New Delhi: The government will shift the financial year to January-December, from the current April-March pattern. The move is aimed to align it with the agriculture production cycle. An announcement regarding this is likely to be made soon as per Cogency’s sources. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had backed the idea of the January-December financial year last year while addressing chief ministers at the Governing Council of NITI Aayog. Modi had said that in a country where agricultural income is exceedingly important, budgets should be prepared immediately after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the year. And with the monsoon arriving in June, most of the schemes and spendings by states did not take off until October, leaving just half a year for their implementation. The government had two years ago set up a high-level committee to study the feasibility of shifting the financial year to January 1 from the current practice of starting it from April 1. The committee submitted its report, reasoning for the change and its effect on the different agricultural crop periods and its impact on businesses, the taxation system and procedures, statistics and data collection. Earlier, the government had also advanced the Budget presentation by a month to February 1 with a view to completing the legislative approval for annual spending plans and tax proposals before the beginning of the new financial year. As a result, public expenditure started from April 1. The government also scrapped a nearly century-long practice of having a separate railway budget and instead merged it with the general budget. It had also decided to scrap a distinction between plan and non-plan expenditures as the classification resulted in excessive focus on the former with almost equivalent neglect to items such as maintenance, which are classified as non-Plan. Till 2016, the Budget was presented on the last day of February and it used to be passed by Parliament by mid-May.
Source: Zee News
Under pressure to cut duties on at least 80% of its imports from China under a mega trade agreement spanning 16 countries, India has begun bilateral talks on the modalities of tariff concessions with the country. The two-day meeting in China beginning Monday comes ahead of a meeting of negotiators of the 16 participating countries in Jakarta, Indonesia, later this week when all the member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will chalk out timelines aimed at concluding the agreement this year. “China had invited us for a bilateral last year. The main issue is gap. There will be differential treatment between the two countries but the actual level of commitments is the problem,” said an official aware of the details. Though the RCEP includes 10 Asean countries, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand as well, India’s major concern is China with which it had a trade deficit of $63 billion in 2017-18. India is also likely to be granted a longer stating period of 20 years to allow these deeper tariff concessions to China. The agreement is non-reciprocal and Beijing will give higher tariff cuts to its imports of Indian goods than what New Delhi offers but non-tariff barriers in China are a challenge, the official said. India will allow duty cuts on more than 80% of the goods imported from China over at least a 20-year period. It can exclude 20% of its lines including agriculture, finished goods, automobiles and textiles from duty cuts. “The issue of longer stating period is also there but China is unlikely to push us on that,” the official said. RCEP countries are yet to conclude negotiations on duty cuts in goods, easier movement of professionals including services, and investment – the three crucial pillars of the agreement. They are scheduled to meet for a round of negotiations in Bali in Indonesia in February and a ministerial in Thailand in April followed by another round of talks in Australia in May.
Source: Kritika Suneja
Mauritian PM to travel to Varanasi for Kumbh and Mumbai to inaugurate subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius. India and Mauritius discussed initiatives to strengthen bilateral ties including the early finalisation of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Partnership Agreement (CEPCA). Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth also agreed to work together on proposals for partnership projects in the critical areas of health, disaster management and energy, according to an official release. A number of cultural initiatives were also discussed. “The Mauritian PM wants to hold a Geeta Mahotsav in collaboration with the Haryana government,” said Awanish Awasthi , Additional Chief Secretary, UP government, addressing the media on Tuesday. Jugnauth is also eager to hold a Bhojpuri Mahotsav in his country. “This is a great initiative as the Bhojpuri spoken in Mauritius is the one that used to be spoken in India several decades back,” Awasthi added. The leaders, who are in Varanasi to attend the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas conclave, also discussed ways to expand further cooperation in areas of Blue Economy and collaboration in Africa. Mauritius is keen on signing a CECPA with India, which will lower or eliminate tariffs on a number of goods, as it sees scope for exporting items such as textiles and marine products. On Monday, the Mauritian PM met Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and the discussions were focussed on the proposed CECPA, according to a government official. Although for India, the scope for increasing export of goods will be limited, it could gain if Mauritius allows more access to its service providers. India can also make inroads into third markets through the proposed trade pact. Mauritius is also a beneficiary of the Generalised System of Preferences offered by Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the US, and the customs union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. It is a FTA member of the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa and the Southern African Development Community. Jugnauth will visit Prayagraj on January 24 for the Kumbh Mela and then go to Mumbai to inaugurate the wholly owned subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius (SBM). In December 2018, SBM became the first foreign bank to receive a licence from the RBI to set up a universal banking business in India through the wholly owned subsidiary mode, rather than as a foreign bank branch. He will attend a bilateral business forum on January 25 in Mumbai.