INTERNATIONAL
India’s blended spun yarns export was worth US$30.3 million in May 2016, down 5.8 per cent YoY while volumes were at 10.5 million kg. During April 2016, blended spun yarns export value was up 11.2 per cent YoY while volumes rose 19.5 per cent as compared to the same month last year. 5.3 million kg of PC yarns was exported from India during May. Polyester cottons yarns were exported to 47 countries in May 2016, of which, Bangladesh and Honduras were the largest importers of PC yarn from India in May followed by Colombia. Philippines, Australia, Russia, Venezuela and Guatemala were the fastest growing markets for PC yarns while Dominican Republic significantly reduced its import of PC yarns from India. Algeria and Indonesia were among the 11 countries that did not import any PC yarns from India during May. Belgium was the major destination among the 7 new markets found in May. In May, PV yarns were exported to 31 countries from India with volumes at 3.7 million kgs. Turkey continued to be largest importer of PV yarns from India with 52.5 per cent share of the total volume exported from India during the month. Russia and Yemen were the new major markets for PV yarn while 6 countries did not import any PV yarn during the month, including the major ones like Peru, Israel and Czech Republic. Also, acrylic/cotton yarn prices were down 16 per cent YoY in May.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
India should take the lead in pursuing the goal of open markets and develop an export-led strategy for strong economic growth as only domestic consumption cannot sustain an 8-10 per cent economic growth over the medium term, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian has said. Subramanian also said Britain's vote last month to leave the European Union (EU) will only have muted impact on India's economy due to normal monsoons and easy monetary conditions. "There will be some impact of Brexit on India. But broadly impact will be muted... We can't achieve 8-10 percent growth without outward-oriented growth strategy," Subramanian said at an event organised by 'India Policy Forum 2016' in New Delhi. "If you (India) have outward--oriented growth strategy, you can sell in domestic markets also," he added.
On the economic growth still above 7 per cent level despite exports falling for the last 17 months, the CEA said India is not an exception and the decline in exports is due to slowdown in global demand. Subramanian said the government's 'Make in India' initiative and efforts to improve manufacturing sector is essential to achieve higher growth rate. He was optimistic that India can still achieve 15 per cent export growth and can raise service export from 0.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent. He also spoke against protectionist measures adopted by developed countries, and said India and other developing countries should keep their economies open.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
The chief negotiators of India and the European Union (EU) will meet on Friday to discuss ways to carry forward the long-stalled negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). “India and EU chief negotiators to meet on July 15 to discuss way forward in India-EU broad-based bilateral trade and investment agreement,” the department of commerce said in a tweet. The Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) - the official free trade pact, which has been pending since 2007 on account of a number of bottlenecks. Apart from being the first official interaction between both the sides since Britain decided to exit from the 28-nation bloc through a general referendum, it will also be the first follow up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Brussels earlier this year when he had discussed the issue with EU leaders. The BTIA negotiations had remained deadlocked over growing differences regarding greater market access sought by both for merchandise exports. However, Commerce Ministry officials said the EU has consistently sought lower import duties on a range of commodities. This time, the EU is seeking the lowering of tariffs on automobiles and wine products. Both the sides had adopted an agenda in Brussels, which pushes for a broad based approach to "resolve trade irritants in particular concerning goods, services and investments, and strengthen trade and investment relations".
On this note, issues related to facilitation of greater movement of professionals from one country to another, arising out of the Mode 4 provisions of the 1995 General Agreement on Trade in Services is another point of contention between the two sides. This also involves India's demands to be classified a data- safe country, which will help Indian information technology and outsourcing companies gain a foothold. Other than being India's largest trading partner and its biggest export destination, the bloc has also been New Delhi's 'strategic' partner' since 2004. Two- way commerce had reduced to $88.4 billion in 2015-16 from $98.52 billion in the previous year. The EU's share in India's total trade has also progressively shrunk in recent years. Indian exports to the block have shrunk from 21.84 per cent in 2004-05 to 16.04 per cent in 2014-15. Imports have witnessed a similar slide over the same period, going down from 17.30 per cent to 10.98 per cent. From the Indian side, 10 members will take part in the meeting, while six members from the EU would be present. India has already stated that it is keen on resuming long-stalled talks for the trade pact. The meeting also assumes significance as India and the UK are exploring possibilities of negotiating a separate free trade pact. With the Britain's decision, India and the EU would have to recalibrate the proposed free trade agreement with the bloc.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
The European Commission has stressed that the stalled negotiations for the proposed India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) or Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) can only be resumed if there is “realistic prospect” of an agreement fructifying. Resumption of the stalled talks will top the agenda when chief negotiators of both sides meet on Friday in Delhi. The European Commission has also said that it needs an assurance from the Indian government that it is willing to discuss the outstanding issues concerning reduction in duties and eventual tariff elimination in wines and spirits, automobile and auto components. “Before resuming negotiations, we need to see meaningful progress on our respective outstanding issues so as to ensure that a resumption of negotiations has a realistic prospect to lead to their successful conclusions,” a spokesperson of the EC told BusinessLine. The spokesperson also said that while talks are going on at various levels between both the sides, a formal round of negotiation can only take place when it is assured that such a consultation will lead to an “ambitious and broad agreement”.
