The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 19 JUNE, 2019

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

Textiles and apparel exports grow 5 per cent in May

For the first two months of the current financial year, T&A exports grew 2.26% to $6.065 billion as against $5.931 billion in the same two months of the previous fiscal, said the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI). Led predominately by the apparel sector, the textile and apparel (T&A) exports for May grew 5.25% to $3.152 billion as compared to $2.995 billion in the same period last year. For the first two months of the current financial year, T&A exports grew 2.26% to $6.065 billion as against $5.931 billion in the same two months of the previous fiscal, said the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI). Textile exports in May declined 1.94% to $1.624 billion as against $1.656 billion in May 2018 and, for the first two months of the current fiscal, it declined 3.55% to $3.128 billion as compared to $3.243 billion in the April-May period of 2018. However, on the other hand, apparel exports grew 14.15% in May to $1.528 billion as compared to $1.338 billion in May 2018. For the first two months of current fiscal, it grew 9.27% to $2.937 billion as against $2.688 billion in April and May 2018, CITI said in its analysis. The largest segment under textiles category — cotton yarn/fabs/made-ups, handloom products — has reported a decline of 5.94% in May to $885 million (from $941 million in May 2018). For the first two months of the current financial year, it declined by 5.89% to $1.729 billion (from $1.837 billion in the same period last year). Other segments in the textile category such as jute manufacturing, carpet, handicrafts saw growth of 7.86%, 1.54% and 23.87%, respectively, in May. CITI analysis further said imports of textile yarn fabric, made-ups in May grew 9% to $175.79 million as compared to $161.17 million in May 2018. And for April and May, the imports of these item grew 11.72% to $320.78 million as against $287.13 million.

Source: Financial Express

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Readymade garment exports rise in May

Export of readymade garments has increased 9.25% in April-May this year compared to the corresponding period last year. “This is clearly because of the support announced by the government in March 2019 for garments and made-ups,” said Sanjay K. Jain, chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry. The Centre announced a Scheme for Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) in March. “April and May are usually lean months for exports. But there has been pick up during these two months. We are awaiting operationalisation of the Scheme for Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies,” according to Chandrima Chatterjee, adviser, Apparel Export Promotion Council. The scheme is expected to be implemented shortly. When it was announced, garment exporters gained confidence that they will be competitive internationally as all taxes paid by the exporters would be refunded. Garment exports grew 14.15 % in May compared with the same period at last year. Garments worth $1,528.02 million were exported in May this year compared with $1,338.57 million in May last year, Mr. Jain said. However, textile exports dropped 1.94 % in May this year compared with last May. “We are just two months into this financial year. As we go along, export of textiles will pick up. “There is a slowdown in China and so, export of yarn and fabric to this market was down. But, it will pick up in other markets,” said Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director, Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council. The government is considering extension of the RoSCTL for all textile products, added Mr. Jain. However, textile imports grew 9.01 % in May this year compared with last May. India provides free access to garments from Bangladesh. So, imports are on the rise, he said.

Source: The Hindu

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RBI panel on MSMEs suggests Rs 20 lakh collateral-free loan under Mudra

