Surat: Textile traders, yarn dealers and power loom weavers may rue the fact that their key demands are yet to be resolved by the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council and the central government under GST, but majority of them are happy that GST has forced them to introduce a new payment system which is good for a healthy business environment. Yarn dealers have stopped fresh deliveries of goods to power loom weavers because they are yet to settle outstanding payment. Most of the yarn dealers and fabrics traders have set payment terms where those paying within seven days of goods delivery are given one per cent discount on the total bill amount, whereas there are interest penalties of up to 18 per cent on late payments. Yarn dealer Rajesh Surana told TOI, “Pre-GST, we would give payment credits for 30 and 60 days. We would not dare ask for payment from weavers, even if they fail to pay on the promised date. Post-GST, weavers pay us cheque against yarn delivery. For those paying in cash, we pay one per cent discount on total bill. For those not paying on time, we impose 18 per cent interest on late payments.”Surana added, “The new taxation system has definitely impacted the textile business, but it has helped us to introduce new payment norms as well. However, the trade is going to face major difficulties when the national e-way bill is implemented from April 1.” Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (SGCCI) textile committee chairman Devkishan Manghani said, “Post-GST, the fly-by-night operators have literally packed their bags. Because, you can’t do business with those who are not registered under GST. Earlier, anyone was doing business with everyone. Now, the business is restricted to those who are registered players.” Manghani added, “The launch of national e-way bill is going to impact the industry from April 1 onwards. The GST portal is not working properly and the trade is experiencing difficulties even in filing returns, forget about generating e-way bills. Without e-way bills, you won’t be able to send your finished fabrics to other states. Also, trade fears return of inspector raj as GST officials will unnecessarily harass transporters and traders.” Pandesara Weavers Cooperative Society Limited president Ashish Gujarati said, “Only two things work post-GST. Either the trader pays in cash or cheque. There is no space for credit in business now. The payment issues have been resolved, but most of our demands related to GST with the government are still pending.”
Source: Times of India
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has sanctioned nearly Rs 3,000 crore of refunds to exporters during the fortnightly drive undertaken by the indirect tax department from March 15 to resolve the issue of pending refunds. This is likely to ease working capital crunch being experienced by exporters since the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) on July 1 last year. In the weekly letter to officials, CBEC chairperson Vanaja Sarna said total IGST refund sanctioned till Wednesday was Rs 7,632 crore, which includes Rs 5,339 crore cleared for disbursal to exporters before the drive began. Similarly, the department has now sanctioned Rs 5,007 crore as ITC refunds, including Rs 633 crore successfully processed in last two weeks. This takes the total sanctioned refunds to Rs 12,639 crore. At the start of this month, exporters had claimed about Rs 13,000 crore as refunds in lieu of integrated GST paid on exporting goods and for GST paid on inputs. While it was easier for the tax department to sanction input tax credit (ITC) refund, IGST refunds hit a wall because of mismatches between details in claim application filed with GST Network and the customs department. This led to the GSTN system not clearing many claims for sanction of refunds. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister held a meeting on the issue, which was followed by the announcement of tax department about a fortnight-long drive to help exporters correct mistakes manually on the IT system. To further help exporters, the CBEC will keep its designated offices open on Saturday, Sarna said.
Source: Financial Express
“It would take at least 17 different processes to manufacture a garment. Unlike many other industries, most of the processes would be done by different job work units. These units are spread across the district between 30 and 40 km. So, it would be very difficult if e-way bill would be made mandatory,” said knitwear industrialists. Post-GST, the central government announced that e-way bill was mandatory for transporting consignment worth above Rs 50,000 or more than 10km. While the central government has decided to implement the interstate e-way bill across the country on April 1, the state government passed an order recently to exempt e-way bill within the state. “It would be difficult to obtain e-way bill for every consignment through online as lakhs of traders would be engaged at a time. So, the industrialists would be in haste to complete the process, which would worsen already affected business,” said K S Babuji, general secretary of South Collar Shirts and Innerwear Small Scale Manufacturers Association. “We have met chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in February and urged him not to implement the e-way bill at all, especially intrastate,” he added. “But it is important to make the exemption permanent. We believe that the state government will make it permanent since it would benefit thousands of manufacturers,” said the industrialists.