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Davos: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said countries like India and China have begun affecting the world economy much more today and that needs to be taken into account for having a relook at the global trade and financial systems. In a veiled attack at policies being adopted by countries like the US, she said, "There is a new approach in the world that says shouldn't we look after our own and ensure that our own are looked after." "I have great doubts about this approach. We should always remember that others have their own interests," Merkel said. "Let's call a spade a spade." Speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here, she said there are a number of disturbances around the world and the IMF has painted a rather gloomy picture of the global economy. If we look at the international order today, the global architecture is still driven a lot by what was created by people who were in power after the Second World War and they had the insight and their decisions should not be cast aside, Merkel said. She added that politicians have got a lot to face and banking industry has also lost a lot of credibility after the financial crisis. "The global financial system has got damaged quite a bit and we need to do a lot to fix the things," she said, while noting that international bodies such as the World Trade Organization(WTO), IMF and the World Bank have very much contributed to making the world a better place. "Countries like China and India are affecting the global economy much more today and the global organisations need to take that into account," she said, while highlighting the emergence of organisations like G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). She said there is a wake up call for the world and we need to find out how to move forward. Merkel said compromise these days has a bad reputation, but a global architecture is only possible if we are able to compromise.
Source: Live Mint
The government will soon approve the power tariff policy which would provide for a penalty for unscheduled power cuts by distribution companies from April 1, Power Minister R K Singh said Tuesday."The proposal for tariff policy ready and will soon go for Cabinet approval. The policy provides for penalty for unscheduled power cuts except in the case of technical faults or act of God (natural calamities)," Singh said during an interaction with media persons here. He also informed that state power regulators would ascertain the penalty on discoms for voluntary load shedding. Talking about power sector reforms, he said that the second version of UDAY scheme (UDAY 2.0) meant for revival of debt-laden discoms is being worked out and would be launched with more technological interventions to reduce their aggregate, technical and commercial losses. About stressed assets, he said that as many as nine such power projects with total capacities of 11,400 MW have been resolved while efforts are on to bring others out of woods. There were 60 stressed power projects in the country, he noted. About the recommendation of the high-level empowered committee headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, the minister said that the Group of Ministers on power sector headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is in the process of vetting the suggestions given by the panel and would soon send those for Cabinet approval for implementation. About the manufacturing linked solar power tender, he said that another tender of 5GW capacity would be floated soon and the one floated earlier, which received response from just one bidder would not be pursued further. He, however, informed that the auctioned capacity of around 2,500 MW under the earlier manufacturing linked solar tender would remain. About the household electrification scheme Saubhagya, the minister informed that as on date 1.92 lakh families are yet to be energised out of 2.48 crore targetted households. He admitted that there are issues in energising families in Chhattsigarh due to left-wind extremism while difficult terrain pose challenge in Rajasthan and other hilly states. According to Saubhaya portal, 83,219 families are yet to be energised in Rajasthan while 76,758 households are left out. The number of unelectrified households are 20,293 in Chhattisgarh and 12,298 in Meghalaya. The minister said that 100 per cent household electrification would be achieved well ahead of March 31, 2019, timeline set under the scheme.
Source: Economic Times
It is important for India to stay the course on fiscal consolidation as aggregate deficit — combining central and state deficits — has not improved much in the last five years, said Gita Gopinath, chief economist at International Monetary Fund (IMF). In an interview to ET Now in Davos during the World Economic Forum, Gopinath also said cash transferbased approach would be more effective in dealing with farm distress than loan waivers or input subsidies.
Edited excerpts:
Q: You have revised the growth rate downwards in your world economic outlook. What are the key challenges to growth?
