|
Polyester Staple Fibre ( PSF ) |
|||||||||
|
Market |
21/02/2017 |
22/02/2017 |
% Change |
||||||
|
FOB Shanghai($Mt) |
1,140 |
1,140 |
0.0% |
||||||
|
China(RMB/ton) |
8,775 |
8,750 |
-0.3% |
||||||
|
Polyester Filament Yarn ( RMB/ton ) |
|||||||||
|
Market |
21/02/2017 |
22/02/2017 |
% Change |
||||||
|
POY 150 D/48 F |
9,000 |
8,950 |
-0.6% |
||||||
|
DTY 150 D/48 F |
10,650 |
10,550 |
-0.9% |
||||||
|
FDY 68 D/24 F |
9,300 |
9,250 |
-0.5% |
||||||
|
Polyester Filament Yarn ( US$/ton ) |
|||||||||
|
Market |
21/02/2017 |
22/02/2017 |
% Change |
||||||
|
POY 150 D/48 F |
1,212 |
1,202 |
-0.8% |
||||||
|
DTY 150 D/48 F |
1,458 |
1,441 |
-1.2% |
||||||
|
FDY 68 D/24 F |
1,267 |
1,257 |
-0.8% |
||||||
|
Acrylic Staple Fibre (RMB/ton) |
|||||||||
|
Market |
21/02/17 |
22/02/17 |
% Change |
||||||
|
China |
14,725 |
14,725 |
0.0% |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Acrylic Tops |
|||||||||
|
Market China |
21/02/17 16,200 |
22/02/17 16,200 |
% Change 0.0% |
||||||
Note: The above prices are based on available sources. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Around 10 Tiruppur based textiles manufacturers have committed to invest in the Warangal Textile Park in Telangana. The Textile Park is being set up on 2,000 acres of land, of which the first phase of development will be on around 1,200 acres. Once the Park is operational, it is expected to offer high employment opportunities for people in the region. A leading daily quoted the Telangana minister for industry and commerce KT Rama Rao, as adding that the vision behind setting up the Park is to make it a fibre to fabric destination. Telangana produces 6.0 million bales of raw cotton; however, consumption is only one million bales by local mills. Mills from the Tirupur belt can relocate and take advantage of the proximity and also surplus of cotton,” the minister observed. The minister promised to grant approval within 15 days for anyone setting up a project, post which, the project would be deemed certified.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Textile Ministry signs MoU for welfare of Handicraft Artisans belonging to Scheduled Castes New Delhi : The Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for welfare of Handicraft Artisans belonging to Scheduled Castes. The move is expected to benefit as many as 12 lakh scheduled caste artisans. The MoU was signed between Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles and National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC), a Central PSU under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The MoU aims towards need assessment and gap identification through popularising various schemes by holding awareness camps. Under the MoU, extensive need-based skill upgradation in the identified clusters having dominant presence of Scheduled Caste artisans, in the field of innovative and market-friendly designs, and adoption of modern tools and techniques will be done. There would be enhanced participation of Scheduled Caste artisans and their producer groups in domestic and international marketing events and working capital credit for Scheduled Caste artisans at concessional rates will be provided, by combining the benefits provided by Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It has also been agreed in the MoU that the Office of the DC (Handicrafts) through its various schemes, will support NSFDC in formulation of project reports, undertaking field studies for identifying felt needs of Scheduled Caste artisans, in addition to extending assistance of six Regional Offices and 52 Marketing & Service Extension Centres of the Office of the DC (Handicrafts).
Source: KNN India
Around 30 lakh bales of cotton has been exported from the country so far as against a planned target of some 50 -60 lakh bales this cotton season, according to top officials of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI). Most traders feel that the country is likely to meet the export targets although some orders were cancelled and some shipments have been postponed. M M Chokalingam, CMD in-charge , CCI, says majority of the shipments have gone to Bangladesh followed by Pakistan and Vietnam. According to him, most of the contracts were signed when the prices were around R38,000 per candy as a result of which the country is likely to lose out forex since the current international prices are in the range of R42,000 per candy. Indian cotton exporters had cancelled orders for around 25,000 bales and postponed shipments of about 200,000 bales by up to a month after a supply shortage pushed up local prices. According to market reports, exporters had signed contracts at around 75 cents (per lb) in December and January and since domestic prices had shot up to 84 cents, these traders could not fulfill orders and the contracts to export nearly 25,000 bales to Pakistan and Bangladesh were cancelled. Raw cotton supplies usually peak in India between December and February, pushing down prices. According to Pradeep Jain, president, Jalgaon Cotton Ginners Association, the country will meet the export targets this season. Prices in Jalgaon touched R5,500 per quintal as against R6,000 per quintal. And, prices were dropping on increased arrival pressure. This season, farmers have been delaying cotton sales in the hope of a further hike in prices. The government’s move to scrap high-value currency notes had disrupted trading in a cash-oriented market traders estimating that some farmers sold atleast 155 lakh bales of cotton between October and January. Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam are key buyers of Indian cotton. This season China has not been an aggressive buyer and purchased most of its cotton from US. As per unconfirmed reports, Pakistan has purchased some 20 lakh bales, Bangladesh has purchased around 10-12 lakh bales, China some 15-20 lakh bales. Besides, 5-6 lakh bales have reached other markets. Moreover, traders are coming from Gujarat in large numbers and are purchasing cotton from farmers. The Cotton Association of India (CAI) has maintained the cotton crop for the 2016-17 season at 341 lakh bales of 170 kg each, same as in the previous month. The CAI has increased cotton consumption for the ongoing crop year to 295 lakh bales against previous estimate of 290 lakh bales.
Source: The Financial Express
HYDERABAD: With an annual growth rate of 19 per cent, India is expected to be self-sufficient in silk production by 2020, Central Silk Board (CSB) Chairman K M Hanumantharayappa has said. "Our output is 28,000 MTs (metric tonne) to 30,000 MTs at present. Our production is growing year to year. We are aiming to stop imports from China and produce that much in three-four years," Hanumantharayappa told PTI here. China produces 80 per cent of global silk output, while India's share is 13 per cent, he said. The production in other countries account for the remaining 7 per cent. However, there is a 19 per cent growth in production and the aim is to produce around 34,000 MTs to make the country self-sufficient, he said. "We have come closer. If we can continue this momentum, we can do it in the next three-four years," he said. Silk imports have come down to 3500 MTs now from about 6,500 MTs, he said. China produces only mulberry, but India produces other varieties, including Tasar and Muga, he said. The CSB, a statutory body established in 1948 by an Act of Parliament, functions under the control of Union Ministry of Textiles. Its mandated activities include, research and development, maintenance of silkworm production seed production network, leadership role in commercial silkworm seed production and standardising quality parameters in various production. The CSB chairman said the Board is offering a number of services like technological support to farmers, subsidies on machines and free training to the farmers. The state governments can pitch in to increase silk production by supporting farmers through monetary benefits and through other means, he said, adding that the Board would also help the cause.