‘No impact of Brexit’
Refuting the recent statements made by the Indian government that the EU has been delaying the talks due to the ongoing political turmoil in the region owing to Britain’s exit from the Union, the EC said referendum has not changed anything. “The UK remains a Member State of the EU with all rights and obligations of a Member State until the terms of its exit are agreed. EU law continues to apply in full to the UK and in the UK until it is no longer an EU Member State. Thus, from a legal point of view, the outcome of the UK referendum has not changed anything for the time being,” the spokesperson. India and EU have been negotiating the BTIA for the last nine years. The last round of negotiations took place in 2013. During the last EU-India Summit held in Brussels in March, both sides had vowed to “further” the BTIA talks. These statements from the European Commission comes more than a week after Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj came down heavily on the bloc at the Horasis India meeting in Portugal. She pointed towards certain “roadblocks” in the India-EU ties even as she said India is not able to access European markets due to the rising non-tariff barriers there such as technical regulations, phytosanitary measures, industrial standards, conformity assessments or barriers to services exports. But the European Commission said India also continues to impose several non-tariff barriers that hamper businesses of European companies. “There are a number of joint working groups where the Indian and EU sides can discuss these barriers … Of course, the value-added of having a free trade agreement in force is in terms of providing a clear set of common rules, procedures and institutions to deal with all sorts of non-tariff barriers,” the EC said.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 43.79 per barrel (bbl) on 14.07.2016. This was lower than the price of US$ 44.10 per bbl on previous publishing day of 13.07.2016.
In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket decreased to Rs. 2929.97 per bbl on 14.07.2016 as compared to Rs. 2963.60 per bbl on 13.07.2016. Rupee closed stronger at Rs. 66.91 per US$ on 14.07.2016 as against Rs. 67.20 per US$ on 13.07.2016. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on July 14, 2016 (Previous trading day i.e. 13.07.2016) |
Pricing Fortnight for 01.07.2016 (June 14, 2016 to June 28, 2016) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
43.79 (44.10) |
46.34 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
2929.97 (2963.60) |
3127.02 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
66.91 (67.20) |
67.48 |
SOURCE: PIB
Bangladesh garment industry generated $28.09bn exports in the fiscal year 2015-16 which just ended, registering a 10.21% growth from the previous year. The data officially released yesterday showed that the earnings also exceeded the target of $27.37bn set for the year. Of the total figure, the knitwear constituted $13.35bn and woven products $14.74bn, according to Export Promotion Bureau data. The growth has been attributed by exporters and analysts to political calmness during the year, increased productivity, entrepreneurs’ resilience and improvement of workers’ safety standards in factories. Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that even though profit margin declined, the manufacturers didn’t stop taking work orders. He gives credit to manufacturers for seeing an even better export growth in the country’s garment sector. He added that the start of manufacturing of high-end products by some entrepreneurs and the increase of workers’ productivity also contributed to achieve healthy export earnings. Shahidullah Azim, managing director of Classic Fashion, said that value addition of products was a major factor behind the growth while better prices for some products also helped.
