INTERNATIONAL
If all goes well, Surat will have a state-of-the-art textile processing cluster with enhanced common effluent treatment plant (CETP) in Pinjrat village near Olpad. A delegation led by Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) met chief minister Vijay Rupani with the demand for 50 lakh sq m land at Pinjrat for the cluster. The existing industrial areas housing textile processing mills including Pandesara, Sachin and Palsana have less space for expansion of the units and the capacity of the CETPs has also reduced. The existing CETPs are not getting permission from the environment ministry and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) for expansion due release the treated water in rivers and rivulets.
SGCCI president B C Agarwal told TOI, "The CM was quite impressed with our plan for the cluster. This will not only reduce air pollution in the city but also reduce the water requirement from Tapi. " An SGCCI team will visit Gandhinagar on October 10 and give a detailed presentation to chief secretary J N Singh on the project. The total cost for the cluster is pegged at Rs 800 crore of which SGCCI is eyeing 50 per cent central grant and 25 per cent from the state government. Sources said the new cluster will house 100 textile dyeing and printing mills. At present, there are around 400 textile processing centres in Surat and Palsana. Only 5 per cent of these units make finished fabrics required for the garmenting sector, while others are manufacturing fabrics for saris and dress material, home textiles, etc.
SOURCE: The Times of India
A pan-India textile industry delegation has urged Union textiles minister Smriti Irani to announce cotton fibre security policy by extending a low cost working capital fund. The policy should also ensure adequate stock to use ratio of cotton to have a level playing field in the globalised environment. India's current stock to use ratio is 12-15 per cent. The 19-member delegation, which met the Union minister, was led by Tamil Nadu BJP general secretary Vanathi Srinivasan and The Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) chairman M Senthilkumar. It included representatives from Northern India Textile Mills' Association (NITMA), Rajasthan Textile Mills' Association (RTMA), Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association (TASMA), South India Spinners' Association (SISPA), Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA), Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL), Andhra Pradesh Spinning Mills Association, All India Spinning Mills Association, Tamil Nadu Open End Spinning Mills Association, and All Gujarat Spinners' Association.
The predominantly cotton based Indian textile industry has been facing acute crisis during the last eight years due to high volatility in cotton prices especially during off season starting from May to September. Though the cotton year is October to September, more than 80 per cent of the cotton arrives in the market during November to March. Due to financial constraints and three months credit limit facility extended by the banks, spinning mills are forced to procure high cost cotton for at least five months, the delegation apprised the minister. The joint memorandum submitted on the basis of collective decision taken by 26 textile associations across the value chain in the country, insisted the government to direct Cotton Corporation of India to procure 70 to 80 lakh bales of cotton during peak season when the Indian cotton price rules lower than the international price, retain cotton as buffer stock and sell this quantity only to the actual users during May to September.
Senthilkumar said that cotton fibre security is very essential as more than 80 per cent of the textile manufacturing units are in the MSME category which provides 35 million jobs directly. He stated that the cotton price which was Rs 33,000 per candy of 355 kg reached almost Rs 50,000 per candy during July 2016 thus increasing the clean cotton price up to Rs 65 per kg while the yarn price increased only by Rs 20 to Rs 30 per kg, thus making the spinning mills to incur Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg loss during the last three months. This has caused several hundreds of mills to cut down production by 20-35 per cent throwing lakhs of people out of jobs. Downstream sectors such as handlooms, powerlooms and apparel also incurred huge losses and there was a decline in the export of cotton textiles. SIMA chairman appealed to the Centre to ensure adequate stock-to-use ratio of 25 per cent, which is currently 12 to 15 per cent in India as against world average of 91 per cent including China and 54 per cent excluding China.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Nandan Denim Ltd, denim fabric maker in India aims to raise Rs 100 crore ($15 million) through an issue of warrants to foreign investors to fund its expansion. Apart from expansion, the funds will also be used for investment in proposed subsidiaries, meeting long-term working capital requirement and improving capital structure, among others, the company said in a stock market disclosure. "Over the years, the magnitude of the operations of the company has increased manifold. To fast track (its) strategic vision, the company requires the infusion of additional funds," said Deepak Chiripal, CEO of Nandan Denim. The company is planning to issue 50 lakh convertible warrants on a preferential basis to foreign investors at Rs 200 each including a premium of Rs 190.
