The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 27 AUGUST, 2018

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

‘Set up high-value textile-making units’

The textile industry can tap opportunities emerging globally in high-value manufacturing by converting fibre into fibre assemblies, according to Prasad Potluri, professor of robotics and textile composites and director of research at Northwest Composites Centre, University of Manchester. Mr. Potluri, who were here recently, told The Hindu that high-value manufacturing sectors include aerospace, automotives, energy, and defence.

‘Century of fibres’

“Current century is of fibres, including carbon and glass fibres,” he said. “These will revolutionise the way we make products in the future,” he added. There is a huge potential for the textile industry in this segment. Those who are into technical textiles, even the small and medium-scale enterprises, can tap the potential in new fibres and convert those into suitable high value products, he added. “The industry should go beyond high-volume business to high-value business. They need to build on what they already have. They can get into weaving of carbon and glass fibres,” Professor Potluri added. The technical textile units can be fibre converters. This sector is know-how driven. For the Indian industries, awareness should improve and they should get the technology. G. Thilagavathi, professor and head of department, textile technology, PSG College of Technology, said there were a few units in the country that did three-dimensional fibre weaving. The number is few as functionalities in three-dimensional weaving using these fibres are different and the units need to have the requisite technology and machinery for the purpose. In normal textiles, the price realised is minimum. In fibre assemblies, which can be converted into high-performance products, the realisation is much higher.

Source: The Hindu

Back to top

‘Indian textile merchants successful in global market’

MADURAI : “Since nearly one-third of India’s textile production is from Tamil Nadu, Amazon aims to enable the entrepreneurs and create a market for them across the globe. Already, a total of 37,000 sellers from the State have been listed on our site. We aim to encourage new businessmen in the home textile category,” said Gopal Pillai, Director and General Manager, Seller Services, Amazon India, at a press meet here on Friday. Mr. Pillai elaborated on the e-commerce giant’s Global Selling programme that allows traders from the nooks of rural India to places like Japan and Germany. He stated that several textile merchants producing bedding, kitchen linen, bedsheets and clothes have experienced incredible success in the global market due to high demand.

Source: The Hindu

Back to top

Textiles, clothing exports jump 11% in July on govt policies, falling rupee

The textile sector is the largest industrial employment provider in India, employing more than 100 mn people directly and indirectly. After a staggering 17 per cent decline in the April–June quarter, India’s textiles and clothing exports revived to witness a jump of 11 per cent in July due to favourable government policies and rupee depreciation.

Data compiled by the DGCIS under the Union Ministry of Commerce showed total textiles and apparel exports at Rs 196.36 billion ($ 2.86 billion) for July 2018 compared to Rs 176.92 billion ($2.74 billion) for the corresponding month last year. Total textiles exports witnessed a jump of 15 per cent to Rs 108.79 billion ($1.58 billion) for July 2018 versus Rs 94.29 billion ($ 1.46 billion) in the comparable month of previous year. Moving in tandem, India’s apparel exports recorded a jump of 6 per cent to Rs 87.57 billion ($1.27 billion) for July 2018 as against Rs 82.63 billion ($1.28 billion) for the same month last year. Sudden surge in India’s textiles and apparel exports, however, is attributed to supportive government policies which prompted the government to expedite refund on state and Goods and Services Tax (GST) levies on raw materials. Also depreciation in the rupee against the dollar helped Indian exporters to expedite execution of orders and also receivables. The textiles and clothing sector in India is on the verge of turnaround. Their exports have jumped in 11 per cent after a steep fall between April & July quarter. It seems the worst is over for India’s textiles and clothing industry,said Sanjay Jain, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industries (CITI). Indian textile sector is the largest industrial employment provider, employing more than 100 million people directly and indirectly and a major industry for the economic growth of the country. Overall growth in exports during Apr - July 2018, therefore, stood 3 per cent vis-à-vis same period last year.  Further, the manmade fibre (MMF) segment, which is expected to be the growth driver of the industry in the coming years, has seen increase in production. Growth has been observed in production of man-made fibre, spun yarn and fabric during April-June 2018. Refunds of state levies and GST have started coming in over the last few weeks. Apart from that, the government has given policy support to boost textile and clothing exports. Also, the rupee has depreciated below Rs 70 level against a dollar. All these factors accumulatively acted to support India’s textiles and clothing exports in July. While, it is early to say that the worst is over for textile and clothing exports, we expected at least 7-8 per cent growth in their exports this year,” said Rahul Mehta, President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI). India&’s textile and clothing exports, however, remained flat at $39.2 billion in 2017-18, a marginal growth of $39 billion in the previous year. The imports growth of textile and clothing has come down significantly. While the imports of textiles and clothing has increased from US$ 1.78 bn in April-June 2017 to US$ 1.87 bn in the same period this year, an increase of 5 per cent, it is significantly lower than the growth of 16 per cent last year. The measures taken by the government to increase the import duty on various textile and apparel items will help in further reducing the imports in coming months.

