Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union on Wednesday strongly condemned the statement made in the Assembly by the Minister for Textiles O. S. Manian that there was no exploitation of women workers under Sumangali or any other scheme and that there was no bonded labour in the State. The Minister’s statement was unfortunate, not real and contrary to the pathetic condition prevailing in the textile and spinning mills, said Union General Secretary S. Divya. In a statement, she said that more than two lakh women have been working like bonded labourers in mills in the State and the mills have been exploiting them through various bogus schemes. Middlemen lured girls from rural areas on false promises of marriage assistance and higher education, she charged. Several mills in Dindigul district lured young girls that they would extend financial assistance to help them continue their higher education while working in mills. Many girls joined as mill workers with the aim of pursuing their higher studies. But in reality, they were neither allowed to join any course nor permitted to contact their family members, she alleged. A few months back, two girls were grievously injured when they scaled the wall of a mill in an escape bid unable to tolerate the harassment of mill management. In Karamadai near Coimbatore, six girls were working as camp coolies. PF, ESI bonus and gratuity were not given to them, she added.
Instead of suppressing facts, the government should take concrete steps to curb such practices. Existing monitoring mechanism should be strengthened. Combined efforts of the government, mill management, NGOs and legal experts were necessary to solve this problem. Joint Action Council should be constituted to solve it, appealed Ms. Divya. A recent survey stated that 70,000 out of 92,000 workers in 200 spinning mills in the district were women, 56 per cent of whom were in the age group of 14-18 years. About 7,400 women completed Plus Two, 14,800 SSLC and 36,000 girls dropped out of school after completing sixth and ninth classes.
SOURCE: The Hindu
In less than two months of taking charge in the Textiles Ministry, Smriti Irani is at loggerheads with her most senior bureaucrat Rashmi Verma with even the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stepping in to resolve the differences. She has, sources told The Indian Express, issued more than two dozen notes over the last two days, seeking Textiles Secretary Verma’s response on a range of issues — from the procedural and the administrative to those related to policy. Sources said Irani was, for instance, upset with a file not being sent directly to her but being routed via Verma. Both are also said to have disagreed over certain aspects of the Rs 6,000-crore apparel and textiles package cleared by the Cabinet on June 22 and preparations for a textile summit which was scheduled to be held in October. Irani even had a heated argument with Verma in the presence of other officers, sources added. When contacted, Verma denied any conflict with the minister. Asked about the notes issued by the Minister, she said, “I do not want to comment on this. It is usual communication. She has sought briefing on certain programmes.” Irani did not respond to calls and a text message seeking her comments. Verma, an IAS officer of 1982 Bihar cadre and sister of Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, was appointed Textiles Secretary last December. Irani was moved from HRD and assigned the Textiles portfolio on July 5 as part of the Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A senior government official said that Irani had raised the issue of poor follow-up on the textiles and apparel package by senior officers in the ministry during a recent Cabinet meeting. Following this, the PMO called a meeting with the officials including Verma to understand what was holding up the implementation of the mega package aimed at creating 1 crore new jobs in the sector over three years. The official said that to give effect to the Cabinet decision on the textile package, several notifications were to be issued by other departments including revenue, labour and commerce. “The PMO spoke to the secretaries in these departments as well to expedite the issue of notifications relating to duty drawbacks on textiles products, labour law relaxations, etc,” the official said.