Existing portfolio investors of the company -- LTS Investment Fund Ltd and LGOF Global Opportunities Ltd -- will be investing. The company will be issuing 25 lakh warrants to them. This will be the second warrant issue by Nandan Denim Ltd. Last year, the company had issued 25 lakh convertible warrants to an FII, namely Polus Global Fund which has been converted into equity shares at Rs 200 per share upon receipt of Rs 50 crore towards the consideration. The company has also proposed to increase the aggregate limit for holding shares by the FIIs/FPIs from 24% to 49%. FII and FPI held 11.02% in the company while promoter group holding was at 58.27%, as of June 2016. Post issue of the 50 lakh warrants, the holding of FII and FPIs will increase to 19.70% and promoter holding will decrease to 52.78%.
Nandan Denim's revenue increased to Rs 300.50 crore in the quarter ended June 30 against Rs 280.51 crore in the same period last year. Its net profit rose marginally to Rs 15.97 crore in the last quarter from Rs 15.61 crore in the year-ago period. The company is part of the diversified conglomerate Chiripal Group, which was established in 1972. The group is engaged in businesses including textiles, chemicals, packaging, infrastructure and education. Nandan Denim, which is headquartered in Ahmedabad, expanded its capacity from 6 million meters per annum (mmpa) to 110 mmpa over the last 12 years, the company said.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
Notwithstanding rising tensions between India and Pakistan, trade through the Attari-Wagah land route remained unaffected with more than 180 goods trucks moving across for the second day today after Army’s surgical strikes across the LoC. Amritsar Customs Commissioner Captain Sanjay Gahlot told PTI today they have “not witnessed any reduction in number of trucks”. “The trade (through Attari-Wagah route) continues to remain normal. There is no indication (of any adverse impact on trade),” he said. Customs officials said 63 trucks with tomatoes crossed over to Pakistan through the land route while 123 with dry dates, gypsum, cement, aluminum ore, salt etc moved into the Indian territory. “The number of trucks crossing over to India from Pakistan is likely to go up in the evening,” another Customs official said. Yesterday, 170 trucks from Pakistan brought goods to India while more than 50 went to the neighbouring country.
Pakistan imports vegetables including tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices, cotton yarn etc while India imports cement, gypsum and dry fruits via the Attari-Wagah land route. Meanwhile, Punjab traders dealing with imports and exports with Pakistan through the land route in Amritsar welcomed the Indian Army’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control. “The action taken by the Indian army was necessary to give befitting reply to Pakistan for the Uri terror attack,” said President of Federation of Dry Fruit and Karyana Commercial Association, Anil Mehra. “It is Pakistan which will be hit the most if trade ties between two nations are snapped. For us country comes first and then comes trade,” said Mehra. Pakistan allows import of 137 items from India through Attari-Wagah.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
A major economic summit will likely be held in India within the next two months to attract investment from across the globe for the strategic Chabahar port in Iran which would give India access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan, Afghan Ambassador to New Delhi said.
Referring to the meeting between Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi and Afghanistan’s Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Mohamadullah Batash on Wednesday, Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said its purpose was to expedite the implementation of the Chabahar transit and trade agreement and there were some “very good decisions” taken within that framework. “We are going to address some of the technical issues involved in the Chabahar agreement and within the next two months we will — in India or Iran, but more likely India — call a major economic summit where all the industries will participate from India, Afghanistan, Iran and from beyond,” the Abdali told reporters here at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia.
Abdali said the ministers met in order to deal with the technical issues that are still left to be addressed and the decision was made that India, Afghanistan and Iran will have a secretariat each to deal with those. “Within a month, the three secretariats will meet again and we will have a technical team sitting again before the major summit that we have. All issues pending will be resolved. Procedures for others to invest will be made clear. We will be fully ready for foreign investers…to start business,” he said. Abdali’s remarks came after Gadkari, following the meeting on Wednesday had said India, Iran and Afghanistan are keen on expediting the tripartite transit agreement on Chabahar port, which will give India access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. Abdali, while talking about the ambitious project, said, “Our purpose is not to concentrate on the three countries’ business and economic relations but to involve and engage all other neighbours, especially the neighbours in Central Asia and South Asia.” “We would like to give this a much more expansion beyond these countries. We need more investments for the Chabahar port and we need international investments. We hope that the major summit that will be called (possibly) in Delhi will have participation from many countries in the region and around the world to attract more investment to the Chabahar port,” Abdali said.