Source: Business Standard

Back to top

Rupee plunge leads to buoyancy in garment exports

Illustration: Sandeep Joshi Chandigarh : The free fall of the rupee has halted the declining trend in India’s garment exports after almost nine months, with the sector registering around 6% positive growth in July this year as compared to the corresponding period previous year. The recovery, which is in the rupee term, has given a ray of hope to apparel exporters, particularly from Punjab, Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, with combined employee base of around 2 million workers. Punjab and Haryana house more than 200 exporters. These northern states had been facing a decline in apparel exports because of high input costs compared to the Tirupur cluster of Tamil Nadu. In the rupee term, exports for the month of July this year was Rs 8,757.23 crore as against Rs 8,262.94 crore in July 2017. The growth was mainly due to strengthening of dollar against the rupee, the exporters said. “The situation has improved a bit, although Indian garment exporters are facing a stiff competition from countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Ethiopia. To boost the exports, the government should dole out some incentives or devise a mechanism to refund embedded taxes in the GST regime,” Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman HKL Magu said. Ludhiana-based KG Exports’ Managing Director Harish Dua finds it a temporary phenomenon. “To say that exports are now on growth trajectory is not right. The increase in exports in terms of rupee is attributed to strong dollar,” he said. In dollar terms, export of readymade garments, however, remained in the negative territory. It dwindled marginally by 0.60% in July this year as compared to corresponding month of the previous year. The labour-intensive apparel sector is witnessing a continuous decline in exports since October 2017. In dollar terms, the country’s readymade garment exports were to the tune of $1.275 billion in July 2018 against $1.282 billion in July 2017, a decline of 0.56%.The government must do something to boost exports such as increasing duty drawback rates. In addition to this, it should restrict exports of cotton and viscose yarn to facilitate the domestic exporters, Dua said. “The government should promote value addition to the cotton and viscose yarn rather than exporting it as a raw material,” he added. Overall, India’s readymade garment exports in April-July 2018 was to the tune of Rs 35,860 crore, a decline by 10% as compared to corresponding period. In dollar terms, it was $5.321 billion in the first four months of the current financial year, a decline of 13.95% as compared to the same period last fiscal year. During April-July 2017, India’s apparel exports were to the tune of $6.183 billion.

Source: The Tribune

Back to top

Micro units seek GST exemption

The Coimbatore Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs’ Association has sought complete exemption from Goods and Services Tax (GST) for job working units with less than Rs. 20 lakh annual turnover. This was one of the resolutions passed at a meeting of the association held here.

Job working units hit

In the last one year, the job working micro units have lost over 30 % orders because of the GST. The Central Government should reduce the rate from the present 18 % to 5 % for these units, the association said.

Source: The Hindu

Back to top

FOGWA demands textile policy on the lines of Maha

Surat: Federation of Gujarat Weavers’ Association (FOGWA) has made a representation to Union minister of state for road transport and shipping Mansukh Mandaviya seeking his intervention with Gujarat Government for making a textile policy on the lines of Maharashtra Government to stop migration of power loom weavers from Surat. TOI had on August 19 highlighted the issue of migration of power loom weavers from the Diamond City to Navapur, a border district in Maharashtra. About 250 power loom units have moved to Navapur due to proactive textile policy of Maharashtra Government. The units have been set up in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) estate in the last one year or so. The benefits provided by Maharashtra Government include cheap electricity tariff at less than Rs3.5 per unit, 35 per cent subsidy on capital investment on bank loan and 50 percent subsidy on own investment and cheap land prices compared to GIDC estates in Surat. Power loom units in Surat have been paying electricity tariff at Rs7.30 per unit and the total subsidy on capital investment is just about 15 per cent. FOGWA president Ashok Jirawala told TOI, “We have made a representation to Mandaviya to take up with Gujarat Government the need to formulate a new textile policy on the lines of Maharashtra Government. Many units are shifting to Navapur in Maharashtra due to loads of benefits being provided by the government of the neighbouring state. Jirawala added, “Maharashtra Government is offering electricity at Rs1 per unit to encourage women entrepreneurs to set up units there. If same policy is adopted by Gujarat Government, textile sector will scale new heights.”

Source: Times News Network

Back to top

SPV to be formed as trade centre takes shape

Having fenced the site where a trade centre is to be established at Panjapur on the city outskirts, the Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries' Association (TIDITSSIA) has initiated the process of forming a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for establishing the facility. “We are keen on starting the civil works at the earliest,” Association president N. Kanagasabapathy said. The Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (SIDCO) is said to have already paid the land cost to the tune of ₹5 crore after which the TIDITSSIA marked the boundary for the 9.42 acre site. The project, a long-felt need, was sanctioned in the 2017-18 Budget. Earlier this year, the district administration granted enter-upon permission to the association for starting the project. A total investment of ₹11 crore will be required for the project. The project cost includes the land value of ₹ 1.63 crore and buildings to the worth of ₹4.06 crore. The SPV expected to be floated as the next step by TIDITSSIA will bear the operational, maintenance and land cost. The SIDCO will facilitate implementation of the project through a single window committee. The long-time demand of the industrialists in Tiruchi has been that the facility on the lines of the Trade Centres in Chennai and Coimbatore will enable MSME units to showcase their projects. The Centre, connected well with a few other national highways, will function as the venue for housing exhibitions. Office space will also be rented out to members of MSME associations for displaying their products and hold trade-related discussions. TIDITSSIA plans to establish the facility in three phases. Initially a 5,000 sq ft building will be constructed and the extensions will be carried out in subsequent phases, sources said. Thanking the district administration for facilitating the Trade Centre, Mr. Kanagasabapathy said the industry was keenly awaiting similar initiative for establishment of the SIPCOT Complex on an expanse of 1,055 acres near Manapparai. The sanction of ₹96 crore for the project must be utilised for laying roads, installing street lights, providing drinking water connection and digging storm water drainages. The TIDITSSIA was trying to establish a Textile Park on 200 acres for the benefit of garment traders desiring to operate on a cluster basis. Likewise, the association will play a role in inviting software majors to the IT Park of ELCOT at Navalpattu. The scope for reviving the artificial gems industry was also being explored, Mr. Kanagasabapathy said.