A: Global growth has weakened and we have revised it down. But to be clear, the revisions are quite modest. It is only 0.2 percentage points for 2019 and 0.1percentage points for 2020. That said, we do see that the risks of a much sharper downward correction are rising. Some of the big challenges are with respect to the trade tensions and the financial sector.
Q: In your outlook, India’s growth is projected to pick up in 2019. What could be the tailwinds and the headwinds because, for very long now, India has been a oneengine economy and consumption has been the mainstay?
A: India remains one of the fastest growing large economies of the world and it is one of the few countries for which our estimates actually point to increase in growth rate for 2019. There are two reasons why we expect the growth to go up. One is because of the declining commodity prices which helps India and which also makes it easier for the RBI to have a fairly neutral or accommodative monetary policy. Both these get factored into a higher forecast for India.
Q: In terms of the five years of the Narendra Modi government, how would you assess the performance? What have been some of the key achievements?
A: There are a few accomplishments of this government. Goods and services tax (GST), bankruptcy reforms, and setting up of inflation targeting framework are very important ones. We have seen an improvement in ease of doing business. Those were all good measures that were taken by this government.
Q: What would be some of the concerns? People believe perhaps the agrarian stress or lack of jobs poses a threat, not just for this government but for the economy at large. In an election year, do you believe those become more important?
A: These are two sectors where we continue to need to do a better job – both on the agricultural side and on creating jobs. There cannot be quick fixes like loan waivers. The state-sponsored skilling programmes have not worked that well and maybe we need to have it done more with the private sector in terms of firms providing in-house training to workers. That would be a better alternative. On the agricultural side, there is obviously a lot of distress among the farmers and a more cash transfer-based approach rather than farm loan waivers or input subsidies would be better.
Q: You talk about fiscal correction. If the budget makes room for an agri relief package, do you believe it is going to be a rational move? Will markets understand that and not treat it as a populist measure?
A: It is important for India to stay the course on fiscal consolidation. If you look at the aggregate deficit for India — combining the central and the state deficits — (it) has not improved much in the last five years. That is something that needs to be addressed. This is of course an election year, but it is very important that India pays very close attention to the deficit and stays within target.
Q: There is a lot of debate about China’s economy slowing down, but for a country with a $14 trillion nominal GDP, is not 6.6% or 6.5% growth perhaps the new normal? Don’t you think the world needs to make its peace with it?
A: This was in our forecasts from last October that the Chinese economy would grow at 6.6% in 2018 and then slow down somewhat in 2019 and 2020. That is very consistent with the mature stage of the Chinese economy and that is consistent with China rebalancing away from industries towards services. So, that is not the news over there.
The news would have been if there was a much bigger correction, but we have not seen that.
Q: You do not expect that kind of a crash landing either, right?
A: The risks do remain, and it depends a lot on what happens with the trade discussions – that is an important factor. But at this point, we do not know where that will end.
Source: Economic Times
Exporters are likely to get incentives based on parameters like research and development, product-specific clusters and production pattern under a five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) to be released later this year, an official said. The commerce ministry is working on recasting the existing export incentive schemes in line with the global trade norms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "We are recasting our export incentive schemes. In the new FTP, they would be in compliance with the global trade rules. The new incentives could focus on R&D activities, production parameters, product-specific clusters. Rebate can also be given on state levies," the official added. The last FTP was released in 2015 for five years. It provided guidelines for enhancing exports with an overall objective of pushing economic growth and job creation. Under an FTP, the government announces incentives for exporters. Currently, duty benefits are provided under merchandise export from India scheme (MEIS) and services export from India scheme (SEIS). Recasting of the existing support measures assumes significance as the US has challenged these schemes under the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO. America has alleged that these incentives are harming American companies. The official said there are several product-specific clusters in sectors such as automobile, textiles and leather and providing direct incentives to them would help boost manufacturing and exports. Currently, maximum incentives are cornered by big automobile and pharmaceutical companies under MEIS. In this scheme, the government provides duty benefits depending on product and country. "Ideally, the scheme should target MSMEs," the official added. For the new FTP, the commerce ministry is engaged with all commodity boards and ministries concerned for identifying the support measures compliant with global trade rules. According to Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the new scheme should include refund of indirect taxes like on oil and power; state levies such as mandi tax. "The new scheme should help boost the country’s exports," FIEO President Ganesh Gupta said. Since 2011-12, India's exports have been hovering at around USD 300 billion. During 2017-18, the shipments grew about 10 per cent to USD 303 billion. Promoting exports helps a country create jobs, boost manufacturing and earn more foreign exchange. During April-December 2018-19, the country's total merchandise exports grew 10.18 per cent to USD 245.44 billion.