Expressing optimism, the Afghan envoy said the conference will be a “major step forward” to making Chabahar agreement a “grand success” for the use of many countries in the region. “Of course, the three countries will be the biggest beneficiaries, but others will be stakeholders as well in terms of the outcome of the Chabahar agreement. But let me emphasise that the Chabahar agreement… we would like (it) to act as a complementing transit route… for the benefit of everyone,” Abdali said. A “milestone” pact on the strategic Chabahar port in southern Iran was signed in May this year. Besides the bilateral pact to develop the Chabahar port, in which India will invest USD 500 million, a trilateral Agreement on Transport and Transit Corridor was also signed by India, Afghanistan and Iran.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
India may examine a proposal from Iran to develop airport at its strategic Chabahar port as part of comprehensive infrastructure development that includes rail-road connectivity to the port. The Chabahar port in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich nation’s southern coast lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western coast bypassing Pakistan. “There is already an operational airport at Chabahar. The Iranian delegation to India has asked us whether India would be willing to develop and modernise it during the review on the latest development and situation on the bilateral pact… on the Chabahar port,” an official told PTI.
Apart from discussions on expanding scope of cooperation to cover development of the entire Chabahar port, it was discussed that air transport could be of much significance, the official disclosed. The high-level Iranian delegation led by Minister of Roads and Urban Development Dr Abbas Akhoundi and comprising Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari and Deputy Minister and MD for PMO Mohammad Saeid Nejad, among others, held a meeting with Indian authorities led by Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari here.
The official said Chabahar has an operational airport and the Iranian minister enquired whether India would be willing to modernise it. After meeting the Iranian team and a delegation from Afghanistan, Gadkari hoped that Chabahar project will open a new gateway for development of India, Iran and Afghanistan by boosting regional connectivity and trade. He said further, “We will try to complete the project within the time schedule. We are also finding out what are new things for which we will have opportunity for development and investment. The Iranian minister has given lots of innovative suggestions regarding business development.” A “milestone” pact on the strategic Chabahar port in southern Iran that will provide India access to Afghanistan and Europe bypassing Pakistan was signed by India and Iran in May this year after detailed discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Besides the bilateral agreement to develop the Chabahar port, for which India has committed USD 500 million, a trilateral agreement on transport and transit corridor was signed by India, Afghanistan and Iran, which Prime Minister Modi has said could “alter the course of the history of the region”.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that the Government is working on a target date of 1st April, 2017 for the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country. He said that till 16th September, 2017, that is one year after the provisions of the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016 being brought into force, the Constitution empowers the Central Government to levy excise duty on manufacturing; and service tax on the supply of services. The Finance Minister said that similarly the Constitution Amendment Act empowers the State Governments to levy sales tax or Value Added Tax (VAT) on the sale of goods till that time i.e. 16th September, 2016. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that so far the Government is following the road map for implementation of GST as per the schedule. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was making his Opening Remarks at the Fourth Meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Finance held here today. The subject of today’s Meeting was the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further said that the First Meeting of the GST Council was held in a very cordial and constructive environment earlier this month and today, he will hold the Second Meeting of the GST Council. In the GST regime, the GST Council has been created under Article 279A of the Constitution. The GST Council is a joint forum of the Centre and the States. The Council will take decisions on important issues like tax rates, exemption list and threshold limits etc.
Thereafter, the Members of Consultative Committee who participated in today’s Meeting sought various clarifications with regard to GST Law and gave suggestions for its better implementation. Some of the major suggestions include need for absolute clarity and transparency with regard to where taxes will be collected, assessed and where the appeal will be filed in case of GST regime. The members said that it will be challenging task to tackle complex situation arising-out of implementation of GST law in a federal system. Some of the members suggested there is a need for launching a large scale Awareness Campaign especially for the small traders as most of them are still unaware about the complex procedures and processes under GST regime including for registration and filing of returns etc. Some of the members suggested that availability of IT network in all parts of the country, especially in small towns and rural areas, must be ensured as GST system will work only online. Some of the members appreciated the initiative of the Government in getting the GST law passed by both the Houses of Parliament as well as its commitment to implement it in a time bound manner. The members hoped that this law will bring relief to the common man by exempting certain essential items from GST and moderate rate of taxation on other items which in turn will bring down the prices of common man consumption items as well as cost of living at large.