Source: The Financial Express
The commerce ministry plans to reach out to other countries and get potential partners to support its proposed paper on Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) that seeks to remove unnecessary regulations on trade in services, a ministry official said. "G-20 (Group of 20 major economies) and BRICS (association of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are the right fora to build advantage of coalitions," the official said. Services sector accounts for about 60 per cent in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 28 per cent of total employment. Indian IT industry — which gets 62 per cent of its revenues from the US — is under pressure from Washington's' increasingly protectionist stance on outsourcing work amid rising unemployment in the US. Hence New Delhi's bid to garner international support for free movement of professionals. The commerce ministry along with the World Bank plans to hold a workshop on TFS next month to support awareness building and better understanding of the issue. "Officials from the OECD will also be part of the workshop," said a person aware of the programme. The ministry has already organised two sets of seminars with industry chambers to garner support for its proposal. India had submitted the concept note on reducing regulations involved in trade in services in September last year to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The note is currently being legally vetted. India wants TFS to be part of the WTO ministerial meeting in Argentina in December. Incidentally, Argentina will also chair the G-20 summit in 2018. India's proposal envisages a liberalised visa regime with multiple entry visas, visa-free travel for foreign tourists and long-term visas for business community, among other things. "The legally vetted paper will be out anytime. We should allow the process to go rather than be afraid of what comes on the table. Let the reactions happen," the commerce ministry official said. The BRICS countries have been deliberating cooperation on the services statistics and also areas of cooperation on trade facilitation in services. WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo on his visit to India had said that the proposal needs discussion and that India only can get other countries interested in its proposal. The last time India had used international platforms was to advocate its stance on public stockholding for food security purpose.
Source: The Economics Times
After a strong start during the festival season last year, textiles and apparel manufacturers and retailers saw a sharp contraction in demand due to the liquidity crisis after demonetisation in November 2016. According to the latest study by Edelweiss Securities, India’s top pure fashion and lifestyle company, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), has lost ~100 crore in sales across all its textile business verticals due to demonetisation. ABFRL, the producer of apparel brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and Pantaloons, has posted 4.8 per cent growth in revenue (y-o-y) and an 8.8 per cent dip in EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation) in October-December 2016. “ABFRL had a strong start in the festive season till the first week of November, after which the growth trajectory was largely impacted by demonetisation. The wholesale channel has returned to normal in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 and the upstocking should start in the first quarter of the next financial year. The company has reduced working capital by ~50 crore compared to the start of 201617 and increased inventory turns. Store rationalisation is largely complete. Anchored by the revival of Madura and Pantaloons, we are confident of a strong growth trajectory in the first quarter of the next financial year,” said Abneesh Roy, an analyst with Edelweiss Securities Ltd. The case was similar with branded fabric and fashion design leader Raymond Ltd. The company said in an investor presentation available on the Bombay Stock Exchange website that its branded textile segment declined during the OctoberDecember quarter mainly due to lower sales following demand contraction. Raymond’s wholesale and MBO (management by objectives) channels were affected the most. Raymond’s branded apparel segment, however, grew in single digits following a recovery in retail apparel sales.
Source Business Standard
Minimum wage of Rs. 15,000 to be given to each weaver every month Distressed powerloom weavers in Sircilla textile town in Rajanna-Sircilla district were in praise of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision to revive the sick powerloom industry with his assurance of providing a minimum wage of Rs. 15,000 and above per month to each powerloom weaver. On Tuesday, Handlooms Development Corporation Director Shailaja Rama Iyer and Collector Krishna Bhaskar visited the textile town and interacted with the weavers and trade union leaders to gather their opinion. They would submit the same to the State government. Hailing the State government for taking all measures to revive the powerloom industry, Kishore, president of Sizing Workers’ Union, said the government should strictly abide by its decision to increase the wages of the weavers as they were underpaid for several years. Powerloom Workers’ Union president S. Mallesham welcomed the government’s decision in this regard. On several occasions, the powerloom weavers have gone on strike demanding increase in wages, but the owners betrayed them after promising a hike, he mentioned. He opined that the Chief Minister should have convened a meeting with both the powerloom owners and weavers to have some clarity on the issue. Rajesham, president of CITU, suggested that the government should provide at least four powerlooms and supply yarn for producing fabric which should be marketed by the government itself. He also said the government should provide 35 kg of rice to all the weavers under Annapurna Antyodaya scheme. Skill upgradation The weavers also urged the government to provide training for skill upgradation among them. They said that the government should procure all the fabric produced by the powerlooms to provide regular employment to the weavers in Sircilla. Thrift scheme Mr. Rama Iyer said the State government was working out modalities to increase the wages of powerloom weavers. She said the government was planning to formulate a thrift scheme for weavers by collecting contributions from weavers and owners including the State government. The amount collected under the scheme would be given to the weavers to meet their expenses.