Source: Economic Times
The Ministry of Textiles has rubbished all the rumors spreading disinformation regarding investment accrued by State of Gujarat since 2014-15 in the sector. The Ministry has clarified that the government has sanctioned and released Rs. 1855 crs to aid 2109 units through 60 Banks. In a release, the Ministry said, “It is learnt that a malicious attempt has been embarked upon to spread disinformation regarding investment accrued by State of Gujarat since 2014-15 in the Textile Sector.” It is re-affirmed through the Office of the Textile Commissioner that upon the perusal of project costs submitted by 7182 units in the state of Gujarat, an amount of Rs. 30,934 crore as investment into textile sector in Gujarat was brought to the notice of Textile Commissioner office after scrutinizing and confirming each project by Banks for which Unique Identification (UID) has been issued. The Government of India sanctioned and released Rs. 1855 crs to aid 2109 units through 60 Banks, it said. This re-affirmation is to ensure that investor confidence and prospects of textile sector in Gujarat do not receive a set-back due to rumor mongering.
Source: Knn
In order to attract big foreign players in the single-brand retail sector, the government is considering measures to relax the mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing norms by allowing them more time to comply with the regulations, sources said. Big single-brand retail firms may also be permitted to open online stores before setting up brick-and-mortar shops. Currently, online sale by a single-brand retail player is allowed only after opening of physical outlet. As per a proposal under active consideration of the government, single-brand foreign retailers may be allowed to adjust the incremental sourcing of goods from India for global operations during the initial 10 years from the current five years (beginning April 1 of the year of the opening of first store) against the mandatory sourcing requirement of 30 per cent of purchases from India, they added. The relaxation, however, would be subject to a condition that a foreign entity would have to bring foreign direct investment (FDI) in excess of USD 200 million within the first 2-3 years. The move is aimed at attracting big players in the sector. The proposal requires approval of the union cabinet for implementation. In January 2018, the government allowed 100 per cent FDI in the sector, permitting foreign players in single-brand retail trade to set up own shops in India without government approval. That time, the government also relaxed mandatory local sourcing requirement of 30 per cent by stating that a foreign retailer would be able to get credit from incremental increase in sourcing for its global operations from India towards the mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing requirement for its business in the country. During April-June 2018-19, FDI in India grew by 23 per cent to USD 12.75 billion. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has not released the foreign investment data after June 2018.
Source: Economic Times
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of a National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), which would serve as the forum of second appeals to do with the applicability of GST, and will also be the first common forum of dispute resolution between the Centre and the States.
Composition
The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal, to be situated in New Delhi, will be presided over by its president. It will consist of a technical member from the Centre and a representative of the States. “This is part and parcel of the GST provisions,” L. Badri Narayanan, Partner at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, said. “They had to create the Tribunal. The way they had envisaged it was that assessment would be done by people below the rank of Commissioner, and the appeals would be with the Commissioner. The Commissioner (Appeals) could then go to the Tribunal. They have now approved the setting up of that Tribunal.” Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act provides for an appeal and review mechanism for dispute resolution under the GST regime. Section 109 of this chapter empowers the Centre to constitute, on the recommendation of the GST Council, an appellate tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate Authority. The government, it is learnt, was initially planning an appellate tribunal in each State. However, the idea was discarded in favour of one at the national level following the experience with the various state-level advance ruling authorities, which often gave conflicting judgments. “The disputes they would be looking at would be appeals under GST law wherein the taxpayer is contesting the tax demand put by the tax department,” Mr. Narayanan added. “The appeal based on the assessment would be made to the Commissioner (Appeals) and from there there would be an appeal to the Apellate Tribunal.” The creation of the National Bench would involve a one-time expenditure of ₹92.50 lakh, the government said. “While typically not many litigations should have been adjudicated, still early formation of this Appellate Authority would help prevent any unwarranted delays in the adjudication of appeals to be filed in the future,” Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner at EY, said.