Along with the Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Finance, the Members of the Consultative Committee who participated in the today’s Meeting include Shri Baijayanta Jai Panda, Shri Dilip Kumar Mansukhlal Gandhi, Shri Kailkesh Narayan Singh Deo, Shri Prabhatsinh Chauhan, Shri Ram Charitra Nishad, Shri Subhash Chandra Baheria and Shri Suresh Chanabassappa Angadi (all members of Lok Sabha); Shri Anil Desai, Shri Digvijaya Singh, Shri Rajkumar Doot and Shri Satish Chandra Misra (all members of Rajya Sabha). Among the officers who attended the Consultative Committee Meeting include Shri Ashok Lavasa, Finance Secretary, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, DEA, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary, Ms. Anjuly Chib Dugal, Secretary, Financial Services, Shri Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Secretary, DIPAM, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA), Chairman, CBEC Shri Najib Shah and other senior officers of the Ministry of Finance.
SOURCE :PIB
In a major incentive to India Inc, the Centre has decided to continue with area-based excise duty exemptions provided to the North-East and hill States when the goods and services tax (GST) regime kicks in from April 1, 2017. However, these will be provided as refunds, not as exemptions. “It was agreed that there would be levy of tax on all exempted entities under GST. The Centre or the State that gets the tax will then reimburse it to the exempted entity,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the second meeting of the GST Council here on Friday. Jaitley said the States will now decide on the specific industrial exemptions they wish to continue. The exact details on whether all the exemptions will be grandfathered or refunded will be worked out, he said.
Reimbursement of taxes
The issue of reimbursement of taxes by the Centre also needs to be examined as 48 per cent of the tax from the Centre’s kitty goes to States under the devolution formula, Jaitley said. While the Finance Minister stressed that all decisions by the Council are being taken through discussions and not by voting, States have called for a re-examination of the control over service tax assessees. Though it was decided at the last meeting of the Council that all 11 lakh service tax assessees will be under the administration of the Centre, the States have now asked how restaurants, software contracts and deemed exports will be treated. “The question is what happens in cases where there is taxation of both goods and services,” explained Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia. Jaitley said the issue will now be examined by a group of officials and a formulation worked out. The GST Council also approved the draft rules for returns, registration, payment and invoices. These will be notified immediately after the model GST laws are enacted. The Council, however, did not take up the pending issue for calculation of the annual increase in revenue that would be used for projecting the compensation to the States. “It will be taken up in the next round of discussions,” said Jaitley. The GST Council will meet next on October 18-20, when the rates for the tax are on the agenda. The Minister expressed the hope that the rates and the draft GST laws would be finalised by November 22 .
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
India is embarking on significant reforms and will grow at more than 7 per cent, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has said. “China is rightly rebalancing from manufacturing to services, from investment to consumption, and from exports to domestic services – which should produce a more sustainable, albeit slower growing economic model. Even so, it will continue to grow at a robust rate of about 6 per cent.” “So too will India, which is also embarking on significant reforms, at more than 7 per cent,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) quoted Lagarde as saying at an event in Northwestern University, US. She said the world has changed fast over the past 20 years and it will not stand still. “In the emerging and developing countries – home to 85 per cent of the world’s population – we have seen more progress for more people than at any time in history: child mortality is down, life expectancy is up, absolute poverty has declined, school enrollment is on the rise,” she said.