Source: PTI
COIMBATORE : Exporters in the Tirupur knitwear cluster say it will be impossible for them to compete with ‘tariff advantaged’ countries without ‘lifeline support’ through schemes such as duty drawback and Rebate on State Levies (ROSL). In a representation to Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu, president of Tirupur Exporters’ Association Raja M Shanmugham highlighted the plight of exporters since the reduction in the duty drawback rate last October. Stating that there is no level playing field for the garment manufacturers in India to compete in the global trade because the tariff advantaged countries enjoyed duty-free access on exports to the European Union and the US, he said, “Indian exports are subjected to a levy of 11.40 per cent.” “Bangladesh's apparel exports is four times that of India’s share in the global market, primarily because we are unable to compete on the price front. With the introduction of GST and the timeline fixed for replacing duty drawback scheme with GST refund mechanism, there has been a total chaos. The small lifeline support that we enjoyed is also lost,” Shanmugham said. “The ROSL rate was halved from 3.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent and the service tax component of duty drawback at 0.21 per cent was withdrawn from July 1.2017. Besides this, the excise portion of duty drawback of 5.7 per cent was also withdrawn from October 1. All this has resulted in a bottom line hit of 5 to 7 per cent for the apparel sector,” he added. The association has also appealed for WTO-compatible incentives.
Source: Business line
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate at constant (2011-12) prices is estimated to be 6.6 per cent in fiscal 2017-18 compared to a growth of 7.1 per cent in 2016-17, 8.2 per cent in 2015-16, 7.4 per cent in 2014-15 and 6.4 per cent in 2013-14, according to the second advance estimates released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in February end this year. The decline in growth in the current fiscal is on account of lower growth in agriculture and allied sectors, mining and quarrying, and manufacturing sectors, minister of state for finance Pon Radhakrishnan told the parliament upper house recently. The growth of the services sector, however, is likely to accelerate from 7.5 per cent in 2016-17 to 8.3 per cent in 2017-18, a finance ministry press release quoted the minister as saying.
Source : Fibre2fashion
Wanaparthy: Promising to waive Rs 40 crore loans to individual handloom workers and weavers, Minister for Municipal Administration K Taraka Rama Rao asserted that the State government is giving highest priority to the welfare of handloom weaver. Taking part in the launch of various development works in Wanaparthy district, Rama Rao said the government had promised to waive the individual loans of weavers. He further said he would soon request Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to wave the loans taken by the Handloom Associations. “Earlier, the government had already waived Rs 20 crore of individual loans of handloom workers between 2014 and 2017 in the State. However, as per the request by the weavers associations and handloom workers who have sought waiver of all individual loans from the year 2010 onwards, we have taken the request positively and the Chief Minister has agreed to waive Rs 40 crore of individual loans across the State,” said KTR. During his whirlwind tour of Wanaparthy district on Friday, the Minister took part in the launch of various welfare and development works in Wanaparthy and Kothakota mandals. KTR visited the weavers’ colony in Kothakota mandal and visited some of the houses of the weavers and enquired about the conditions of the weavers families. KTR visited the houses of Satyanarayan and Rajya Laxmi and enquired about the cost of weaving sarees and their income from the weaving. He also interacted with them to know their problems. Later he visited the dying unit in the colony and asked them about the dying process of the textile fabric. Later while taking at a meeting organised at the colony the Minster said that until now the government had waived only the individual loans of the weavers and handloom workers. However, very soon waiving of the loans taken by the weaver and handloom associations. “As the District Collector has said that the Kothakota Silk Saris have got a good reputation and prominence, we have decided to also waive the loans of Kothakota Handloom Weavers Association and encourage them,” said the Minister. Later, the Minister directed the District Collector to send proposals for providing the basic amenities to weavers and handloom workers of Kothakota, Gadwal and Narayanpeta. He also suggested that the Collector set up Tesko showrooms to help the weavers market either in Kothakota or Wanaparthy. He said the Collector should take the initiative to help the weavers to market their products through online e-marketing portals like Amazon and avoid the middle men and brokers. He promised to build a community hall for the Kothakota weavers and said the government will launch a buy back system through ‘Tesko Show rooms’ and help the weavers gain handsome profits for their hard work.