SOURCE: The Indian Express
Welspun has recently launched a range of bedsheets and towels based on the hygro-cotton technology, with innovative features. So, while the bedsheets regulate temperature in the range of three degree celsius, the towels augment absorption and softness with each wash. While speaking to the media, Subrata Pal, head - domestic business, Welspun Global Brands said, "The hygro cotton technology helps us produce towels that grow more fluffy and soft with each wash and turn more absorbent.” “The bedsheets on the other hand control temperature in the range of three degrees plus or minus, wherein keeps it is warm when the external temperature is cold and cools inside when the external temperature is hot," Pal added. Welspun is also aiming a 25 per cent share in sales to come from its domestic home textiles business by 2020 as against the current 5 per cent, driven by product innovation, organic and inorganic growth. Pal also shared the possibility of launching its UK based brands Kingsley and Christy to India in the near future, besides acquiring other brands.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
The Indian Cotton Federation is organizing a two-day conference on “Indian Cotton Scenario in the Current Context 2016-2017” on August 19 and 20 at Coimbatore as the Indian cotton sector needs a comprehensive study on challenges, requirements, and scope to increase production. About 400 people, including cotton ginners, traders, textile industry representatives, and brokers are expected to participate at the conference. They will deliberate on cotton area, demand, supply and price situations, and sustainable management practices. The two-day programme will have panel discussions for ginners, brokers, and spinners. Talks will be on cotton textile eco-system, global scenario, hedging, arbitration, challenges in cotton production, modern trends in spinning, and funding cotton purchase. The association members plan to submit their suggestions to the Union Textile Minister after the meeting. President of Indian Cotton Federation J. Thulasidharan said on Tuesday that action can be taken to increase productivity, control price volatility, ensure attractive prices to farmers, and streamline exports and imports only when all the stakeholders are consulted and a comprehensive study of the sector is done. Vice-president of the association P. Nataraj added that the Central Government should come out with an export policy for cotton. Based on the estimates of the Cotton Advisory Board, the Government should take decisions on exports. In the current season, Pakistan had been a major importer of Indian cotton. Over 60 lakh bales were exported so far to different countries this year.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
The oil sector has been a double blessing for the economy and the government. The prolonged run of subdued international crude prices has not only saved the Centre precious foreign exchange but also solved the issues of under-recoveries and subsidies that have haunted previous governments. Now, the oil sector is proving a revenue gusher, too, with petroleum products accounting for two of every three rupees collected as excise. Of the net central excise collection of ₹91,491 crore during April-June of the current fiscal, as much as ₹60,796.25 crore came from petroleum products, with the remaining ₹30,695 crore coming from other products. And if this trend continues, the overall excise collection for the full fiscal could exceed the 2015-16 figure of ₹2,86,382 crore. For 2016-17, the Budget has targeted central excise duty (exclusive of cess administered by other departments) mop-up of ₹3,17,000 crore. “The contribution of petroleum products to excise duty collections has always been significant,” said an official, noting that excise duty receipts in the past 30 months have risen in part due to the additional levies. In fact, aided by the higher receipts from petroleum, oil and lubricants, central excise duty collections registered the sharpest rise under the indirect taxes head in July.
Apart from a basic excise duty on most petroleum products, the Centre also levies a special additional excise duty ₹6 per litre on petrol and diesel. It also hiked the additional excise duty to ₹6 per litre on both fuels. A part of the duty hikes, done in several phases, was on the back of the lower global crude oil prices. This helped the government meet its commitment to boost public spending as also make payments of arrears and revised salaries while trying to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent in 2016-17. “The additional excise duty on petrol and diesel is a road cess and it is used for the clearly specified purpose of highway and rural road construction,” said another Finance Ministry official. The government has collected ₹17,692 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal from the road cess. On August 16, the Indian crude basket was $46.51. The government has indicated that it will not roll back the levies unless oil prices increase dramatically.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The Shipping Ministry’s plans to review provisions governing cabotage has sent alarm bells among domestic companies and ports. Major ports such as JNPT have written to the Ministry expressing apprehensions. Cabotage is the right of Indian ships to carry cargo on the national coast by paying local taxes and employing Indian seafarers. Under the present provisions, only ships registered in India can provide their services on the coastal shipping route. However, foreign companies have been lobbying with Modi government for relaxing the law to so that they can operate along India’s coast. A recent study by Shipping Ministry has shown that coastal shipping could carry about 230-280 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of coal, cement, iron and steel, food grains, fertilisers, petroleum, oil and lubricants, which could save ₹21,000-27,000 crore by 2025. However, the Indian National Shipowners’ Association’s CEO, Anil Devli, told BusinessLine that due to the addition of new container ships by Indian companies about 1.25 lakh TEUs is going empty. Cabotage relaxation will further impact the business. Indian container fleet has increased 36 per cent over the past six months as eight new ships were added to the fleet at a $40-million investment. “Believing in the country’s growth potential, a number of companies have made investments. They run competitive and seaworthy ships but they face the problem of high cost of capital,” Devli said.
