The textile industry has welcomed the doubling of import duty on 328 textile items and urged the Centre to introduce the ‘rules of origin’ clause for imports from Bangladesh. The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India said in the last five years, there had been a close to 100% rise in import of apparel products. While customs duty had been raised, specific duties have seen no change. About 70% of apparel imports are from Bangladesh and China. As the former has zero duty access for all apparel products, the customs duty hike will not impact those imports. In the case of Chinese garments, it is the Specific Duties that apply and not the Ad Valorem duty. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry said that Chinese fabric is entering India duty free through Bangladesh. This would affect Indian fabric production unless the Centre introduced the rule of origin clause, yarn forwarding, and fabric forwarding rules for imports from Bangladesh, it said.
Source: The Hindu
Trade ministers of RCEP member countries, including India and China, will hold a crucial meeting in Singapore on August 30-31, an official said. The meeting is important as the 16-member bloc now needs specific political guidance to move the negotiations further, the official added. RCEP mega trade pact aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) bloc comprises 10 Asean members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The meeting also assumes significance as the member countries are not moving at a healthy pace even as the negotiation for the deal started in November 2012. The 23rd round of the negotiation was recently concluded without much progress in Bangkok. India is also holding comprehensive stakeholder consultations with industry as well as different ministries and departments on the pact as the grouping includes China, with which India has a huge trade deficit. Sectors including textiles, steel and food processing have raised serious objections over removal or significant reduction of customs duties on these items under the pact. They want these segments to be out of the purview of RCEP. They have apprehensions that removal of duties would led to flooding of Chinese goods in the Indian market. But without any free trade agreement, India has a trade deficit of USD 63.12 billion in 2017-18 with China as compared to USD 51.11 billion in the previous year. An informal group of ministers, headed by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, is also holding deliberations on the concerns of the industry. Pressure is mounting on India for early conclusion of the negotiation despite the fact that no member is showing flexibility in its stand. Former Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia has recently said the mega trade deal would be incomplete if the norms to promote services sector are not sufficiently liberalised by the member countries. RCEP members want India to eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on maximum number of goods it traded globally. India's huge domestic market provides immense opportunity of exports for RCEP countries. But lower level of ambitions in services and investments, a key area of interest for India, does not augur well for the agreement that seeks to be comprehensive in nature. Of the RCEP nations, India has trade deficit with as many as 10 countries, including China, South Korea and Australia, among others. Some experts have warned over the impact of RCEP agreement on India's trade. Biswajit Dhar, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University is of the view that India should be very cautious about this pact. He believes that with the kind of market access and tariff cuts RCEP countries are demanding including in agriculture sector, it would be difficult for India to sustain in the long run. India wants certain deviations for such countries. Under deviations, India may propose a longer duration for either reduction or elimination of import duties for such countries. Under services, India wants greater market access for its professionals in the proposed agreement. India wants to have a balanced RECP trade agreement as it would cover 40 per cent of the global GDP and over 42 per cent of the world's population. India already has a free trade pact with Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), Japan and South Korea. It is also negotiating a similar agreement with Australia and New Zealand but has no such plans for China.
Source: Business Standard
China is exporting textiles to India through Bangladesh to get around a tax increase on imports, undermining New Delhi’s efforts to support local manufacturers, industry sources said. Earlier this week, India doubled the import tax on more than 300 textile products to 20%, marking the second tax increase on textiles in as many months. This is aimed at providing relief to the country’s domestic textile industry, which has been hit by cheaper imports. India’s total textile imports jumped by 16% to a record $7bn in the fiscal year to March 2018. Of this, about $3bn were from China. Textiles are India’s second largest job provider directly employing nearly 51mn people and accounting for 5% of India’s gross domestic product, and 13% of its export earnings. Industry officials said textile raw material from China is coming into India via Bangladesh, which has a free-trade agreement with India giving it access to the country’s $100bn textile market. “Duty free fabric from China is coming to Bangladesh, getting converted and landing into India at zero duty,” Sanjay Jain, president of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) told Reuters. Industry bodies argue that India’s latest action is not enough to protect domestic garment manufacturers which are facing fierce competition from China and Bangladesh. Imports of clothing accessories and apparel from Bangladesh – the world’s second largest exporter of ready-made garments – rose over 43% to $200.9mn during the year ended March 2018, according to Indian government data. “Import trends suggest 40% to 50% of the garments were made with Chinese fibre,” said an Indian analyst who did not want to be named. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many garments imported in India were produced with fibre sourced from China, he said. India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among the signatories of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) that created a free-trade zone in the South Asian region. Shipments of edible oils coming into India are also being designated as duty free under the regional free-trade pact, circumventing an import tax increase. Trade bodies, which expect textile imports from Bangladesh to rise further, have asked the government to introduce a rule of origin for duty free imports. Competition from China is forcing some businesses, such as polyester production facilities, to run idle, leading to job losses, they said. “Under the SAFTA agreement and trade agreement with Bangladesh, only those goods should be exempted from custom duty, whose raw material is also manufactured by one of the SAFTA countries,” Dilip Chenoy, head of The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said in a letter dated July 25 to a senior official in the government’s textile ministry. Kavita Gupta, India’s textile commissioner told Reuters: “The textile ministry has proposed a ‘Fabric Forward Policy,’ where duty free access to garments will be provided if the fabric is sourced from India. The policy is in discussion stage.” Rising imports sent India’s trade deficit with China in textile products (finished garments) to a record high $1.54bn in 2017/18, alarming industry officials as India had been until recently a net exporter of textile products to China. There is a 10% price difference on average between textile products made in India and those made in China, according to FICCI. The unit value of some Chinese products such as stockings, blouses and baby garments cost far less than produced in India.
