|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1033.80 |
USD/Ton |
-0.35% |
11/10/2016 |
|
VSF |
2310.41 |
USD/Ton |
-0.95% |
11/10/2016 |
|
ASF |
1883.65 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Polyester POY |
1092.66 |
USD/Ton |
-0.13% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2354.56 |
USD/Ton |
0.63% |
11/10/2016 |
|
40D Spandex |
4341.22 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Nylon DTY |
2045.52 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
1302.37 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2538.51 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Nylon POY |
5547.93 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
1331.80 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
Polyester FDY |
2163.25 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2913.77 |
USD/Ton |
-0.50% |
11/10/2016 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1721.77 |
USD/Ton |
-0.26% |
11/10/2016 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2575.30 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2266.26 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
1854.22 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2222.12 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
3090.36 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.35 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.83 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.17 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.67 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.65 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
11/10/2016 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14716 USD dtd. 11/10/2016)
The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Telangana State Minister for IT, Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao met several Union Ministers in Delhi on Thursday and discussed with them pending issues of various departments. After agriculture, handloom sector was the major source of livelihood for people in the State and it required the Centre’s support in garment policy to help Telangana compete with other countries, he said.
Participating in the meeting of State Textiles Ministers chaired by Union Textiles Minister Smrithi Irani, he gave his suggestions for the national textile policy from the perspective of Telangana. He requested the Union Minister to support the mega textile park policy of the State and sanction 12 handloom clusters. Later, Mr. Rama Rao called on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and raised several unfulfilled promises under the State Reorganisation Act, 2014. In a positive response, Mr. Jaitley said the Centre would support Telangana in every way. Extending single slab system to Telugu film industry under the GST regime along with Bollywood film industry would be detrimental to the interests of regional film industry, Mr. Rama Rao said and urged that the Union Government take remedial measures and help the Telugu film industry.
SOURCE: The Hindu
Union Minister Smriti Irani today sought support of the states in augmenting manufacturing capacity to boost job creation in the textile sector. Addressing the annual conference of state textiles ministers, Irani noted that support of state governments is needed to expand manufacturing capacity and employment generation capacity.She said that only this would address the challenges such as cost of power and labour faced by the industry. The minister called for capacity enhancement in production of textile machinery in the country. The minister also proposed branding of Eri silk as 'Peace Silk from the land of the Mahatma' and pitched for better branding of textile sector for more effective global positioning. Irani also called for a well-coordinated cohesive governance approach for more effective programme implementation and sectoral outcomes.
Noting that many states do not have dedicated Textiles Ministers, the Minister expressed the need for more dialogue and convergence at intra-state, inter-state and Centre-state levels. Besides, Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma highlighted the challenges faced by the textile sector, especially in the export market, due to uneven tariff and non-tariff barriers and expressed the hope that GST will bring down input costs, give a boost to textile exports and bring in greater capital investment in the sector.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
Indian textile and apparel exports to the US are likely to remain unaffected after Republican Donald Trump assumes presidency early next year. Trump, who is chairman and president of business conglomerate Trump Organisation, won 276 electoral votes—six more than the 270 needed to win the presidency—in the election results declared Tuesday night. “During the electoral campaigns, Trump had said that he will maintain strong relations with India. Let us hope that he puts it into action. Exporting textiles from India is comparatively cheaper than manufacturing it in the US. And, as far as trade relations are considered, particularly with the textiles sector, it is unlikely to change,” SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), told Fibre2Fashion. “There is no need to worry about the effect of Trump’s victory on our trading ties with the US. He will bring workable solutions to improve business relations with India,” said Sudershan Jain, president of Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers Association of Ludhiana.