Source: The Hindu
GDP growth is expected to quicken to 7.2% in 2018-19 and further to 7.3% in 2019-20, according to Crisil. The agency predicts retail inflation to rise substantially by then, to 4.5% in 2019-20. “Fiscal 2019 was a year of recovery from demonetisation and the initial disruption caused by the Goods and Service Tax implementation,” Crisil said in a report. “The economy has so far fired mainly on the public investment cylinder, and is estimated to grow at 7.2%. Private consumption has disappointed. Exports, however, have performed well, presenting a buoy to the manufacturing sector.” In financial year 2019-20, Crisil expects GDP growth to quicken marginally to 7.3% based on the assumptions of normal rains, lower oil prices, and a stable political outcome in the 2019 general elections. “With the government likely to stick to a fiscal consolidation path, the pick-up in growth is expected to be only gradual,” the report added. “A change in the growth mix is on cards, with private sector likely to take over the baton from the government.”
Private consumption
Private consumption growth is expected to pick up on the back of softer interest rates and an improvement in farm realisations as food inflation moves up. “For fiscal 2020, sustaining the momentum in overall investments will be a tough task without support from private investments,” the report said. “With continuously improving capacity utilisation and the end of the de-leveraging phase for corporates, conditions are ripe for a revival of private corporate investments. A stable political outcome will facilitate this,” the report said. That said, the report did mention that downside risks exist, especially to do with the assumptions on rainfall, oil prices, and political stability. “Our base case assumption is of a fourth consecutive year of normal monsoon,” the report said. The past 15 years have seen two such periods of four consecutive normal rainfall years — 2005 to 2008 and 2010 to 2013 — that yielded healthy average agriculture growth of 3.6% and 5.5%, respectively.” However, Crisil noted that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration of the United States (U.S.) is forecasting an El Niño event in 2019. India faced two consecutive El Niño events in 2014 and 2015, the report said, with agriculture GDP growth dropping to near zero. If 2019 is also an El Niño year, this would compound the rural distress currently being felt on account of dropping farmer incomes. “If the general elections this year were to yield a fractured mandate and derail/delay the process of reforms, the implications on sentiments, investments and growth could be adverse,” the report said. Crisil said its base case scenario for oil prices was for them to settle at about $60-65 per barrel on an average in financial year 2019-20, compared with an average of $68-72 per barrel in 2018-19, due to a slowdown in overall global demand. However, it added that some price pressure could be felt in response to the recently-announced supply-cuts by the OPEC countries. “If oil prices were to spike and stay high through the fiscal, India’s manufacturers could face input price pressures,” the report said. “And with consumption seeing only a gradual revival, pass-through of these higher costs on to prices could be difficult therefore squeezing margins.” The agency also pointed to a possible reversal of benign food inflation in 2019-20, in the eventuality of the monsoon failing and the related effect this would have on food prices. It also noted that the price of pulses could also move upwards as they follow a pattern of rising every third year.
Source: The Hindu
It is only a matter of time before the disruptions and loss of revenue from the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) give way to efficiency and compliance gains. It will happen as economic growth accelerates and systemic bugs get fixed, and, importantly, the government continues fine-tuning the GST structure.
Increased costs
The disruptions caused increased both the compliance cost for tax payers and administrative costs for the government. Inability to process refunds of exporters hurt their short-term prospects, particularly in labor-intensive sectors like textiles and leather. The roll out of the technology platform, the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), was also not smooth. But the government was quick to make amends, including paring rates. As the slip-ups get systematically eliminated, tax revenue as well as transparency will increase. Reason, why GST revenue can only improve in the medium term? There have also been other positive fallouts of GST. The Economic Survey 2018 reported that the number of indirect tax payers has gone up by 50 per cent and direct tax payers, by 1.8 million, after demonetisation and GST. In addition, GST will help formalise the economy and have a positive spillover effect on income tax compliance. Global experience tells us that the introduction of GST raises the spectra of inflation as tax rates undergo changes. Since the pass-through is often asymmetric — producers are quick to pass on tax increases to consumers but tend to hold on to gains from tax cuts — inflation tends to rise. But this did not happen in India for two reasons: food inflation came down sharply, and the cuts in GST rates on some of the items brought prices down. There is also some evidence of improvement in personal income tax compliance.