Source: Gulf Times
Fallout from the U.S.–China trade dispute is being felt in India, with the country recently putting measures in place to blunt an influx of cheap Chinese textile imports that could threaten domestic production. On Aug. 7, India, the world’s biggest producer of cotton, doubled the import tax on 328 imported textile products to 20 percent—the second such increase in less than a month. In mid-July, India had doubled import duties to 20 percent on more than 50 imported textile products, including fiber, jackets, suits, and carpets. The duty increases are expected to provide relief to India’s domestic textile industry, which has been hit recently by cheaper imports. India’s total textile imports jumped by 16 percent to a record $7 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March. About $3 billion of that total was from China. The Indian government didn’t specify which products would be targeted by the most recent increase. Rising imports drove India’s trade deficit with China in textile products to a record $1.54 billion in the most recent fiscal year. That set off alarms with industry officials—as India had been until recently a net exporter of textile products to China. The tariff measure is to “shield Indian [textile] manufacturers…from a bitter Sino-U.S. trade war,” according to an Aug. 9 opinion article published on The Tribune, an Indian English-language daily newspaper. The article pointed out the problem India is facing now: “Blocked by Americans, China may swamp the Indian [textile] market with cheap goods that would destroy the domestic industry.” The textile industry is vital for India because it is the second largest job provider after agriculture. It also accounts for 15 percent of the country’s total exports, according to the article. Aside from the new tariff rates, the article called on the Indian government to close a loophole that China has been exploiting. China has bypassed India’s textile duties by exporting goods to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam first—countries that have free trade agreements (FTAs) with India. In other words, indirectly been exporting to India without paying duties. “Rules of origin need to be implemented for textile products. Otherwise, Chinese products will land from other countries,” an unnamed Mumbai-based garment exporter told Reuters in an article. India’s Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), a trade group, welcomed the new tariff rates. “The decision would help millions of people get employment in the manufacturing sector of the various segments of the entire [textile] value chain,” CITI said in a statement, which was cited in an Aug. 8 article by Indian newspaper The Indian Express. Sanjay Jain, president of CITI, told Reuters he did not expect China to retaliate in response to the duty increases, as China still has an overall trade surplus with India. Jain predicts India’s textile product imports could fall to $6 billion by the end of fiscal 2019 as a result of the tariff hike. The most recent 20 percent duty will not be applicable to products sourced from countries that have FTA’s with India, Jain said. Jain said India’s textile and garment exports may rise 8 percent to $40 billion by the end of fiscal 2019 because of a weak rupee, and the government’s plans to introduce incentives to boost overseas sales.
Source: Epoch Times
Officials that The Indian Express spoke to conceded that there was a considered shift in the tariff responses subsequent to this meeting “in line with new global realities”. FROM ALMONDS and apples to cellphone parts and solar panels, there have been nearly a dozen instances of hikes in customs duty covering over 400 items during the last 24 months, marking a “calibrated departure” from the underlying policy of reducing import duty that was consistently followed by successive governments over the last two decades. The increase in duties across both agricultural items and manufactured products is also in contravention with a proposal debated by the government’s policy think-tank Niti Aayog in the run-up to last year’s Budget to effectively bring tariffs down in line with corresponding duties in the ASEAN bloc. Prior to the large-scale hikes, India’s peak customs duty — the highest of the normal rates — on non-agriculture products had come down steeply from 150 per cent in 1991-92 to 40 per cent in 1997-98 and subsequently, to 20 per cent in 2004-05 and 10 per cent in 2007-08. The Union Ministry of Commerce has consistently denied these duty increases as “protectionist” in nature. But analysts caution that customs duty hike proposed on 29 US products on June 20 this year on items including almonds, apples and phosphoric acid worth $10.6 billion, which was to be effective from August 4 but has since been postponed by 45 days, could effectively cross the WTO-mandated “bound rates”. Bound rates are the customs duty rates committed by a country to all other members under the most favoured nation principle and breaching these rates could effectively put a country at risk of being branded as “protectionist” as per the WTO norms, which prohibit discrimination by use of tariffs by its 164 members. Some of the tariff hikes initiated over the last two years, incidentally, have come despite protests from the industry and even within sections of the government itself. For instance, the withdrawal of concessional customs duties on 76 specified drugs in January 2016 had to be partly withdrawn as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare cited an adverse impact of the move on the prices and availability of these drugs. The concession of customs duties on three drugs – Octreotide, Somatropin, and Anti-Haemophilic factor concentrate VIII & IX — were subsequently restored through another notification on February 17, 2016. The implementation of the duty hike on solar panels from September 2017 was opposed by both the New and Renewable Energy Ministry and solar project developers. The withdrawal of the exemption from basic customs duty on cashew nuts in shell in the Budget 2016-17 resulted in representations from various trade and industry associations such as the Andhra Pradesh Cashew Manufacturers Association, the Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers Association, Kerala Cashew Processors and Exporters Association, the Cashew Factory Owners Development Association of Tamil Nadu and the Cashew Export Council of India. They sought a withdrawal of the imposition of the duty of 5 per cent on cashew nuts in shell. There seems to have been a decisive shift in the policies on customs duties from the middle of 2017. In fact, at the Niti Aayog pre-Budget meeting on December 28, 2016, that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a proposal to further harmonise the peak customs duty at 7 per cent was discussed, with the aim of both bringing the import tariffs in line with ASEAN duties and addressing the issue of “duty inversion” — when the tariffs on finished goods are lower than that on components and raw materials — that hurts domestic manufacturing. Officials that The Indian Express spoke to conceded that there was a considered shift in the tariff responses subsequent to this meeting “in line with new global realities”. Analysts predict that breaching the WTO-bound rates could have serious repercussions. The WTO requires member countries to notify bound tariffs on products as per the commitments resulting from negotiations. Country-wise bound tariff commitments are listed in the documents called the Schedule of Commitments and are an integral part of the WTO Agreement. WTO member countries have the flexibility to increase or decrease their tariffs so long as they do not raise them above their bound levels. If one WTO member raises applied tariffs above their bound level, other WTO members can take the country to the WTO’s dispute settlement for resolving the issue. An official in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that negotiations are currently underway between India and the US on the issue of tariffs and that India would “stay compliant with all its commitments under the WTO”. Officials also pointed out that alongside hiking duties, India has also reduced import duties on some items. These include a cut in the import duties on palm oil with effect from September 23, 2016, from 12.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent for crude palm oil of edible grade, and from 20 per cent to 15 per cent for refined palm oil of edible grade. Import duty on wheat was reduced from 10 per cent to Nil with effect from December 8, 2016, but this was subsequently increased to 10 per cent in a little over three months.