Source: The Hindu

Back to top

Indore: City’s garment industry loses supply order worth Rs 5 crore due to Kerala floods

Indore: The devastating flood in Kerala has hit local garment industry, which was the prime supplier of readymade garments to coastal state. The industry has lost supply orders worth Rs 5 crore, which were cancelled due to floods. The garments worn by Keralites specially on Onam were made in the city and therefore they cannot be sold in any other place. Onam is the biggest festival of Kerala when people buy new clothes. On one hand, garments worth crores of rupees are being sent for free to flood victims in Kerala. On the other hand, commercial supply of garments worth crores of rupees from across the country including Indore has been cancelled. Kerala and Tamil Nadu procure readymade garments from the city. The devastation caused by flood is beyond imagination. Water has been filled up to 10 feet in stores in Kerala and the goods kept in shops are flowing in water. Traders said that trucks carrying clothes have disappeared in flood water. Before flood, Kerala’s traders had placed order to purchase readymade garments in different parts of the country including Indore. For instance, Pamba Vasan and Kalyan Group of Kerala had placed orders to purchase readymade garments worth crores of rupees from across the country. Last year on Onam, Kalyan group had procured readymade garments worth Rs 22 crore from across the country including Indore. This time, the group added two more shops. So, it was expected that group will purchase garments worth 30 crore this year. But floods ruined all.

Grave situation

Nirmal Kumar Sethi, executive member of Shrimant Tukojirao Cloth Market Merchants Association, said flood has severely hit city’s readymade garment industry. When it was time to start supply, floods occurred. “Problem of city manufactures is grave as readymade garments to be sent to Kerala are specific, customised and made in colors and designs worn by people there,” he told Free Press.

Source: Free Press Journal

Back to top

CM writes to Centre for direct flight to Surat

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday requested the Centre to introduce a direct flight between Bhubaneswar and Surat in Gujarat as lakhs of Odia families stay in the western state. “I would, therefore, like to request you to impress upon Air India and other private airlines to introduce direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Surat at the earliest,” the Chief Minister said in a letter to Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu. Stating that lakhs of Odia families have settled in Surat and are engaged in the textile sector there, Naveen said presently there is no direct air connectivity between Bhubaneswar and Surat. It takes a lot of time to travel by air between these two cities, Naveen said adding that during the hours of urgent necessity, Odia people living in Surat face untold difficulties in reaching Odisha in time. Air connectivity can give rise to tourist inflow to both the places as people visit places of interest in both the Statesthroughout the year, the Chief Minister said in the letter.Responding to a tweet in this regard by CMO Odisha, Prabhu tweeted, “We shall do everything possible that benefits our hardworking people of Odisha. We will organise all airlines to look at this very important matter.”

Source: Indian Express

Back to top

Global Textile Raw Material Price 26-08-2018

Item

Price

Unit

Fluctuation

Date

PSF

1630.04

USD/Ton

0.18%

8/26/2018

VSF

2111.70

USD/Ton

0.21%

8/26/2018

ASF

3054.48

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

Polyester POY

1718.15

USD/Ton

0.43%

8/26/2018

Nylon FDY

3421.61

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

40D Spandex

5066.33

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

Nylon POY

3230.70

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

Acrylic Top 3D

1916.39

USD/Ton

0.38%

8/26/2018

Polyester FDY

3568.46

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

Nylon DTY

5543.59

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

Viscose Long Filament

1923.74

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

Polyester DTY

3142.59

USD/Ton

0.23%

8/26/2018

30S Spun Rayon Yarn

2782.81

USD/Ton

0.26%

8/26/2018

32S Polyester Yarn

2386.31

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

45S T/C Yarn

3039.80

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

40S Rayon Yarn

2555.19

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

T/R Yarn 65/35 32S

2540.51

USD/Ton

0.58%

8/26/2018

45S Polyester Yarn

2584.56

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

T/C Yarn 65/35 32S

2937.00

USD/Ton

0%

8/26/2018

10S Denim Fabric

1.37

USD/Meter

0%

8/26/2018

32S Twill Fabric

0.84

USD/Meter

0%

8/26/2018

40S Combed Poplin

1.18

USD/Meter

0%

8/26/2018

30S Rayon Fabric

0.66

USD/Meter

0%

8/26/2018

45S T/C Fabric

0.71

USD/Meter

0.21%

8/26/2018

Source: Global Textiles

Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14685 USD dtd. 26/8/2018). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com.  SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.

Back to top

EU's investment in Egypt reaches 15.1 bln USD

CAIRO -- Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Amro Nassar said on Friday that the investment of the European Union (EU) in Egypt is estimated at 15.1 billion U.S. dollars. "The volume of trade between Egypt and the EU countries reached 26 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, and 13.4 billion dollars in the first half of 2019," Nassar was quoted by official MENA news agency as saying. He added that the trade exchange between the two sides mainly concentrated on furniture, medical industry, leather products, agriculture crops, electronics, food, and textile and construction materials. "Britain ranked the first with 5.3 billion dollars which constitutes 35 percent of the value of the EU's investment in Egypt, followed by Netherlands, Italy and France," the report added. The minister added that the EU is Egypt's largest trade partner and investor, underlining the importance of enhancing the investment cooperation to boost exports to the regional and international markets. He hailed Egypt's role as a trade hub for many markets in Africa and the Middle East region. Egypt has been suffering economic difficulties over the past few years due to political instability and relevant security issues. In late 2016, Egypt started a strict, austerity-based three-year economic reform program including local currency liberalization as well as fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes to contain a budget deficit, promote local production and boost foreign investment.