Number of filers up
The number of income-tax filers has notably improved, which has lifted direct tax buoyancy (or the percentage point increase in tax collection for every percentage point increase in GDP) to 1.9 in fiscal 2018 from 0.6 in fiscal 2016. That was clearly on account of better compliance on the personal income tax front, as corporate tax collections have been sluggish. Rates need to be brought down, exemptions trimmed for corporate taxes as was promised by the Narendra Modi government in its maiden Budget. To sum, a simple and efficient tax system is critical for improving tax buoyancy. For achieving that, efforts must go in the direction of further streamlining the tax structure. GST’s unfinished agenda includes bringing items such as petroleum products into its fold, streamlining in certain sectors like real estate etc.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1314.67 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
VSF |
1949.23 |
USD/Ton |
0.15% |
1/23/2019 |
|
ASF |
2366.40 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Polyester POY |
1253.71 |
USD/Ton |
0.41% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2702.78 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
40D Spandex |
4729.86 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Nylon POY |
2511.82 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
1454.21 |
USD/Ton |
0.51% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Polyester FDY |
2967.18 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Nylon DTY |
5537.75 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
1527.66 |
USD/Ton |
0.48% |
1/23/2019 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2541.20 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2702.78 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1975.67 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2849.67 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2996.56 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2497.13 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2129.91 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2511.82 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.35 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.82 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.10 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.65 |
USD/Meter |
0.23% |
1/23/2019 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.70 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
1/23/2019 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14689 USD dtd. 23/1/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
Despite the European Union (EU) having a wide range of sustainability-oriented policies and regulations, there is a lack of coherence and sufficiently stringent and enforceable regulations, according to Beate Sjåfjell, a law professor at Norway’s University of Oslo, and the leader of the Sustainable Market Actors for Responsible Trade (SMART) project. The SMART project comprises researchers from 25 institutions from around the world and is funded by the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. It studies the environmental and social footprints of global supply chains for clothes and mobile phones. “Reforms adopted by the EU to promote sustainability often give a broad scope to the member states on how to implement these. Unfortunately, member states tend to aim for minimum implementation, out of fears of jeopardising their own competitive position or that of their businesses,” a press release from the project quoted Sjåfjell as saying. The lack of coherent regulation means that potentially hazardous chemicals are continuously being used in all stages of the production process in the textile industry, says Tineke Lambooy, who is a professor at the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands. “The traditional production process for many kinds of fashion articles starts in the cotton field. There, a lot of pesticides and fertilisers are used in the mainstream processes. Growing cotton requires a lot of pesticides, dying yarn requires chemicals, and chemicals are also involved in the end-phase of the product life cycle, when the product becomes waste or is recycled,” Lambooy says. Sjåfjell and other researchers from the project presented the results of their research at a conference in Brussels late last year. The hazardous materials in textiles and mobile phones also end up being spread across the world, often in countries where waste management is lacking. “The EU should introduce new regulation that mandates companies to disclose reliable and comparable information, and operate in a more sustainable way,” Lambooy says. The SMART project runs till February 2020 and will in its last year concentrate on developing reform proposals and impact assessment guidelines to ensure policy coherence for sustainability.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Durban - The Trade and Industry Department will, in two months’ time, unveil a master plan to protect the local textile industry from cheap imported goods, Deputy Minister Bulelani Magwanishe has said. Magwanishe spoke to the media in Durban yesterday, during the official launch of African Blaize Apparel, the country’s biggest 100% black-owned textile factory, in Verulam, north of Durban. Magwanishe said the government had considered increasing tariffs to protect the local textile industry from foreign competitors. “The biggest challenge we are facing is the competitiveness of the industry. That is why in March we are going to unveil a master plan to try to protect the industry and increase its competitiveness.” KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC, Sihle Zikalala, accompanied Magwanishe. The factory supplies its products to Pep, Mr Price and a number of other retail shops in the country. African Blaize Apparel chief executive Sizwe Mbanjwa said the company, which had state-of-the-art machines, was 100% black-owned and managed and had 500 employees, although its target was to have 700. Mbanjwa said he was concerned because many clothes were imported illegally from neighbouring countries. “They pay a fraction (in their countries) for what we pay (in South Africa), but all those clothes that are produced find their way into South Africa, and we have to manage our borders.” Zikalala said the factory was a demonstration of the concerted and continued effort by the state to support black industrialists and to grow those sectors that were more labour -intensive, such as clothing and textiles. “We know that in the recent period the industry had to succumb to severe international pressure, leading to the dwindling of local manufacturing capacity, resulting in job losses in Mandeni, eThekwini, Howick and Newcastle.” Zikalala said the KwaZulu-Natal government had partnered with the private sector to revive the industry. “As the government we continue to avail financial assistance and non-financial support to make the domestic clothing and textile industry more competitive.”
