AHMEDABAD: While the US dollar has appreciated significantly against the rupee over the last two months, most exporters in key manufacturing sectors in Gujarat have not gained much from the strengthening dollar, industry experts say. The rupee has gone from Rs 63 per dollar in March to Rs 67.99 per dollar as on Saturday. While ceramics exporters have seen their realisations go up, sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, apparel and garments have not seen significant gains in business with the dollar strengthening. “Chemical units depend on imports for certain raw materials and thus exporters’ revenues will not change significantly,” said Shailesh Patwari, president of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI). Patwari also owns a chemicalmanufacturing company. “Raw material costs in the chemical industry have risen significantly, by an estimated 15%. The price of H Acid, a basic raw material for dyes has risen by 30% at least. Coal prices rose by 18% to 20%.Crude oil prices shooting up, the strengthening dollar and improving demand are other factors that have raised raw material costs, due to which our input costs have risen by at least 15-20%,” Patwari added. As far as the apparel and garment industry is concerned, exports have been declining overall and the appreciating dollar has not done much good to the industry. “While the dollar as appreciated, raw material costs have climbed, with polyester and cotton in particular rising by 5% to 7%. As input costs rise, there’s no major difference in realisation and thus there’s very little help in boosting exports,” said Bhavin Parikh, a city-based manufacturer. Pharma industry players also do not see much impact of the strong dollar on their realisations, mainly due to costlier raw materials — particularly active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Prices of APIs have risen by 15% to 20% in eight months. Pharma companies are heavily dependent on China for APIs. “The appreciation of the dollar has provided something of a cushion to pharma exporters, as they have been able to offset high input costs to an extent with improvement in export realisations,” said an industry player. The ceramics industry, on the other hand, has gained from the strengthening dollar. “With a stronger dollar, realisation on exports will increase by roughly 6%. Going by an estimated monthly export revenue of Rs 1,000 crore, the industry will have increased its revenue by more than Rs 100 crore over the past two months,” said K G Kundariya, president of the Morbi Ceramics Association.
Source: The Times of India
The textile industry in the south expects the Union government to soon come out with relaxation of cabotage rules for movement of cotton from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu by sea. This is one of the long-pending demands of the industry here to bring down the transport cost of cotton.
Coastal movement
In a recent representation to the Union government, the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) said the Ministry of Shipping had taken several steps to enable coastal movement of cotton from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. Textile processing facilities are spread across clusters in different States and hence, transport cost is the key to determining the cost competitiveness of the industry. “Against this background, we request you to kindly relax the cabotage rule in respect of cotton transport from either Mundra or Pipav Ports to Thoothukudi, Kochi, Chennai and Krishnapatnam Ports,” the association said. The southern States account for almost 60% of spinning capacity in the country. However, substantial volume of raw material —cotton — comes from Gujarat and Maharashtra. The industry sees scope for 50% reduction in transport cost if the cotton is moved by ship instead of lorries as done now. “Every year, mills in Tamil Nadu buy 60 lakh to 70 lakh bales of cotton from Gujarat,” said P. Nataraj, chairman, SIMA. “This cotton (Shankar 6 variety) is popular for use in hosiery items,” Mr. Nataraj added. About 10 lakh bales of cotton are being moved by ships from one domestic port to another for the last couple of years in Indian flag vessel. Relaxation of the rule will enable several foreign flag vessels to move cotton from one Indian port to another at competitive prices, according to industry sources here.
Source: The Hindu
Despite rupee depreciating against the greenback by almost 6 per cent in recent months to trade around Rs 68 per US dollar, India's apparel exports have not benefited from the trend, resulting in a 22.76 per cent fall for the month of April in dollar terms, sliding for the seventh consecutive month. April 2017 saw ready-made garment (RMG) exports worth $1.747 billion, whereas the number declined by 22.76 per cent to $1.349 billion in the same month this year. Apparently, RMG exports have fallen for the seventh consecutive month since October 2017, a result of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rendering Indian exporters uncompetitive as the new regime is not conducive for exports. In the new regime, exporters have seen the cost of working capital rising and are experiencing fund crunch due to delays in the refund of taxes paid.