Hoping that the foreign and trade policies developed by the Trump government will be favourable to the Indian textiles segment, Raja Shanmugham, president of the Tirupur Exporters’ Association said, “He had specified during the campaign that he will focus on improving the economy of the US by encouraging local manufacturers. This might pose as a risk to the countries exporting to the US, including India.” “Now, there are more chances that he will scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) initiative. As India was not a part of the partnership, its abolishing will not affect our exports to the US,” he added.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM), an Amritsar based trade association has sought rebates for the textile industry in the GST regime. The PPBM has also requested that single window services should be provided for various tax departments like central, state and international Goods and Service Tax to avoid hassles of dealing with multiple departments. “Pl Seth, president of PPBM has sought rebate in the proposed GST, by saying that the textile industry is the second highest employment-generating sector after agriculture,” a leading daily reported. Seth also demanded raising the excise exemption limit for textile industry, which has remained stagnant at Rs 1.50 crore, since the last eight years. He also said that the capital investment limit of MSME's which stands at Rs 5 crore since 2006, needs to be raised to Rs 10 crore, while also reducing import duties. Seth reasoned that these initiatives would offer advantages to the textile industry, which under global competition and an unfavourable tax regime, were throttling the industry.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said as global demand is drastically falling, trade in merchandise goods needs "lot of helping". "Trade in merchandise goods needs lot of helping because the demand is really drastically falling," she told reporters at the Economic Editors' Conference here. Since December 2014, exports fell for the straight 18 months till May 2016 due to weak global demand and slide in oil prices. Shipments witnessed growth only in June this year thereafter again entered into negative zone in July and August. However, exports grew by 4.62 per cent to $22.9 billion in September.
Sitharaman said that a well planned approach is there to explore new markets for domestic exporters because "traditional markets are saturating". India's traditional markets are mainly the US and Europe. Besides exploring Latin America and Africa, she said India is activating BIMSTEC and MERCOSUR as huge potential exists in these regions. MERCOSUR comprises Latin American nation -- Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. India has recently expressed concern over delay in the signing of BIMSTEC free trade agreement. It has impressed upon the 7-nation grouping to work actively for a consensus to conclude the pact.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia. These include Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
Replying to a question about steps taken by the government to bridge trade deficit, she said: "We are trying to engage to boost exports and look at enhancing performance sectorally. We are looking at newer markets. "Iran is coming back to normal so we will restore our exports in steel, tea, rice and projects exports to Iran and Africa". When asked whether the government is considering to extend the crop insurance scheme to tea growers, Sitharaman said: "We are considering extending it to small tea growers".
Talking about India's concept note in the WTO on trade facilitation agreement in services, the minister said they are working on the note's legal language and soon submit a detailed proposal to the WTO. The agreement is aimed at reducing transactions cost and boost services trade among WTO members. Replying to a question about issue of arrears of sugar industry in Maharashtra and their demand to lift export ban on refined sugar, she said the government took measures in stages to clear the dues of sugarcane growers. "I will pass this message (lift export ban) on to the consumer affairs ..," she added.
SOURCE: The Economic Times
Nearly 4,000 port workers across the country protested against the government’s port-related policies, including replacing Major Port Trust Act 1963 by Major Port Authorities Act 2016 and implementing a revised Stevedoring Policy. “We observed a national protest day at all major ports to urge the shipping ministry to desist from its move to replace Major Port Trust Act in the pretext of structural changes in port sector,” said T Narendra Rao, general secretary, Water Transport Workers Federation of India. Replacement of Major Port Trust Act 1963 will be first step to privatise major ports. At the call of the federation, all of its affiliated unions observed the protest in front of the ports, he told BusinessLine .
Stevedoring policy
The federation urged the Centre not to implement the new stevedoring policy, which will empower private stevedores to handle cargoes on board ships and on shore. This will result in cargo handling workers becoming surplus or redundant and eventually ‘thrown out of jobs,’ he said. On the Enayam container transshipment project planned in Kanyakumari district, Rao said the initial investment for the project should be made by the shipping ministry and funds allotted from budgetary provisions instead of ordering VOC Port at Tuticorin, Chennai Port Trust and Kamarajar Port Ltd at Ennore to collectively pay Rs. 1,000 crore, he said.
Rao said port development projects should not be given under PPP/BOT model and structural change or conversion of DP World as ‘Hindustan Private Ports Ltd’ should not be permitted as it would hamper the contracts entered between the Major Ports and DP World in the Ports such as Kochi, JNPT& Chennai. The ministry should fill up all exiting vacancies in the port sector as large number of perennial nature of jobs are vacant and being given out on contract, or outsourced by appointing fulltime contract employees in these vacancies, he said.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the Centre was trying earnestly to build a consensus with the states on the sticky issue of sharing of administrative control on assessees to ensure that the April 1 deadline for rolling out the goods and service tax (GST) was met. “We are making all efforts to introduce GST from April 1, 2017. GST has to be implemented latest by September 16, 2017, and if it is not implemented by then, states will not be able to collect their share of taxes, and hence, there is not enough scope to further delay the decision,” Jaitley said at an economic editors’ conference here. The minister was referring to the GST Constitutional Amendment, which has a provision in this regard.