Source: The Hans India
India will export 65-70 lakh bales of cotton in the ongoing cotton season 2017-18 (October-September) amid aggressive demands from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and China, said an official on Thursday. Atul Ganatra, President, Cotton Association of India (CAI), said that apart from the neighbouring countries, India has also been receiving demands for cotton from several other countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia and Turkey. According to the CAI, India had exported 63 lakh bales of cotton last year. Each bale has nearly 170 kg of cotton. Foreign buyers are interested in sourcing cotton from India as they find it cost effective and less expensive in comparison to other countries, said Ganatra. India has already shipped nearly 53-55 lakh bales in the current season and contracts have been signed for another 8-10 lakh bales scheduled for shipment in April-May. According to him, Indian cotton exports would reach 65 lakh bales by May-end as Bangladesh, the world's largest cotton importer, does not have much of its own production and its spinning mills largely depend on imports. "In the early six months of this cotton production and marketing season 2017-18 (October-March), India has sold 55 lakh bales of cotton, of which 17 lakh bales have been shipped to Bangladesh followed by 11 lakh bales to Pakistan, 10 lakh to Vietnam, seven lakh to China, 7 lakh to Indonesia and Taiwan, and 3 lakh to other countries including Sri Lanka, Turkey and Thailand, among others," the CAI chief told IANS. In case China's demand shifts from the US to India, its largest supplier, it will be a win-win situation for both cotton growers and suppliers as the prices of Indian cotton will move up, he said. "But at present China has huge stocks in its government vault for current year's consumption, therefore, it will not source much. However, by the end of season, India's cotton exports to China may touch 10 lakh bales," Ganatra added. The CAI had pegged India's cotton crop at 362 lakh bales for 2017-18 in its monthly report on March 9, 2018, down five lakh bales from the previous month as pink ball worms infestation and dry weather caused severe damage to the cotton crop this year in the Maharashtra and Telangana regions -- the two key cotton producers in India. As per the Association estimates, the consumption of local mills is 330 lakh bales. Taking into account the export figure of 65-70 lakh bales, the aggregate demand works out to nearly 400 lakh bales. As for the supplies, it is pegged at 412 lakh bales, with 362 lakh bales of the current year's production and 30 lakh carry-forward bales, while imports are expected to be around 20 lakh bales. Hence, the closing stocks would be around 12 lakh bales. As per the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures, India is the largest producer of cotton in the world with 365 lakh bales this year, followed by China (353 lakh bales), the U.S. (273 lakh bales), Pakistan (105 lakh bales) and Brazil (103 lakh bales). The five largest exporters of cotton are the U.S. (186 lakh bales), Australia (56 lakh bales), Brazil (54 lakh bales), India (54 lakh bales) and Uzbekistan (15 lakh bales). As per the US agency, five major consumers of cotton are China (513 lakh bales), India (314 lakh bales), Pakistan (134 lakh bales), Bangladesh, (92 lakh bales) and Turkey (90 lakh bales). The five major importers are Bangladesh (93 lakh bales), China (64 lakh bales), Vietnam (54 lakh bales), Indonesia (45 lakh bales) and Turkey (45 lakh bales).