Source: Xinhua

Back to top

Ethiopia: Annual textile, garment exports fetch $110m

Ethiopia has earned $110 million from the export of textile and garment during the country’s last fiscal year which ended on July 8, 2018.The earning saw a 46 percent lower than the target set by the government, said the country’s State Minister of Industry, Bogale Feleke in a meeting on Thursday in Addis Ababa. Feleke attributed the lower export performance of the goods to shortage of cotton, lack of trained manpower and social instability that hit most cotton producing regions of the country. As part of addressing the shortage in the supply of cotton, the state minister said the government has begun implementing the National Cotton Development Strategy to fix the setback effective this month. This 15-year strategy was launched to significantly boost local cotton production and to put Ethiopia in a position as the top of cotton producing countries in Africa, he said. The nation eyes $240 million from textile export in the current fiscal year. Textile and garment sector are considered two of the key industrial sectors, prioritized by the government as major sources of foreign currency earnings to deal with the shortage of foreign currency. Lack of proper market linkage with reliable buyers remains a major challenge for Ethiopia’s textile export sector, the state minister added.

Source:  APA News

Back to top

Philippines: Textile and garment industry banks hope on possible US-PH FTA

The textile and garment industry, now far from its glory days, will have to bank on a possible free trade deal with the United States in a bid to revive its struggling businesses. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez told reporters on Thursday that the government will try to help the industry through a possible free trade agreement (FTA) with one of its oldest allies. “We used to be one of the biggest exporters of garments in the world. We supplied to the US. Hopefully, we can bring it back with an FTA,” he said. He said this on the sidelines of the first ever “Philippine Garment Leader Goods Industries & Fabric Expo,” participated by 81 local and foreign companies in search of buyers. Only more or less 20 companies are from the Philippines, which shows a glimpse of the current state of the industry. As the US focuses on bilateral FTAs instead of multilateral deals, there are high hopes that this would eventually bear fruit to an FTA with the Philippines. Preliminary talks are already ongoing, with the initial goal of finding enough mutual gains to jumpstart the formal negotiations. This will be a good opportunity for the local industry, which used to be very competitive in its exports, and was even considered a sunrise industry during the 90s, according to DTI-attached agency Board of Investments in a separate statement. Export performance, however, dropped since the abolition of textile quotas by the World Trade Organization in 2005. As a result, garment and textile enterprises in the Philippines which relied on quotas underwent difficulties leading to closure of factories and downsizing, BOI said. In a press briefing earlier this month, William Ang, manager of Globe Textile Inds. Corp., complained about the garment industry receiving little to no support from the government. “Sayang ang Pilipinas [the Philippines could have been more]. We have a lot of talented designers. We should be the Paris of Asia but what’s happening?” he said. “Never in my lifetime had the government asked what it could help us with in the industry,” Ang said, who represented the Garments Manufacturers Association of the Philippines during that time. Wrapping up an FTA might take years, however. In the meantime, Lopez said that companies can apply under the Investment Priorities Plan, which provides incentives such as income tax holiday on preferred kinds of businesses that help reach inclusive growth. It is not clear, however, if any company in the garment and textile industry applied under the IPP, even though the list includesmanufacturing activities. He also said that garments might be eventually included under the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a trade arrangement allows market access for numerous Philippine exports. He said this will have to come after the inclusion of footwear in the US GSP. /jpv

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Back to top

Visa-free travel brings both tourists and investors to Belarus

Since the beginning of 2017, when Belarus first allowed visitors from 80 countries to enter the country visa-free, Minsk has seen the policy have a hugely positive impact on the country’s economy. The extension earlier this year of the visa-free period – from five to 30 days – has only served to deepen that impact, so much so that the United Nations has hailed Belarus for its important contribution to the promotion of sustainable development and tourism. “We have seen an approximately 20 per cent increase in the number of tourist arrivals. This is clearly due to the launch of visa-free travel,” said Andrei Molchan, the director of the tourism department at the Belarus Ministry of Sport and Tourism. “The visa-free regime is a very important step towards those foreigners who wants to discover and understand Belarus better,” Natallia Nikandrava, a former director of the Belarusian National Agency of Investment and Privatisation (NAIP), tells Emerging Europe. “We did not expect immediate results that would impact on FDI inflow, so we of course did not prepare any factors analysis. But it is obvious that such measures will have positive impact on the image of the country and on FDI in the long term.” The domestic economy is already growing. According to the World Bank, GDP is expected to grow up to 2.9 per cent in 2018, compared to 2.4 in 2017. “Visa facilitation promotes people-to-people contact, cultural and business exchanges and it is an essential part of the Eastern Partnership’s mutual commitment,”adds Andrea Wiktorin, head of the delegation of the European Union to Belarus. “The EU has highlighted the importance of swift completion of negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Belarus on several occasions and the question was also discussed during the recent visit of the Belarus Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei to Brussels,” she tells Emerging Europe.

IT

The new visa-free regime is attracting not only tourists but also is also bringing in foreign investors, allowing them to familiarise themselves with the opportunities that the country has to offer. Among the most promising industries is IT. Although it is one of the youngest of all branches of the Belarusian economy, its success is already recognised worldwide with several of the biggest companies, such as Apple, Intel, IBM, Exxon Mobile, Facebook using Belarusian IT services. “Belarus has always been famous for excellent engineering schools and governmental support for IT project development, not least the outstanding conditions offered at the High Tech Park where corporate tax rates are zero,” says Mrs Nikandrava. “The opportunities offered by the park has persuaded 100 new companies to become residents of since the beginning of the year. Now there are more than 300 in total,” she says. “Infrastructure is only part of the job. The development of fibre optic networks, 4G, digital services is, of course, important. But it is only a small part of the work,” said First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Turchin at the inauguration of a new ministry: the Ministry of Communications and IT, created to develop the digital economy on a national scale. “The ministry should primarily focus on digitising the entire economy of the country. The scope of the job should range from Industry 4.0 in the production sector and precision farming in agriculture to creating a full-value digital healthcare system in Belarus.”