Low rupee needed for a few months
Rahul Mehta, President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India said, “If Re remains at 68/69 levels for the next few months, it can offset the loss of Duty Drawback to some extent and may see a growth of three-to-five per cent.” Exporters have said that while consumption in the international market is growing at around one to two per cent, competition is increasing too, as the business sees new entrants like Myanmar and Ethiopia. Competitors’ currencies are also depreciating, but they don’t have problems that Indian exporters do.
Falling production of apparels
Fall in apparel exports has led to a decline in production. According to the latest IIP figures, quoted by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), India's apparel production fell 18.6 per cent in the month of March and saw a decline of 11 per cent for the period 2017-18.
March saw the eleventh straight monthly decline in apparel production.
"Last year (2017-18), the industry witnessed strong growth, but the continued backlog in GST and RoSL (refund of state levies) is affecting the sentiments. We would like the government to address the issue at the earliest, so as to reverse the trend of stagnating exports," said HKL Magu, chairman of AEPC.
Other costs also high
Best Corporation caters to global brands including Mothercare. Its managing director R Rajkumar said that apart from the delay in refund of levies and reduction in drawback, "Availability of manpower is also a big concern in all the existing textile centers and productivity is low due to huge labour turnover." Apart from these, high costs of raw material and labour also put pressure, according to R S Jalan, managing director of GHCL. He said, "All these put together makes Indian exports at least 10-12 per cent costlier than competing countries. Ususal margins have been in the range of five per cent only, and hence, high cost is hurting both the topline and the bottomline." Led by AEPC, the apparel exporters have urged the Centre to look at schemes to boost exports, besides looking at labour laws, as their protection is directly linked with productivity, in which India is far behind peers like Vietnam and Bangladesh. Further, Ashok G Rajani, former Chairman of AEPC stated that it was disappointing that the Government was not looking at this sector seriously or helping, despite the fact that textile is one of the largest employment sectors in the country. "Every $1 billion of additional business can create 700,000 jobs. But, after the implementation of GST, withdrawal of duty drawback, delay in refund and lack of incentives to the sector are resulting in units to shutting shop," he said. Meanwhile, an exporter from Tirupur, the knitwear hub of India, said that while India's apparel exports growth dipped, competing countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam are growing at around five to ten per cent. The price difference between Indian and Bangladeshi products is around 20 per cent. Vietnam has a cost advantage of around 10 per cent, while also having increased its production as more Chinese and Taiwanese players have set up their factories in the country. According to Tirupur-based exporters, those operating in niche areas and exporting premium products have been able to survive.
Source: Business Standard
Textile processors in Surat have collectively decided to hike their job charges for processing all types of finished fabrics by ₹2 per metre due to rising costs of dyes, chemicals, coal and textile workers’ wages. The decision was taken during a meeting that was held recently under the guidance of South Gujarat Textile Processors’ Association (SGTPA). Prices of dyes have increased by 25 per cent, while chemical prices have gone up by 15 per cent. Coal prices have soared by ₹1,500 per tonne and a steep increase has also been witnessed in labour charges in the processing sector, said office bearers of SGTPA. The association is forced to increase job charges due to increasing costs of raw materials and to withstand slowdown in the processing sector, Jitu Vakharia, SGTPA president told a leading Indian daily. The hike in job charges is likely to increase costs of finished fabrics between 50 paise to ₹3. He said that the production of man-made fibre (MMF) fabric may pick up pace during the festival season. The MMF cluster of the city produces close to 2 crore metres of fabrics on a daily basis. The city boasts 6.5 lakh powerloom weaving machines and 3.5 lakh machines of those shut down in the last few months. Surat also has over 400 textile dyeing and printing mills. The hike in job charges may impact the industry which is already witnessing a tough time, said Ashish Gujarati, president of the Pandesara Weavers Cooperative Society. The powerloom sector is currently working only for 8 hours every day to limit production.