Source: Business Standard
HYDERABAD: With the kharif season fast approaching, the Telangana government and farmers’ union have launched independent campaigns to discourage people from illegal bio-tech cotton seeds or Roundup Ready Flex seeds. The third generation seed technology developed by Monsanto gives cotton plants protection against glyphosate, which is sprayed to kill the weed. Though the technology doesn’t have permissions in the country, farmers have been using it extensively. The fact that a third of 45 lakh acres of cotton area in Telangana alone was covered by the illegal seed shows the depth of its penetration. Both Monsanto and private companies that sell bio-tech seeds denied any role in the production of these seeds. With unscrupulous players flooding the market with these seeds, the State government has begun a campaign across the State to spread awareness. It warns of Preventive Detention and arrest of those in possession of these seeds. “These seeds don’t have any permission for sale. Don’t buy them. The government holds no responsibility if you plant them. Glyphosate is not environment-friendly,” a government official warned the farmers. The district level officials are printing banners, informing the farmers about the ill-effects of the herbicide-tolerant seeds.
‘No to Bt’
The farmers’ unions too are advising the farmers to be careful about the illegal seeds. “To discourage farmers from using the RRF and Bollgard-II, which have become highly ineffective against pink bollworm, we need to promote non-Bt varieties such as Narasimha, Rythu Rakshana, Suraj and Nandhyala 5494 seeds,” T Sagar, Secretary of the Telangana Rythu Sangham, told BusinessLine. “Non-Bt varieties can give yields up to 15 quintals an acre, while the Bt varieties are leaving the farmers in losses,” S Malla Reddy, Vice-President of All-India Kisan Sabha, said. He demanded that the State government make enough stocks of non-Bt seeds available in the market well ahead of the season. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would constitute about a sixth of the three crore acres of the projected cotton area in the next kharif season. Telangana alone is expected to plant cotton on about 40 lakh acres.
Source: Business Line
HYDERABAD: Around 2,000 women weavers from Siddipet, Yadadri, Nalgonda and Warangal are having a taste of success. Disha, a project held in collaboration with the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and Creative Bee, supported by IKEA Foundation, has been teaching 2,000 women weavers on how to enhance their livelihood by direct market linkage and improving their production quality. Nearly 500 weavers underwent training on dyeing, weaving, entrepreneurial skills, marketing and also career guidance and counselling in their pilot project. Over 30 weavers from the group held an exhibition with the help of the project officials getting a taste of the city for the first time, away from their villages. Bina Rao, director of Creative Bee, said that they are teaching the pulse of the market to these talented weavers. “They are used to weaving sarees with huge borders but after seeing the sale of these sarees going down, they have begun weaving differently and now it is selling like hot cakes,” she said. She also stated that the dyes used by many handloom weavers were carcinogenic like naphthol dyes. “It is a misconception that organic dyes are expensive. Most dyes sold in the villages are sold without names on the packets. This project will also lead to many more managerial jobs,” Bina said. The women weavers stated that it is not just a way to earn their livelihood without being conned by middlemen but it also helps break stereotypes. “My husband has been very supportive of me joining this project. No one has stopped us from the village and we are in fact, encouraged by our elders to learn these new methods. When we see that the dyes introduced to us do not wash away, we realise how much more market value can be added to our products,” a weaver from Siddipet said. Dibya Prasad Singh, State Project Officer said that in handloom, you can change the pattern every 10 metres but that is not possible in a power loom. “There will be a difference of about 25 per cent in the prices between the two but the hard work that goes behind it for at least 20 days for handloom is worth the price. Before this project, the weavers were getting only Rs 100 per day. The comfort that original handloom and non-chemical dyes give is addicting,” Dibya said. Gurpreet Kaur Bhatia, the state project head said that they had received a lot of support from the government as well with all the District Collectors pledging their support.