After deciding the GST rate structure a day earlier, the Centre and states hit a speed breaker on November 4 as they could not decide on how the audit and enforcement powers would be shared between them in the GST regime. The Union and state finance ministers would meet informally on November 20 to solve the issue politically and suggest their formula to the GST Council meeting on November 24-25 for endorsement. In the meantime, officials from both sides are deliberating to finalise the four draft laws — those on central GST (CGST), integrated GST (IGST), compensation and state GST (SGST) — by November 15. The Centre is trying to introduce CGST, IGST and compensation Bills in the winter session of Parliament later this month. “Only the last stages (of decision-making) remain and I do hope we (GST Council) are able to resolve that too, through a larger consensus,” Jaitley said. The government has covered a lot of distance for implementation of comprehensive indirect tax and it was not in favour of resorting to voting to decide on any issue at the GST Council meeting. “We have already sorted out 10 issues. The issue of dual control still remains, there is no reason why we will not be able to work out a reasonable solution on this,” he said.
The GST Council, chaired by the Union finance minister, has already decided on a four-tier rate structure – 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. An additional cess would be imposed on the peak rate on select luxury and demerit goods to compensate states for any revenue loss under the GST regime. The Centre was forced to reopen the settled matter that goods traders/manufacturers with annual turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore would be under the states’ exclusive control. This was when the states wanted service tax assessees below the threshold also under their control in the light of new data that revealed there are 30 lakh such entities.
Pertinently, in the GST regime, the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) will handle the taxpayer returns based on the principle of self-assessment. “One of the objects has been that, since the GST council is a federal decision-making process and the manner in which it functions in the initial years will lay down the precedent for the future rather than resorting to voting and division in every small issue. We have been trying to discuss, re-discuss and then reach a consensus and so far we have been able to resolve most of the major issues through consensus,” Jaitley said.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the Centre is making all efforts to build consensus on sticky issues, especially on jurisdiction of assessees, to ensure GST rollout from April 1, 2017.”We are making all efforts to introduce GST from April 1, 2017. GST has to be implemented latest by September 16, 2017, and if it is not implemented by then, then states will not be able to collect their share of taxes, and hence there is not enough scope to further delay the decision,” he said.
Inaugurating the two-day Economic Editors’ conference, Jaitley said the government has covered a lot of distance for implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and it doesnot want to resort to voting to decide on any issue at the GST Council meeting. “We have already sorted out 10 issues. The issue of dual control still remains, there is no reason why we will not be able to work out a reasonable solution on this,” he said. The all powerful GST Council, which is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and has representations from state, has already decided on a four-tier rate structure — 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent — with a cess over and above the peak rate for luxury and demerit goods. “One of the objects has been that, since the GST council is a federal decision making process and the manner in which it functions in the initial years will lay down the precedent for the future rather than resorting to voting and division in every small issue. We have been trying to discuss, re-discuss and then reach a consensus and so far most of the major issues we have been able to resolve through consensus,” Jaitley said. The issue of dual control, which deals with who will control which set of assessees under GST, has been holding back the negotiations. Jaitley and his state counterparts will meet on November 20 to work out a “political solution” on the issue and the GST Council will formally take up the issue on November 24-25. “Only the last stages (of decision making) remain and I do hope we (GST Council) are able to resolve that through a larger consensus also. And this form of functioning of the Council where discussion and consensus is a preferred option, is a precedent we are trying in a federal decision making body to establish,” Jaitley said. He added that reforms are going on in the direct tax structure and other areas. “If you have seen from the Insolvency Bill to the GST and now the decisions in the GST Council, our preferred option has been consensus and we hope to utilise that preference itself,” the Finance Minister said. As per the GST Constitution Amendment Bill, which was notified on September 17, 2016, the government is required to complete the process of implementation of GST within a year.