Source: The Hindu
IT IS easy to be downcast about the state of global trade. It has faced stiff headwinds in recent years: in 2016, for the first time in 15 years, it grew more slowly than the world economy. Regional and global trade deals are going nowhere, slowly. And America’s new president has promised to protect his country from trade-inflicted “carnage”. Amid all this gloom, optimism seems foolhardy. But in Asia’s export dynamos, trade is picking up steam. In January, Chinese exports rose year-on-year for the first time in ten months; South Korean shipments have increased for three months in a row. Surveys reveal strong export pipelines in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. Healthy order books for Asia’s manufacturers normally bode well for global trade and indeed the global economy. It is too soon to declare a definitive upturn in global trade, but it looks like more than a blip. The simplest explanation for the rebound is that global demand is itself on solid ground. Global growth is still slower than before the financial crisis of 2008, but is heading in the right direction. Both the IMF and the World Bank think it will speed up a bit this year. Investors have turned more bullish: the MSCI all-world index, which covers 46 different markets, hit a record high this week. The rebound in Asian exports is more reason for bullishness. Structural changes may also be at play in Asia. A much-cited factor behind the slowdown in global trade in recent years has been China’s tightening grip on complex supply chains. As more production takes place inside a single country, fewer cross-border transactions are needed to produce final goods. Yet this consolidation within China is starting to meet more friction. China is still aiming for a bigger share of high-tech industries, but less-developed countries in Asia are scooping up more of its low-end manufacturing, and wealthier markets are also fighting back. Over the last nine months of 2016, China’s export performance trailed the rest of Asia. Nevertheless, there are good reasons to restrain the optimism. The rebound in exports from Asia’s commodity producers such as Indonesia and Malaysia is mainly the result of higher prices for oil and metals. Growth in their trade volumes has been much slower. For Asia’s high-tech economies, the rebound’s durability hinges on the fickle tastes of consumers. Both Samsung and Apple are expected to launch shiny new gadgets this year. Semiconductor makers around the region have gone into overdrive in anticipation. If demand falls short of expectations, exports of electronics will quickly dive again. And looming large over all these trends is Donald Trump. Fears that he might declare China a currency manipulator in his first few days in office came to naught. But his threats during the election campaign to slap heavy tariffs on Chinese products still linger in the background. A trade war would be unwelcome at any time. If it came just when the world was breaking free from a long slump in global trade, the irony would be all the more cruel.
Source: The Financial Express
Household income of weavers in Nuapatna have tripled following digital interventions in the processes of designing, archiving, marketing and sales A woman works on a tie-and-dye frame in a handloom cluster in Odisha. Photo: Vimages.In When I first visited Nuapatna, a small town about 70km from Bhubaneswar in Odisha, I was surprised by the skills of the weavers in the handloom cluster and the beauty of their creations. Despite producing intricately woven sarees, household incomes were no more than Rs2,000-Rs3,000 a month. This is one of the reasons pushing the younger generation away from traditional skills and towards unskilled labour in factories and construction sites. As is the case in most of the 545 handloom clusters in the country, almost every member of a family is involved in the process of weaving in Nuapatna.Women pull out tassar yarn from the cocoons of tassar silkworms after the worms are killed by heat. Children help their parents in applying starch to finished sarees before they are packed to be sold. The men do the weaving. In Nuapatna, especially, children start acquiring weaving skills at a very early age. Elders in the cluster say that it takes 10 years to master the art and skill of weaving a double ikat saree. Despite learning and practising the skill for almost a decade, children often grow up and leave the cluster in search of better paying jobs that are less time consuming. When I spoke to some families in the cluster, I learnt that several youths, between the ages of 20 and 30 years, have migrated to cities like Pune (in Maharashtra) and Surat (in Gujarat) in search of work in factories. Quitting the profession after learning the skill for 10 long years is not only a waste of time and energy but also a waste of talent. Besides, the youths leave their families weaker in terms of resources of hand and skills. And it’s especially sad for a cluster like Nuapatna that is home to several national award-winning weavers. For us, the task was cut out. We not only wanted to digitally enable the weavers but also turn their dreams into reality. Nuapatna (in Cuttack district) and Barpali (in Bargarh district) as handloom clusters had all the ingredients to inspire us to replicate our learnings from Chanderi—our oldest adopted cluster—where we had started a similar project called Chanderiyaan in 2009. We have been able to triple household incomes in the last six years through digital interventions in the processes of designing, archiving, marketing and sales. The project even provides wireless broadband connectivity to about 100 households. Training men, women and children in using computers wasn’t difficult. In fact that was the easiest part of our initiatives. But following up that training with customized technology was what temporarily applied the brakes on our efforts. We thought we would be able to copy-paste the technology and experiences from Chanderi. After we hit roadblocks a couple of times, we realized that the same processes could not be replicated in Nuapatna. The art and style of weaving was so different from that of Chanderi that we had to find a new software to suit the needs of the weavers in Odisha. Weavers using bandhni or tie-and-dye techniques for ikat don’t necessarily require graph paper for designs. Most of them, due to their years of experience, just recall a design from memory and replicate it on the tie-and-dye frame and subsequently the loom. This is also the reason why there isn’t too much of experimentation in design, especially in Barpali and also the reason why introducing digital tools and information technology into their processes was a challenge. But we had a dedicated team that did not rest till we found an apt technology to introduce in the weaving clusters. Thankfully, Microsoft came forward and supported us to integrate digital tools in creating Digikala—the project title for transforming the two ikat handloom clusters into digital handloom clusters. Last year, we digitally trained close to 2,000 individuals at both Barpali and Nuapatna. At both locations, 25 participants each from weaving families are being trained to use advanced design software. If you get a chance to travel to Odisha, I would like you to visit Nuapatna or Barpali. You will see that the clusters enjoy the same high-speed wireless broadband as your metro cities and now have a digital repository of thousands of traditional designs. In a couple of months, you will also be able to place your orders online via an exclusive e-commerce website for ikat sarees that have been visualized and designed by the digital weavers of Nuapatna and Barpali.