Source: Bongani Hans
Vice Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbaeva and Minister of Labor Relations and Employment Sherzod Kudbiev will travel to the United States from February 4-6, the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan said. The Uzbek government officials will attend the annual meeting of the Cotton Campaign coalition, which consists of labor and human rights NGOs, investment companies standing for eradication of child and forced labor in cotton production. The main goal of the visit is to secure mechanisms to lift boycott of textile products of Uzbekistan by major American brands. The Uzbek government officials will meet human rights NGOs, associations of producers, retailers, trade unions, American Apparel and Footwear Association, United States Fashion Industry Association, American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations, representatives of such brands as Nike, Zara, GAP, Levi’s, H&M, UNIQLO, etc. The Uzbek delegation will also hold talks with the representatives of White House, Department of State, Department of Labor, US Trade Representative Office, international financial institutions.
Source: Aki Press
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has explained why government have zero-rate Value-Added Tax, VAT, on local textiles for a period of three years. The Trade Ministry said the decision will make the local textile industry competitive and also reduce the cost of operation before the implementation of the Continental Free Trade Agreement. Deputy Trade Minister, Carlos Ahenkora said the influx of unapproved textiles in the country is collapsing the operations of the local textile industry. “We consider the fact that our textile industry is dying and in fact, the people import textiles into the country through unapproved routes and they also don’t pay the appropriate duties, this is affecting our textile industry, the industry that use to employ over 30 thousand people today can only boost 1 thousand people.” The action by government will cost revenue loss of GH¢40.1 million annually. Mr Ahenkora said, “Government had a firm look at this situation and we are coming out with a different dimension to actually protect our textile industry.”
Source: Ghana Web
Individualisation, automation and digitalisation: micro-factories are the way forward for the future of clothing production and will be the main theme of Texprocess, which takes place in Frankfurt, from 14-17 May 2019. In a total of four micro-factories at the up-coming Texprocess, trade visitors will be able to get an idea of how integrated textile processing works and where micro-factories are already being used. “Send your favourite design to the manufacturer today via an app and wear your individually designed, perfectly fitting trainers or shirt tomorrow. It’s a long time since this was just a pipe dream for the future,” said Michael Jänecke, Director Brand Management Technical Textiles and Textile Processing at Messe Frankfurt. “Behind it, however, lies a host of complex processes, involving production, processing and logistics. Micro-factories, based on networked and integrated procedures, represent the progressive way of making textile processing quicker, more flexible and, because it is more local, also more sustainable; whilst, at the same time, producing personalised products.” Following the success of the last event, Texprocess, in collaboration with the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research in Denkendorf and partners from industry, will once again be presenting a Digital Textile Micro-Factory display – and thus fully networked production chains – live in Hall 4.1. New this year: the Digital Textile Micro-Factory will showcase three production lines – one for apparel manufacture, one for 3D-knitted shoes and one for processing technical textiles, largely for the motor-vehicle and furniture industries. Integrating virtual prototypes and customer interaction. The fashion industry plays a central role in the Digital Textile Micro-Factory. The customer’s digital doppelganger is becoming more and more important in development departments in the apparel industry, as the starting point for individualised and perfectly fitting clothes and for links with finishing departments. In the context of the micro-factory’s production line, it is the key feature. The production line demonstrates the various stages involved, including CAD/Design, printing, cutting out, assembly, finishing and labelling. New approaches also combine 3D simulations of clothing with direct data transfer in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Instead of presenting the customer with physical examples of the clothing to be produced, the examples are visualised as virtual objects. And during the production process, the customer has the opportunity for direct input into the design of the product in question. This direct interaction between the 3D simulation of an item, the representation in VR/AR displayed on the customer’s own hardware and the direct impact on the production process has never been shown before in this way. Partners of the Fashion Line are: Assyst (CAD/design), Mitwill (materials), Caddon, ErgoSoft, Mimaki and Multiplot (printing), Zünd (cutting), Juki and Stoll (assembling), Veit (finishing) and Vuframe (AR/VR).