Advantage foreign firms
Indian companies borrow at 12-14 per cent and the debt has a tenure of about seven years while foreign companies borrow from 0 to 2 per cent for a period of 10-12 years. Therefore the per day repayment cost for Indian companies is much higher. Such a skewed borrowing cost makes services of foreign ships in coastal waters much more competitive that Indian-registered ships, he said. He pointed that in terms of fuel too, there is a cost advantage for the foreign ships. Foreign ships get fuel at cheaper prices in overseas ports while Indian ships pay 17-20 per cent higher cost for fuel in Indian waters. The cabotage revision plan also has the JNPT management very worried, Deputy Chairman of JNPT, Neeraj Bansal, told media persons at a shipping event last week. JNPT has expressed its reservations to the Shipping Ministry, he added. Changes in the law could lead to shifting of cargo from one port to another. Indian shipping companies should be given a maturity period before opening the sector fully. JNPT is a hub port and these of kind of changes could have an impact, he said.
On the other hand, foreign companies welcome the review of cabotage provisions. Franck Dedenis, MD of India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Cluster, Maersk Line, in an email response said that easing the cabotage regulation is the right thing to do for India as it would mean a cheaper, smoother and more robust supply chain benefiting both exporters and importers while improving the carbon footprint. Indeed, a relaxed Cabotage regulation would help India develop its coastal shipments and attract more containerised cargo on its ports, he added. Dedenis said that by easing its Cabotage regulations, India could attract more containerised cargo by reducing time and cost for mainline vessels that now transship containers at neighbouring hub ports. It would eventually help India in building a successful transshipment hub. He pointed that often there is a misunderstanding that global shipping lines want a relaxation of cabotage rules in India so that they can tap into the domestic or coastal cargo. “However, we want transshipments of loaded exim units and empty units that are being taken elsewhere to come to India so that we can have efficiencies of scale and work on a hub and spoke model wherein bigger vessels can come and transship in India and go to other ports,” he said.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The rupee has been stuck in a narrow range of 66.65-67 since the beginning of this month. The currency has closed almost flat for the week at 66.76 on Tuesday. The currency market was closed on Monday on account of a public holiday. In the absence of any fresh triggers on the global and domestic fronts, the rupee may continue to remain within this range for some more time. The Reserve Bank of India last week left the rates unchanged. Higher inflation numbers that were released after the RBI meeting has reduced hopes of another rate cut by the RBI in its next meet. Consumer Price Index-based inflation rose to 6.07 per cent in July from 5.77 per cent in June. On the other hand, the Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has almost doubled to 3.55 per cent in July from 1.62 per cent in the previous month.
Weak US dollar has aided in limiting the downside in the rupee and has prevented it from falling below 67 over the last few weeks. But, at the same time, it has not helped in strengthening the domestic currency to a greater extent. This is worrisome as it leaves a strong likelihood of the rupee falling sharply in case the dollar turns stronger in the coming days. So, the dollar index will need a close watch that may give a cue to the next move of the rupee. The dollar index (94.93) is trying to bounce from its low of 94.42 after falling about a per cent in the first two days of the week. On the charts, the index has a key trend line support near 94.3. If this support holds and the index reverses higher sharply, the chances of it rising again to 96 or even 96.5 levels cannot be ruled out. In such a scenario, the rupee may come under pressure to break and fall below 67. On the other hand, if the dollar index declines below 94.3, it can fall to 94 initially. Further break below 94 can drag it to 93.5. In the near-term, the rupee can continue to trade range-bound between 66.65 and 67. A breakout on either side of this range will decide the short-term trend. If the rupee manages to break above 66.65, it can move up to 66.50 initially. A further break above 66.50 can take the currency to 66.3 or even 66.15 thereafter in the short term. On the other hand, if the rupee breaks below the current range, it can fall to 67.2 immediately. A further break below 67.2 can drag it to 67.5, which is an important short-term support for the currency. Inability to break below 67.5 can trigger a corrective rise to 67.2 and 67. But a break and a decisive close below 67.5 can bring renewed pressure on the rupee. In such a scenario, the rupee will be in danger of falling to 68 and 68.5.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The relationship between India and Pakistan may not be in the best of shape these days but this has not prevented the neighbour from turning the biggest buyer of home-grown cotton. Pakistan has emerged as the largest buyer of Indian cotton purchasing about 25 lakh bales (a bale is 170 kgs) which is about 40% of the shipments of the fibre from the country so far in the 2015-16 season, (October-September), trade and industry officials said. The country has so far exported about 65 lakh bales of cotton in the 201516 season. "Pakistan has turned a huge importer of our cotton. This has created a big impact," said J Thulasidharan, president, Indian Cotton Federation (ICF). " est attacks in Pakistan has resulted in a huge fall in production. So they imported cotton from India," said Atul J Asher, secretary, ICF.