Referring to the recent terrorist attacks, he laid stress on improving security so the foreign buyers feel safe while visiting Bangladesh for negotiation. If the security remains lax, buyers will not come, and they will lose work orders. If all these negative issues are addressed, they will be able to achieve 12% export growth and successfully reach $50bn RMG export target by 2021, Shahidullah Azim said. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, emphasised exploring new markets and diversification of products to maintain growth. He said that buyers confidence was restored after improvement in safety standards of workers in factories.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
Dhaka has cast a big shadow over the garment industry’s future, especially as the victims included several Italians employed in the fashion trade. But the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which represents more than two dozen North American fashion brands and retailers, said that its members remained committed to buying garments from Bangladesh. A group of mostly US-based fashion brands and retailers took pledge on Wednesday not to turn their backs on Bangladesh’s crucial garment industry, despite a series of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. James Moriarty, a former US envoy to Bangladesh, said that improving safety for the millions of men and women who make a living in Bangladesh’s garment sector is a moral imperative. As they review and update their policies to help keep their staff and contractors safe, their work to improve safety in Bangladesh’s garment factories will continue at full speed.” Moriarty, also country director for the Alliance said that despite these unspeakable tragedies, the Alliance and their member companies will continue to stay the course. The alliance, which includes major brands such as Gap and Walmart, was set up to improve safety standards at Bangladesh’s estimated 4,500 garment factories in the aftermath of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
Amid a slump in the broader industry, the Chinese textile industry has put up a great display at the 17th edition of its annual Textile and Apparel Trade Show in its biggest market, the United States. The exhibition is aimed at reinvigorating the industry, which has seen slowing customer demand over the past several years, the organisers said on Tuesday, the opening day of the three-day event at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, New York. It has been no easy task to ensure the growth and success of this trade show at a time when the international textile industry is experiencing a historic reshaping in terms of supply chains and purchasing power," observed Gao Yong, vice-president of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC). The mega-show is running concurrently at the Javits with other trade shows Texworld USA, Apparel Sourcing and Home Textiles Sourcing. It features more than 800 textile and fabric companies from 20 countries, 569 of which are from China. More than any other market, a high-quality one like the US calls for top suppliers, Gao said adding that Chinese textile suppliers had always paid attention to the demands of their clientele. As labour costs in China grow and many clothing companies shift their workforce to other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh, China's textile exports have declined. However, US is the only country where its textile exports have been steady — there was a 1.5 % increase in exports in 2015 over 2014, according to California Apparel News.
Last year, Chinese textile exports fell for the first time in six years, dropping 5 % to $ 286.8 billion. Exports to the European Union fell 10.6 % year-on-year and to Japan by 12 %. Exports to ASEAN countries fell 1.7 %, according to customs data from China. Nonetheless, US is still China's top textile partner, with those exports accounting for 17.2 % of the country's total exports. The shipments make up 38 % of the US market, Gao said. Zhang Qiyue, China's consul general in New York, said that textiles and apparel particularly reflect the "growing business ties between the US and China". In the period from 2000 to 2015, bilateral textile and apparel trade grew from $ 6.2 billion to $ 48.5 billion, she said. The organisers of the event are China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Specialized Textile and Apparel and Messe Frankfurt.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
The textile industry, one of the oldest industries in Indonesia, is a key industry within Southeast Asia's largest economy as it - being labor intensive - creates employment opportunities for millions of Indonesians. Although, by far, China is the world's top textile producer and exporter, Indonesia cannot be labelled a small player being ranked among the world's top ten largest textile producers. But, Indonesian textile and textile products industry remains under pressure this year as exports of Indonesian textile and textile products are only expected to grow 1 percent to USD $12.3 billion in full-year 2016, below the 3 percent target that was set by the Indonesian Textile Association (API). API Chairman Ade Sudrajat said that the exports in first quarter only reached USD $2.6 billion. Moreover, even on the domestic market Indonesia has trouble to compete with imports of cheap textile and textile products from Vietnam and China. With China's economy facing several problems, including rapidly rising minimum wages, Indonesia could expand its role in the global textile industry. However, Indonesia too is facing problems, including higher minimum wages as well as relatively high energy tariffs. As such, other textile producing nations in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar) are seemingly more successful in taking away some of China's market share on the global stage. More alarmingly, these regional rivals are gaining market share in Indonesia itself where consumers' purchasing power has weakened in recent years and are therefore eager to purchase the cheapest textiles available. Sudrajat said that Indonesian textile producers now control a domestic market share below 30 percent. In fact, during the Idul Fitri holiday, when consumption usually rises, he detected no significant rise in domestic textile sales.
Recently, the Indonesian government cut electricity tariffs for domestic labor intensive industries in an effort to support domestic industries. The textile industry is one of the industries that is considered most-badly affected by the country's economic slowdown after 2011. However, this incentive is yet to have a positive impact on Indonesia's textile industry. It will require much more structural changes in order to boost the domestic textile industry and prevent more bankruptcies as well as mass layoffs. Moreover, for Indonesia it is difficult to compete with Vietnam on markets in Europe and the USA because Indonesia is not engaged in free trade partnerships with these regions. As such, Indonesia's textile exports to Europe are subject to import duties in the range of 11- 30 percent, while Vietnam can export its textile products to the European Union without being charged import duties. This makes Vietnam's products much more competitive.