The report has also mentioned mainstreaming the restructuring of stressed loans, considering the central bank had given a one-year window to banks to do so in January. A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expert committee on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has recommended doubling the cap on collateral-free loans to Rs 20 lakh from the current Rs 10 lakh. This will be extended to borrowers falling under the Mudra scheme, self-help groups, and MSMEs, said a person privy to the development. If the central bank approves the recommendation, the banking regulator will have to amend its July 1, 2010 circular that prescribes a maximum Rs 10 lakh for collateral-free loans. The proposal is part of a report prepared by the eight-member RBI committee tasked with reviewing the current framework for the MSME sector. The panel, headed by former Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman U K Sinha, on Tuesday submitted its report, which is expected to be made public by the central bank on Friday. The committee is learnt to have suggested various long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of MSMEs. The report has also mentioned mainstreaming the restructuring of stressed loans, considering the central bank had given a one-year window to banks to do so in January. The panel’s recommendations have come at a time when the government is contemplating changing the definition of MSMEs. According to the 2006 definition, manufacturing units with investment below Rs 25 lakh were termed micro, those between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 crore termed small, and from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore medium. For service units, the corresponding amounts were up to Rs 10 lakh for micro, Rs 10 lakh-2 crore for small, and Rs 2 crore-5 crore for medium enterprises. However, the proposed change under a new draft, as approved by the Cabinet but not yet accepted, is that annual turnover, rather than investment size, should be the criterion for such units. Under the draft, there would be no difference between a manufacturing and service unit. Micro can be up to Rs 5 crore of turnover, small up to Rs 75 crore, and medium up to Rs 250 crore of turnover should be considered. The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) was launched in April 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The loans are given to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises. The loans are given by banks and non-banking financial companies as working capital and term loans forbusiness enterprises in manufacturing, trading and services and for agriculture activities. In 2018-19, about 60 million loans worth Rs 3 trillion were sanctioned under Mudra, according to the PMMY website, which was also the target amount. For the next year, the government’s target is similar. Even as the loans are covered under Credit Guarantee for Micro Units, the bad debt is high. If the collateral-free loan amount is doubled, it can push up the absolute amount of bad debts too. But bankers would unlikely to double the ticket size unless the insurance cover commensurately rises. “As on February 1, 2019, over 15.73 crore loans amounting to Rs 7.59 trillion have been extended by MLIs (member lending institutions) under the PMMY, since inception of the scheme. Almost 73 per cent of the loans under the PMMY have been extended to women borrowers,” then Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on February 12. However, he also said that loans worth Rs 7,277.31 crore turned sour at the end of March 2018, as these were given mostly to first-time borrowers with no credit history.

About Mudra

  • The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) was launched on April 8, 2015
  • It provides loans up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises
  • These loans are given by commercial banks, RRBs, small finance banks, cooperative Banks, MFIs and NBFCs
  • Mudra has created three products —Shishu, Kishore and Tarun — to signify the stage of growth and funding needs of the beneficiary
  • As of Feb 1, 2019, over 157 million loans amounting to Rs 7.59 trillion extended by MLIs under PMMY since its inception

Source: Business Standard

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Seven million jobs formalised between 2015 and 2018, says report

Seven million jobs were formalised between 2015 and 2018 because of various measures, including GST, demonetisation, Skill India policies, fixed-term contract, maternity leave enhancement, among others, according to a report released by the Indian Staffing Federation on Tuesday. The report estimated job formalisation to the tune of 11 million between 2018 and 2021.

Source: Business Standard

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IGST refund: Here’s how govt plans to tackle bogus claims

Currently, Integrated GST (IGST) refunds are issued to exporters automatically based on shipping bills filed with customs and goods and services tax returns filed with central tax authorities. IGST refund, CBIC, IGST on goods, IGST payments, GST Network, gst refundsUnder GST, every person making a claim of refund on account of ?zero-rated? supplies has two options. With the government detecting fraudulent refund claims by exporters, the CBIC has asked customs and GST officers to closely verify the IGST refund claims before sanctioning them. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has also asked director-general (systems) to identify a list of “risky exporters” and share it with customs and GST officers, so that an alert can be generated for 100 per cent examination of their export consignments. Currently, Integrated GST (IGST) refunds are issued to exporters automatically based on shipping bills filed with customs and goods and services tax returns filed with central tax authorities. The refunds are issued within a fortnight days of filing of returns without any manual intervention.  Tax experts said the move to verify the refund claims would delay the process of refund issuances to exporters. In a letter to field offices, the CBIC said it has observed instances of availment of IGST refund using fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) claims by some exporters. “Exporters have availed ITC on the basis of ineligible documents or fraudulently and utilised that credit for payment of IGST on goods exported out of India. It has also been observed in several cases that there is huge variation between the FOB (freight on board) value declared in the Shipping Bill and the taxable value declared in GST return apparently to effect higher IGST pay out leading to encashment of credit,” the CBIC said. “It has been decided to verify the IGST payments through the respective GST field formations,” the CBIC said. It said the GST policy wing will devise a standard operating procedure (SoP) for GST officers to verify the IGST refund claims. The GST officers will report to the chief commissioner of central tax in 30 days specifying whether the amount of IGST paid and claimed/sanctioned as refund was in accordance with the law or not. The chief commissioner of central tax will then share the report with customs port within five working days. In cases where no malpractices were detected and the ITC availed by the exporter was in accordance with the GST law, the customs officer at the port of export shall proceed to process the IGST refund. For cases where malpractices have been reported on verification and it has been found that the exporter has availed ITC fraudulently or on the basis of ineligible documents and utilised the said ITC for payment of IGST claimed as refund, the customs officer will not process the refund claim, the CBIC said. The CBIC said DG (systems) shall work out the suitable criteria to identify risky exporters at the national level and forward the list of said risky exporters to the Risk Management Centre for Customs (RMCC) and respective chief commissioners of central tax. “DG (systems) shall inform the respective chief commissioner of central tax about the past IGST refunds granted to such risky exporters (along with details of bank accounts in which such refund has been disbursed),” it added. AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said, “Increased verification and corroboration from custom officers and central tax officers would push back the digital initiatives of government resulting in genuine hardship for exporters.” Under GST, every person making a claim of refund on account of ‘zero-rated’ supplies has two options. Either he can export without payment of integrated tax under bond/ letter of undertaking and claim a refund of accumulated ITC or he may export on payment of integrated tax and claim refund thereof. Currently, the facility of automatic refund is available only for those exporters who have paid IGST while exporting goods. Since the GST Network (GSTN) systems are integrated with customs, hence, refunds are generally transferred to the bank accounts of such exporters within a fortnight.