SOURCE: The Financial Express
Expressing disappointment over India’s unchanged ratings, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said international agencies have not recognised efforts by the government to simplify processes and enhance the ease of doing business. “I must acknowledge that the kind of steps we have taken, we still have not got from international agencies the full recognition of the effort we have put in,” he said at the Economic Editors’ Conference while stressing that the government has taken a number of steps to open the economy to foreign investment and has also simplified decision-making. Earlier this month, global rating agency Standard and Poor’s retained India’s rating at BBB-/A-3 with a stable outlook and ruled out a rating review even next year.
In September, Moody’s Ratings too had said a review of India’s ratings may be possible only after one-two years. India’s position in the ease of doing business report in 2017 rose by just one rank. The Finance Minister also argued that the country is doing reasonably well despite constraints in global economy. “Tax collections have been reasonably good this year, there has been a spurt in public investment, foreign investment and local demand,” he said, adding that the government will also meet its fiscal deficit target, by “earning more and spending more”.
Dual control under GST
Underlining the government’s efforts to make decisions by building consensus, Jaitley expressed hope that the tricky issue of dual control under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will also be resolved. He also ruled out any move to defer the rollout of the new tax regime, beyond April 1, 2017 and said it will have to be implemented soon as States will not have the power to levy tax beyond September 16, 2017. “We have already sorted out 10 issues. The issue of dual control still remains, there is no reason why we will not be able to work out a reasonable solution on this,” he said. Jaitley has called an informal meeting with State Finance Ministers to try and resolve the issue. The GST Council will be meeting on November 24 and 25 to discuss dual control as well as draft legislations. “Only the last stages (of decision making) remain and I do hope the GST Council is able to resolve that through a larger consensus also,” he said.
Currency Demonetisation
Stressing that no one has the fundamental right to deal in black money, the Finance Minister said that local purchasing power may be impacted for the next few days due to paucity of funds. However, he ruled out concerns that demonetisation of high-value currency will impact local demand in the medium term. “Once the replacement takes place, the current level of consumption will come back,” he said. Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian also said that though unaccounted wealth will be affected by the move, it should be seen as a “transfer of such money from the private to the public sector”.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The gross domestic product (GDP) of India for the fiscal 2016-17 is expected to grow at the rate of 7.6 per cent, says a recent report. Improvements in the manufacturing sector with the Purchasers' Managers Index and Index of Industrial Production for core sectors going up and an improved agriculture sector could give an upward push to economic growth. The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) released its 2016-17 Mid-Year Review of the Indian economy (MYR) that presents a comprehensive, independent assessment of the Indian economy before the FY 2017-18 Union budget.
Indian exports saw a growth of 4.6 per cent in September after declining in July and August. The country's merchandise exports turned positive in June 2016, with exports rising at 1.27 per cent year on year in June to $22.57 billion, reversing the trend that started in December 2014 due to weak global demand and a fall in commodity prices, says the report.
Regarding the monetary policy of India, the report says, “After the cautious approach adopted by the previous governor, the Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to reduce the repo rate by 25 basis points. Furthermore, governor Urjit Patel, in his post-policy briefing, hinted that the inflation target of 4 per cent would be achieved over five years. The PSU banks continued to be plagued by NPAs and the credit and deposit growth remained sluggish.”
India's fiscal position remained under stress during H1of FY17. Despite healthy growth in tax revenues, the combination of rising expenditure and lower-than-expected non-tax revenues is likely to test the government's resolve to abide by the fiscal deficit target set out in budget 2016-17, according to the report. The NCAER report states that after a sequential uptick in inflation in the initial months of FY17 to 6.07 per cent in July 2016, it fell sharply in September 2016 to 4.31 per cent, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). After declining for 17 consecutive months, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation turned positive in April 2016, remaining at around 3.5-3.7 per cent. (KD)
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Israel and India will be exploring ways to revive defence purchases and restart the stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA), during the visit of President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, the first such visit of an Israeli President in over two decades. Rivlin, who will be visiting India from November 14-21, will be discussing these issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a bilateral meeting. The visit of the Israeli President is expected to pave the way for Modi’s visit to that country later this year, or early next year, and eventually pave the way for the visit of their Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India – even as both countries celebrate 25th year of diplomatic ties in 2017, sources told BusinessLine. These visits will see the culmination of defence contracts worth $3-4 billion in the coming years, which includes procurement of ‘Spike’ anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), bombs, target equipments and other weapons system.