Source: Livemint
After a lull of almost a month, the GST Council met last week for the tenth time since its first meeting in September 2016. The silence on the indirect tax proposals in the recently presented Union Budget was indeed deafening and the government seems to have made it loud and clear that GST would be implemented in 2017. Against this backdrop, the tenth GST Council meeting was expected to clear many pending issues and set the ball rolling even faster for meeting the July 1, 2017 deadline. However, the Council could only finalise the GST Compensation Bill and the finalisation of “other pending” issues has now been slotted for March 4-5. Agreement on the GST Compensation Bill is indeed commendable as all the doubts of the states concerning the GST compensation have been put to rest, once and for all. The journey of the GST compensation issue which started from being diffident and ended being definitive has been an ardent one. The genesis of the issue dates back to the VAT implementation at the state level done more than a decade ago. The Centre had agreed with the erstwhile Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) to compensate the states for VAT losses incurred (100% in the first year, 75% in the second year and 50% in the third year) post implementation. This was agreed between the Centre and the EC without passing of any law. While the states received the compensation albeit some delays, there was lot of heartburn between the Centre and the states on the quantum of the compensation, base year, time frame, etc. Learning from the past experiences, the base year for GST revenue projections has been fixed as FY16 and hence notwithstanding the possibility of revenue loss post de-monetisation (as feared by few states), the states have been fully assured and insured against any tax revenue losses post GST implementation for a period of five years. The states have been successful in bargaining a good deal, and a formal law is being framed to give the states some comfort in the sensitive matter of tax revenues. It is hoped that the states do not turn complacent on augmenting GST revenues, riding on the compensation promise. A new chapter has been added in the Centre and states relations in the federal set-up of our country. It has perhaps set an example for other federal countries which have similar consumption tax models. The strategy is not to adopt the best practice but to devise the next practice for others to follow. The dates for the next Council meeting (March 4-5) seem to be in sync with the budget sessions for most of the larger states. However, given that the all-important discussion on GST rate fixing is still pending, the possibility of the SGST bills to be taken up in the state Budget sessions is completely ruled out. It is now clear that if the July 1, 2017, implementation date is to be achieved, the states have to call for special sessions of their respective assemblies for passing the SGST law, as was done for ratification of the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill. Coming back to the Union Budget session, interestingly, according to a PIB release, the Union minister for parliamentary affairs has stated that the first part of the Budget Session has yielded a total of seven sittings of Lok Sabha and eight sittings of the Rajya Sabha. The productivity of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in terms of utilisation of time during the first part of Budget Session is 112.65% and 96.74%, respectively (till February 9, 2017). He appreciated the cooperation received from all the members of both the Houses in running the business smoothly and he hoped that the second part of the Budget session 2017 would also receive such cooperation from all the members of Parliament. While the results of the state assembly elections are still some time away, notwithstanding those, it is expected that the productivity of the two houses remains the same, even if it doesn’t improve. One wonders if these productive hours could have been put in the earlier sessions of the Parliament, the current pressure to reach the finishing line for GST before July 1, 2017 would have been certainly minimised. Better late than never! The smooth running of Parliament in the remaining part of the Budget session will help the GST implementation plan in a big way and the crucial CGST, IGST and GST Compensation Bills could then be passed without any further delay. If this is achieved within the term of the current Budget session (scheduled to run up to April 12, 2017), the ball will then roll onto the state governments’ courts where the states will have to quickly finalise their GST laws (by simply adopting the Model GST Law) and get the same passed with a simple majority in their respective assemblies. After all this, the GST laws (including the rules) would get finalised and industry can finally go in for making the relevant IT/operations/business changes. To be ready with all these changes by July 1, 2017, is certainly an ambitious target, achievable but not impossible. Needless to add, no further delays can be afforded if the July 1, 2017, deadline has to be met. Much depends upon the political mood post the announcement of the state polls results scheduled for March 11, 2017. The crucial discussion on the GST rates has to happen within the month of March 2017. Many a distance needs to be covered between now and March 11 to ease out the pressure on every stakeholder in the race against time for the GST to see the light of the day on July 1, 2017
Source: The Financial Express
Settling two contentious issues — definition of territorial waters and administration of inter-state transfers — appears key to the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the second half of the Budget session, beginning in the second week of March. Issues over compensation law were cleared by the GST Council last week. It will take up the remaining Bills — Central GST, State GST and Integrated IGST — on March 4 and 5. Resolving these issues would make way for the July 1 rollout of the uniform indirect tax legislation. The Council has sought the views of a law committee on the matter. "All GST laws are being vetted. There are areas of concern. Constitutional conflicts that will have to be carefully negotiated," said a senior government official. On the issue of territorial waters, the Centre has agreed to give states the power to collect taxes on economic activities within 12 nautical miles. But it did not agree to treat these areas as part of the relevant state’s territory. The states have, however, demanded treatment of territorial waters as their territory and sought powers to levy and collect taxes. The states have argued that a high court had decided the matter in favour of them and the matter was pending in the Supreme Court. "The chairman of the Council, Arun Jaitley, agreed to refer the issue to the law committee to examine it," said a state official. The panel, with state finance ministers as members, is chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Another issue to be looked into by the law committee is empowering the states to administer cases relating to import and export of goods and services in case of inter-state transfers. The states have sought powers to adjudicate cases pertaining to import or export of goods or services under the proposed IGST Act. The states argue that they have been administering Central Sales Tax and assessing the genuineness of exports, as it involves refund of taxes paid at the input stage. “Similarly, under the IGST Act also, the state authorities have to be empowered to ascertain the genuineness of export transactions as it involves huge amounts of refund of taxes paid at the earlier stages," another state official pointed out. In the previous GST Council meeting in Udaipur, the panel had cleared the GST compensation law, which guarantees states compensation for five years for any revenue losses under GST. It will now be taken to the Cabinet for approval before being tabled in Parliament. Other issues requiring clarifications based on legal vetting include the constitution of the appeals tribunal under the GST, the definition of agriculture, the exemptions that have to be given during the transition phase, delegation of powers under the GST, treatment of the works contract and the fine print of the composition scheme, wherein taxpayers with a revenue threshold of up to ~50 lakh can pay a fixed tax rate and reduce procedural requirements.
Source: Business Standard
In a series of papers over the past 10 years, MIT Professor César Hidalgo and his collaborators have argued that the complexity of a country's exports -- not just their diversity but the expertise and technological infrastructure required to produce them -- is a better predictor of future economic growth than factors economists have historically focused on, such as capital and education. Now, a new paper by Hidalgo and his colleagues, appearing in the journal World Development, argues that everything else being equal, the complexity of a country's exports also correlates with its degree of economic equality: The more complex a country's products, the greater equality it enjoys relative to similar-sized countries with similar-sized economies. "When people talk about the role of policy in inequality, there is an implicit assumption that you can always reduce inequality using only redistributive policies," says Hidalgo, the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab. "What these new results are telling us is that the effectiveness of policy is limited because inequality lives within a range of values that are determined by your underlying industrial structure."So if you're a country like Venezuela, no matter how much money Chavez or Maduro gives out, you're not going to be able to reduce inequality, because, well, all the money is coming in from one industry, and the 30,000 people involved in that industry of course are going to have an advantage in the economy. While if you're in a country like Germany or Switzerland, where the economy is very diversified, and there are many people who are generating money in many different industries, firms are going to be under much more pressure to be more inclusive and redistributive." Joining Hidalgo on the paper are first author Dominik Hartmann, who was a postdoc in Hidalgo's group when the work was done and is now a research fellow at the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy in Leipzig, Germany; Cristian Jara-Figueroa and Manuel Aristarán, MIT graduate students in media arts and sciences; and Miguel Guevara, a professor of computer science at Playa Ancha University in Valparaíso, Chile, who earned his PhD at the MIT Media Lab.