Source:Fibre2Fashion
JAMMU: Wholesale Cloth Merchants’ Association Jammu today put forward its demand of abolishing toll tax on cloths in front of Deputy Chief Minister, Kavinder Gupta. The demand was put up during the annual general meeting of the Association held here today. Deputy Chief Minister, Kavinder Gupta was the chief guest on the occasion. In his welcome address, Vinay Gupta, president, Wholesale Cloth Merchants’ Association, apprised the members of the association’s working and put forth the genuine demands of the association like abolishing toll tax and construction of wholesale textile market to boost the textile trade and economy of the State. Deputy Chief Minister, while addressing the house, assured that the genuine demands of the association will be considered on priority. Meanwhile, a symposium on the changing business scenario opportunities and challenges was also organized on the occasion and the participants were given trophies by the chief guest. Ashwani Arora, general secretary, presented the annual report of the association while Laxmi Narayan, vice president, presented the vote of thanks.
Source: Dailyexcelsior
Under the agreement, The British Council's global programme will be coming to India, said a statement. IMG Reliance and the British Council have signed an agreement to bring global 'Crafting Futures' programme to India to support the country's female textile artisans. The British Council, The UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations and IMG Reliance Ltd, which develops, markets and manages. Fashion, Sports and Entertainment in India including Lakme Fashion Week, signed an operational alliance agreement for a project to support female artisan textiles in India. Under the agreement, The British Council's global programme will be coming to India, said a statement. The project, named ‘A Telegram from Tripura', brings UK designer Bethany Williams and Indian designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla together to explore new fashion systems and approaches with female textile artisans in the northeastern region. The aim is to grow their livelihoods and economic opportunities through responding to a creative brief set by Fashion Revolution, an organisation that celebrates fashion as a positive influence, while also scrutinising industry practices and raising awareness of the most pressing issues facing the fashion industry. "We are delighted to be working with IMG Reliance on the Crafting Futures programme in India. Crafting Futures is a global British Council programme which looks at how promoting a sustainable craft industry can support women's economic opportunities, responsible production and engagement in cultural heritage in contemporary design. "This year, the British Council celebrates its 70th anniversary in India. In those 70 years, we have been greatly inspired by Indian artists, designers and textile producers and I know that we will be inspired further by the results of this exciting Crafting Futures project with IMG Reliance," Helen Silvester, Director (West India) at the British Council, said in a statement. Aratrik Dev Varman and Bethany Williams recently did a creative residency in Tripura where they researched the various tribes and textiles of the region. The Designers were joined on the residency by filmmakers Storyloom Films who have explored how through visual media the personal stories of the female weavers can be shared more globally. Works in progress will be presented at the August 2018 edition of Lakmé Fashion Week, and final work will be presented at the February 2019 edition of the fashion gala before appearing in Fashion Revolution's biannual fanzine. The work will showcase female textile artisans in India and demonstrate how design innovation can promote a fairer, more inclusive fashion industry. The creative brief toolkit will become available publicly and for schools, allowing young activists, designers, students and practitioners to experiment with new design-based interventions to create innovation themselves. Jaspreet Chandok, Vice President and Fashion Head, IMG Reliance said: "We are glad to partner with British Council and work towards building the economy of the North East. To create a call to action for structuring collaboration models between the Northeast and the industry has greatly excited all of us."