Corruption

Away from the IT sector, 19 more laws need to be passed for the successful implementation of the country’s social and economic development programme for 2016-2020. These primarily concern changes to the Civil Code, a new version of the Tax Code, and amendments to the law on investment. How all of this will be done it is not so clear, especially since the huge corruption scandal that infested the government and forced President Alexander Lukashenko to sack his prime minister and other key members of the cabinet in mid-August. Over the summer a scandal rocked the health service, which saw the authorities arrest dozens of top health officials, medics and drug company representatives on suspicion of siphoning off millions of dollars in state funding. Andrei Kobyakov was replaced as prime minister by former development bank head Sergei Rumas.

The role of the EU

Belarus-EU relations are currently enjoying a purple patch. Belarus has been participating more pro-actively in the Eastern Partnership, and tangible steps have been taken to respect universal freedoms, the rule of law, and human rights, including fundamental labour rights. “EU-Belarus relations have developed positively over the past few years and the level of dialogue has increased: since 2016 there have been four annual EU-BY Human Rights Dialogues and four meetings of the EU-BY Coordination Group,” says Mrs Wiktorin. EU involvement has been Belarus become eligible for EIB lending, the extension of EBRD engagement, the lifting of textile quotas, EU support for the accession of Belarus to the WTO, and the signing of the mobility partnership in October 2016. It is also important that at end of January 2018 the OECD announced its decision to upgrade the Belarus country risk rating from seven (least favourable) to six. In May, The European Commissions’s High Representative/Vice-President for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini met in Brussels with Foreign Minister Makei to exchange views on cooperation between the EU and Belarus and follow up on the Eastern Partnership Summit held in Brussels last November,” she continues. In this sense, the European Union and Belarus are working together closely to improve the quality of life of Belarusian citizens. Every year, a series of programmes are jointly carried out across Belarus to create more jobs, develop better conditions and foster new opportunities for all Belarusians. “The EU is engaged in raising the level of awareness of EU-funded programmes in Belarus (roughly 30 million euros annually). The Together We Make Life Better communication campaign showcases some of the concrete benefits of EU-Belarus cooperation. The campaign aims at showing that EU-Belarus cooperation is not an abstract political concept but actually represents concrete benefits and opportunities for Belarusian citizens,” concludes Mrs Wiktorin.

Source: Emerging Europe

Back to top

Is Turkey's supply chain unravelling?

As the Turkish lira slumped to a record low earlier this month amid political and economic turmoil in the country, Drapers investigates what impact it might have on the fashion industry. The Turkish lira has fallen in value throughout 2018 and came under pressure in early August following the announcement that the US would levy tariffs on Turkish-made steel. The currency has has fallen against the dollar fall by as much as 40% this year and is currently trading at 7.8 lira to the pound, compared with 4.5 lira to the pound at this time last year. Although more expensive than their counterparts in Asia, Turkish manufacturers can offer faster delivery times and the flexibility to repeat in season, which has led to many UK retailers and brands to move some production to the country. Richard King, sales director at The Cotton Textile Company, which works with Turkish mills, says many clients have sought assurances from Turkish suppliers over how they finance their operations after the currency fell by a fifth in recent trading. “The conversations were very different,” he says. “They used to be about new developments. Now they are asking, ‘How have you funded your machinery?’ “We sought and got reassurances from our partners so that we could move forward with surety in our manufacturing. “We are seeing more caution from labels we work with – we are seeing range cuts. But one label approached us to look at Turkey to bring things closer to home from the Far East. There are still advantages.” One UK supplier says the drop in the Turkish lira has pushed up the cost of any loans taken out by manufacturers denominated in US dollars by more than a third. “A lot of Turkish businesses could go bust in the next two or three months,” he warns. “It’s a disaster for manufacturing – not just on clothing but all industries. “The view of many in Turkey is that yes, there may be great opportunities on price, but you may find the supply chain struggle to sustain the business.” Political instability has deterred many UK companies from investing in ranges sourced from Turkey. One UK supplier notes that though cheaper, Turkey’s political instability may weigh on brands when deciding on their sourcing options. He said: “Turkey is high up on the scale of risk – certainly as high or higher than Bangladesh. The Turkish premier [President Erdogan] is erratic and doesn’t have good ties with European governments, so it’s difficult to know how he is going to react. Trump only needs to say one thing and it can cause even more problems for our Turkish partners.

“With many brands, it is more about ethics than the money [for items] and what a brand stands for, so for that reason many brands may not choose Turkey.” However, another high street supply source noted that the currency value drop makes Turkey a cheaper option than before, which may tempt new business: “The simple economics is that the price to import will become much cheaper, but there are risks associated with that because of the uncertainty in the economy.