Quantifying complexity
For Hidalgo and his colleagues, the complexity of a product is related to the breadth of knowledge required to produce it. The PhDs who operate a billion-dollar chip-fabrication facility are repositories of knowledge, and the facility of itself is the embodiment of knowledge. But complexity also factors in the infrastructure and institutions that facilitate the aggregation of knowledge, such as reliable transportation and communication systems, and a culture of trust that enables productive collaboration. In the new study, rather than try to itemize and quantify all such factors -- probably an impossible task -- the researchers made a simplifying assumption: Complex products are rare products exported by countries with diverse export portfolios. For instance, both chromium ore and nonoptical microscopes are rare exports, but the Czech Republic, which is the second-leading exporter of nonoptical microscopes, has a more diverse export portfolio than South Africa, the leading exporter of chromium ore. The researchers compared each country's complexity measure to its Gini coefficient, the most widely used measure of income inequality. They also compared Gini coefficients to countries' per-capita gross domestic products (GDPs) and to standard measures of institutional development and education.
Predictive power
According to the researchers' analysis of economic data from 1996 to 2008, per-capita GDP predicts only 36 percent of the variation in Gini coefficients, but product complexity predicts 58 percent. Combining per-capita GDP, export complexity, education levels, and population predicts 69 percent of variation. However, whereas leaving out any of the other three factors lowers that figure to about 68 percent, leaving out complexity lowers it to 61 percent, indicating that the complexity measure captures something crucial that the other factors leave out. Using trade data from 1963 to 2008, the researchers also showed that countries whose economic complexity increased, such as South Korea, saw reductions in income inequality, while countries whose economic complexity decreased, such as Norway, saw income inequality increase.
Source: Indian Express
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$ 55.37 per barrel (bbl) on 21.02.2017. This was higher than the price of US$ 54.97 per bbl on previous publishing day of 20.02.2017. In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket increased to Rs. 3708.85 per bbl on 21.02.2017 as compared to Rs. 3681.51 per bbl on 20.02.2017. Rupee closed at Rs. 66.98 per US$ on 21.02.2017. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on February 21, 2017 (Previous trading day i.e. 20.02.2017) |
Pricing Fortnight for 16.02.2017 (Jan 28, 2017 to Feb 13, 2017) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
55.37 (54.97) |
54.67 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
3708.85 (3681.51) |
3683.12 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
66.98* |
67.37 |
* RBI reference rate for 21.02.2017 is not available. Therefore reference rate of 20.02.2017 has been considered.
Source: PIB
Noida: Garment export factory in Sector 59 on Tuesday staged a protest, claiming that the company shut down without paying them their salaries for two months. The workers of Ivory Clothingprotested for an hour and disturbed traffic movement as they blocked the road in front of the company office. The workers said that on Monday evening they saw the company officials shifting goods and valuables in trucks. "We suspected there was something wrong. But we did not inquire into the matter. On Tuesday morning when we went to office, we saw that the gate was locked. The security guard told us the company has shut down," said Himanshu, a worker. A team of officials from the labour department, the police and the district administration later reached the spot and pacified the protesters. City magistrate Ramanuj Singh said the company's management officials were called to the spot. "The company management assured the workers that their dues would be cleared in two days. The protest ended and soon the road was cleared," he said. Raising slogans, the workers accused the company of duping workers of their salaries and fleeing without any prior notice. A group of women workers joined the protest. Kanchan, a worker, said she had been associated with the company for five years. "I did not expect such an unhappy exit. The company has not given me salary for two months," she said. Puttu Lal, a worker, said the company gave him a cheque of Rs 3,478. "When I deposited the cheque in the bank it bounced. We feel the company has committed a fraud against us," he said.
Source: The Times of India
The second Dhaka Apparel Summit will be held in the capital on Saturday to discuss the future roadmap of the country's main export earning sector. Speakers from home and abroad will talk about business policy and the environment, responsible sourcing and the apparel sector's transformation at the daylong summit at Sonargaon Hotel. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the event. The event will also highlight the achievements the sector has made in the last three and a half decades, said Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Bangladesh made foray into the apparel business in January 1980 with the first shipment of just 1.2 lakh pieces of boy's shirts to German company MNR. Currently, Bangladesh holds nearly 6 percent of the $450 billion global garment trade, standing just behind China in the export earnings rankings. In 2015-16, Bangladesh shipped clothing items worth $28.09 billion, up 10.42 percent year-on-year. Rahman said the summit will also highlight the progress on factory inspection and the overall improvement in case of workplace safety since the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013. At the summit, the sector people will discuss issues related to achieving the $50 billion garment export target by 2021 when the country will celebrate its 50th year of Independence. The sector needs a lot of investment, adequate supply of gas and power and improvements in infrastructure to reach the target in time, Rahman said. Garment accounts for more than 80 percent of the country's annual exports. The overseas sales need to grow by 12.25 percent per annum to reach the goal.
Source: The Daily Star
Vahdet Tekstil Makina, an Istanbul, Turkey based textile machinery specialist, has successfully developed a process, which allows converting conventional tubular circular knitting machines into open width knitting machines. The company says it has converted more than 500 knitting machines internationally to date. The innovative process has been certified with the Utility Model Certificate by the Turkish Patent Institute. According to the manufacturer, the conversion of used tubular machines into open width machines helps achieve better energy and time efficiency and increased fabric production, as well as higher performance. The machine almost becomes new again, due to the newly installed takedown system, machine doors and legs, the manufacturer reports. The company converts various kinds of circular knitting machines, including fleece, rib, interlock and plush knitting machines. “We make improvement in our product service network every year,” the company reports. The company was reorganised in 2004 in order to maintain its position of a leading quality service provider. The manufacturer formed regional sales teams, adding a Marketing and Sales Department to the already existing departments, which include Creel Stands, Cams and Yarn Carriers, Maintanence and Hardware Store. Leading spare parts supplier The company, founded in 1986, is also a leading supplier of high quality spare parts and technical support services for the knitting machinery manufacturers. The company’s wide product portfolio includes spare parts for Mayer & Cie., Terrot, Orizio and Pilotelli knitting machines, as well as a wide range of creel stands for circular knitting machines, high quality cams and yarn carriers, and socks creel stands and accessories. With its sales offices, and showrooms located in Istanbul, the company aims to serve the increasing needs and requirements of the knitting machinery producers worldwide, and continue developing technological potential in Turkey. It has recently invested in additional technology (CNC Vertical Milling Machines and CNC Wire EDM Machine) for the production of better quality spare parts for circular knitting machines.