Cotton production in Pakistan is estimated to have fallen by 35% to around 97 lakh bales in 2015-16 season. Pakistan usually imports about 12 lakh bales of cotton a year. India is the largest producer of cotton in the world with the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) pegging production for the 2015-16 season at 338 lakh bales. While Pakistan imported most of its cotton from India when prices were ruling at around Rs 34000 per candy, textile mills are buying cotton from Africa and Australia at a much higher price, industry officials said. With domestic cotton prices ruling higher than international prices, textile mills in the region, who were buying the commodity from Africa, have started importing cotton from Australia. While the cost of home-grown cotton is about Rs 50000 per candy, Australian cotton is available at around Rs 48000 per candy, officials said. A leading textile mill in the region imported about 50000 bales of Australian cotton recently. "We are importing Australian cotton as West African cotton is no longer available. The quality of Australian cotton is also quite good," senior industry officials said. Mills started buying West African cotton as costs were lower. Two leading textile mills in south India — each of them bought about 2 lakh bales of West African cotton in April-June.
High prices in the domestic market has pushed up cotton imports in the 2015-16 season. While CAB, which comprises representatives of the textile industry, trade, ginners and government officials, had projected imports of around 15 lakh bales during 2015-16, trade and industry officials said that imports have already crossed 20 lakh bales. Imports stood at around 14.5 lakh bales during 2014-15. China, the largest buyer of cotton from India in the past, reduced its imports significantly after it accumulated huge stocks as reserves. China imported around 80 lakh bales of cotton from India in 2013-14 season. But cotton exports to China plunged by over 50% in 2014-15. India exported about 58 lakh bales of cotton in 2014-15.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
Malaysian textile and apparel exports see rise by 10 percent in the first half of 2016 from RM6.33 billion to RM6.99 billion a year ago. The demand for textile and apparels is expected to increase further to US$160 billion (RRM641.2 billion) at the end of 2018, said Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan. The surge is driven by increasing global demand for high quality textile and clothing from Malaysia, as well as rising purchasing power in major importing countries, namely the US, European Union countries, and Canada. With Asia being a major source of imports from the US and EU nations, the global demand in terms of volume is expected to reach 30 million tonnes by 2018. According to Ahmad, 970 garment and textile factories were registered with the ministry, of which over 400 are into making ready-made garments, 80 (thread) and 108 (knitted fabric). The Malaysian Textiles and Apparel Sector includes products such as man-made fibers, yarn, knit and woven fabric, non-wovens, industrial and advanced textile materials, knit and woven apparel, carpets and rugs, and home furnishing products. Moreover, with the new TPP market, Malaysia will eliminate import taxes on 79.2% of U.S. textiles and apparel exports immediately. Malaysian textile industry started with the emergence of weaving mills producing grey cotton fabrics few decades ago and today, the industry covers a broad range of activities from spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and printing, silk screen to embroidery. Today, Malaysia is recognized for quality, reliability and prompt delivery of a myriad and ever changing range of fashionable apparel and textile items.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
China is well on its way to becoming a big cotton importer after it unloads a huge state surplus of an estimated 52 million bales, believes Joe Nicosia, the senior head of cotton and merchandizing for Louis Dreyfus Commodities in Memphis as there is a dramatic decline in the cotton acreage contraction in China which has been one of the most remarkable developments seen in recent years. Nicosia, speaking at the annual Cotton Roundtable, held at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City said that eight years ago, China was growing over 15.3 million acres of cotton. This year, it’s only going to plant 7.2 million acres. Even more remarkable is that China had dropped to 10.9 million acres a couple of years ago while the state reserve was still guaranteeing $1.20 a pound for their cotton growers. Most of the losses in Chinese acres have been in their interior provinces, where farmers are planting less intensive crops such as corn. Nicosia believes the losses in acreage are permanent. It is unlikely that they will see much of this area ever come back to cotton. This has major implications for the market down the road, as China is the world’s largest cotton consumer. With China’s production output at a deficit to its consumption, China’s cotton stocks are being worked down at a rapid rate, Nicosia said. In two or three years, they could see China become an importer of 15 million bales again per year.