Currently, as the Indonesia’s domestic fashion industry is still highly dependent on imports, it’s textile industry should diversify and start to offer materials for the nation's flourishing fashion industry. The Indonesian textile industry also needs to seek non-traditional export markets in order to expand its export base. For example Turkey and Iran are countries that could be a new target. Soon, an Indonesian delegation will visit these countries to seek opportunities for Indonesian textile exports.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
Ethiopia opens up a giant industrial park on Wednesday, mainly designed for textile manufacture, garment products and agro industry which is believed to boost exports. The new park is built as part of government plans to expand the industry development which has a crucial role in realizing the country’s dream to be Africa’s leading manufacturing powerhouse.The mega project built by a Chinese company was completed in only 9 months period. Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, speaking at the inaugural ceremony said that the giant park will have significant input in transforming the country’s economy. It will attract foreign direct investments and will have pivotal role in shifting small-scale manufactures into a larger scale. The mega project dubbed as Hawassa Industrial Park is located in Hawassa town some 275 kilometres south of the capital. Built in an area of 1.3 million square meters, involve cost to the tune of $250 million. The Hawassa eco-industrial park has 35 factories equipped with 1 stop service center and has its own renewable electricity sources to avoid power supply problems. The park is implementing Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) which would allow it to recycle 85% of sewerage disposal water and meets international standards. It is learnt that 15 foreign companies from America, China, India and Sri Lanka as well as six local companies have finalized preparations to start operation. A second phase of Hawassa Eco-Industry Park to be built in 120,000 square meters of land will commence in two months time.
Ethiopia had targeted a 15-fold boom in textile and leather exports to $1.5 billion this year but lack of special parks have been constraints. Arkebe Oqubay, Board Chairman of Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, said that the park will create job opportunities for tens of thousands of citizens. The pioneer park will create 60,000 jobs during the just completed phase and 80,000 when expansion project of the park is completed in November. Currently Ethiopia is investing billions of Dollars to build 12 Industrial parks across the country. The construction of Dire-Dawa, Kombolcha and Mekelle industrial parks are already well in progress and are expected to be completed in April. At present, Ethiopia earns USD 110 million per annum from textile sector. However, the Hawassa Industrial Park alone is expected to generate USD 1 billion annually. Ethiopia during the second Growth and Transformation plan (GDP) intends to elevate the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25% from the current 5%.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
At Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles trade show, which kicks off from next month, to help buyers navigate their way through all that is on offer, are a number of pavilions and product zones. This includes the debut Portugal Pavilion featuring high-end bedding products, as well as pavilions from Belgium, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Taiwan and Turkey in the International Area in hall 4.1. Various Chinese regional pavilions will also be seen along with themed halls like Emerging Players in hall 4.2, Glamorous Brands in hall 5.1, Colourful Haining in hall 5.2, Fashionable Yuhang in hall 6.1 and Premium Two-City in hall 6.2. This year's fair also sees a unique cooperation between German fibre and yarn producer Trevira and a number of companies through the Trevira CS Design Challenge. The challenge attempts to answer the question 'How can fabrics make a space a special place?', with textile companies like Jab Anstoetz, Kobefab, Lelièvre, Nya Nordiska, Pascale Gontier, SoFarSoNear taking up the challenge. “Their fabrics will be decorated by an independent designer, and a jury of 10 architects will select three winners,” Messe Frankfurt, the organiser said. “Fair visitors can visit the Trevira CS Design Challenge gallery in Exquisite Europe in hall 4.1 to view the entrants and experience how flame-retardant Trevira CS fabrics add character to a room,” the organiser added. Adding to the wide range available for buyers is a new Green Village sponsored by Lenzing featuring eco-friendly home textile products. The zone will include a number of Lenzing's partner mills who will showcase their products including mattresses, bed linen, duvets, towels and carpets.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Director of the Foreign Economic Affairs Department of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Roman Sobolev took part in a session of the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament. Participants of the session discussed the draft resolution on lifting quotas from Belarusian textile import to the European Union. The draft resolution had been submitted by the European Commission, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA. During the session Belarus' representative informed members of the committee about the development of trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and the European Union and spoke in favor of the draft resolution brought in by the European Commission. Roman Sobolev also held consultations with Jane Amilhat, Deputy Head of the Unit for Russia, CIS, Ukraine, Western Balkan, EFTA, EEA and Turkey in the Directorate for Neighboring Countries, USA and Canada of the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission. The sides discussed matters concerning the launch of the branch-wise dialogue on trade between the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Directorate General for Trade as well as other topical aspects of bilateral trade and economic interaction. Apart from that, Roman Sobolev met with Honorary Consul of Belarus in Ghent Karel Van Hoorebeke and representatives of Belgian business circles, who work with Belarus. The sides discussed assistance with further increasing export to Belgium and the advancement of bilateral business contacts.