Source: Deccan Chronicle
The Indian Government recently decided to bring employees working in the apparel and textile sectors who were not covered under the pension scheme of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), under the scheme. It will bear the 12 per cent of the basic salary that employers are mandated to make towards pension for the first three years for new employees. The government hopes to create 1 crore new jobs through this initiative. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took the decision, according to a news agency report. Since the launch of scheme, called Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), in August 2016, around 30 lakh workers have already benefited, labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said. The government bears 8.33 per cent employers’ contribution to the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for new workers under PMRPY.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The European Union distanced itself from the idea of reviving talks on a broad free-trade agreement with the U.S. as part of EU efforts to gain a permanent exemption from President Donald Trump’s controversial import tariffs on steel and aluminum. A day after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Trump administration is willing to restart negotiations on the stalled Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the European Commission said it’s seeking a “dialog” with Washington “on issues of common interest” including global steel overcapacity. “More contacts will be held in the coming weeks to agree the exact scope and framework of this EU-U.S. dialog,” a spokesman for the commission, the 28-nation EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said on Friday. “The commission is committed to engage in this process in an open and constructive way. However, it should be clear that this dialog does not represent the revival of the process for a comprehensive Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.” The TTIP negotiations to expand the world biggest economic relationship have been frozen since Trump entered the White House with an “America First” agenda that has shunned multilateral trade initiatives. This extended to the completed Trans-Pacific Partnership, from which Trump withdrew. “He terminated the trans-Pacific deal; he didn’t terminate TTIP,” Ross said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “That was meant quite deliberately and quite overtly as a message that we’re open to discussions with the European Commission.”
Tit-For-Tat
European trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom and Ross spoke four days ago with their eyes on a May 1 deadline for Trump to decide whether to prolong an exclusion for the EU from U.S. import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. The White House justified the levies introduced a week ago on national-security grounds dismissed by the EU, which has demanded a permanent exemption and threatened to join China in applying tit-for-tat tariffs on American goods and complaining to the World Trade Organization. Trump set a vague condition for prolonging the metal-tariffs waiver beyond May 1: The status of “discussions of satisfactory long-term alternative means to address the threatened impairment to U.S. national security.”EU leaders showed as much annoyance as relief at the temporary exemption on March 23, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying “we won’t talk about anything while there’s a gun pointed at our head.” After 14 months of the Trump administration, EU officials are skeptical that it would be willing to seek the kind of broad market-opening TTIP deal that the bloc was negotiating with the government of former President Barack Obama. In May last year, Malmstrom refused to rule out the possibility of a free-trade accord between the EU and the U.S. while stressing that the planned TTIP had been left “in the freezer” as a result of Trump’s election.“There’s still a case for an ambitious trade agreement between us, not to mention a huge potential,” Malmstrom said in a speech at the time. “But we both need a bit more time, and to know there was shared ambition and common ground.”
Source: Financial Express
LAHORE: European Union’s extension in the GSP-Plus status (Generalized System of Preferences) to Pakistan has helped increase exports of value-added textile goods by up to 90 per cent, leading to exports growth by 13 per cent during last eight months. Addressing the launching ceremony of International Apparel Federation (IAF) membership in Pakistan held here at regional office of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) on Friday, Federal Commerce Secretary Younus Dhaga said the PM package in the shape of Duty Drawback on Taxes (DDT) for the exporters had also helped growth of textile exports. He added that government was working on five-year Strategic Trade Framework, according which branding, gender equality and promotion of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) to achieve exports target. Appreciating PRGMEA’s role, he said the government had identified textile as a key priority area and was striving to set the right policies and incentives that encouraged the private sector investment in value-addition. He assured the members of PRGMEA of resolving all their issues at the earliest. Earlier in his welcome address, PRGMEA Senior Vice Chairman Sheikh Luqman Amin appreciated the extension in the GSP-Plus, saying, “We have succeeded in reaching this landmark simply due to serious efforts of Ministry of Commerce and Textile. Renewal of GSP-Plus status is a golden opportunity for us to enhance our exports.” Sheikh Luqman mentioned that despite assurance by authorities concerned to clear all pending claims, more and more refund claims were piling up. He stressed the need for formulating a clear policy in this regard. He also called for ease of business to jack up country’s industry to a much competitive level. On this occasion, the IAF Regional President Ijaz Khokhar stressed the need for enhancing the product lines of Pakistani exports and for that purpose, some incentives should also be announced to motivate exporters. “Currently, the garment sector has a limited product line for export market due to non-availability of the latest fabric locally. Foreign buyers demanding new garments based on G3, G4 and Technical fabric material. We need to offer more diversified products to take benefit from the GSP Plus,” he argued. He said that Pakistan direly needed to establish an Aggressive Marketing Plan for garment export to get maximum benefits of GSP-Plus status. The IAF Regional President added that regional taskforce needed to be established to determine issues being confronted by the industry and then to suggest measures to ensure its viability and competitiveness in the international market.