The procurement of Spike ATGM from Israeli Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd, at a cost of $1 billion, was finalised in May this year – this includes transfer of technology to state-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd. “It is a very deep relationship. India and Israel enjoy very unique relation in areas of defence. There are plans for fresh joint venture and technology transfer,” Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon said here on Thursday. India is Israel topmost buyer of military hardware. However, over the last few years Israel has become concerned as India has increased its military purchases from the US.
Israel had been also upset of the fact that India has not given “due importance” to the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). Two-way trade between both countries registered is biggest fall of 12.49 per cent in 2015-2016 reaching $4.91 billion from $5.61 billion in 2014-15, according to official statistics. Last year, during the visit of their Economic Minister Naftali Bennett to India, both sides vowed to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion. As a result, sources said, Israel is keen on resuming the FTA talks, which started in 2010. So far, eight rounds of talks have already taken place and the last one was held in 2013. The deadline to sign the pact was 2014. President Rivlin will also be holding business meetings and will be visiting the Chabad House in Mumbai that was one of the main targets of the 26/11 terrorist attacks.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
Katherine Hadda, the new US Consul General in Hyderabad is of the view that the rapidly growing ties between the oldest and the largest democracies could only get better, going forward. Speaking after a breakfast meeting hosted here on Wednesday, she said, “The United States and India have accomplished a lot together already. Together, in Paris, we signed a climate agreement to save our planet for future generations. Together, we have made great strides in increasing our two-way trade.” “Together, we are increasing cooperation on renewable energy, in aerospace and defence, on healthcare, and in security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific,” she said.
Referring to the US presidential elections, she said, “We may have different party affiliations. We may differ in our social or economic philosophies. But on election day, we believe in one thing: the right of citizens to choose a government accountable to the people.” She hoped that the number of students pursuing higher education in the US from India would increase. Efforts are on to encourage students from the US to come to India and specialise in some subjects and take up higher education.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
India will take up the issue of visa for Information Technology professionals as well as other contentious issues with the new Donald Trump administration in the United States. India will continue to negotiate with the US government once it takes charge in early January, next year, Commerce and Industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. India will communicate its position on trade issues and brief the US government about Indian industry's contribution to the US economy, she added. Trump during his election campaign expressed concerns about immigration and outsourcing of jobs. India has time and again raised concerns over the American visa regime and hike in visa fees as it impacts Indian IT industry which earns about 60% of its revenue from that market. India has also filed a case in the WTO against the US decision to impose high fees on temporary working visas.
On the chances of the Trans Pacific Partnership being ratified by the United States now becoming low, Sitharaman said India will wait for the new administration to clearly spell out its stance. The ambitious free trade deal between the US and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, chances of the mega trade deal being ratified now looks slim. "No matter what the presidential candidates promised during the campaign process, we do not know their position clearly", Sitharaman said. The deal, if passed, stands to see textile manufacturer Vietnam and IT outsourcing powerhouse Phillipines get access to the high value American market. Indian exporters have warned this would severely hit the domestic textile industry which relies on exports and has been steadily losing market share in Europe and other places.
Earlier in the day, Sitharaman said the commerce ministry is waiting for Cabinet approval to form special purpose vehicles to roll out special purpose vehicles for two industrial corridors. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has submitted a feasibility study report for two industrial corridors, Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) which Sitharaman said was priority activity for her department.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
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$ 43.10 per barrel (bbl) on 09.11.2016. This was lower than the price of US$ 43.34 per bbl on previous publishing day of 08.11.2016.