Source: Knitting Industry
Japan-based Epson Group and its Italy-based Digital printing technologies support this fast-growing segment of textile printing. For the first time, InPrint — the premier exhibition for industrial printing technologies — will be held in the United States. The show is collocated with ICE USA 2017, the International Converting Exhibition (ICE), which will highlight machinery, technology and manufacturing processes for nonwovens and other flexible based materials. The exhibitions in Orlando, Fla., April 25-27, 2017, will be of high interest to textile manufacturers involved in, or wishing to learn more about, industrial inkjet printing for textiles in market sectors such as automotive, furnishing and interior décor, labels, and packaging. Industrial Digital Printing And The U.S. Market Industrial digital printing can be 2-D or 3-D printing for decorative or functional purposes. Unlike decorative digital printing, which typically occurs as a roll-to-roll process before the product is made, industrial printing is integrated into the production line as a continuous process. For this reason, industrial printed products tend to require a highly specialized system. The specialization is justified though because the benefits of digital printing are significant. In the print world, consumer demand calls for an increase in the color and image complexity, image quality, and variety of prints. Digital printing supports these customer demands by allowing for small production runs, shorter lead times and improved design aesthetics such as increased number of colors, fine line detail, gradients and photographic type imagery. The print-on-demand production ability of digital printing supports customized designs, leads to a decrease in time to market, and offers cost reduction and higher consumer satisfaction. Consumer demand is forcing change within all manufacturing industries. Consumers are demanding higher transparency in the goods and services used to manufacture their products, assured safety, higher quality, increased functional attributes, and a wide variety of products delivered to them with lightning speed. The development of industrial digital textile printing technologies increases opportunities for U.S. job growth by creating new markets and better supporting established market segments. These new markets likely would come from an array of new products that cannot be made as cost effectively using traditional printing technologies. Examples include those products that may require multiple colorways, customizable imagery or text, the ability to print to shape, or where precise registration or placement of ink is required. The EFI-Reggiani reNOIR 3.4-meter-wide digital textile printing machine can process any type of substrate. Conductive Printing Considerable research and development currently is being conducted on printed electronics in flexible circuitry. Conductive printing would support consumer products for wearables and interior e-textiles designed for health and fitness monitoring, self-cleaning, and communication. England-based IDTechEx, a market analysis firm specializing in electronics, suggests that the highest compound annual growth rate of e-textile markets will be in the home textiles sector. As well as providing new functional attributes to the consumer, conductive digital printing provides improved manufacturing capability. For example, printed radio frequency identification labeling has a broad application range such as for material tracking in the supply chain process. Alternatively, a microchip could be embedded into the product to relay information throughout the supply chain or to provide to consumer care instructions. This information could be read and updated throughout the manufacturing, distribution and consumer stages. Mass Customization Digital printing enables mass customization and provides a competitive advantage for those companies wishing to manufacture closer to the point of sale. Because print designs are stored in a digital format and can be printed on demand, digital printing enables highly customizable products that can be made further down the supply chain and closer to the consumer. The shortened lead-times for domestic production will provide the U.S. customer with access to a quality, customizable product, at a low price in the dot com and retail markets. In addition, retailers can provide a more cohesive brand of products. For example, digital printing enables a retailer to provide a color and pattern coordinated range of products including wall covering, floor tiles, carpeting, bedding, stationary, tableware, and personal electronics. The labeling and packaging also may remain highly consistent. The global luxury market generated more than $1 trillion in revenue in 2015 with the personal luxury sector making up about 13 percent of the total. Apparel products comprised approximately 25 percent of the personal luxury market, and brought in over The Luxury Market $253 billion in revenue, according to consultancy.uk. Worth Global Style Network reports that the top three ways to attract future luxury consumers was through “exclusive collaborations with relevant partners (78%), secret and exclusive brand experiences (59%) and personalized online experiences (e.g. notifications) (53%).” In a 2013 article published by Boston-based Bain & Co., Elizabeth Spaulding and Christopher Perry stated that allowing customers to create or add to their own specific product has “elevated customer loyalty and engagement” boosting sales by increasing the perceived value. Customers are willing to pay upwards of 20-percent more when customization options are available. Spaulding & Perry further stated that brands gain further benefits by being able to “gain insights from customized designs and fine tuning products in a feedback loop.” This consumer preference data allows brands to utilize important information in new product development and marketing campaigns. In its “Post-drupa Technology Forecast for Print and Printed Packaging to 2026” market report, England-based Smithers Pira lists enhanced luxury packaging processes as one of six key technology developments that will fuel revenue and new businesses. The report from Smithers Pira states there is “a new interest in enhanced ranges of print embellishment products and processes, to add luxury appearance and better tactile effects to printed products.” Industrial printing processes enable brands to more easily and and cost effectively manufacture customizable products, limited edition designs, and unique and higher quality packaging all while engaging the consumer with a more interactive shopping experience by allowing the customer to co-design. InPrint Highlights At InPrint, digital printing machinery and chemistries will be shown from leaders in the digital textile printing arena including Italy-based EFI Reggiani and Fujifilm. EFI Reggiani’s array of digital textile printers enables highly efficient industrial manufacturing to support personalization and quick response for home interior and apparel products. Complementary technologies, such as EFI’s newly acquired Optitex 3-D design technology, bring yet another essential layer of time-savings and automation to industrial manufacturing. The Optitex 3-D design software for industrial fabrics and upholstery reduces fabrics wastage, cuts labor cost and maximizes productivity using automatic nesting software and enables product developers to visualize designs as true-to-life, photorealistic 3-D images. These digital technologies can cut back on lead times, make it practical to generate lower and variable volumes, and cater for different world demographics and trends. EFI states that none of these criteria were possible with analogue methods that are geared for long runs that cannot be easily adapted to changing market needs once production is underway. The old model of industrial analog printing leads inevitably to overstocking and, often, to loss-making heavy discounts on manufactured goods. The Fujifilm SAMBA™ printhead features a recirculating ink channel to prevent clogging. Robust printhead technology is needed to support the high-speed printing required for industrial digital printing, as color shifts and print defects will occur if the nozzles are clogged. Stability of colorant is usually most problematic with pigments , but can be an issue with dye-based colorants as well. The Fujifilm Samba printheads incorporate a recirculating ink channel system that prevents ink clogging. The SAMBA™ piezo MEMS printhead platform is facilitating the creation of families of sophisticated printheads for jetting a wide range of inks for decorative and functional applications, and is installed in a number of different types of industrial printing machines. Fujifilm also will demonstrate water-based and ultraviolet (UV) inks. Fujifilm Imaging Colorants is a global leader in the development and supply of high-performance dye and pigment-based colorants and inks for aqueous ink-jet digital printing applications. Fujifilm also was responsible for commercializing the UV-cured inkjet inks that fueled the world’s first UV flatbed inkjet printers. A key factor in the growth of inkjet in the wide format, packaging and industrial markets has been the ability to print with UV-curable inks.Pigments developed for inkjet printing typically have a smaller printable range of colors or color gamut, and lower wash and wet and dry crockfastness than dyes, but have increased UV resistance and save time and money because they do not require a post-washing step. Kiian Digital produces a variety inks for digital printing including sublimation, disperse and pigment-based inks. Future Outlook As industrial printing companies find that established markets related to office and advertising mature and decline, textile markets offer potential for high growth. Boston-based I.T. Strategies estimates the U.S. analog and digital print market at $31.5 billion with textiles comprising one of the largest print categories. By 2020, I.T. Strategies predicts an 18-percent growth in printed textile vendor and retail revenues. Traditionally, textile coloration processes such as textile dyeing, screen-printing and fabric graphics were created in other countries because of high labor costs and environmental regulations in the United States. Industrial digital textile printing technology has lower labor requirements and offers the potential to have lower environmental impacts in areas such as chemical, water, energy and material usage. More importantly, industrial digital printing encourages U.S. market growth by enabling new product innovations such as conductive printed textiles, increased speed-to-market for customized products, and improved print aesthetics to support the decorative and luxury markets.