Source: Business Recorder
President Donald Trump suspended the duty-free status of Rwanda's apparel after finding the country unfairly blocked US exports of used clothing. Picture: Xinhua/Ting Shen. Washington, United States - President Donald Trump suspended the duty-free status of Rwanda's apparel after finding the African nation unfairly blocked US exports of used clothing, officials announced Thursday. However, the US Trade Representative's office said Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda would be spared similar fates after moving to eliminate barriers to imports of US apparel. The sanction on Rwanda is set to take effect in 60 days. USTR said Trump opted for suspension rather than termination of the preferential treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) since it "would allow for continued engagement with the aim of restoring market access and thereby bringing Rwanda into compliance with the AGOA eligibility requirements." East African nations announced in 2016 they would phase out imports of second-hand clothing and shoes by 2019 to protect regional industries from competition. But in March of last year, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) complained to the USTR, saying the import ban harmed US industry. SMART claimed 40 000 US jobs in collecting, processing and distributing used clothing and footwear were jeopardized by the African countries' looming import bans. The association also said the ban violated the countries' obligations under AGOA, which was intended to promote development in Sub-Saharan Africa through duty-free access to the US market. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda subsequently promised to reduce or eliminate the import barriers. But USTR found the lack of progress by Rwanda made the country ineligible for those trade benefits. "We have and will continue to work with Rwanda to resolve this situation," Deputy US Trade Representative CJ Mahoney said in a statement.
Source: Independent Online
ISLAMABAD: Revenue Minister Haroon Akhtar Khan has said that the government will introduce new measures in the upcoming budget to boost textile exports. Speaking to a delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Haroon said if we have to grow at 7pc, we will have to enhance our manufacturing base. He assured the government was keen to pay outstanding sales tax refunds and modalities were being worked out for their payment by the end of May. “The prime minister is very keen on that as he believes the money should be where it belongs,” he said.
Source: Dawn
LAHORE: The high cost of doing business, issues of market access, and exchange rate are hindering the growth of exports, but the government has been working to resolve these problems, a top commerce official said on Friday. “The local currency has already been devalued by around 10 percent to maintain the exchange rate, so that exports should be enhanced,” Younus Dagha, federal secretary of commerce, said addressing the launching of International Apparel Federation (IAF) at Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association regional office (PRGMEA) office. Highlighting different achievements of the ruling regime, the commerce secretary said the government had been working on the five-year Strategic Trade Framework, which aimed at branding, gender equality and promotion of SMEs to achieve exports target. He said European Union’s GSP+ status extension for Pakistan has helped increase exports of value-added textile goods up to 90 percent, leading to exports growth by 13 percent during July-Feb period of current fiscal year. Dagha further said the Prime Minister’s package in the shape of Duty Drawback on Taxes for the exporters had also helped growth of textile exports. The secretary said the government had identified textile as a key priority area and was striving to set the right policies and incentives that encourages private sector investment in value-addition. Ijaz Khokhar, the regional president IAF, stressed the need for enhancing the product lines of exports, demanding incentives for exporters. “Currently the garment sector has a limited product line for export market due to non-availability of the latest fabric locally. Foreign buyers demand new garments based on G3, G4 and Technical fabric material. We need to offer more diversified products to benefit from the GSP Plus,” Khokhar said. The IAF official said an “aggressive marketing plan” for garment export was direly needed to make the most of the GSP+ status. “We don’t have any marketing plan or a clear roadmap to increase our share under concessional export facility,” he said. Moving ahead, Khokhar also emphasised the need for establishing a regional taskforce to determine issues being facing the industry and suggest measures to ensure its viability and competitiveness in the international market. “All EDF (Export Development Fund) collected from garment sector or other sectors should be spent sector-wise,” he suggested. Lauding the extension of the GSP+ scheme, Sheikh Luqman Amin, senior vice chairman PRGMEA, said Pakistan had succeeded in reaching this landmark simply due to the serious efforts of ministry of commerce and textile.