Source: The News Minute
SURAT: The man-made textile research association (Mantra) and the South Gujarat Textile Processors’ Association (SGTPA) have joined hands to launch a post graduate diploma course in textile chemistry (DTC) to create a pool of technically skilled people to work in the textile processing sector. The course has been specially designed for the BSc chemistry graduates and there will be three semesters during the course period of one and a half years. For six months, the students will be given practical training in the textile mills on the monthly stipend of Rs 7,000. A career guidance seminar is being organized at Mantra for the interested chemistry students on Friday. The textile chemistry is a highly specialised field that applies the principles of the basics of chemistry to understanding the textile materials and their functional and aesthetic modifications into useful and desirable items. The textile chemistry emphasise on the fundamental principles of polymer science, dyeing and finishing technology, colour science, dye chemistry and fibre formation. Surat and its surrounding areas including Kim-Pipodara, Palsana, Sachin and Kadodara house about 450 textile dyeing and printing mills. For the last many years, the textile processors have been experiencing a serious shortage of the technically skilled staff to perform the important operations like laboratory, printing, quality control etc. At present, the textile processing sector in the city and surrounding areas require more than 700 skilled people to look after the technical side in the factories. Until 1998, the Mantra was running a diploma course in textile technology. However, the course was closed after 1998 due to the non-availability of students as most of the pass-outs had got placements in the textile processing units at that time. Council member of Mantra, Kamal Tulsiyan, told TOI: “Mantra has started this post graduate diploma course in textile chemistry with 100% placement in the factories. The textile processing sector has witnessed a massive change since 1998 in terms of technology and modernization. Now, the textile processing sector is going digital and we require technically-sound staff for the day-to-day operations.” Tulsiyan added, “The pass-outs will not only get the job opportunities in Surat’s textile mills, but they have ample job opportunities in the countries like Japan, Bangkok, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where the textile sector is growing by leaps and bounds.”
Source: The Times of India
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1379.58 |
USD/Ton |
-1.95% |
5/20/2018 |
|
VSF |
2202.62 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
ASF |
3041.34 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Polyester POY |
1452.47 |
USD/Ton |
-0.27% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Nylon FDY |
3386.23 |
USD/Ton |
0.47% |
5/20/2018 |
|
40D Spandex |
5565.34 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Nylon POY |
1740.15 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
3590.03 |
USD/Ton |
0.44% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Polyester FDY |
5925.91 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Nylon DTY |
1711.93 |
USD/Ton |
-0.27% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
3088.37 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
Polyester DTY |
3135.40 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2947.28 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
2218.30 |
USD/Ton |
0.86% |
5/20/2018 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2994.31 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2335.87 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2539.67 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
3119.72 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2680.77 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.46 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.90 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.25 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.70 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.74 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
5/20/2018 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.15677 USD dtd. 20/5/2018). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Pirated textiles
The Coalition of Textile Workers has threatened to picket at the Jubilee House if they do not see an improved effort from the government to clamp down on the influx of pirated textiles. The leadership of the association said government has until the end of May to deploy a task force to the markets or they will picket the seat of government. “As a measure to monitor what goes on in the market, the Coalition of Textile workers wants this anti-piracy taskforce to be in the market,” the spokesperson for the Coalition, Michael Anglangman said. Mr Anglangman said failure for this to happen will force the traders to picket at the Jubilee House to draw the attention of the President to the urgency of their demands. He believes the official who briefed the President on their earlier demands didn’t notify him of the urgent nature of their concerns. Although the Coalition demonstrated on the streets of Accra last month, Mr Anglangman said they have been forced to take action because their demands have not been met. They want government to extend the mandate of the task force from the borders to the markets. The workers also say the influx of the pirated textiles risks the collapse of local industries. They are, however, opened to original foreign goods on the market, as far as they come in legally and are not pirated.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
The textile factory owners see an increase in their productivity, as the government has finally decided to allocate 2,000 new industrial gas connections and supply adequate gas to the existing units. The move to allow new industrial gas connections after a seven-year pause comes in light of the recent import of liquefied natural gas from Qatar. The government has already approved 196 new gas connections last month for members of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, the platform for spinners, weavers, dyeing mill owners and other allied industries. The BTMA members are one of the major gas consumers as the running of spinning mills requires a lot of gas, said Mohammad Ali Khokon, vice president of the association. The primary textile sector will be immensely benefitted as many of the factories could not begin production in the absence of gas connections, while the other mills were running below capacity for want of adequate gas pressure. “I hope that productivity in my mill will go up now,” said Razeeb Haider, managing director of Gazipur-based Outpace Spinning. Last month, state-owned Titas Gas agreed to increase the gas pressure in the unit of Haider in response to an application which was submitted in 2014. Khokon said the development will come as a boon for garment manufacturers as they look to boost their export receipts to $50 billion from the existing $28 billion by 2021.