Source: Drapers

 Back to top

China: World's largest textile mill for colored yarns opens in Xinjiang

The world's largest textile mill for spinning colored yarn was launched on Saturday in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. Built with an investment of 5 billion yuan (735 million US dollars), the mill in Aksu, southern Xinjiang, will see 1 million spindles installed by the end of the year. The textile mill is owned by Huafu Fashion Co. Ltd., the world's largest supplier of melange yarn, which is based in China's eastern Zhejiang Province.  The company has also invested 2.5 billion yuan to build a dyeing industrial park in Aksu, which is designed with a capacity for dyeing and printing 100,000 tons of cotton yarn a year. Sun Weiting, chairman of the company, said the factories were not only textile producing facilities, but also boasted a fashion designing platform and intelligent and digital machines for developing environmentally-friendly textiles. As the largest cotton grower in China, Xinjiang has attracted major textile companies from east and south China to set up branches and factories. Aksu, Kashgar and Hotan in southern Xinjiang are major producers of cotton. Aksu's long-staple cotton output accounts for 93 percent of the country's total. Figures from 2017 show that there were more than 2,700 registered textile companies in Xinjiang providing jobs for more than 350,000 local residents. Huafu has 5,333 hectares of cotton fields in Xinjiang. Its annual cotton trade and logistic volume has reached 500,000 tons.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Back to top

Producers in China eye Vietnam in wake of US tariffs

The escalating trade war between the U.S. and China is causing many businesses to consider moving some of their operations out of China. Factory owners in China’s Guangdong Province said that they are planning to produce outside China, given the existing tariffs and uncertainty about future U.S. trade measures. Angelo Cheung, a Hong Kong-based executive for Aoyagi, a Japanese electronics group that manufactures in China, told Financial Times that some orders from the U.S. had already been halted because of the increasing uncertainty. Cheung said his company is considering various options including moving part of its supply chain to Vietnam. Now with tariffs on made-in-China products set to rise, nations like Cambodia and Vietnam turn out to be more attractive than ever for U.S.-based consumer-goods makers that have factories in China, according to Bloomberg. Some of the names on the list are now Steven Madden Ltd., Tapestry Inc.’s Coach and Vera Bradley. Steve Lamar, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said that “the shift has been under way” and that the talk of tariffs has created “a lot of anxiety” and companies are gauging how fast they can make more changes to their sourcing. Interviews with over a dozen manufacturers from medical device makers to agricultural equipment firms illustrate how companies exporting to the U.S. are now rethinking about making goods in China, Reuters said. “It’s been step, by step, by step. And it’s been getting more and more expensive to produce products in China,” Larry Sloven, president of Capstone International HK Ltd, a division of Capstone Companies, from Florida, the U.S., a maker of consumer electronics goods, said. Manufacturers have been feeling the squeeze as China shifts its priorities from lower-end manufacturing to high-technology industries as part of a broader bid to upgrade its economy. But with tariffs looming, “everybody finally woke up to the extent that ‘maybe I should face reality’,” he said. Manufacturers are increasingly worried that “the next group of tariffs would be the killer,” he said. “Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia are countries that have potential opportunities.” In its annual “Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study” released in July, the U.S. Fashion Industry Association said while 100 percent of respondents currently source from China, around 67 percent plan to somewhat decrease their sourcing value or volume from the country over the next two years, a significant increase from 46 percent in 2017. A study done in April and May of nearly 30 leading fashion brands, retailers, importers, and wholesalers, including some of the largest brands and retailers in the U.S, also found concerns about the trade tensions that seem to have more of an impact on decisions to shift sourcing from China. Among respondents who plan to reduce their sourcing value or volume from China over the next two years, close to 70 percent rank the “protectionist U.S. trade policy agenda” as one of their top five challenges. More companies plan to further diversify their production in response to the changing business and trade policy environment, especially with regard to China, and “China plus Vietnam plus many” has become an ever more popular sourcing model among respondents. While no sourcing destination is perfect, Vietnam, China, Mexico, and members of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) overall are regarded as the most balanced sourcing bases, giving them competitive advantages as preferred sourcing destinations. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China spiraled further last Thursday when the former imposed steep import tariffs on another $16 billion worth of Chinese goods over what Washington has called rampant theft of American technology, even as trade negotiators were in talks to avert further confrontations. The latest action completes the first round of $50 billion in products that President Donald Trump targeted, after $34 billion in goods were hit with punitive duties on July 6, AFP reported. China has said it will react immediately with tariffs on the same amount of US goods, targeting iconic products like Harley motorcycles, bourbon and orange juice among hundreds of others.

Source: VN Express

Back to top

NRF warns USTR tariffs would cost Americans billions

Washington DC-based National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association, has urged the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to reject tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. It has released a new study that found tariffs on furniture and travel goods from China would cost American consumers nearly $6 billion a year. “By now the administration should know something it questioned several months ago: Tariffs will not get China to change its unfair trade practices,” NRF vice president for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said during testimony prepared for a USTR hearing. “Instead, these tariffs threaten to increase costs for American families and destroy the livelihoods of US workers.” Gold cited a new analysis prepared for NRF by the Trade Partnership that found 25 per cent tariffs on furniture from China would lead to American consumers paying $4.6 billion a year more for furniture even if retailers switched their sourcing to other foreign countries or US furniture makers. Similarly, 25 per cent tariffs on travel goods such as luggage and handbags would cost consumers $1.2 billion a year even if the goods no longer came from China. At 10 per cent, the impact would be smaller but still significant. “The threat that these tariffs could be imposed, and even expanded to include all consumer goods imported from China, has already started a scramble among importers to find alternative sources of supply, including in the United States,” Gold said. “While you may think this is a positive development, the administration needs to know that the scramble is already bidding up prices for consumer products from all possible alternative manufacturers. Therefore, even if the administration decides not to impose the tariffs, higher prices are already on the horizon for American families.” Gold said the tariffs are particularly burdensome for small businesses, citing a recent NRF survey that found nearly half (46 per cent) of small retailers anticipate a negative impact on their businesses due to proposed or implemented tariffs. “The collateral damage to wide swaths of the US economy will be significant,” Gold said. “This will only get worse as the additional tariffs take effect and retaliation escalates.”