According to USDA, China is expected to produce around 22 million bales this marketing year and consume around 35 million bales, creating a deficit of around 13 million bales. Most of this will be met with cotton from its reserve, although China will import about 4.5 million bales, Nicosia said. The downside to the long-term outlook is that since 2007, cotton demand has continued to suffer headwinds, mainly due to fashion trends favoring products made from manmade fibers. Polyester is at a strong price advantage to cotton in China, which is still the largest supplier of textile products to the world. Polyester costs half as much as cotton to a Chinese mill. China has an advantage to making and selling these products and people currently want to buy them. This is one of the reasons why cotton’s share has continued to struggle. According to Nicosia, the biggest changes have been in women’s fashion. Women’s leggings, yoga pants and tights are just about as common as jeans now. Similar trends have been occurring in women’s shirts. Ten years ago, the United States imported 2.8 million women’s cotton knit shirts. Today they are importing 2.1 million, a 25 percent reduction in cotton imports for women’s tops.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
At a press conference, US ambassador to Bangladesh, Marcia Bernicat said the US wants to increase import of apparels and other products from Bangladesh. The press conference was held following a meeting with office bearers of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA). At the meeting held at the BGMEA headquarters, Marcia Bernicat discussed various apparel industry issues including Bangladesh's export potential in the US market and remediation finance. “The US is the second largest market for Bangladesh's clothing products after the European Union and will source more apparel's from the country,” the ambassador said. She was allaying fears after the terrorist attack last month on a Dhaka café, which left 22 people dead, mostly foreigners. “We have not asked our citizens to stop travelling Bangladesh, but have called for maintaining cautiousness during travel,” Bernicat told media persons. “The US buys more Bangladeshi garment products than any other country in the world, which increased 7.55 per cent to about $6.2 billion in 2015,” she informed. “Since we are committed, we have encouraged all US businesses to come here and continue doing their business here,” the ambassador stated.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
D&Y Textile (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of a China-based textile group, whose current export sales stands at about RM220 million, which only consists of yarns is aiming to achieve export sales target of RM1 billion in the financial year ending Dec 31, 2019. Director/General Manager Steven Cheng after visiting the company’s new plant, as the largest textile enterprise set up with an investment worth US$200 million at Sedenak Industrial Park in Kulai, Johor yesterday said that their sales would be driven by the second and third phases of the company’s factory operation in the next two years. With the second and third phases, they hope to increase it to RM1 billion. Also visiting the factory was International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan. Cheng said that the second phase of expansion would see an increase in yarn spindles from the current 1,000 to 1,200 by end-2017. At present, they are also producing about 1,500 to 1,600 tonnes cotton yarns monthly, which translates into a total production of 20 million kilograms of yarns annually. With additional capacity, they hope to increase production by 20 percent more. The third phase, company is looking at initially producing jeans under its label, as well as contract manufacturing. This phase is expected to be completed by mid-2018. For second and third phases, the company will be investing RM500 million. For the first, they invested about RM300 million. The new textile facility will house 200,000 spindles and bring advanced textile technologies into Malaysia. All products manufactured at the Malaysian facility would be meant for exports, which are estimated to fetch about US$ 350 million in annual foreign exchange for Malaysia.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
The Turkish Cooperation and Co-ordination Agency (TIKA) has offered the latest machinery and equipment for the apparel centre at the Government Institute of Emerging Technologies in Pakistan. TIKA experts will provide two months training to students as well as to Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) teachers on the equipment which is worth Rs 110 million. According to chairperson of TEVTA Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, pass-outs from this state-of-the-art garment centre will be able to get jobs easily in any part of the country. Head of the Turkish delegation Hulya Kirmizigul said 11 TEVTA trainers have been given 15 days skilled training in various industries in Turkey.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