“Their lead time will be cut significantly.”
At present, the garment makers have to import fabrics from China and India, but soon the local spinners and weavers would be able to supply the fabrics to them. Gas supply through the new connections will start from next month, according to Mir Mashiur Rahman, managing director of Titas Gas. Khokon urged the government to fix the price of LNG as low as possible so that the industry truly benefits from the initiative. The government has proposed to fix the LNG price for factories at more than Tk 14 a cubic metre, up 45.53 percent from the existing rate. At present, the textile millers pay Tk 9.62 for every cubic metre of gas and use Tk 8 to Tk 9 worth of gas to produce a kilogramme of yarn, according to industry insiders. The ship carrying Bangladesh's first import consignment of LNG anchored in the Bay of Bengal on April 25. Supply to the national grid is scheduled to begin next month.
Source: The Daily Star
A file photo shows workers are busy at a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. The country’s export earnings from Turkey has continued to decline since 2013-14 fiscal due to supplementary duty barrier on apparel products imposed by Turkey. Country’s export earnings from Turkey has continued to decline since 2013-14 fiscal due to supplementary duty barrier on apparel products imposed by Turkey as safeguards to its local industry. Bangladesh’s export to Turkey in the first 10 months of the current 2017-18 fiscal fell by 19.35 per cent to $448.93 million from $556.66 million in the same period of FY17, according to Export Promotion Bureau data. EPB officials said 10-month export data indicate that Bangladesh’s earnings from Turkey would fall for the fourth year in the current fiscal year as the total earning in FY18 would be much lower than that of $631.63 million in FY17. Exporters said that Bangladesh had lost its competitiveness in the Turkey market as the country imposed safeguard duty on apparel imports in 2011. Turkey was a very promising market for Bangladesh and only government initiatives could help regain the potentials of that market, they said. Despite initial safeguard duty, exports to Turkey continued to grow until 2013-14 fiscal when the country increased the rate of safeguard duty, resulting in the decline in FY15, said Shahidul Azim, former vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. ‘Turkey was a very good market for Bangladesh. A good quantity of apparels used to be re-exported to Russia from Turkey. Now they have stopped imports of almost all types of apparels to protect their local industry,’ Shahidul said. Turkey imposed the safeguard duty at a rate of 17 per cent in September 2011 on apparel imports from the least developed countries, including Bangladesh. Following the imposition of safeguard duty, exports to Turkey declined by 24.23 per cent to $551.87 million in the FY12 from $724.45 million in the FY11, while the export in the FY13, rose by 15.57 per cent to $637.81 million. Country’s export to Turkey in the FY14 grew by 34.23 per cent to $856.19 million. According to EPB data, export earnings from Turkey in the FY15 fell by 15.80 per cent to $720.88 million from $856.19 million in the FY 14. Data showed that export earnings from Turkey declined by 8.18 per cent to $661.88 million in the FY16 while the earnings fell by 4.57 per cent to $631.63 million in the FY17. ‘I attended the hearing on safeguard duty on importing apparels from least developed countries, including Bangladesh, held at Istanbul. Later on, Bangladesh’s exporters started losing their competitiveness in the market,’ said Mohammad Hatem, vice-president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh. He said that it would not be possible for Bangladesh to regain the market share in Turkey if the governments of the two countries did not sign any agreement in this regard. Turkey is also a major readymade garment producing country and a competitor of Bangladesh on the global market with around $17 billion annual clothing export and nearly $10 billion textile export.