Source: The News International
A worker inspects fabric on looms at a textile manufacturer in Karachi. Pakistan’s textile sector, including embroidery, digital printing, metallic yarn, fabric, blankets, buttons, lace and other relevant industrial units made 63 deals with foreign counterparts worth $245mn at the three-day 19th Textile Asia Exhibition. Internews/Karachi : Pakistan’s textile sector has signed 63 deals with foreign counterparts worth $245mn, organisers of the three-day 19th Textile Asia Exhibition said yesterday. The main share of the deals made during the exhibition, organised by E-Commerce Gateway, was that of China, which signed agreements worth $150mn, they added. E-Commerce Gateway president Dr Khursheed Nizam thanked the Sindh provincial government and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) for extending support in organising the event. The exhibition also helped the hotel industry grow, while the occupancy rate of all the five-star hotels was 100%, he added. At the event, textile sector, including embroidery, digital printing, metallic yarn, fabric, blankets, buttons, lace and other relevant industrial units made deals. Li Yang, the vice division director, department of commerce, Zhejiang province, China, expressed the hope to further strengthen trade ties with Pakistan. She said Chinese people are proud to have friendship with Pakistan adding that in the next year’s exhibition, Chinese entrepreneurs would double the volume of deals. The economy size of Zhejiang province is over $1tn and it was for the first time that 150 companies were representing the province. Around 450 companies participated in the exhibition and showcased around 600 items at 800 different stalls. Around 1,200 foreign delegates attended the expo. The visitors show interest in products showcased by China, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, etc. As per the ratio of the participants, China’s representation was 60%, 30% from Europe and 10% companies from other countries attended the event.
Source: Gulf Times
The European Union (EU) is tackling industrial pollution with a new initiative designed to yield a more sustainable textile sector. According to the EU, industrial pollution accounts for a large share of Europe’s overall pollution problem, thanks to the emission of air pollutants, discharges of wastewater and waste generation. To help address the issue, The European Commission, the legislative body of the EU, in collaboration with partners including Ricardo Energy & Environment, sustainable solutions provider Vito and Umweltbundesamt, an Austrian environmental agency, are introducing an innovation observatory project aimed at improving this process and reducing industrial pollution in Europe. The innovation observatory, which will operate through 2020, requests that stakeholders submit better information on emerging techniques—methods that ensure an equivalent or higher level of environmental protection than existing Best Available Techniques. Emerging techniques can be included in a revision process that works to set permanent environmental regulations across the EU. With the observatory, the EU and related stakeholders can identify novel emerging ideas and assess their progress to improve overall sustainability in Europe’s textile sector. The observatory has four concrete goals to achieve improved documentation and tracking of emerging techniques in the revision process. The first goal will be to document complete information on emerging techniques and track the latest innovation cycles that could help the EU’s environmental goals. From there, the focus will be on engaging with a more comprehensive set of stakeholders involved in the review process to improve the level of information captured, which should ultimately lead to the adoption of new, better techniques. The observatory will then provide the European IPPC Bureau (EIPPCB), a division of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), with an improved inventory of emerging techniques for the textiles and animal byproducts sectors. To stimulate innovation, the observatory will provide a platform for technique developers to recognized by the EU, EIPPCB and other relevant stakeholders for their ideas around better environmental practices. The project also aims to yield two databases, a stakeholder database and a novel technique database. The stakeholder database will involve a set of industrial technologies experts, while the novel technique database will highlight a set of emerging techniques on industrial activities supported by IED.