Recently, Asian Development Bank also said India’s economy will remain on a strong growth path this fiscal and clock a growth of 7.4 per cent, aided by implementation of key structural reforms, robust consumer demand and higher agricultural output driven by a good monsoon. India recently adopted structural reforms to attract more foreign direct investment and passed a legislation to allow a national tax that will create a more integrated and productive economy. The government intends to implement the goods and services tax (GST) from April 1, 2017.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.17 billion to reach $370.77 billion during the week ended September 23, aided by a rise in foreign currency assets, according to data released on Friday by the Reserve Bank of India. Forex reserves had dropped by $1.68 billion to $369.60 billion in the previous week ended September 16. Foreign currency assets (FCAs), which constitute a significant chunk of the overall forex reserves, rose $1.17 billion to $345.24 billion during the reporting week, data from the RBI showed. FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, account for fluctuations in non-US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen, which are held in the reserves. Gold reserves remained unchanged at $21.64 billion over the week. India’s special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund fell by $1 million to $1.49 billion. The reserve position fell by $1.4 million to $2.39 billion, according to the central bank.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
The Pakistani business community, which was hoping for normalised relations with India, feels disappointed after India said it conducted surgical strikes on terrorists in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The businessmen of Pakistan were keen on having cordial relationship between the countries and in the past had often gone against the advice of many government officials, top Pakistani businessmen told ET. “Today, we feel it was our mistake to think that there can be good business ties with India. We are dismayed and disappointed by PM Narendra Modi’s aggressive policies,” said Mian Abrar Ahmed, ex-president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This comes at a time when there are talks about India looking to revoke the most favoured nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan about 20 years ago. “Even though Pakistan has not given MFN status to India, if you look at bilateral trade, it’s about $2 b annually and 80% is in India’s favour. Pakistani businessmen still face a lot of barriers when they export to India,” said Amin Hashwani, chief executive at the Hashwani Group.
Trade between the two countries through non-official channels — smuggling or round tripping — could be as much as $6 b a year, say experts. According to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics gravity model, total trade between the two countries could increase to $42 b if certain roadblocks were removed. The biggest roadblock to improving trade is the unstable political ties. In the past few years, a section of the Pakistani business community has shown eagerness to resume trade ties. However, high non-tariff barriers have hindered the trade to flourish. Pakistani businessmen say they have to deal with issues related to visa restrictions among other things.
On Thursday, despite sabrerattling on both sides, especially on the social media, the Pakistani business community said there could still be hope. “We are neighbours and we should resolve the situation with negotiations. War is never a solution,” said Dawood Usman Jakhura, director of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Pakistan– Malaysia Business Council. “There may be many difference of opinion, but I think business and art should not be kept separate and civil society and establishment must not target these, ” added Hashwani.
As the news of India’s surgical strikes spread, both Indian and Pakistani stock markets tanked. The KSE100 index of the Karachi Stock Exchange, which had touched an intraday high of 40861.27 points, fell to 40,144 before closing at 40295.52. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s S&P Sensex fell 465.28 points, or 1.64%. Right now, the mood in Pakistan business community mirrors the mood of Pakistani society at large. “The prevalent mood is, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,” said Ahmed.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
Pakistan today postponed the SAARC Summit to be held here next month after India along with four other member states of the regional grouping decided against attending the meet. "Pakistan deplores India's decision to impede the SAARC process by not attending the 19th SAARC Summit at Islamabad on 9-10 November 2016," the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement. It claimed that the spirit of the SAARC Charter is "violated" when a member state casts the shadow of its bilateral problems on the multilateral forum for regional cooperation. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was looking forward to welcome the SAARC leaders for their participation in the summit. All preparations had been made for "successful" holding of the summit, the statement said. It alleged that decision by India to "derail the summit" effectively "contradicts" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own call to fight against poverty in the region. "India's decision to abstain from the Summit on the basis of unfounded assumptions on the Uri incident is a futile effort to divert attention of the world from the atrocities" by India in Kashmir, the Foreign Office said. "Pakistan attaches great importance to regional cooperation under the umbrella of SAARC...Therefore, Pakistan remains committed to hosting the 19th SAARC Summit at Islamabad at the earliest so that the objectives of regional cooperation under the SAARC umbrella can be pursued more vigorously," it said.