Customs duty hikes:
Jan 2016: Concessional customs duties on 76 specified drugs withdrawn “to eliminate the disadvantage to the domestic manufacturers of such drugs”. With the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare citing an adverse impact of the move, the concession of customs duties on 3 drugs was restored through another notification on February 17, 2016. Feb 2016: In the Budget 2016-17, exemption from basic customs duty on cashew nuts in shell was withdrawn and a basic customs duty of 5% was imposed, with effect from March 1, 2016. Representations were made by various trade and industry associations against the move. June 2017: Notification issued to slap basic customs duty on smartphones of 10 per cent effective from July 1, making imported devices more expensive than locally made ones. Covered cellular mobile phones and specified parts like charger, battery, wire headset, microphone and receiver, keypad, USB cable, etc. Sept 2017: Duty on solar panels proposed in September 2016, under which solar panels and modules generating power classified alongside “electrical motors and generators” under the Customs Act, thereby attracting a 7.5 per cent duty. They were earlier listed with “diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor devices, photosensitive semiconductor devices, including photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled in modules or made up into panels,” where imports were duty free. The implementation of this levy began a year later in September 2017 at some ports. Dec 2017: Notification issued to raise customs duty on imported mobile phones, television sets, digital cameras, microwave ovens, LED bulbs and a number of other electronics goods. The duty on push-button phones and mobile handsets was raised to 15 per cent from 10 per cent and that on TV sets to 20 per cent from 15 per cent. Feb 28, 2018: Hike on customs duties across 46 items spanning imported branded goods and those involving technological value-addition — duties were mostly raised from the 10 per cent bracket to 15 per cent and 20 per cent, with one segment seeing a five-fold increase in duty to 50 per cent. Items ranged from fruit juices to mobile phones. May 24, 2018: The government raised import duties up to 100 per cent on five products, including wheat, shelled almond, walnut, and protein concentrate, imported from the US and other developed nations. The Finance Ministry invoked “emergency powers” to increase import duties under Section 8A of the Customs Act. June 20, 2018: Customs duty hiked on 29 US products, including almonds, apples and phosphoric acid worth $10.6 billion imports in retaliation to the steel and aluminium tariff hikes by the US. The import duty hike, which was to be effective from August 4, has subsequently been postponed by 45 days. Aug 2018: Customs duties on 328 textiles products more that doubled to 20 per cent. Covers imported innerwear, baby garments, track suits, carpets, woollen items and shawls.
Source: Indian Express
An amendment to the central goods and services tax (CGST) Act has explicitly and retrospectively barred claiming transitional credit in lieu of the Krishi Kalyan cess and Swachh Bharat cess paid in the pre-GST regime. An amendment to the central goods and services tax (CGST) Act has explicitly and retrospectively barred claiming transitional credit in lieu of the Krishi Kalyan cess and Swachh Bharat cess paid in the pre-GST regime. The CGST Amendment Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The GST law provides for transition of accumulated credit, which allows taxpayers to transfer the input tax credit (ITC) available as closing balance in pre-GST returns to GST returns. Therefore, assesses were able to transfer the closing balance of credit in respect of central excise duty, service tax and local VAT as the opening credit balance in GST returns. The law, however, had not specifically denied credit of cess against GST liability, which led to a section of taxpayers claiming the same too. Many other taxpayers relied on the principle that cess credit can be used to pay only the cess liability. Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY India, said, “This amendment would open a pandora’s box for businesses which had transitioned the credits based on a literal interpretation of law. The issue may get into litigation or the businesses would need to reverse the transitioned cess credits and also evaluate on the applicability of interest on credits so transitioned.” The government has launched a year-long drive to verify transitional credit claims of top 50,000 taxpayers as the revenue department believes that large-scale evasion took place in claiming Rs 1.6 lakh crore as transitional credit till December last year; when the windows for applying for such credit closed. Additionally, as a result of other amendments to the GST Bill, employers will soon be able to claim input tax credit on facilities like food, transport and insurance provided to employees under any law. The government has proposed as many as 46 amendments to the Goods and Services Tax laws — central GST, state GST, integrated GST and Compensation of Sales Act. The amendments, among other things, provide for modification of reverse charge mechanism, separate registration for companies having different business verticals, cancellation of registration, new return filing norms and issuance of consolidated debit/credit notes covering multiple invoices.
Source: Finacial Express
The official data released on Friday showed that the year-on-year growth rate in primary goods was 9.3% and in that of capital goods was 9.6% and in infrastructure, the growth rate was 8.5%.In terms of industries, 19 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed a positive growth during the month of June as compared with the corresponding month of 2017. The industry group ‘manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products’ showed the highest growth of 44.1% followed by 20.5% in ‘manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ and 15.6% in ‘Manufacturing of textiles and tobacco products, however, has shown a decline. The Centre earlier this week increased import duty on 501 textile product line to help domestic industry from cheap import of textilemanufacture of other transport equipment’. “Excellent numbers of IIP growth for June. IIP rises by 7%. Capital goods growth 9.6%. First quarter IIP growth stands at 5.2% with manufacturing also recording same growth. 19 out of 23 industrygroups recorded positive growth with computer and electronics growth at 44%,” said Economic Aairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. A robust manufacturing output comes on the back of the strongest expansion in Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index since October 2016. Index rose from 52.6 to 54.2 in June, indicating an expansion in business activities in India.