In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket decreased to Rs. 2879.14 per bbl on 09.11.2016 as compared to Rs. 2890.77 per bbl on 08.11.2016. Rupee closed weaker at Rs. 66.80 per US$ on 09.11.2016 as against Rs. 66.71 per US$ on 08.11.2016. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on November 09, 2016 (Previous trading day i.e. 08.11.2016) |
Pricing Fortnight for 01.11.2016 (Oct 13, 2016 to Oct 26, 2016) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
43.10 (43.34) |
49.53 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
2879.14 (2890.77) |
3309.10 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
66.80 (66.71) |
66.81 |
SOURCE: PIB
The European Parliament is set to vote again on the 2011 EU-Uzbekistan Textiles Protocol which was postponed five years ago. In 2011, parliamentarians rejected the protocol, sending it back to the commission with a resolution that concluded, “Parliament will only consider the consent if the ILO [International Labor Organization] observers have been granted access by the Uzbek authorities to undertake close and unhindered monitoring and have confirmed that concrete reforms have been implemented and yielded substantial results in such a way that the practice of forced labour and child labour is effectively in the process of being eradicated” from the national to down to the local levels.
A vote by the international trade (INTA) committee — 31 in favor and 4 opposed — on November 10 sends the stalled protocol forward to be considered by parliament in December. Rapporteur Maria Arena said in a statement to Reuters, “The progress made by the Uzbek authorities allows us to move forward and include textiles in our partnership agreement. But we will remain extremely vigilant.”
Ahead of the vote, a coalition of human rights groups urged the committee to not consent to the protocol. Their letter said, “Adopting the textile protocol now would contradict the principles of the European Union’s foreign policy, and ignore strong evidence of the government’s persistent and continued use of forced labour on a massive, nationwide scale in Uzbekistan.” Europe represented a major market for Uzbek cotton and the details of the protocol . The 2011 resolution rejecting the protocol, notes that the estimate of EU imports of Uzbek cotton ranged from 6 percent to 23 percent in the previous decade. In 2013, Uzbekistan began allowing the ILO to monitor the annual harvest. Along with a boycott by major clothing manufacturers, Uzbekistan did make progress in scaling back the use of child labor and EU pressure certainly played a part.
The ILO’s 2015 findings noted that “the use of children in the cotton harvest has become rare, sporadic and socially unacceptable, even if ongoing vigilance is needed.” But, as several human rights organizations have reported over the years, Uzbekistan simply shifted to greater usage of forced adult labor, continuation of a demanding production quota system, and harassment of independent monitors.
Arena, a MEP with the Socialists and Democrats group, said in an email to the Thomson Reuters Foundation the committee was aware forced labor remained an issue but that blocking the deal would have risked damaging the dialogue and cooperation built with Uzbekistan over the past five years. The EU has had to chart a careful course with regard to the states of Central Asia, Uzbekistan in particular. Parliamentarians may view progress on child labor as good enough to move forward with the protocol, even though other concerns remain. The hope is that rewards for good behavior will elicit further reforms. Human rights advocates are more skeptical, saying, “entering into the textile protocol with Uzbekistan now would have an adverse impact on human rights.”
Also for consideration is the impact of a new president on Uzbekistan’s relations and the cotton harvest. Here, rights advocates remain concerned, as interim President (and presumably next president) Shavkat Mirziyoyev was responsible, first as a regional governor and then as prime minister, for the annual cotton harvest. Certainly, there’s room for change but it has yet to be seen whether Mirziyoyev will engage in significant reforms in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry. The EU may be hoping that a reward for improvements to date will entice the new leader to consider future reforms.
SOURCE: The Diplomat
In a bid to improve the production of textile products and attract the global export market, Kenyan government has begun modernisation of Eldoret-based Rivatex textile factory. The government has set target of producing 1 billion textile items per annum at Rivatex. This will be done by employing modern techniques and machineries at the factory. The increase in production of clothing items will be beneficial for local and export markets, said Industry and Enterprise Development principal secretary Julius Korir, during his recent visit to Rivatex. It will also suffice the demands of the Export Processing Zone factories, he added.
Rivatex is a textile manufacturing company wholly owned by the Moi University for commercial and research purposes. Earlier this year, the company received a Sh3 billion loan from the government of India through the Exim Bank to buy a modern textile machine for the factory, which was essential for its revival. Besides Rivatex, Korir also emphasised on restoring the Kicomi textile sector at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are likely to sign a Free Trade Agreement in March next year which will boost trade and pave the way for a huge cross border cargo transshipment via the Port of Colombo, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Bangladesh's Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed who is in Sri Lanka on an official visit said that the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh FTA can become a reality when Sri Lanka's high level leaders visit Dhaka in March. "Today both sides completed trade discussions successfully," the Bangladesh minister said. "The Shipping Ministry of Bangladesh is also cooperating in this. We decided to use Colombo port in our future transshipments as we feel other regional ports to be expensive," he added. Through its feeder vessels, Bangladesh already transships to the United States and Europe via Port Kelang, Singapore and Colombo.