The Foreign Office said a new set of dates for holding of the summit in Islamabad will be announced soon, through Nepal, which is currently the SAARC Chair. "Accordingly, we have conveyed the same to the Prime Minister of Nepal," it said. Besides India, three other SAARC members -- Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan -- pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet. Sri Lanka also pulled out of the SAARC Summit today, becoming the fifth country to do so. Citing continuous cross border terrorism by Pakistan, India had announced earlier this week that "in the prevailing circumstances, the Government of India is unable to participate in the proposed Summit in Islamabad." SAARC member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
The Chinese government has set a target to achieve average annual output growth of 6-7 per cent in its textile industry during 2016-20, according to a development plan released by the ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT). The plan also sets targets for reduction in energy usage and pollution emission to make the industry greener. The MIIT has set an 18 per cent reduction target for textile industry's energy intensity between 2016 and 2020, official news agency reported. The target for drop in pollutant emission is 10 per cent during the five-year period. This will enable the industry to become greener and smarter, with more customised products and cleaner technology, the plan mentions. For exports, the plan says they will contribute a stable share of the global textile trade during 2016-20. The export products will be of better quality, says the MIIT plan. Last year, the output of textile industry in China increased by 7 per cent, outpacing 6.1 per cent growth registered by the whole industrial sector, according to the official data.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
A series of huge projects with investment capital of billions of dollars were registered in 2014 and 2015. Experts described the investors as ‘early birds waiting to catch worms’ who believed that if they arrived in Vietnam soon, they would be able to take full advantage of the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) agreement, of which Vietnam is a member. However, there has been no more information about the investment in the field so far this year. Nguyen Hong Giang, deputy chair of the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association (Vcosa), attributes this to the news about the presidential election in the US. Some experts said they anticipate roadblocks to TPP as both the US presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party, oppose the agreement. Giang commented that foreign investors were not makng decisions at this moment.
According to Giang, foreign investment into the textile & garment sector can be divided into three groups. The first comprises large enterprises, mostly Chinese or enterprises operating in China. They came to Vietnam in recent years in anticipation of the big benefits to be brought by TPP. Vietnam exported $18.7 billion worth of textile & garment products in the first eight months of the year. The second comprises enterprises which also have large operation scale, but don’t have much experience in making outward investment or are still cautious investing in another country. The enterprises would make investment right now if they see favorable conditions. However, with the news about TPP, they are keeping a ‘wait and see’ attitude and would make investment if Chinese enterprises succeed in Vietnam. The third group comprises smaller enterprises, which would come after the second group. Pham Xuan Hong, chair of the HCMC Association of HCMC Knitting, Embroidery and Textile, also commented that there has been not much information about FDI in the textile & garment sector this year. He predicted that the investment projects’ implementation may be delayed as investors are awaiting information about the election in the US. However, Giang affirmed that the Vietnamese investment environment is still very attractive to foreign investors. Besides TPP, Vietnam also has free trade agreements (FTAs) signed with other partners, such as Japan, South Korea and the Europe. The production cost in Vietnam is also competitive compared with other countries. Vietnam exported $18.7 billion worth of textile & garment products in the first eight months of the year.
SOURCE: The Vietnam Net
Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Engineer Muhammad Saeed has said that textile-centric policies with focus on enhancing exports are imperative for the economic revival of Pakistan. In the annual general meeting where industrialists and businessmen were present, Saeed discussed the prevailing economic scenario and said although other segments were contributing to the improvement of economy, the share of textile alone was 55%, which could be relied on for the stabilisation of economy. He also touched on the widening gap between national imports and exports and said foreign remittances had played a major role in bridging the gap but in a changed international scenario the remittances were falling gradually. The focus of economic policies must be on enhancing exports, he suggested and asked the government to reprioritise its agenda and make all policies textile-friendly.
Praising the FCCI for sending trade delegations to potential international markets, he emphasised that he would continue the practice in order to increase the exports. Saeed showed his surprise that Pakistan’s exports had access to only 50 out of 196 countries, meaning 75% of international markets were unexplored. Chinese lack interest in joint ventures in Pakistan’s textile industry “Exporters should improve the quality of their products in the changing international environment so that we could compete with developed countries.”
SOURCE: The Tribune
A new cotton mill in the north of England could help revive UK-based supply chains once production gets underway this autumn, spinning the highest quality yarn for high-end apparel. Last week just-style paid a visit to the mill, located in Greater Manchester. As part of a project by English Fine Cottons, a Grade II listed building is now home to what claims to be the most modern cotton mill in the world. The mill, which is the only commercial cotton spinner in the UK, is producing luxury yarn for the domestic and global markets and is adhering to its phase one plan: spinning 1,000 tonnes of cotton per year initially, with space and potential to expand up to 12,000 tonnes. The installed equipment comes from Saurer & Truzschler from Germany. And in another first, English Fine Cottons is believed to be the first company in the world to have purchased a full end-to-end yarn manufacturing mill that includes technologies in carding, cleaning, combing and compact spinning, with fully automatic monitoring throughout the process. The company is also looking to potentially purchase further equipment from India.