Source: Financial Express

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PM Modi to attend NITI Aayog meeting of economists, sectoral experts on June 22; here’s agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with leading economists and experts on Saturday to deliberate on economic policy roadmap for promoting growth and employment generation. Prime Minister Narendra modi budget 2019The meeting, being organised by government think tank NITI Aayog, will be attended by various ministers, NITI Aayog functionaries, leading economists, sectoral experts and industrialists, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with leading economists and experts on Saturday to deliberate on economic policy roadmap for promoting growth and employment generation. The meeting, being organised by government think tank NITI Aayog, will be attended by various ministers, NITI Aayog functionaries, leading economists, sectoral experts and industrialists, sources said. The meeting comes against the backdrop of recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showing that the economic growth slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018-19, pushing India behind China, due to poor showing by agriculture and manufacturing sectors. The CSO data had also shown that joblessness was at a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18. It also revealed that the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for fiscal 2018-19 (at 2011-12 prices) was at a five-year low of 6.8 per cent. The GDP growth was 7.2 per cent in 2017-18. The meeting also assumes significance as it comes ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on July 5 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Source: Financial Express

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Exporters’ wait for I-GST refunds may get even longer – Here’s why

In the online system, a firm offsets taxes paid on input from the IGST to be paid on export and then applies online for refund. The entire process of receipt of refund takes about two weeks or less. Exporter, IGST refund, gst, ITC, CBIC, GST, goods and services tax, economy news, GST Return, economy news, tax refund, Exporters? wait for I-GST refunds may get even longer. In what is a setback to the automated process of refunds for exporters under goods and services tax (GST), the indirect tax department has decided to introduce manual checks to curb large-scale tax evasion. The customs department would now hold the refunds until it receives “all-clear” signal from the respective GST field formations. “It has come to the notice of the Board that instances of availment of integrated GST refund using fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) claims by some exporters have been observed by various authorities,” a circular issued by Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said on Tuesday. It further said some exporters were declaring a much higher value of exports in their GST returns compared to the value mentioned in the shipping bill. Since exports are zero-rated, the exporting firm gets back the entire Integrated GST (IGST) paid on the export. There are two ways of claiming taxes paid on exports, one completely online while the other requires manual intervention. In the online system, a firm offsets taxes paid on input from the IGST to be paid on export and then applies online for refund. The entire process of receipt of refund takes about two weeks or less. However, experts said suspension of GST Return-2 (details of purchase) since November 2017 has made it difficult to detect fraud for the online system. This loophole is being used by the exporters by ensuring that exported items are shown to be high valued items even if the inputs used in the manufacturing it could be completely unrelated. Rajat Mohan, partner at AMRG, said an exporter could be shipping low-value talcum powder but declare that its high value medicines. He added that a fully functional return-filing system would detect the flaw by tallying exports and inputs used in making it but the current system doesn’t have the capacity. “Deceitful businesses have created an environment of mistrust by claiming fraudulent tax refunds banking on the digital initiatives of this government. Policy makers have been forced to create restraints in the refund sanctioning process to weed out the tax evaders, even though it is at the cost of genuine exporters,” Mohan said. The customs system would now flag certain high risk exports and let them ship the commodities only after verification of the consignment to see if it tallies with the description provided in the shipping bill. However, the refund would not be sanctioned by the official posted at a port. This will be followed by verification of returns by the relevant GST field formation according to a standard operating procedure to be issued by the GST policy wing. The report would then go to the