Transshipment's to Europe, Middle East and US via the Colombo Port is considered to bring in great savings for Bangladeshi exporters, saving as many as four shipping days to US alone, the Minister said. Sri Lanka's Minister of Commerce Rishard Bathiudeen, during discussions, invited Bangladeshi companies to invest in state pioneered projects in Sri Lanka, as well as in the country's apparel industry. Total bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which stood at 48 million US dollars in 2010, has grown by 2.7 fold to 131 million dollars by 2015. Sri Lanka's exports to Bangladesh saw a steady increase in the past five years. In 2013 it recorded the highest increase of 45 percent.
SOURCE: The Global Times
After seven years, negotiations for the EU-Canada free trade deal, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), were concluded on October 30. Like any free trade agreement (FTA), this one is believed to bring substantial benefits to both sides. In addition, it is of a high standard and will have a greater say in the making of international trade rules in the future. Many Chinese people won't be paying much attention to the EU-Canada deal, as it is transatlantic, and geographically speaking, unlikely to affect China's economic strategy in the Asia-Pacific area. But is that really the case?
The EU signed an FTA with Mexico in 1999, in part due to worries about trade diversions brought about by the North American FTA (NAFTA) that took effect in 1994. Although its standards were not as high as present deals, the EU was able to reduce the impact of trade diversion and Mexico was granted access to the EU market. In 2015, the EU and Mexico agreed to upgrade the EU-Mexico FTA to align with the standard of the EU-Canada deal as well as chapters in the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
CETA's standard is indeed high. For instance, apart from certain agricultural products, tariffs are close to zero for nearly all goods. More importantly, both the EU and Canada have agreed on bilateral investment measures, which are in line with the EU's value of seeking an appropriate balance between protecting investors while not weakening government power. Even though the EU's FTA talks with Mexico and Canada were started before the ongoing TTIP negotiations, the two former negotiations didn't attract much attention in China. This is not surprising, as the strategic significance of Mexico and Canada is comparatively smaller than that of the US. But it should be noted that the EU-Mexico FTA and CETA are transatlantic deals, just like the TTIP. Additionally, the EU is currently under free trade negotiations with the last NAFTA member country: the US. Thus, a bigger picture may be in front of us - a potential FTA between the EU and North America with a united standard.
If that picture becomes reality, even current mega trade pacts including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the TTIP and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which respectively represent 40 percent, 40 percent and 33 percent of world total output, would be overshadowed by the FTA between the EU and North America, which would account for 44 percent of the global economy. The possible trade deal would also boast the greatest trade volume, with the gap in its member countries' level of economic development smaller than those in the TPP, TTIP and RCEP.
If the EU-North America FTA were to take effect, an invigorated transatlantic economy would be unleashed as its member nations are highly competitive in innovation and in the services and manufacturing industries. Furthermore, investment across the region is already extremely active. This new market would compete with the trans-Pacific economy, especially the Asia-Pacific region. Even though at present the market scale and manufacturing development in the Asia-Pacific and transatlantic regions are neck and neck, the former still lags behind in innovation and the services industry which would make it even more difficult for less developed economies to catch up to developed economies.
Furthermore, an EU-North American FTA could pose challenges to the Belt and Road initiative and to global trade governance. Countries along the initiative's route are limited in economic development and need enormous investment for infrastructure and manufacturing projects. However, a future EU-North American FTA would draw huge amounts of capital and trade into the transatlantic region, which would likely place added pressure on increasing investment in countries along the Belt and Road route. Further, the trade and investment standards of the future EU-North American FTA would be relatively higher and would exert greater influence on the making of global trade rules. Other countries would find it difficult to follow or come up with their own proposals of international trade rules, but would need to accept these higher standards.