Source: Sourcing Journal Online
Shima Seiki, leading Japanese computerised cutting machine manufacturer, is set to show new cutting machine and 3D design system at the Vietnam Saigon Textile & Garment Industry Expo (SaigonTex 2018) show, an influential event in the textile and garment industry of Vietnam, to be held in Ho Chi Minh City, from April 11 to 14, 2018, in hall A1, stand 1A1. The company will exhibit its PCAM182 multiply computerised cutting machine (NC cutting machine). Fast and efficient with high productivity, PCAM’s multiply cutting capability allows up to 2 inches of fabric or material to be cut, while the turbo fan option suppresses fluctuation in air pressure for stable multiply cutting. A knife sharpening system produces a sharp, strong blade every time. Strong, robust components permit quicker response times for knife movement and more accurate cutting for thick fabrics such as denim. PCAM machines are ideally suited to global production in a wide range of industrial applications in addition to apparel and textiles. Also demonstrated at SaigonTex will be Shima Seiki’s SDSONE APEX3 computer design system. The fullfeatured APEX3 provides smooth and efficient workflow from patternmaking, grading and marking to cutting. New PGM software will be available for demonstration, featuring newly organised functions and menu layout for a more intuitive user interface, resulting in an average of 40 per cent higher productivity. Highly efficient ‘AutoMarking Premium’ nesting software, as well as barcode generation are available for efficient marker generation and pickup. APEX3 is also capable of photorealistic product simulation for creating 3D virtual samples that can be used for accurate checking of toile fabrics. Virtual Sampling minimises the need for actual samplemaking, reducing time, material, and cost while increasing presentation quality in the sampling process. APEX3 supports design and simulation in a variety of textile industries including flat knitting, circular knitting, weaving, pile weaving and printing, as well as industrial design.
Source: Fibre2fashion
A prospection and business matching mission in the textile and clothing sector to Poland is organized by the Export Promotion Centre (CEPEX) on March 25-29 in Poland, in collaboration with the Tunisian Embassy in Warsaw. CEPEX said seven Tunisian companies specializing in the sectors of jeans, ready-made clothes and beachwear are taking part in this mission to explore the opportunities offered by this 38 million-consumer market. The program of this action is based mainly on direct contacts through B2B meetings with Polish buyers. In fact, 16 leading Polish brands confirmed their participation in this professional meeting to have a close vision of the Tunisian companies’ offer and know-how. In addition to direct matchmaking, visits are scheduled to sales points and fashion departments to monitor trends, the development of brands and the nature of collections placed in specialty stores. With a remarkable development of consumption since 2016 (+21%), the ready-made market in Poland reached almost €10 billion with an average individual spending of €250 per year, this explains the development of several local brands (over 30), which represent positioning spaces for companies.
Source: African Manager
Taiwanese polyester and textile maker Far Eastern New Century Corp (FENC) plans to spend $375 million to acquire a US-based polyester plant through a joint venture between its wholly-owned subsidiary Far Eastern Investment (Holding) Ltd , Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Holdings LP and Mexico-listed Alpek SAB de CV to broader customer base, according to the firm. The factory to be acquired is a under-construction polyester plant owned by M&G USA Corp in Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, a crucial site that offers cheaper raw materials for global petrochemical companies, according to a report in a Taiwanese newspaper. The joint venture, Corpus Christi Polymers LLC, would be FENC’s largest investment in the US and would help expand its Latin American customer base. The plant will have a capacity of producing 1.3 million tonnes of purified terephthalic acid and 1.1 million tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), according to the report. M&G filed for bankruptcy protection in November last year. FENC had last month announced its plan to acquire another plant owned by M&G in West Virginia.
Source: Fibre2fashion