Source: newagebd.net
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, continued to descend for the thirteenth day straight, its longest losing streak yet since its launch in January 2013. Yesterday, it shed 52.60 points to close at 5,390 points. In the past 13 days, the index saw 423.09 points knocked off and Tk 20,965 crore in market value wiped out. The bear run comes at a time when the DSE seems fortified by the official entry of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange as its strategic partner. The two Chinese bourses have offered to usher in radical technological upgrades and a host of new products and services, so, in theory, Dhaka stocks should be on a bull run. “Issues like widening of current account deficit and liquidity shortage in the banking industry have left investors concerned,” said EBL Securities in its daily market review. Turnover, another important indicator of the market, declined 20.1 percent to Tk 395.66 crore, with 9.47 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the DSE. Of the traded issues, 50 advanced, 261 declined and 23 closed unchanged on the premier bourse. Intraco Refuelling Station dominated the turnover chart with its transaction of 29.97 lakh shares worth Tk 13.30 crore. It was followed by BSRM, Queen South Textiles, Western Marine Shipyard and Legacy Footwear. Advent Pharma was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.97 percent, followed by SEML Legacy Footwear, Intraco Refuelling Station and Rahim Textile. Bangladesh National Insurance Company was the day's worst loser, shedding 8.75 percent, followed by Meghna Condensed Milk, Asia Insurance and Prime Islami Life Insurance. Among the major sectors, financial institutions lost 1.19 percent, engineering 1.16 percent and textile 1.01 percent. On the other hand, no sector gained yesterday. Chittagong stocks also fell yesterday, with the bourse's benchmark index, CSCX, declining 99.76 points, or 1 percent, to finish the day at 10,059.89 points. Losers beat gainers as 155 stocks declined and 38 advanced, while 24 finished unchanged on the Chittagong Stock Exchange. The port city bourse traded 54.17 lakh shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 16.84 crore in turnover.
Source: The Daily Star
LAHORE: Punjab Agriculture Department spokesman has said cotton growers are advised to sow cotton seed of approved varieties announced for cultivation. For BT Cotton, farmers are advised to cultivate MNH-886, VH-259, BH-178, CIM-602, FH Lalazaar, FH-142, IUB-13, MNH-988, VH-305, AGC-999 & AGC-777 whereas for Conventional Varieties of cotton crop recommended by the department are CM-554, Niab-777, CIM-608, CRSM-38, SLH-317, BH-167, NIB G-115, FH-942, Niab-852, Niab-846, Niab Kiran, Niab-112, Cyto-124, CIM-620 and Niab-2008. Farmers can cultivate BT Cotton crop from April 1 to May 31 while Conventional cotton crop cultivation of core cotton area will start from April 1 to May 31 and remaining non-core area of cotton cultivation recommended to start from April 1 to end up till May 15. The spokesman disclosed that the government has managed to ensure availability of required quantity of certified cotton seed in the market for commercial cultivation during the forthcoming season. There is no deficiency of quality seed at all. Cotton growers are advised to cultivate crop with approved varieties of cotton crop.
Source: The News International
CAIRO : Trade and Industry Minister TareK Kabil attended on Sunday the signing ceremony of an agreement to manage rights of the "Egyptian Cotton" brand. The three-year deal was inked by the ministry, the Egyptian cotton exporters association and Cotton Egypt Association. The agreement is meant to promote for products made of Egyptian cotton on local and international markets, Kabil said. Under the agreement, a special unit will be formed to ensure the optimal use of the brand and to sign deals with international textile companies on that score, he added. Moreover, a committee will be set up to approve and follow up the implementation of the marketing plan, Kabil noted.
Source: Egypt Today
SPINnet Textile and Garment Cluster in collaboration with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has organised a 10-day training programme on business management and planning for some selected entrepreneurs in the garment and textile industry in Accra. The 10-day training programme, which was attended by 25 people, mainly in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), was sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund.
Objectives of training
The main aim of the training was to help build the capacities of players in the textile, garments and creative arts industry to enable them compete both locally and internationally.
