobs and investment in the UK. The Clean Energy MoU, signed by the UK business and energy secretary Grant Shapps and the UAE minister of energy and infrastructure, Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, will further reinforce the robust economic links between the two countries developed in the nations’ 2018 MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Energy, according to a press release by the UK government. The MoU has been expanded to encompass the full scope of bilateral co-operation, including the new low carbon super fuel hydrogen. This builds on ADNOC—the UAE’s largest energy company—taking a 25 per cent stake in the design stage of BP’s blue hydrogen project, H2Teesside, last year. It also acknowledges the progress the UAE has made so far on climate action, their ambition for clean energy investment, and their call for finding energy solutions with like-minded partners. Business and energy secretary Grant Shapps said: “The UK is immensely proud of its longstanding relationship with the UAE. Today’s latest agreements provide further evidence that not only are we are strengthening our energy security and lowering bills for consumers in the long term, we are unlocking huge opportunities for investment in British expertise and jobs in the process. “International cooperation on energy and climate with close partners like the UAE is vital and as they take centre stage as hosts of COP28 later this year, they will have our full support every step of the way.” The MoU represents a strengthening of collaboration between the UK and the UAE and the Partnership for the Future (P4F), which was signed during President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to the UK in September 2021. The P4F is complemented by the existing Sovereign Investment Partnership (SIP), agreed in March 2021 to serve as a coordinated investment framework to grow a future-focused relationship between the two nations, driving economic recovery, jobs, and growth.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
The $4.5 billion loan proposal of Bangladesh is expected to be approved at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) executive board scheduled for the last week of January. "The IMF executive board is expected to consider approving the loan programme with Bangladesh on 30 January," said IMF Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Antoinette Monsio Sayeh in a press statement on Monday following a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "Bangladesh does not want any assistance from the IMF for bail-out, rather the country has sought the support as a preemptive measure," quoting the PM, her speech writer Md Nazrul Islam told reporters after the meeting with the IMF official at Ganabhaban. Bangladesh and the IMF recently reached a staff-level agreement under the Extended Credit Facility, Extended Fund Facility, and the IMF's new Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), to support the authorities' home-grown reform agenda. Sayeh said that the macroeconomic policies taken by the Bangladeshi authorities in recent years have helped keep inflation stable, debt-to-GDP ratio low, and external buffers adequate. IMF cherishes the long-standing partnership with Bangladesh, and she came to Dhaka to further strengthen the relationship. She said the IMF will continue to support Bangladesh to accomplish its aspiration to become a developed, prosperous and higher-income country by 2041. In the press statement, Sayeh congratulated the PM, Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal and Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder on Bangladesh's impressive economic growth and social development in recent decades, which have allowed steady progress in poverty reduction and significant improvements in living standards. She said, "Just like countries around the world, Bangladesh is now dealing with the impact of global shocks – first from the pandemic and then from the ongoing war in Ukraine." "We discussed the impact of these shocks on Bangladesh's economy, and I welcomed Bangladesh's comprehensive set of measures to deal with them – including their focus on ensuring protection for the vulnerable during these difficult times," the IMF DMD noted. She said, "In our discussion [with the Bangladesh side], we focused on the key elements of this programme, including the long-standing challenges of raising tax revenues, and building a more efficient financial sector. "Reforms in these areas, combined with measures to facilitate private investments and export diversification will help create conditions to make Bangladesh's economy more resilient and support long-term, inclusive and sustainable growth." Stating that discussions were made about Bangladesh's plans to address the longer-term challenges related to climate change that could threaten macroeconomic stability, Antoinette Monsio Sayeh explained, "The IMF's RSF aims to provide affordable, long-term financing to support Bangladesh's climate investment needs, catalyse climate financing, and reduce balance of payment pressures from import-intensive climate investment".
Source: Tbs news
Bangladesh and Vietnam have scope of complementing each other for the development of the apparel industry and reaping mutual trade benefits, said the Vietnamese ambassador to Bangladesh. Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Pham Viet Chien called on Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, at his office in Uttara, Dhaka yesterday and had discussions about various issues pertaining to the apparel industry of both the countries. They discussed the present market situation, global trends and opportunities while sharing how both countries were addressing their own challenges. They also had discussions about possible avenues of working together to unlock mutual trade potential through meaningful collaboration and seize the opportunities that lie ahead. They laid emphasis on the exchange of experience and expertise in the apparel industry of Bangladesh and Vietnam. BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said Bangladesh has been strongly focusing on diversifying from low-priced basic apparel items to high-end products, especially manmade fibre-based garments, in which Vietnam has vast experience and could share their expertise. On the other hand, Bangladesh has made exemplary strides in the areas of workplace safety and environmental sustainability that could be shared with Vietnam, he said. The officials participating in yesterday's meeting also expressed interest in facilitating sharing of knowledge and expertise in the apparel and textile industry through collaboration between BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) and Vietnamese apparel trade associations and fashion institutes. Interactions between designers and technical experts through exchange of faculties and students would help to develop knowledge and skills and benefit both the countries, they said.
Source: Tbs news
With the intention of reducing the amount of trash produced by the Spanish apparel and footwear industry, Decathlon, H&M, Ikea, Inditex, Kiabi, Mango and Tendam have formed the Association for Textile Trash Management. Working with the Collective System of Extended Producer Responsibility (SCRAP) laws and promoting a circular economy through the development of waste management techniques, the group hopes to increase textile recycling in the area. The group claims that joining would facilitate meeting the requirements of SCRAP. By the time it takes effect in December 2024, the law will have compelled regional organisations to begin segregating their textile waste. There will be a three-year grace period before the law is enforced during which time the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) will develop systems of expanded producer responsibility for textiles. The partnership will enable compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility, which arose from the implementation of Directive 2008/98/EC regarding waste in Spanish legislation through the new Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy. Mango will serve as the group’s initial leader, with one representative from each company sitting on the Governing Body.