Source: Fibre2Fashion

Back to top

Fashion Gears Up for a Trade War

What do diaper bags, baseball caps, fabric, and metal snaps have in common?

They are all on the front lines of the trade war. Those items, and many other fashion articles and accessories, have been targeted by the Trump administration to be subject to an additional 25 percent tariff when imported from China. Indeed, they join about $200 billion worth of products — including special chemicals, boats, wood flooring, furniture, bicycles, medical and surgical equipment, sports gear, snow blowers, art, and more — that are also in danger of additional tariffs. While apparel, footwear, and other home textiles have so far escaped being targeted, some stakeholders have asked for many of these items to be subject to these 25 percent tariffs. As many in the business community know, these tariffs are on the table because the President believes they are an effective tool to change the policies of other governments. In fact, the President regularly extols the value of tariffs in putting pressure on foreign countries to negotiate trade deals, to generate revenue, to pay down the federal debt, and to battle high foreign tariffs. Specifically, President Trump is hoping to use tariffs to bring about a deal with China that would, among other things, address long-standing concerns related to forced technology transfer and intellectual property rights (IPR). Initially, the administration had added products to the lists using an algorithm that favored high-tech goods and equipment while avoiding consumer items. The idea was to concentrate pain on China without exposing U.S. consumers. But that algorithm seems to have been abandoned. The latest list contains a wide variety of consumer products. Further, the President has threatened to put tariffs on all U.S. imports from China. While that may be negotiating bluster, the threat — viewed from the lens of the President’s tariff actions since January — is being treated seriously by many in the industry. And they have good reason to be concerned. The administration has already collected more than $3 billion worth of punitive tariffs this year, largely from outside our industry. But with some tariffs on our products already proposed, and more possible, the nearly $17 billion tariff burden our industry already pays to the U.S. Treasury could multiply fast.

So what can we do to stop this?

We need to tell our story — forcefully, loudly, and articulately. The administration is accepting comments (click here) through September 6 from the industry, and that is a good place to start. But it is also vital to engage with Congress, which ultimately sets tariff policy because of Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Members of Congress need to hear about the damaging impact tariffs have on their constituents. Some of the arguments they find most salient include the following:

 · Tariffs are a hidden tax on U.S. consumers. A 25 percent punitive tariff on clothes, shoes, and fashion accessories imported from China, on top of the high tariffs already paid on these products, would strip a family of four of roughly $500 dollars per year because of the inflation that the tariffs will trigger. This number rises rapidly when we add in tariff-price increases for other consumer goods or the inflationary impact these tariffs would have on sourcing from other countries. U.S. consumers, who had been expecting to pocket a refund from the recent tax overhaul, will find those savings sucked backed into government coffers instead. Of course, consumers may balk at higher prices, which would mean the tax would instead be absorbed by U.S. companies and their U.S. workers in the form of lost sales and layoffs.

· Tariffs are a tax on U.S. manufacturing. Incredibly, the administration has repeatedly tried to impose tariffs on a wide range of intermediate goods and equipment that are used to make articles in the United States. U.S. apparel and footwear manufacturing, and the U.S. jobs they support, is on the rise — a trend that started about 10 years ago — but this growth will be stifled, or turn backwards, if manufacturers suddenly find the cost of their fabrics, yarns, components, and equipment increased by 25 percent. Some companies are already experiencing this pain

· Tariffs are a tax on U.S. global value chains. Nearly four million American workers depend on our industry, and its global footprint, for their livelihood. Given the importance of China to our industry — the source of 41 percent of our apparel, 72 percent of our footwear, and 84 percent of our travel goods — a new 25 percnt punitive tax on imports from that country would cause a huge strain on our industry, draining away resources that would have been used to invest in people or product innovation.

· Tariffs beget more tariffs. The U.S. tariff approach has triggered retaliation from China, and other countries, who have proposed import taxes on a wide range of American-made products. While much of this retaliation has been targeting U.S. agriculture, a surprisingly high number of U.S.-made textile and fashion items have also been included. Not only do these retaliatory tariffs further erode U.S. manufacturing opportunities by taxing U.S. exports, but they mean that supply chains often get taxed multiple times — once when the input is imported into China and again when the final product is imported into the United States. The coming weeks will be critical. Decisions will be made soon about which products will face which new tariffs, and whether yet more tariffs will be proposed. Although an on-again, off-again dialogue with China may begin to yield results, it is also possible that this situation can drag on for months, if not years.

You may never look at a diaper bag the same way again.

Stephen Lamar is Executive Vice President at the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA). Steve is responsible for the design and execution of AAFA lobbying strategies on a series of issues covering trade, supply chains, and brand protection. In these roles, Steve also advises AAFA member companies on legislation and regulatory policies affecting the clothing and footwear industries. Steve is also President of the Washington International Trade Association (WITA), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing a neutral forum for discussion of international trade policy and related issues.