Processing technical textiles
Industry 4.0 live: the focus of the third production line of the Digital Textile Micro-Factory 2019 is on the automated processing of technical textiles, personalised for the individual customer, taking us right through to the finished product. Trade visitors will see here on-demand inkjet printing and networked machines with integrated sensors, which are linked through a bus system – a future-oriented topic for integrated manufacturing. A robot arm with a special claw for use with textiles sorts the cut items as they emerge from the cutter in a free-moving open shuttle. The items to be sewn are conveyed automatically to the sewing stations. Tracing and tracking procedures show the progress of each order through the individual stages of the manufacturing process using an auto ID.
Industrial-type production of smart textiles
In their Smart Textiles Micro-Factory, the Institute for Textile Technology (ITA) at the RWTH Aachen University, together with partners, will be producing a smart pillow, which, with the help of integrated LEDs, provides new ways of interaction. With this demonstration, the partners in the project will present an exemplary, industrial-style manufacturing process for a smart textile from design to finished product.
Customisation of apparel
Six companies have grouped together under the World of Digital Fashion umbrella. They work in areas of visualisation, CAD-cutting systems, automated body measurement, cutting out and process automation. Together, they will be showcasing ways of integrating and combining their products in a variety of workflows within the value creation chain and will enable visitors to experience what the digital process chain is like in practice. The focus will fall particularly on the customisation of apparel and fashion items.
Source: Innovation in Textiles
Fast fashion - readily available, inexpensively made clothing – has led to environmental and social justice crisis, claim scientists working on environmental health from Washington University in St Louis. In a paper, they discuss the environmental and occupational hazards during textile production, particularly for those in low and middle income countries. “From the growth of water-intensive cotton, to the release of untreated dyes into local water sources, to worker’s low wages and poor working conditions, the environmental and social costs involved in textile manufacturing are widespread,” said Christine Ekenga, assistant professor at the Brown School and co-author of the paper `The Global Environmental Injustice of Fast Fashion’, published in the journal Environmental Health. “This is a massive problem,” Ekenga said. “The disproportionate environmental and social impacts of fast fashion warrant its classification as an issue of global environmental injustice.” In the paper, Ekenga and her co-authors — Rachel Bick, MPH ’18, and Erika Halsey, MPH ’18 — assert that negative consequences at each step of the fast-fashion supply chain have created a global environmental justice dilemma. “While fast fashion offers consumers an opportunity to buy more clothes for less, those who work in or live near textile manufacturing facilities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental health hazards,” the authors wrote. “Furthermore, increased consumption patterns have created millions of tons of textile waste in landfills and unregulated settings. This is particularly applicable to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as much of this waste ends up in second-hand clothing markets. These LMICs often lack the supports and resources necessary to develop and enforce environmental and occupational safeguards to protect human health.” In the paper, the researchers discuss the environmental and occupational hazards during textile production, particularly for those in LMICs, and the issue of textile waste. They also address a number of potential solutions, including sustainable fibres, corporate sustainability, trade policy and the role of the consumer. Globally, 80 billion pieces of new clothing are purchased each year, translating to $1.2 trillion annually for the global fashion industry. The majority of these products are assembled in China and Bangladesh, while the United States consumes more clothing and textiles than any other nation in the world. Approximately 85 per cent of the clothing Americans consume, nearly 3.8 billion pounds annually, is sent to landfills as solid waste, amounting to nearly 80 pounds per American per year.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