Tracy Hawkins, vice president of sales and marketing at English Fine Cottons, tells just-style the company is hoping to build a UK-based cotton supply chain through the new venture – and believes it is achievable to bring manufacturing back to the UK on a commercial scale. "The percentage of cynics I've met has been tiny," she explains. "A number of UK brands have built themselves up from this heritage of fabulous cotton fabrics produced in the UK and they would have liked to continue producing it here, but as soon as cotton spinning went abroad it just all became much more difficult. As much as they would have liked to buy British yarn, they couldn't, and the tide started to turn against British textile manufacturing." According to Hawkins, the company hopes to help reconnect a supply chain similar to that of the woollen and worsted industry in Yorkshire, which has managed to stay together despite now being somewhat smaller than its heyday at the end of the 19th Century. "I think what happened is many of these businesses which were left abandoned managed to survive either by diversifying or specialising and they've become very dependent on themselves, whereas in Yorkshire they still talk to each other and connect, and we must try and start that back up again and link those people back together in the cotton industry."
Hawkins adds talks are ongoing with a "myriad" of potential apparel customers, many of whom are waiting for the mill to start producing yarns. Along with UK luxury fashion brands and department stores, the company hopes to work with UK retailer Marks & Spencer, which is interested in the mill's first batch of cotton. In addition, it is exploring an opportunity to export to Europe where the last, largest, cotton spinning mill in Switzerland recently closed. Hawkins says she is already receiving enquiries for fine yarns, as well as for fabrics made from English Fine Cottons yarns. "So not only are we going to be selling yarn, but a lot of customers want to buy fabric and some actually want to buy finished products as well," she explains. "We will be doing either a combination of commissioning ourselves or connecting manufacturers together who are able to make fabrics and products using our yarn."
Traceability
Supported by parent company and technical textile specialist Culimeta-Saveguard, the mill combs and compact spins extra long staple varieties of cotton, primarily US Supima alongside West Indies Sea Island Cotton and Indian Suvin cotton. Its primary Supima cotton is sourced from the largest cotton farm in the world and is renowned for its fantastic quality and consistency, Hawkins says. The mill will hold stocks of Suvin and Supima on-site in order to offer fabric makers the flexibility to obtain yarn when and where needed, rather than investing in large quantities from overseas. "If you're trying to supply a great quality yarn at the top end of the market you need to start with a really great quality raw fibre," she explains. "It's something we've been quite surprised at really; there seems to have been a loss of knowledge within the industry when cotton moved offshore, a lack of interest in the detail of fibre and quality of yarn manufacture. "What you actually build into the yarn gives you the quality [but] when I ask what fibre has been used it's quite often not even talked about. If you ask retailers or brands the source of their cotton they often wouldn't even know where it came from, which probably means it's a middling type or lower quality cotton that is able to give fast fashion an opportunity to get lower prices. Commercial cotton swamped the world, we almost lost sight of what a really good quality cotton was," she explains.
Indeed, there is a pressing need in the apparel industry for more transparency on raw materials. And while brands such as Gap, C&A and Marks & Spencer are opting to go public with their main supplier factories, it is still difficult for a brand to know exactly where the raw cotton used in its products originates. Sourcing from English Fine Cottons will give brands complete supply chain transparency, from raw material to the finished garment, should the retailer opt to use the company's supply chain. Hawkins says English Fine Cottons is building relationships with suppliers and growers of all of its cotton from Sea Island to US Supima "Yes, there always will be opportunities for speed to market but we probably would reverse that and say quality is number one for us," she adds, " then provenance and responsibility, then heritage, then sustainability. And then we get to the point where speed to market is important."
Responsibility
The facility has benefited from substantial investment: around GBP4.8m of the businesses' own money, in addition to a GBP1m grant awarded by the Textile Growth Programme – the largest amount of its type ever awarded, says Hawkins. "There are certain levels of responsibility we have here. We've been handed the baton from the Textile Growth Programme to help support other businesses [and] at the moment we aren't turning anyone away," explains Hawkins. "We have got a responsibility to be out there and help build the market and support the rest of the textile industry in the UK and that's what we are trying to keep our minds open to do." And she says the group is not only working to boost the textile industry in the UK, but abroad too. It is currently supporting Sea Island Cotton in the West Indies to produce "larger crops with improved yield", working closely with the governments, West Indian Sea Island Cotton Association (WISICA) and growers in the region. Similar agreements and practices are also being developed with Indian cotton suppliers. Future investments are likely to include an open-end system to utilise the company's comber noil – a by-product of the yarn spinning process that is produced when cotton is combed to remove short fibres – and other recycled fibres. And it is also planning to invest in a new power generation plant, offering savings against market prices and long-term supply stability.