To cope with possible challenges, China needs to think and act. First, China should invite the EU to participate in the Belt and Road initiative and integrate the EU economy with the Belt and Road initiative before the establishment of a EU-North American FTA deal. Second, negotiations of bilateral investment treaties China has with the US and the EU need to be completed as soon as possible. Additionally, talks concerning China-US, China-EU and China-Canada FTA deals should be started as soon as appropriate. Third, China has participated in only one mega trade pact at present - the RCEP. China needs to seize its window of opportunity and conclude the RCEP talks before the TPP is ratified or the hurdles in pushing forward with the TTIP are cleared. The CETA between EU and Canada is likely to have an unnoticed butterfly effect on China in the Asia-Pacific region. If TTIP negotiations are concluded, an EU-North American FTA would naturally be established, which would exert profound influence on the world's economic and political landscape.
SOURCE: The Global Times
The textile and garment sector will continue facing challenges in 2017 due to fierce competition by other major exporters such as China, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan while global demand is forecasted to slow down, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports. Le Tien Truong, General Director of the National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex) said textile and garment exports to the US and the EU will also be under negative impacts as consequences of Brexit and the US President-elect Donald Trump not supporting TPP. Therefore, the sector anticipates its export growth rate at just 5-7 per cent if there are no appropriate policies, Truong said.
The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) has made several proposals to the Ministry of Industry and Trade on support for the local industry, including strengthening management of both domestic and foreign investment projects in the industry, reviewing policies on minimum wage raises and working hours. The association also asked for adjustments to the sector's development and assistance in human resources training assistance. Vietnam's textile and garment export revenues increased 4.8 per cent year-on-year in the first 10 months of the year to reach US$23.3 billion, according to Vinatex. The garment-textile export turnover needs to hit an average of US$2.5 billion a month in the last two months of the year in order to reach this year's target of US$28-29 billion. The US is the top market of Vietnam's textile and garment products with US$10 billion, up 4.37 per cent against last year, followed by Europe with nearly US$3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.46 per cent. Japan and South Korea are also among key markets for Vietnamese garment and textile.
SOURCE: The Bernama
Intex South Asia’s vision was to fashion a show which would bring together suppliers and buyers from across South Asia and the world onto a single networking platform. Judging from the excellent response and positive reviews the organisers received for Intex in 2015, they are confident that the show will soon be a truly international show, attracting global exhibitors and buyers to Sri Lanka, the hub of South Asia. The positive response for the first edition in 2015 was clearly visible in the opening ceremony which was attended by VVIPs comprising senior ministers, diplomats, government officials, heads of industry associations and business leaders. The aim of the new edition of Intex South Asia which will take place from 16-18 November at Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, Colombo is to present and showcase the entire value chain by bringing together the best manufacturers of yarns, apparel fabrics, denims, clothing accessories and allied services.
Sri Lanka will soon witness leading international buyers visiting Colombo to attend and source at Intex South Asia.Leading buyers attending the show are from India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Spain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Mauritius, Iran, Australia, USA, UK, Europe, Nigeria, South Africa and many more.The Sri Lankan apparel industry has also blocked their calendar to visit with their teams at this important mega event. increase of 35% in exhibitors over last year’s show. Intex South Asia is presenting international business forum on the theme “South Asia Powering the Global Textile & Garment Industry.” Three eminent international speakers would be sharing their views and thoughts on investment and growth opportunities in South Asia region on 16th November, 2016 from 3pm-5pm at the exhibition venue. Also, for the very first time in Sri Lanka, Intex South Asia along with WGSN – the world’s premier trend forecasting and analytics firm – are organising an exclusive presentation on Men & Women Fashion Trends and Forecast
for Autumn-Winter 17/18 Season. The session will be presented by Ms. Kim Massimo, Head of WGSN Live, London on 17th November, 2016 at the exhibition.
Speaking on this occasion, Ms. Arti Bhagat, Director of Worldex India said,”We are confident that the fair would provide a single networking platform for all the stakeholders and through
Intex South Asia, the global textile and apparel industry would foster stronger business ties and collaborations.” “We are sure the fair will be the highlight event of the apparel and textile industry and invite everyone to expand, connect and grow at Intex South Asia 2016.” She added.
SOURCE: The Tecoya Trend