Source: Textile World,
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has confirmed the scope and systematic nature of forced labour of Uzbek citizens during last year’s cotton harvest, the Cotton Campaign said. But Tashkent’s involvement in the research appeared to undermine the results and may also have led the ILO to not give sufficient weight to the evidence of abuses presented by independent Uzbek monitors, Human RightsWatch claims. The ILO reported that the “sustainable elimination of the risk of child and forced labour remains a prominent issue” in Uzbekistan and about a third of the 2.8 million cotton pickers that the ILO estimates are involved in the autumn cotton harvest were “non-voluntary”. The figure is in line with Cotton Campaign and independent Uzbek monitors’ estimates of forced labourers. Exports fell sharply last year. “A warmer than usual winter, lack of water, pest problems and replanting all caused a lower than expected crop,” the US Department of Agriculture’s office in Tashkent said. Planted area was reduced by 30,500 hectares, to 1.26 million hectares, due to a shift in Uzbek policy. “In 2016-17, the government of Uzbekistan lowered the cotton planting area to open up fields for vegetable and fruit production, especially in areas where water is scare and cotton yields are low,” the office said. But HRW said governmental involvement in the ILO research might have led researchers to downplay the severity of forced labour. The report used terms such as “non-voluntary” or “reluctant” to describe forced labourers, the Cotton Campaign said. “The government of Uzbekistan uses a mass, forced mobilisation of citizens to harvest cotton every year,” said Umida Niyazova, director of the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights. The NGO monitors labour and human rights through a network of activists across Uzbekistan. “People are made to harvest cotton under threat of losing their livelihoods, their education or social benefits to which they are entitled, and upon which they depend.” But the ILO worked with Uzbek union representatives, aligned with the government, undermining the credibility of its conclusions. Forced labourers and farmers were required to answer questions in front of staff from the government-controlled Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, with no anonymity, despite the repeated use of torture for those who criticise the government. The ILO noted in its report that “many interviewees appeared to have been briefed in advance”. Independent Uzbek monitors said bureaucrats gave training on what to tell the ILO monitors. “The death of Uzbekistan’s autocratic leader, Islam Karimov, last August and the election to the presidency of Shavkat Mirziyoyev in December have not translated into meaningful human rights improvements on the ground,” said Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia specialist at Human Rights Watch. “The ILO report’s findings are clearly not the whole story when human rights activists who monitor the cotton harvest suffer brutal attacks and harassment.”
Source: Eurasiatimes
Textile mills in Bangladesh fear losing their competitiveness following the government’s move to use Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the manufacturing sector. This was observed by Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) president Tapan Chowdhury, while addressing a press conference in connection with the upcoming DTG-2017 trade show. The Bangladesh government is planning to set up a LNG terminal, which will supply imported gas to the industry. Chowdhury feared that this move to use LNG will increase the production costs of textile mills. He observed that the industry is yet to get a clarification on the pricing, but which, according to sources was TK 14 per unit, which could hit hard the spinning industry. DTG 2017 kicks off from February 23 in Dhaka with a total of 1,000 machinery manufacturers from 33 countries, taking part in the trade show. (AR)
Source: Fibre2Fashion
LONDON--Several textile and apparel industries among African nations are on the rise, attracting more attention from the global market. These sectors are mainly boosted by increased exports, investments and government support. Details about these industrial facilitators in Lesotho, Ethiopia and Nigeria are some of this week’s featured stories on BizVibe. BizVibe is the world’s smartest B2B marketplace and allows users to connect with over seven million companies around the globe. Lesotho is now one of Africa’s biggest textile and apparel manufacturers and the largest sub-Saharan African exporter of apparel products to the US. Its annual textile and apparel exports to the US increased from about USD 129 million in 2001 to USD 330 million in 2015. The significant development of Increasing exports to the US boosting Lesotho’s textile industry Lesotho’s textile and apparel industry has been mainly driven by a preferential trade deal with the US – The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Now, over 80% of Lesotho-made textile and apparel production exports to the US every year, and many US brands, such as Gap, Levi Strauss, Foot Locker, Timberland and Wal-Mart, are sourcing or manufacturing in Lesotho. Several large Chinese companies have decided to Ethiopia’s textile sector attracts new investments invest in Ethiopia’s textile and apparel industry this year, among them is Jiangsu Sunshine Group who plan to invest nearly USD 1 billion in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is becoming an attractive destination, especially considering that its new initiatives are so favourable to textile companies. Indian investors have also shown a strong interest in the African nation. The Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) has increased its efforts to attract foreign direct investment, and hopes to secure total USD 3.5 billion investment by the end of this fiscal year. The Government of Nigeria has recently announced that it will allocate 51 billion Nigerian Naira (USD 161 million) in this year’s federal budget to the development and resuscitation of the Government shows strong support to Nigeria’s textile and apparel industry Nigeria’s struggling textile and apparel industry. The government hopes this allocation will create more textile jobs, promote the production and purchases of locally-made textiles and clothing, improve infrastructure, increase domestic cotton production and develop technologies in the Nigeria’s textile and apparel industry. BizVibe is home to 50,000+ apparel and textile companies across 200+ countries, covering all sectors. The BizVibe platform allows you to discover the highest quality leads and make meaningful connections in real time. Claim your company profile for free and let the business come to you. About BizVibe BizVibe is home to over seven million company profiles across 700+ industries. The single minded focus of BizVibe’s platform is to make networking easier. Over the years, we've searched far and wide to figure out how businesses connect and enable trade. That first interaction is usually fraught with the uncertainty of finding a potential partner vs. a potential nightmare. With this in mind, we've designed a robust set of tools to help companies generate leads, shortlist prospects, network with businesses from around the world and trade seamlessly.