Source: Deccan Herald
BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has set a target to produce 113.19 lakh square metre of textile and handloom products worth `223 crore in the current fiscal with a jump of nearly 25 per cent from the previous year. Keeping in mind the flow of tourists during the upcoming Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, the production target has been enhanced from 90.55 lakh sq metre set for 2017-18 financial year. While 16 districts are producing textile and handloom products, the State has 40,164 looms of which 34,086 are active. Since only 21,760 looms were operating during last year, the Directorate of Textiles has asked all zonal officers to activate 3,000 more looms to achieve the target for the year. The target for Bargarh has been set at highest 20.4 lakh sq metre, followed by Cuttack 18.36 lakh sq metre and Athagarh 15.5 lakh sq metre. Other producing zones include Khurda (6.14 lakh sq metre), Sonepur (5.42 lakh sq metre), Nayagarh (4.99 lakh sq metre), Patnagarh (4.78 lakh sq metre), Balasore (3.07 lakh sq metre), Baripada (2.5 lakh sq metre), Keonjhar (2.52 lakh sq metre) and Berhampur (3.86 lakh sq metre). Of 90.55 lakh sq metre of target set for last year, the achievement was nearly 71.54 per cent. The Directorate was displeased over the performance of many zones as the number of working looms came down from 22,824 in 2016-17 to 21,760 in 2017-18. None of the zones had made 100 per cent achievements except Baripada while Bargarh and Balasore zones achieved more than 90 per cent of the target. An official of the Directorate said Athagarh, Khurda, Patnagarh, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Kalahandi and Koraput could produce less than 60 per cent of the target which is not desirable. While several welfare schemes have been formulated for socio-economic development of weavers, he said, zonal officials have been asked to give focused attention to chalk out strategies to strengthen the production system and provide regular employment to the weavers working under cooperative fold. Boudh zone has been asked to activate 400 looms and Athagarh, Bargarh and Sonepur zones have been directed to operate 300 looms more to help achieve the overall target.
Source: Indian Express
KOCHI: After Asian countries, Ethiopia is beckoning garment exporters from Tirupur, the knitwear hub of the country, as they struggle to cope with goods and services tax (GST) implementation issues and withdrawal of export incentives in India. Already, a few units from Tirupur have set up base in Ethiopia, which is tipped to become the next Bangladesh, one of India’s main rivals in garment exports. A combination of factors not available in India seems to be attracting exporters to Ethiopia. “They provide all the infrastructure with plug and play facilities. The labour is cheap and significantly, Ethiopia enjoys duty-free export access to both Europe and the US, two major markets for garments,’’ said R Rajkumar, MD of Best Corporation (P) Ltd., which has set up a unit in the African country. Best Corporation’s $6 million unit employs 1000 workers and Rajkumar said it will be scaled up to 4000 in future. Except the management staff, all workers are from Ethiopia. Indian garment exporters have suffered heavily due to competition from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which enjoy duty-free access to Europe. Many exporters had started units there to take advantage of this facility. But Bangladesh is fast losing charm for exporters with declining productivity. Ethiopia now appears to be more attractive as exporters can ship garments without duty to two major markets. “Ethiopian government is quite helpful by providing subsidised electricity and infrastructure. Abundant and cheap labour is a great advantage,’’ said Arul Saravanan, chief marketing officer of SCM Garments Pvt. Ltd., another Tirupur-based firm which has opened a garment unit in Ethiopia with 500 machines and 750 workers. Ethiopia had begun efforts to woo companies with officials from the country making regular visits to Tirupur. “They have been coming here for the past three years. Ethiopia understood the value of garment industry in providing employment to its people. India has much to learn from it,’’ said Raja M Shanmugham, chairman of Tiruppur Exporters Association. Tirupur, which accounts for 46% of the total knitwear garment exports from the country, saw its export decline by 8% to 24,000 crore in 2017-18 for the first time in five years. “The first quarter of this year saw a negative growth of 14%. We hope the second quarter would fare better,’’ said Shanmugham. The garment exporters have been requesting the government for at least partial restoration of export incentives and free trade access to Europe to boost shipments
Source: P K Krishnakumar
Exporters have approached various courts over restrictions imposed for availing advance authorisation licences under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. The change in condition has led to directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) issuing notices to exporters. One such case on a petition filed by an exporter came up for hearing in the Delhi High Court, which issued notices to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and posted the matter for hearing in January. The gist of the case is that the CBIC had inserted a clause of “pre-import” for exempting imports done on advance authorisation licences from integrated goods and services tax (IGST). These licences are issued to allow duty free import of inputs, which are physically incorporated in export product. The clause meant that imports done after exports would not be allowed to avail exemptions from IGST. However, advance authorisation is generally used for importing goods after exports are made, as against the pre-import condition imposed by the CBIC, argued Abhishek Rastogi, counsel for the petitioner in Delhi HC and partner at Khaitan & Co. The clause was introduced after exemption was granted to imports under advance authorisation from paying IGST. Earlier, imports under advance authorisation were subjected to IGST. This prompted exporters to move courts. Though IGST is refundable, cash flow of exporters was hampered. Following this, CBIC came out with a notification exempting these imports from IGST. However, it inserted the contentious clause in the notification. Rastogi argued that the petitioner had procured the advance authorisation licences on for post-export imports. “Due to imposition of pre-import condition, the benefits granted to the petitioner has been curtailed to the extent that he would never be able to get the exemptions as he was promised.” This has left the petitioner, who has advance authorisation licences, to the level of those who would import through the normal channel, he argued.
Source: Business Standard
NEW DELHI: With increasing number of e-commerce companies and no specifications and regulations regarding such business in India, the Union government is planning to come up with a separate regulator for the sector. “There is so much confusion regarding e-commerce in India. Space is expanding fast and it requires well-defined regulations and policies. That is the reason why space requires a separate regulator. The government is working on it,” said a member of the recently constituted think tank on e-commerce. The government has constituted a think tank, chaired by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, specifically to frame rules and regulations for the sector. The think tank member further said that all digital businesses will be legally bound to register with the regulator. This will also make a real estimation of the total number of e-commerce companies and their registered offices. The think tank will come up with its final draft on the e-commerce policy by the end of this month. The final draft is being reviewed by the committee, which is incorporating the suggestions and framework. Once the draft is ready and out, the government will seek comments and suggestions from the public. “Apart from the general business regulations, the regulator will also look into discount policies, monitoring of product quality, more clarification on FDI rules on inventory and the server and data issues. We have already done several brainstorming sessions on this and are holding talks with stakeholders for suggestions,” the official added. The think tank is also fine-tuning certain grey areas that exist in e-commerce companies regarding Goods and Services Tax. Recently, the merger of Amazon and Flipkart once again fuelled discussions regarding the lack of strict regulations, where big players manage to manipulate FDI rules. Retailers contend that in the absence of strong regulations, big global chains are manipulating rules to their advantage. Retailers have also complained regarding the product quality and services of e-commerce players. According to Praveen Khandelwal of Confederation of All India Traders, these complaints are not being taken seriously.