A section of the participants
It was also intended to help revamp the textile, garment and the creative arts industry in the country.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Executive Director of NBSSI, Ms Kosi Yankey, said the training would enable players in the sector to adopt best practices that would help their businesses to grow.
The Executive Director of NBSSI, Ms. Kosi Yankey
She added that the training would also help the beneficiaries to access bigger market and financial services, including how to manage their own finances well. She, therefore, implored the beneficiaries to apply the experiences and knowledge gained at the training to enhance their business operations, pointing out that, trainees often times forget to apply new practices after training programmes.
Private sector
“Even if you can’t apply all, apply some”, Ms Yankey urged the beneficiaries, adding that the private sector was key to the country’s economy. She said the private sector “is an engine of growth” and that the NBISS would continue to offer the needed assistance and direction to the players in the sector. “We need all of you to help so that the country can succeed,” she encouraged the beneficiaries, adding that “we need to innovate as a people”. Ms Yankey, however, mentioned innovation, access to market and access to better financial services as some of the major challenges facing the textile and garment industry and said the government was working to create an enabling environment for the sector.
BUSAC
Monitoring Officer from BUSAC Fund, Mr Gabriel Kofi Dake, said the organisation was interested in promoting local business in the country, particularly SMEs. That, he added, the organisation would continue to partner training programmes meant to build the capacities of players in the SMEs sector.
Mr. Gabriel Kofi Dake, BUSAC, presenting an award to a participant
He however admonished players in textile and garment industry to develop good customer care services, noting that often times, many SMEs players lacked the skill to deal with their customers.
Appeal
The past President of SPINnet, Nana Akua Busia, called on the government to enforce laws regulating the country’s textile and garment industry. She said because the laws on the sector has not been effectively enforced, players in the sector face unfair competition from foreign products.
Nana Akua Busia, past President of SPINnet
She said the country’s market is flooded with low quality and cheaper foreign textiles, hence affecting the patronage of the locally produced textiles, which she said were of better quality and suitable for the country’s weather.
Mrs. Marie-Rose Sackey, a member of SPINNet commended NBSSI and BUSAC Fund for their efforts in seeing the textile and garment industry develop.
Mrs. Marie-Rose Sackey
SPINnet
SPINnet Textile and Garment Cluster is a cluster of small business that manufacture textiles and garments for both the domestic and export markets. The cluster was established in 1997 as a joint initiative by the Ministry of Trade and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). In 2004, SPINnet played a lead role in the introduction of the National Friday Wear concept.
Source: Graphic Online
Desk Report (RMG Times) A new digital platform aims to make sustainable business decisions easier for the fashion industry. By matching actors along the supply chain and providing data-driven, solutions-focused information, Common Objective (CO) hopes to improve the day-to-day practices of textiles and clothing companies around the world. As per the report of Sustainable Brands, Common Objective (CO) will be a platform to facilitate industry connections and drive sustainability. While the fashion world and the media have long embraced sustainability as a concept, the global clothing industry still has a very long way to go in improving its social and environmental impacts. The use and pollution of natural resources continues to be overwhelming. Up until now there have been too many gaps in knowledge and not enough industry collaboration to make significant change. In 2018, 1 in 8 people in the world work in fashion and textiles and 192 million people across the globe are still in vulnerable and/or insecure work. The industry uses 12,400 Olympic swimming pools worth of oil each year and 83 percent of the world’s water is polluted with microplastics, of which the fashion industry is responsible for a third. Yet, only 2.2 percent of factories participate in some kind of ethical or sustainable initiative or recognized certification. CO is the first free global connection tool for the fashion industry and was developed by the Ethical Fashion Group in collaboration with the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Fairtrade, World Fairtrade Organisation (WFTO), Fashion Revolution, and other leading fashion industry bodies. The group calls CO “the most practical response to date to the negative environmental impact and human cost of the global fashion sector and provides essential help and guidance for fashion professionals.” The site was developed by a network of fashion professionals from across the supply chain committed to doing business better and making changes for good.
Source: Fibre2fashion