Source: Yahoo Finance
APP BEIJIN: Pakistan Ambassador to China, Masood Khalid Tuesday invited the Chinese companies to take advantage of investment-friendly policies of present government and come forward to invest in textile and garments sectors in Pakistan. “The government is focusing for the development of textile and garments sectors in Pakistan as it is considered to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy,” he said while addressing the representatives of about 76 Chinese companies at a road-show of Quaid-e-Azam Apparel Park (QAAP), Sheikhupura, held here. Welcoming the Chinese businessmen and entrepreneurs, he said, “Your presence here not only reflects your confidence in the market potential in Pakistan but also shows friendship with Pakistan and its people.” Giving the details of the project, he said, it is aimed at development of textile and garment sector in Pakistan, adding, textile sector is one of main segments of Pakistan’s economy and Pakistan exports bulk of its textile products to China. Masood Khalid said, the present government has launched various mega projects for the development of Pakistan, a home of more than 200 million people. Pakistan and China, partners in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), are executing a large number of projects including energy, roads network, infrastructure, Gwadar port and new industrial zones along its route, he added. The Ambassador apprised audience about Punjab government’s development projects and said these development projects included provision of clean drinking water, farms to city roads and a knowledge park in Lahore. He asked the Chinese entrepreneurs to take advantage of enormous opportunities offered by the government as Pakistan particularly the Punjab province is emerging as a hub for economic activities. “It is matter of taking interest and lead to explore the market potential of Pakistan,” he said. About investment and working climate in Pakistan, he informed that more than 90,000 Chinese national are already working on different development projects in Pakistan, adding, the government has taken special measures for their safety and security. While drawing the attention of Chinese companies toward the project, he said, the QAAP being established near Lahore is a big project which requires their attention. “We are looking for good contractors for executing this project aimed at making it a good quality project besides its implementation at par international standard,” he added. He said, Pakistan’s government has offered special incentives for the investors including the Chinese friends and added, Pakistan has strategic location and is linked with two big neighbors – China and India while it provides easy access to Central Asia and Africa. He said, cheap raw material along with hardworking work force and managerial teams are available besides profit margins are very good in Pakistan. “We are working to modernize the development process and all the industries have been integrated,” he added. The Ambassador said, all the important world financial institutions have expressed satisfaction over the performance of Pakistan economy and they termed it as strong and stable. Project Director, Shahzad Sheikh who arrived here from Pakistan to organize the road-show, said, the objective of the road-show is to invite the international contractors to participate in the infrastructure development of QAAP project. He said, ideally located on Lahore-Islamabad Motorway at the junction of Sheikhupura, QAAP is connected through a dedicated interchange on M2, with a network of national highways to create an uninterrupted link to all major cities, sea ports and dry ports of the country. A comfortable distance of 40 KM from Lahore, 55 KM from International airport and just 6 KM from Railways station bring the project site more close to the international market, he added. He said, the Apparel Park will have the capacity to create 250,000 new jobs along with setting up a precedent of empowering skilled women work force. He said the garments produced by QAAP will be exported to Europe and Latin America at a huge scale, crowding in Rs 5 billion in country’s annual GDP. At the end, a questions-answers session was held. The Chinese businessmen and representatives asked several question from the project director and showed keen interest in the different aspect of the project.
Source: The Nation
NEW DELHI - Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) said on Tuesday it planned to have elected committees and proper pay structures for workers in its main supply factories across the world by 2018 in a bid to curb labour exploitation. Elin Astrom, head of H&M's Sustainability Program in India, said the clothing firm was aware of the exploitation of workers in the garment industry and was working on several initiatives with its main suppliers to improve worker conditions. "We know that getting a job in the textile industry can be an important driver for independence for women. Many times it is the first paid job and can be a catalyst for positive change, but of course -- not by default," Astrom said at a United Nations event on women's economic empowerment. "We do face challenges ourselves within the industry when it comes to working conditions, excessive overtime, wages etc and we are trying to address this in several ways." The fashion industry has come under increasing pressure to improve factory conditions and workers' rights, particularly after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory complex in Bangladesh four years ago, in which 1,136 people were killed. Many big fashion brands, including H&M, have been criticised for failing to check conditions of workers in their supply chains -- from poor health and safety standards to long working hours and low pay to not being allowed to form trade unions. In May last year, a study by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) found workers stitching clothes for H&M in factories in Delhi and Phnom Penh faced problems such as low wages, fixed-term contracts, forced overtime and loss of job if pregnant. The AFWA, a coalition of trade unions and labour rights groups, accused the Western high street retailer of failing on its commitments to clean up its supply chain. Astrom said the fashion brand sources its apparel from factories across 25 countries and indirectly employs 1.6 million garment workers -- 64 percent of whom are women. "It is important to have responsible sourcing when it comes to the millions of jobs that we create throughout the supply chain," she said. The company, she said, has strict expectations of suppliers through a code of conduct, but added that they faced challenges in making factory owners understand issues such as freedom of association and the need for workers' voices to be heard. She said the clothing retailer had set goals with its main suppliers to listen to workers, as well as pay scales that ensure adequate wages based on skill and experience. "We do have capacity building programs to enable workers to raise their voices in a meaningful way with management. We have a goal with all our strategic suppliers to have democratically elected workers committees by 2018 as one step towards this," said Astrom. "We are also committed that every garment worker should earn enough to make a decent living and we want to ensure this across the industry."
Source: Reuters