‘Not quite impartial’
Retailer associations allege that the government think tank’s draft report on e-commerce policy, parts of which they are already aware of, is already tilted in favour of major e-commerce players such as Amazon, Ola and Paytm.
Source: Indian Express
Government’s relaxing of norms for transshipment has not only helped India arrest a sizeable chunk of its container cargo going to ports like Colombo, Singapore and Jebel Ali but also forced a few foreign ports to cut rates, according to a top official. India has been trying hard to arrest diversion of container cargo to transshipment hubs at foreign ports. In May, the Centre relaxed cabotage norms allowing foreign ships, chartered by Indian citizens or companies, to ply on local routes for transshipment purposes. After the relaxation, India is witnessing an upswing in transshipment volumes and if the trend continues it would emerge as a transshipment hub, Shipping Secretary Gopal Krishna told PTI. “Diversion of Indian cargo for transshipment to neighbouring foreign ports has definitely come down and its impact will be visible by the end of the fiscal and it is bound to substantially come down in the next fiscal,” he said. The figure is likely to reach 2 million tonne, from about 0.8 MT and the trends have started showing, he said. “The transshipment volumes in India have risen to 16,543 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) in July from 11,589 TEUs in June. This is a 43 per cent jump in a month,” said Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA) that represents 31 container shiplines. CSLA Chairman Deepak Tewari told PTI: “The policy reform has been very encouraging for container shiplines and we are confident to take the 16,543 TEU volumes recorded in July to 200,000 TEUs within six to eight months time.” The figures of transshipment within India are as low as 3,583 TEUs. Had there been no cabotage relaxation, of the 16,543 TEUs, India would have lost 41 per cent to Colombo, 22 per cent to Singapore, 11 per cent to Port Klang and 26 per cent to others, CSLA estimates. Various shipping lines are in the process of repositioning their routes which is decided annually, Krishna said, adding that once it is done the major impact will be visible. A Shipping Association official said Colombo port was forced to cut transhipment rates by 9.5 per cent post India doing away with cabotage restrictions in May. Credit rating agency ICRA has said that the government move to relax cabotage restrictions will create a level-playing field for foreign-flagged ships and is a long-term positive for ports. The relaxations are positive from a transhipment perspective for the Indian ports, it said. The government move was aimed at not only arresting diversion of Indian container cargo to foreign ports but to create entrepreneurship in shipping operations while unfurling opportunities for citizens including former army and navy personnel with desired silks and knowledge to charter smaller feeder vessels and participate in the fast growing container trade. At present transhipment hubs at Singapore, Malaysia, Colombo and Jebel Ali near Indian coastline get about 33 per cent of Indian container cargo which is aggregated there before being shipped to final destinations. Transshipment of Indian cargo at foreign transshipment ports leads to traffic growth there and job creation in other countries, loss of revenue from Indian shippers in terms of port and logistic charges and loss of foreign exchange to foreign ports as the transhipment revenues and charges are collected from Indian exporters/importers by foreign ports. Krishna said the policy in the first year, as per conservative approach, will result in at least 10 per cent reduction of the Indian container cargo transshipment to foreign ports. Ports like Vishakhapatnam, Kandla, Cochin, Tuticorin, Ennore and Chennai are likely to benefit most initially. As per estimates Indian ports are likely to get an additional income of about Rs 200 crore on account of this.
Source: Financial Express
In a bid to seek higher Ease of Doing Business ranking, the Customs Department has communicated to the World Bank that the average time for clearance of consignments at ports has come down sharply to 100 hours, an official said. Release time of consignments at Customs ports is one of the factors which is taken into account by the World Bank in its yearly Ease Of Doing Business ranking. The department has also introduced an RFID-based system for real time tracking of containers to help logistics companies locate the position of the consignment at any given time. The Customs Department has suggested to the World Bank that its representatives can do an independent assessment of the release time of the consignment at Customs port using the real time visibility application, the official added. “The World Bank says that the release time is 267 hours, but in fact it is only 100 hours. So we want them to do a real time check using any container number on the ICEGATE portal,” an official told PTI. The new ranking is expected to be released in October. Currently, RFID-based tracking of cargoes is available in Nhava Sheva port in Mumbai, which handles the maximum number of cargoes. Mundra port in Gujarat too has started the tracking system and Chennai port is expected to launch it soon. Last year, India jumped 30 places to rank 100th in the World Bank’s doing business report. The government wants the country break into top 50 in the coming years.
Source: Financial Express
KOZHIKODE: In a major research finding that would go a long way in conserving water in the water-intensive textile industry, researchers at Calicut University have come up with an eco-friendly process for manufacturing yarns. Researchers say that the novel approach for 'sizing' and 'desizing' cotton and polyester yarns through a dry process using liquid and super critical carbon dioxide (scCO2) and inexpensive sugar acetates will help the textile industry do away with huge amount of water currently used in the conventional process. Sizing is the process of applying a protective adhesive coating upon the yarn to strengthen it to decrease breakages on the loom and attain maximum weaving efficiency. Conventional method of sizing involves drawing the yarn through a concentrated sizing solution- mostly starch and polyvinyl alcohol- and then drying it. After the weaving process the yarn has to be 'desized' by washing it with water which requires upto 2,500-2,1000 litres for 1,000kg of cotton yarn and drying it involves an energy intensive process. Under the study, CU researchers investigated the possibility of utilizing liquid and super critical CO2 as an alternative medium for sizing and desizing of yarns using CO2 soluble compounds like Sucrose Octaacetate (SOA) and two other compounds as sizing agents. In the study, the tensile strength of the yarn was found to have almost doubled for the cotton yarn when sized with SOA while it increased 60% for the polyester yarn. The study also found out that SOA can be completely washed off during the desizing process using scCO2. The study was carried out by a team comprising Prof P Ravendran of the Department of Chemistry, University of Calicut along with researchers Anu Antony, Anila Raj, Jyothi P Ramachandran of the department along with Resmi M Ramakrishnan of the Department of Chemistry, SNGS College, Pattambi and Scott L Wallen of the Division of Science, Arts & Mathematics, Florida Polytechnic University, USA. The study has been published in the prestigious international scientific journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. "SOA was found to be the most ideal candidate as a size material in the CO2-based process. Sizing of both cotton and polyester yarns with SOA resulted in a smooth, uniform, and glassy coating and improved mechanical properties of the yarn as required for weaving," the study said. Raveendran said that as the textile industry is increasingly under pressure to reduce consumption of water due the sustainability and environmental issues involved, the CO2- based sizing and desizing has the potential to be developed into an ideal zero-pollution technology for the industry with the additional advantage that the materials used are inexpensive and can be completely recycled.