SOURCE: The Belarus News
President Obama is attempting to force a vote on his Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal during the upcoming lame duck session, and under the terms of last year’s fast track trade bill, he just might be able to do it. The law requires Congress to consider any trade deal submitted within a defined time period giving the president significant power to dictate a TPP vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has long advocated considering TPP during the lame duck, has recently changed his tune casting doubt on the lame duck strategy as a way to shield his most vulnerable members from the politically toxic trade vote. The recent primary defeat of long-time Virginia incumbent and TPP supporter Randy Forbes to an ardently anti-TPP primary opponent underlines the political dangers of pushing Obama’s massive trade deal. Desperate due to concerns over a potential Donald Trump election, or the loss of an effective majority in the Senate in the next Congress, TPP supporters are waging an increasingly desperate campaign designed to convince GOP members who voted to grant Obama fast track trade authority that they cannot credibly turn around and vote against TPP. They are wrong. Fast track set the rules for a vote, but GOP member after GOP member told opponents of giving the president this power that they would give the TPP a complete and thorough review. They even required that the Obama administration provide an economic analysis of the deal’s impact on the U.S. economy to help with this analysis. While they did so expecting that the report would turbo-charge passage efforts, the actual results are proving to be devastating to supporters.
To help sell the TPP, President Obama has gone to Vietnam and used the cheaper labor provided for Nike and other shoe makers as a key selling point of the deal. Perversely, Obama, speaking beneath a statue of Ho Chi Minh, made the point for the deal’s opponents. Vietnamese textile workers make a mere $100 a month on average to produce shoes for companies like Nike. Their domestic competitor, New Balance, would likely need to close their New England factories to compete, ending the jobs of nine hundred who would not be able to compete with Vietnam’s cheap labor combined with lower tariffs for importing their work. As bad as this visual of turning clothing production over to virtual slave shops at the expense of American workers, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) report provides all the reason needed for anyone looking to vote against TPP. In short, the TPP doesn’t really help the U.S. economy much at all. Specifically, the Obama administration report cited paltry fifteen year benefits amounting to a 0.23 percent increase in annual real income, a 0.15 percent increase in GDP or $42.7 billion and a 0.07 percent uptick in employment or just 128,000 jobs. Remember, that’s over the next decade-and-a-half, this is essentially a rounding error, not an economic benefit. When those selling the benefits of Obama’s trade deal produce shockingly underwhelming projections for future U.S. economic benefits, the words, “bad, bad deal” seriously understate the disaster that is the TPP. One can be anti-TPP and pro-free trade, they are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it would be foolish to put the U.S. economy on the chopping block by passing Obama’s trade deal when the president’s regulatory and tax policies are designed to drive businesses to make things elsewhere by providing the added offshoring economic incentives of reduced tariffs to access our markets. Free trade is not an economic suicide pact, it is an economic concept that should benefit all parties involved. But when done wrong, it is disastrous.
In 1999, the United States entered into a Permanent Normalized Trade Relations (PNTR) agreement with China. The results have been staggering. Since 2000, the U.S. economy has not experienced annual grown of more than 4 percent once, and the past decade has been the worse in terms of economic growth since the Great Depression with not a single year exceeding a meager 3 percent. PNTR failed for the same reason that TPP will fail, it did not include prohibitions on Chinese currency manipulation against the dollar which allows Chinese produced goods to always be less expensive than American goods in both the U.S. and China. The TPP makes the same mistake, by not addressing Japanese currency manipulation as Japan builds up U.S. dollar denominated assets while lowering their tariffs in the hopes of selling a few more American grown fruits and vegetables to the island nation. Dr. Art Laffer argued that the impact of currency manipulation is profound in an oped for Forbes writing, “currency manipulation is a potent tool of mercantilists, tempting nations to increase their trade balances and export domestic unemployment to the countries that are not devaluing, a ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ approach to international economics.” And that is the final, fatal flaw in the Obama negotiated deal. Obama’s failure to deal with currency in spite of numerous entreaties by Congress that TPP incorporate rules to prevent price manipulation guarantees that the deal will have a lopsided impact against U.S. manufactured goods and should be rejected. What’s more, the TPP will allow China to petition to dock into the agreement at a future date, and without these currency manipulation safeguards, it will lock in these systemic disadvantages with little recourse. The question for any GOP member who voted in favor of fast track legislation is no longer how to justify voting against TPP after that vote. Instead it is how anyone could vote for TPP now that its real impact is out in the open. The vote for fast track was about process, the vote on TPP is about substance, and Obama’s trade agreement is the wrong deal at the wrong time and needs to be overwhelmingly repudiated if and when it comes to a vote.
SOURCE: The Fox News