Source:  Apparel Magazine

Back to top

Kyrgyzstan’s representatives to take part in int’l textile conference

Representatives of Kyrgyzstan’s textile business will take part in the First International Textile Conference, to be held in Uzbekistan on September 4, 2018, the Kyrgyz national news agency Kabar reported. "Uzbekistan Textile Conference" will be devoted to the latest trends in the industry, the development of international textile technologies, certification and digital marketing, scientific research in the development of "smart" textiles. In particular, the trends of developing textile clusters, the issues of certification of textile products for the European market, the expansion of the range of textile products, the increase in the export volume, the current state and prospects of the world textile industry, the legal regulation of relations in the field of electronic commerce, digital technologies in the textile and clothing industry, trends in the fashion industry are planned to be discussed. The Bangladeshi method is planned to be considered for the growth of the textile industry in Uzbekistan. The unique opportunities for creative business presented by Uzbek and international textile companies, as well as advantages in the supply of ready-made clothing, will be showcased at the event. Along with discussion of the current state and prospects of the world cotton fiber market, participants of the event will review the conditions created for attracting foreign investments to Uzbekistan’s textile industry. Representatives of the textile business from Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, China, Russia, India, Japan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, the US, France, Russia and more than 30 countries will also attend the conference. There are more than 150 joint textile, clothing and knitwear enterprises in Uzbekistan today. North Carolina Biomaterial Startup Selected By Leading Apparel Company To Develop Pain-Relieving Yarns

Source: Textile World

Back to top

Fashion for Good, Partnership for Sustainable Textiles Take Shape with Museum, Roadmaps

60 members of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles have revealed concrete action plans to ensure humane working conditions, greater environmental protection and fair wages in their own companies and in their suppliers’ production facilities. The Partnership — a multi-stakeholder coalition made up of companies, associations, NGOs, trade unions, standards organisations and the Federal German Government, formed in 2014 with the aim of making improvements along the entire textile supply chain —considers this a major step forward, as it means that many members agree on revealing even sensible information for the first time. 116 members have submitted their roadmaps for 2018, 60 of which — from companies including adidas, C&A, Esprit, Hugo Boss, Primark and PUMA to coalitions such as the Better Cotton Initiative and Zero Discharge for Hazardous Chemicals — have been reviewed by external experts regarding their target setting and concrete action steps, and are now publicly available. The Partnership aims at substantial improvements along the global textile supply chain. Therefore the actions of the members focus on uniform, specified targets — for example, all members have to take action to fight child labor — while many members also set themselves additional, individual targets. The planned action steps — roughly 1,300 in total — relate to issues such as risk management and the handling of complaints, the avoidance of hazardous chemicals, the sustainable use of water resources or the implementation of living wages. In the field of hazardous chemicals this approach led to a gradual exclusion of 160 substances from the production line. Also, the members jointly aim to increase their use of sustainable and organic cotton to 35 percent by 2020. All members using cotton must contribute to this aim as part of the Partnership. The members will document target achievement levels in progress reports, which the Partnership shall publish from 2019 onwards. The roadmaps and progress reports have been examined by independent external experts. All examined action plans comply with the current requirements of the Textile Partnership and are published here. When formulating targets, members follow the principle of corporate due diligence, which also underpins the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. Also, it makes their actions more transparent for society and politics. The creation of a Roadmap is binding to all members. Next year, the Partnership will require them to report about on achieving their defined targets. "The mandatory processes and higher levels of transparency are cornerstones for building the credibility of the Partnership," said Jürgen Janssen, Head of the Partnership Secretariat. "Along with constructive, fair and open dealings with one another, they lay a solid foundation for making supply chains fundamentally more sustainable. We build on ambitious progress, on cooperation and on the exchange of knowledge and experience — in the future, we will also liaise more and more with our strategic partners in Europe and across the world." Meanwhile, on October 5, Fashion for Good will open its Fashion for Good Experience — an interactive, technology-driven museum focusing on sustainable and circular fashion innovation — in Amsterdam. The museum aims to open the hearts and minds of visitors by helping them discover the stories behind their clothes, learn how they can take action and explore how they can have an impact on both an industry and international level. Visitors will learn about the history of good fashion, discover more sustainable products and explore future fashion innovations. Everything on display will have been thoroughly assessed against Fashion for Good’s sustainability criteria; the organisation sought materials that are cleaner and safer than conventional alternatives and designed for more than one use. Through a series of interactive exhibits and activations, visitors can discover 50+ innovations on the verge of disrupting the fashion industry. At the center of the Experience is a digitally enabled Good Fashion Journey, through which they can discover and commit to ways to make a difference. At the end, visitors can take home their own personalised Good Fashion Action Plan, a digital guide filled with inspiring tips, as well as ways to implement them into their daily lives. The museum will also showcase concepts that push the boundaries of good fashion through The Good Shop, which features a carefully curated collection built around an inspiring theme that will change every three months. The first collection is themed “Splash: Rethinking the Role of Water in Fashion” and features pieces from adidas x Parley, Kings of Indigo, ECOALF, Insane in the Rain, Karün and Miss Bay. The museum will contain interactive activations that let visitors get creative. In the Design Studio, visitors can design their own Cradle to Cradle Certified™ GOLD T-shirt and print it on demand. Featuring live projections and digital design technology,  this maker space will be an immersive area for interacting with the main themes of the Experience. Fashion for Good believes that changing the fashion industry is only possible when both the industry and consumers change. That is why the Experience showcases both sides of the story, looking at innovations within the industry on a supply chain and product level, while empowering visitors with a new outlook on fashion and providing them with tangible actions they can take. The Fashion for Good Experience is supported by founding partner C&A Foundationand corporate partners adidas, C&A and PVH Corp. The museum was developed in collaboration with Local Projects, a New York-based experience design studio known for its creative use of technology to create immersive spaces such as the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Launched in 2006, Sustainable Brands has become a global learning, collaboration, and commerce community of forward-thinking business and brand strategy, marketing, innovation and sustainability professionals who are leading the way to a better future. We recognize that brands today have… [Read more about Sustainable Brands]

Source: Sustainable Brands

Back to top