Source: Times News Network
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1438.49 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
VSF |
2070.85 |
USD/Ton |
0.21% |
8/12/2018 |
|
ASF |
3037.63 |
USD/Ton |
-2.35% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Polyester POY |
1548.02 |
USD/Ton |
0.71% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Nylon FDY |
3402.73 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
40D Spandex |
5038.38 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Nylon POY |
3504.96 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
5513.01 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Polyester FDY |
1767.08 |
USD/Ton |
0.41% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Nylon DTY |
3081.44 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
3212.88 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
Polyester DTY |
1745.18 |
USD/Ton |
0.42% |
8/12/2018 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2745.55 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
2234.41 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2950.01 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2409.66 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2482.68 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2920.80 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2526.49 |
USD/Ton |
0.58% |
8/12/2018 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.36 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.84 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.17 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
8/12/2018 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.65 |
USD/Meter |
0.22% |
8/12/2018 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.70 |
USD/Meter |
0.21% |
8/12/2018 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14604 USD dtd. 12/8/2018). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
ISLAMABAD - The Ministry of Commerce and Textile has revealed that Rs 25.5 billion has been given to the textile sector in first phase under the prime minister’s trade enhancement package by June 30, 2018. Rs2.6 billion was disbursed to the textile sector in first two months during Phase II from July 1 to August 07 2018, a senior official of Ministry of Commerce and Textile told APP on Saturday. The Ministry of Commerce and Textile had assured payments through Prime Minister “Trade Enhancement Package” to the textile sector by February 2019 to enhance the country’s exports. Replying to a question, he said the government had planned to expand coverage areas under the Trade Enhancement Package” to remaining industrial sectors including pharmaceuticals. “We are committed to providing an enabling environment for the industrial sector,” he said. The government, he said, had also given relaxation on the import of textile machinery for the modernization of industry and to enhance the capacity of the sector. The official said that through this package cost of doing business would come down in the country. He said the government gave priority to facilitating the textile sector and helping it gain competitiveness in order to enhance the country’s exports. “We want to revive confidence of the textile sector through the trade enhancement package.”, he remarked. While talking to APP, General Secretary of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Anis-ul- Haq stressed the need for providing competitive business environment for textile sector to boost the country’s trade. He emphasized on structural balance and viability of industry to compete with regional competitors including India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. General Secretary APTMA said that pragmatic and export led policies were required for industrial growth and increase in the country’s exports.
Source: The Nation
CAIRO : Egypt and Tunisia agreed on boosting trade relations and removing all challenges facing the flow of trade and investment to achieve a quantum leap in the level of trade ties for the interest of both countries. This came during a meeting of the 5th round of talks of the Egyptian-Tunisian trade and industrial committee which concluded on Saturday. Egyptian Minister of Trade Amr Nassar and his Tunisian counterpart Omar al Bahi co-chaired the committee. In a press statement on Sunday, Nassar said that the meeting targeted coordinating between the governments of both countries to facilitate trade movement and activate the role of the private sector and benefit from the resources of both countries to achieve integrated and effective economic partnerships. Relations between Egypt and Tunisia witnessed big progress as the trade exchange reached $214 million during the first half of 2018, Nassar said. Both sides agreed on activating the role of the Egyptian-Tunisian business council and intensifying exchanged meetings of their businessmen, he said. An agreement was reached on inking a cooperation protocol between the Egyptian technological center and Tunisian technical centers in the food, agriculture, leather, shoe, textile, construction material, chemical and engineering industries and in the furniture, packing and packaging sectors, Nassar said. The meeting asserted the importance of boosting Egyptian and Tunisian cooperation in diversified domains, he added. On the other hand, Bahi said that his visit to Egypt reflects the keenness of the Tunisian government on furthering trade and economic ties with Egypt. Bahi lauded the coordination between officials of the Egyptian and Tunisian trade ministries to handle any obstacles facing the trade flow between both countries. Bahi said that the Tunisian government is working on increasing Tunisian exports to the Egyptian market.
Source: Egypt Today
India may apply anti-dumping duties of as much as $719 per ton on Vietnamese nylon filament yarn for five years. A Hindu Business Line report says that this move is being considered after India’s Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) received complaints from five domestic textile enterprises about the cheap import of such yarn from Vietnam. In response, the DGAD has suggested anti-dumping duties ranging from $128.06-$719.44 per ton on nylon filament yarn imported from Vietnam and the EU to mitigate the damage on the domestic industry. The directorate found that imports of the year increased to 13,799 tons from October 2015 until March 2017, as opposed to 7,201 tons from 2013 to 2014. However, a Times of India report said that manufacturers of nylon fabric have opposed the move, saying it will allow Indian yarn makers to monopolize prices. It cited market sources as saying yarns and fibers, including nylon filament yarn made in Vietnam and the EU were 20 percent cheaper than the ones made by domestic firms. The final decision on this issue will be taken by India's Finance Ministry, but no date has been mentioned for when this will happen. Meanwhile, the Times of India report quoted Mayur Golwala, a representative of powerloom weavers, as saying: “We urge the central government not to accept the recommendation of DGAD for anti-dumping duty on nylon yarn. “The government should not think of only five to six nylon yarn manufacturers in the country, but thousands of weavers and workers who are attached with the industry.”