Source: Apparel resources
Kenya is eager to strengthen its manufacturing capacity and create more jobs, according to state department for industrialisation principal secretary Juma Mukhwana, who recently said plans to revive collapsed companies like Ken Knit Raymond and Farmers Choice are under way. He was on a tour of Rivatex East Africa Limited, a textile company in Eldoret town. “Rivatex had previously collapsed and it has undergone a significant makeover. I want to applaud the factory’s management for bringing it back to life, it has now created employment to more than 1,000 people. I am confident that the new Rivatex will boost this administration’s efforts to create more jobs for the youth in the future,“ said Mukhwana. “The government has invested up to Ksh 7 billion in the factory over the past five years and has unveiled plans to expand the textile manufacturing industry with the goal of increasing revenue ten times than of the previous year which was Ksh 50 billion, while increasing employment from 50,000 to 500,000 over the next five years,” he said. Investments in the textile sector are in line with the government’s ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’ agenda, he said. The country is yet to fully exploit the export benefits offered by the US African Growth Opportunity Act, he was quoted as saying by Kenyan media reports. The government is encouraging farmers to grow cotton on a large scale as the market is readily available, noted Mukhwana. “When the factories stopped running farmers stop planting, and as a government we have allocated 50 million for cotton purchases, and this year we have set aside 200 million for the same therefore we will have cotton buying centers for farmers to sell because up to 80 per cent of our cotton supply is imported,” the official said. Counties that Rivatex has partnered with include Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Baringo and Kitui.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
The UK and Colombia have announced the renewal of their partnership for sustainable growth in a bid to promote low-carbon and nature-positive development and accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The next phase of the partnership will also expand to include new and vital areas of collaboration, including halting biodiversity loss in land and marine ecosystems. The partnership focuses on halting and reversing deforestation, implementing an ambitious energy transition, and promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity, with a commitment to supporting local communities across Colombia, the UK government said in a press release. The UK also announced two new innovative projects to empower indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in Colombia. Working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the UK will accompany IPLCs to enable them to harness the international carbon markets and maximise the opportunities they provide. The UK will also join a project led by GAIA Foundation to support the official recognition of indigenous local governments in the Amazon. Recognising the need to jointly address the biodiversity and climate crisis, both countries will deepen their bilateral cooperation on climate change and increase efforts to protect and restore nature and biodiversity in land and marine ecosystems. This will include further work on the illegal wildlife trade, ocean pollution, and forest and marine protection, with gender and social inclusion integrated at all stages, including recognising the central role played by indigenous people and local communities in nature conservation. “The UK and Colombia are working closely together to prevent deforestation, promote a just energy transition and protect Colombia’s incredible biodiversity. I’m delighted to renew the UK-Colombia Partnership for Sustainable Growth today to deepen that co-operation even further, on one of the greatest shared challenges we face,” said James Cleverly, the UK’s foreign secretary. “The United Kingdom is a strategic ally to focus on the defence of the Amazon and create a new face for this program that seeks to stop deforestation in our country,” said Colombian minister Susana Muhamad.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
European Union (EU) recorded €20.7 billion deficit in trade in goods with the rest of the world in November 2022, compared with minus €10.7 billion in November 2021, according to Eurostat. The first estimate for extra-EU exports of goods in November 2022 was €237.3 billion, up by 17.7 per cent compared with November 2021 (€201.6 billion). EU’s imports from the rest of the world stood at €258 billion, up by 21.5 per cent compared with November 2021 (€212.3 billion). The first estimate for euro area’s exports of goods to the rest of the world in November 2022 was €264.7 billion, an increase of 17.2 per cent year-on-year (€225.9 billion). Imports from the rest of the world stood at €276.3 billion, a rise of 20.2 per cent compared with November 2021 (€229.8 billion). As a result, the euro area recorded a €11.7 billion deficit in trade in goods with the rest of the world in November 2022, compared with a deficit of €3.9 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. Intra-euro area trade rose to €241.5 billion in November 2022, up by 16.8 per cent compared with November 2021, as per Eurostat. In January to November 2022, extra-EU exports of goods rose to €2 352.8 billion (an increase of 18.7 per cent compared with January-November 2021), and imports rose to €2 771.1 billion (an increase of 44.8 per cent compared with January-November 2021). As a result, the EU recorded a deficit of €418.4 billion, compared with a surplus of €69.5 billion in January-November 2021. Intra-EU trade rose to €3 889.3 billion in January-November 2022, up by 23.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY). In January to November 2022, euro area exports of goods to the rest of the world rose to €2 638.4 billion (an increase of 18.9 per cent YoY), and imports rose to €2 943.4 billion (an increase of 40.5 per cent compared with January-November 2021). As a result, the euro area recorded a deficit of €305.1 billion, compared with a surplus of €125 billion in January-November 2021. Intra-euro area trade rose to €2 506.7 billion in January-November 2022, up by 25.5 per cent YoY. In November 2022, compared with November 2021, all the member states registered increases in extra-EU exports except Estonia (minus 13.2 per cent), and Cyprus (minus 10.6 per cent). The highest increases were registered in Slovenia (61.1 per cent), Bulgaria (53.4 per cent), and Malta (50.6 per cent). With regard to the extra-EU imports, all member states registered increases, except Estonia (minus 14.9 per cent), Cyprus (minus 13.8 per cent), and Latvia (minus 2.1 per cent) who registered a decrease. The highest increases were observed in Hungary (74 per cent) and Greece (40.9 per cent).
Source: Fibre2Fashion