SOURCE: Just Style
The Congressional Budget Office isn’t exactly offering a ringing endorsement of trade agreements like NAFTA. Such pacts have “had relatively small positive effects” on American trade and its economy, according to a report from the federal agency, which analyzes economic and budget issues on behalf of lawmakers. The downside? Workers in industries facing tougher competition can end up out of work, sometimes permanently, CBO notes. Trade agreements have become a lightning rod in the presidential election, with Republican candidate Donald Trump declaring that the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement “has destroyed our country,” and suggesting that if elected he would either have the U.S. withdraw from the pact or renegotiate it. His antipathy toward trade deals is reverberating in parts of the country that have lost millions of manufacturing jobs, although to be sure not all of those job losses are casualties of trade deals. “In the United States, trade-displaced workers tend to work in industries subject to more competition from imports (such as the textile industry), relatively less productive businesses, or occupations involving easily automated or routine tasks (such as data entry or customer service),” the CBO noted. “Those workers also are typically less educated, older or longer tenured at their previous positions.” In Monday’s first debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, he pointed to Ohio as an example of an American state that’s been hurt by trade deals, losing “so many of their jobs.” (The Cincinnati Enquirer pointed out that while manufacturing jobs in Ohio have declined from 1 million in 2000 to 700,000 today, the economic reality of Ohio “is far more nuanced.”)
With polls showing heightened public concern about globalization, Clinton has also bucked the Obama administration and vowed to block the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade deal that would link the U.S. with 11 Pacific Rim countries. The trade picture projected by the CBO is also nuanced, given that the agency points out that export-oriented industries or highly skilled workers are helped by greater trade. Yet measuring the positive impact on job creation or higher wages isn’t easy to pin down. “Researchers also have been unable to precisely estimate how many jobs have been created or how many workers have seen their wages rise as a result of international trade,” the report acknowledged. It’s also difficult to estimate how many jobs have been lost due to trade agreements. A range of factors can result in the loss of manufacturing jobs, for instance, such as greater automation and productivity, which reduces the need for workers, or changing consumer tastes. “In the United States, trade-displaced workers tend to work in industries subject to more competition from imports (such as the textile industry), relatively less productive businesses, or occupations involving easily automated or routine tasks (such as data entry or customer service),” the report said. While those laid-off workers may find find other jobs, they usually can’t find the same pay they enjoyed in manufacturing.
One thing seems likely -- the manufacturing jobs aren’t likely to return to pre-NAFTA levels. New factories in the U.S. tend to rely more on automation, which means they don’t need as many workers as in past decades. U.S. manufacturing output has increased 20 percent since 2009, but manufacturing employment has inched up just 5 percent, according to Fivethirtyeight.com. Yet there are some clear benefits to trade agreements, according to the CBO. For one, they tend to strengthen consumer purchasing power by lowering the cost of goods and services. NAFTA is credited with raising U.S. consumption by 0.4 percent from 1992 to 1998, the report noted. “By lowering consumer prices (primarily through their effects on prices of imported goods) and increasing the productivity of workers (from greater competition), those agreements have probably increased average real wages for U.S. workers, albeit only slightly,” the report noted. “If that slight increase occurred, it would have induced more people to work, increasing the U.S. labor supply to a small degree.”
SOURCE: The CBS news
In Shengze, offers for 32s and 45s polyester yarn remained unchanged in the second week of September. In Qiangqing, offers for 32s weaving were stable on the week. Spun polyester yarns market in China dropped from stability amid lackluster selling atmosphere. Mainstream offers for spun polyester yarn 32s and 45s, however, rolled over, given the holiday-shortened week while PSF prices generally remained range bound. In Pakistan, polyester yarn producers intended to sell more volumes at the current price level, as they wanted to liquidate stock and convert into cash while PSF prices remained very stable in the week. 30s spun polyester prices edged down US cents 2 a kg (due to currency) while 60s also fell US cents 2 a kg. In India, polyester yarn prices rolled over in domestic markets while export prices were down in order to compete with rival products.
SOURCE: Yarns&Fibers