Source: VN Express International
A recent Indian government’s move to introduce rules of origin in the name of protecting its local garment manufacturers might severely hurt Bangladesh’s export growth to its neighbour. India has started discussions with stakeholders on a proposed ‘Fabric Forward Policy’ with the aim of introducing the rules of origin for duty-free garment imports. Although India doubled the import tax on more than 300 textile products to 20 per cent on August 7 to reduce its cheap imports from China, Indian textile industry people claimed that their efforts were being hindered due to duty-free facility offered by India to Bangladesh as China was exporting textiles to India through Bangladesh. International news agency Reuters reported that the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry had requested the government to introduce the rules of origin for duty-free imports. Competition from China is forcing some Indian businesses, such as polyester production facilities, to run idle, leading to job losses, the trade body said. Kavita Gupta, India’s textile commissioner told Reuters that the textile ministry had proposed a Fabric Forward Policy, where duty-free access to garments would be provided if the fabric was sourced from India. The policy is in discussion stage, she said. Bangladeshi experts and exporters said that if India introduced such condition, Bangladesh’s export to the market would be hurt. They, however, said that it would not be easy for India to impose any condition on duty-free facility as Bangladesh enjoys the trade benefit in India under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement. ‘If India imposes such trade barrier in the name of introducing rule of origin, it would harm Bangladesh’s exports,’ said Anwar-Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. He, however, said that it would not easy for India to impose such restriction as Bangladesh enjoys duty-free market access in India under the SAFTA pact. If India imposes condition on duty-free market access on Bangladeshi products, Indian products would also have to face same restriction in Bangladesh, Parvez said. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that there was no scope for India for imposing such restriction on Bangladeshi products as the export products of both the countries enjoy duty-free market access under the SAFTA agreement not under any bilateral agreement. ‘Now we have to see what India is going to do,’ he said. Reuters reported that India doubled the import tax on more than 300 textile products to 20 per cent, marking the second tax increase on textiles in as many months. This is aimed at providing relief to the country’s domestic textile industry, which has been hit by cheaper imports, the Reuters’ report said. India’s total textile imports jumped by 16 per cent to a record $7 billion in the fiscal year to March, 2018. Of the amount, about $3 billion were from China. India’s industry officials said textile raw materials from China were coming into India via Bangladesh, which has a free-trade agreement with India giving it access to the country’s $100 billion textile market, ‘Duty-free fabric from China is coming to Bangladesh, getting converted and landing into India at zero duty,’ Sanjay Jain, president of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, told Reuters. Industry bodies argue that India’s latest action is not enough to protect domestic garment manufacturers who are facing fierce competition from China and Bangladesh. Imports of clothing accessories and apparel from Bangladesh the world’s second largest exporter of readymade garments rose over 43 per cent to $200.9 million during the year ended March, 2018, according to Indian government data. ‘Under the SAFTA agreement and trade agreement with Bangladesh, only those goods should be exempted from customs duty, whose raw material is also manufactured by one of the SAFTA countries,’ Dilip Chenoy, head of The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said in a letter dated July 25 to a senior official in the Indian government’s textile ministry. Rising imports sent India’s trade deficit with China in textile products (finished garments) to a record high $1.54 billion in 2017-18, alarming industry officials as India had been until recently a net exporter of textile products to China, Reuters reported. There is a 10-per cent price difference on average between textile products made in India and those made in China, according to the FICCI. The unit value of some Chinese products such as stockings, blouses and baby garments cost far less than produced in India. ‘Import trend suggests 40 to 50 per cent of the garments were made with Chinese fibre,’ said an Indian analyst who did not want to be named. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many garments imported in India were produced with fibre sourced from China, he told Reuters.
Source: New Age Business
Cambodia stands to benefit from the ongoing trade spat between the United States and China, with exports of Cambodian travel goods particularly likely to increase as a result of the dispute, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia. The US and China have been involved in a tit-for-tat trade war since early last month, with the latest move from Washington being to impose 25 percent duties on $16 billion worth of Chinese imports. Affected products include car tires, furniture, wood products, as well as handbags and suitcases. Kaing Monika, GMAC’s deputy secretary general, said the hike in tariffs will impact investor’s confidence in China as a manufacturing base, arguing that many firms will relocate to other countries in the region with cheap labour forces, including Cambodia. “You should see even further interest in sourcing travel goods from Cambodia now. I predict that more and more companies that produce travel goods will choose to exit China, which could, of course, mean a boost for our industry,” Mr Monika said, adding that China still exports almost $5 billion to the US in travel goods. “There is now huge potential for our travel goods manufacturing industry. With the trade war between the US and China in full swing, Cambodia-made goods are set to benefit further when orders move away from China to avoid heavy duties by the Trump administration,” he said. Mr Monika said the rising cost of labour and a more stringent enforcement of environmental laws will continue to prompt companies now based in China to relocate elsewhere, and that “Cambodia stands to benefit from this.” “The question is whether Cambodia would be the first choice, the second, or the next in line Peace and stability is important but other factors also count when it come to the issue of national competitiveness,” he added. Mr Monika said the US has always been one of Cambodia’s biggest export markets for garments and shoes, second only to the combined economies of the countries that make up the European Union. Cambodian garments and shoes the Kingdom’s major exports are not yet included into the US’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), a scheme that since 1974 grants least developed nations duty-free access to the US market. Mr Monika said GMAC is lobbying the American government to include footwear products into the GSP scheme. “With the support of our legal firm in Washington, we are lobbying the US Congress to give us GSP for footwear,” he said, explaining that 60 of GMAC’s members manufacture shoes. “The extension of GSP to footwear won’t happen very soon, but there are some reasons to hope for it in the next round of reviews by the US Congress,” he added. On July 2016, Cambodia-made travel goods were included in the US’s GSP scheme, an achievement that Mr Monika said followed months of hard work from GMAC and the Cambodian government. Since then “investors in the sector and orders have been pouring in,” he said. According to the Ministry of Commerce, exports of garment and footwear products increased by 9.3 percent during the first half of the year, reaching $3.7 billion. Shipments to the US rose by nearly 11 percent and were worth $858 million. The US and the EU together accounted for 72 percent of the country’s total garments and footwear exports.