In the second Growth and Transformation Plan, the country is working tirelessly to boost various industries that support the journey to industrialization. For several years, a lot of cloths that are usually displayed in a number of textile shops are mostly imported products. They are often transported into the country on the expense of huge amount of money. Unlike the previous trend, it seems that Ethiopia has become aware of the existing potential that enables it to produce the products on its own instead of simply producing them. Realizing the benefits, the nation has begun investing in the textile industry. Accordingly, in the second Growth and Transformation Plan, the country is working tirelessly to boost various industries that support the journey to industrialization. The country's suitable climate is also very supportive for animal fiber and cotton production which are believed to be significant ingredients in the textile industry. On the other hand, the plenty of young human resource will assist every engagement in the sector. The nation's commitment to encompass industrial villages seems to be appropriate decision. Recently, in addition to the Bole Industry Village, similar industry village has been marked in Hawassa. Furthermore, simultaneously the construction of extra industrial villages (parks) is underway throughout the country.
Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) construction has costed more than 5 billion Birr. The expansion of such huge industrial park is the indication of the nation's progress to the industrialization. Since the nation has high potential in the sector, the nation has big chance to meet the demands of various customers. Development in the sector also necessitates the importation of modern technological equipment and transfer of knowledge so as to strengthen the production and productivity. Moreover it paves the way for experience sharing and training from the world textile partners. However, if the country could not compete on the world market, it would be a great loss. Because competing on the international market is not a preference rather it is an obligation, according to Fasil Tadesse, Managing Director of Kebire Enterprise and African Cotton, Garment and Textiles Federation Board and Ethiopian Textile Industries Associations President.
According to him, expanding industry villages has a number of benefits including attracting various companies, involving competent national organizations and accelerating the sector's business throughout the country and the world. Nowadays, the nation is on the right track through direct foreign exchange. The world giant garment industry companies are coming to Ethiopia. Therefore, the coming of these companies might be followed by other small but critical companies that are producing string, button and other similar bolstering textile materials. This could help the nation to reduce the import cost by producing these materials at home.
On the other hand, the situation facilitates the opportunity for technological transformation. Indigenous garment fabrics will share important experience from their foreign business partners. The training opportunity will also be managed. Other foreign based Ethiopian garment industries also will come back to use the opportunity. This shows the significance of the expansion of industrial zones. Fasil believes that simply constructing industrial villages could not be a change, it needs the involvement of sector factories and companies. Especially, the participation of indigenous textile companies will play a significant role in building nation's capacity through enabling national producers to look for their nation brand. On the other hand, the participation of the indigenous factories is important scheme to safe the sector from the influence of fluctuation of foreign companies. Here, the role of the government is vital to encourage national companies to engage in the sphere whether the foreign companies are engaged or not.
Noticing the experience of Bangladesh's textile firm, Fasil explained that over 80 percent of companies in the Bangladesh textile industry village are national companies. These could be happen for the reason that their government has been making notable encouragements for national companies by facilitating financial and material subsidies. It also provided useful training for the companies. Ethiopian government should learn from this. Fasil also noticed that in Ethiopia there are two main problems in the garment industry sphere. The first one is that most of the individuals who have the training and knowledge of the sector have no the capital to spent for it. Contrary to this, those who have not the understanding and educational background owned the capital. Moreover, the main problem is lack of mediation to coordinate these crucial business partners to work together so that they would be profitable in the textile industry.
SOURCE: The All Africa