Source: Khmer Times
The textile, garments and other wearable industries predicted a combined export growth of 20 percent this year to $1.22 billion from $1.02 billion in 2017. The Confederation of Wearables Exporters of the Philippines said it was anticipating a surge in wearable exports, currently dominated by China, as the trade war between the US and China would likely escalate. “We’re hoping there will be a surge, even just for a little bit [in exports] from the tariff imposed by America in the ongoing trade war,” said CONWEP executive director Maritess Agoncillo. She said the difficulty of China penetrating the US market at this point might prove to be an advantage for other trading partners of the US such as the Philippines. A number of garment manufacturers are preparing to close shop in China with their sights set on the Philippines as an alternative manufacturing site in Asia, said Agoncillo. “If this happens, exports from the Philippines will increase with expectations of a surge in the US demand for more wearables as it closes its doors from imports direct from China,” she said. Chinese manufacturers are still assessing the current labor situation and the taxation policies in the Philippines. These are two major points the Chinese companies consider when locating out of China, she said. She said Philippine labor was just as competitive. The Philippines moved on from producing cheap, colorless shirts to more meticulous products, mostly for top-of-the-line and expensive brands. Wearable exports from the Philippines hit $2.9 to $3 billion in 2005, before it gradually declined to a third of its value over the succeeding years. Agoncillo said other industry groups were proactively promoting the Philippines as a safe and secure destination for manufacturing industries. Among these groups as the Textile Producers Association of the Philippines, Marikina Shoe Industry Development Office and the Garment Manufacturers Association of the Philippines. These groups are supporting an upcoming promotional event called the 1st Philippine Garment, Leather Goods Industries and Fabric Expo on Aug. 23 to 26 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. Participating countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, India, Pakistan and Malaysia are seen to contribute to boosting the potential of the local garments, leather, goods and fabric for export.
Source: Manila Standard
Washington – Tariff fears are driving port traffic. Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports have set two new records this summer and are expected to set another this month, according to the National Retail Federation’s monthly Global Port Tracker report. “Tariffs on most consumer products have yet to take effect, but retailers appear to be getting prepared before that can happen,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy. U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker are Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast; and Houston on the Gulf Coast. Together they handled 1.85 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in June, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 1.6% from May and up 7.8% year-over-year. The June number set a new record for the number of containers imported during a single month, beating the previous record of 1.83 million TEU set in August 2017, NRF noted.
A TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent.
July was estimated at 1.88 million TEU, up 4.4% year-over-year. This figure is subject to revision when the numbers become final. August is forecast at 1.91 million TEU, up 4.4%, and “should set yet another record,” NRF added. Predictions for the remainder of 2018 are: September at 1.82 million TEU, up 2.1%; October at 1.88 million, up 4.9%; November at 1.81 million TEU, up 2.6%; and December at 1.79 million TEU, up 4%.While cargo numbers do not correlate directly with sales, NRF said the record imports mirror strong results seen by retailers this spring and summer that are expected to continue through the remainder of the year. Retail sales as calculated by NRF – excluding automobiles, restaurants and gasoline stations – were up 4.2% year-over-year in June and up 4.4% on a three-month moving average. The organization is forecasting this year’s total sales to be up between 3.8% and 4.4% over 2017. The first half of 2018 totaled 10.3 million TEU, an increase of 5.1% over the first half of 2017. The total for 2018 is expected to reach 21.4 million TEU, an increase of 4.4% over last year’s record 20.5 million TEU.
Source: Home Textiles Today
The comatose state of Nigeria’s textile manufacturing industry is a far cry from that of the 21st Century’s industrial evolution and productivity demand of any serious nation. This was part of news broadcast on one of the private television networks recently with the topic ‘Dying Textile Industry.’ Asaba Textile Company was the focal point. “No country’s industrial sector can ever flourish without the provision of stable, reliable, quality supply of electricity. When the past regime of Goodluck Jonathan lifted the embargo on the importation of ready-made wears in 2010, I wrote a similar history of textile manufacturing companies in Nigeria and how they fared. Eight years on, the story remains unchanged, if anything, it is getting worse. There is without controversy unscrupulous elements whose stock in trade is to profit from the present horrible situation of non-availability of sufficient electricity supply. The same goes for the poor functioning of textile manufacturing companies in the country, which in the first instance is the fallout of lack of adequate and quality supply of electricity. Therefore, the real enemy of development and progress particularly in this industrial sector may not necessarily be the need to set up hydro plants for electricity among others but, indeed, to muster the willpower and unyielding resoluteness with which to confront or displace those who would not let go. Textile industry, which is basically powered by quality electricity, is a tremendous source of employment. It can absorb millions of persons, if and or when it is functional. It has prospects to generate foreign exchange thereby mopping up revenue for the federal and state governments. This is true when other African countries begin to depend on Nigeria for the supply of clothing materials for their fashion businesses and other purposes. Gone are the days when Nigerians embraced the products of the likes of International Textile Industry (I.T.I) at Mushin, Lagos, Texlon at Amuwo Odofin, Enpee at Oshodi, Aswani at Isolo, Boujson Mercedes at Oyingbo, Sunflag at Surulere, Five Star at Isolo and many others. Virtually all the above mentioned textile companies except one have stopped production of clothing materials but re-versified to other businesses. The N10 billion textile revival fund approved by the Bank of Industry in 2010 is a step in the right direction, which this government has sustained. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), commending the stride, said that the fund actually increased capacity utilisation from as low as 29.14 per cent to 50 per cent and rising. Similarly, the lunch last year of the National Policy on Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) obviously as part of the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) is equally a commendable step assiduously taken by this government towards revamping the textile industry currently in a comatose, hibernate state.
Source: The Guardian