chief commissioner within 30 days specifying whether the IGST paid and claimed as refund is in valid or not. The chief commissioner will then compile a report and send it across to the customs official within five days for issuing the refund in case of valid claims. Experts said the bottleneck would lead to disbursal of refund in at least 45 days, three times the normal duration currently. The online refund system had been progressively adopted by more exporters due to its ease even though it requires an upfront payment of taxes, which can cause cash-flow issues. In the manual refund process, the exporters don’t pay IGST but apply for refund of taxes paid on input which is verified manually by central and state GST officials. About a month ago, the government had said that this system too would soon be made completely online. “Exporters have availed ITC on the basis of ineligible documents or fraudulently and utilized that credit for payment of IGST on goods exported out of India. It has also been observed in several cases that there is huge variation between the FOB value declared in the shipping bill and the taxable value declared in GST return apparently to effect higher IGST pay out leading to encashment of credit,” the circular said.

Source: Financial Express

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Competition Commission starts study of e-commerce market

Fair trade watchdog CCI has started a study of e-commerce market, including business practices and identify any possible impediments to competition in the fast-growing sector. The Competition Commission of India's move also comes at a time when there are concerns about alleged unfair business practices by online players and other entities. A market study of e-commerce market in India is being conducted in view of the rapid growth and the rising importance of online trade in a large number of goods and services in the country, an official release said Tuesday. The study will look at market trends with a particular focus on emerging distribution methods and strategies in response to e-commerce to understand business practices and contractual provisions, their underlying rationale and implications for competition. It would also seek to identify impediments to competition, if any, relating to e-commerce to ascertain enforcement and advocacy priorities for the watchdog in the sector. "The study intends to cover such products where the growth of online commerce has been the most significant, including both goods (such as electronics, mobiles, lifestyle etc) and services (travel and hospitality, food delivery)," the release said. The preliminary findings of the study will be presented at a workshop to be held August. The final study report is expected to be published in the third quarter of 2019-20, the release said. "The e-commerce study does not form part of any investigation and/or inquiry in any of the proceedings pending before the CCI. "The study of e-commerce is necessary given the novel issues and challenges that digital markets bring forth for competition regulation," it said. According to the release, market studies contribute significantly to the capacity of competition authorities in appreciating competitive dynamics in markets and can also form a useful basis for competition advocacy. The study would allow the regulator to develop a better understanding of the functioning of e-commerce in the country and its implications for markets and competition, it added. "The enterprises concerned include e-commerce platforms, manufacturers, wholesalers/ retailers, hotels, restaurants and payment systems," the release said. The study will be a combination of desk research, market survey and stakeholder consultation. Qualitative and quantitative information is being collected from secondary and primary sources. Designed by a market study team at the CCI, it is being implemented by an external agency that has been engaged for the purpose, the release said.

Source: Business Standard

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Labour shortage hits city’s textile industry

The centuries-old textile industry of the city of the Golden Temple, which was once known as the ‘Manchester of India’, is struggling due to labour scarcity. Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) president Piara Lal Seth says there is a shortage of about 30 to 40 per cent skilled and semi-skilled artisans in the local industrial units. According to him, there are several reasons behind the same. The textile industry records annual turnover in hundreds of crores. A variety of textile products, including suit, shirt, shawl, stole, blanket, denim, tweed and blazers among others, are being manufactured here. Barring a handful of mega units, the textile industry here comprises micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Currently, popular kinds of powerloom are powerloom plain, automatic, shuttle-less rapier looms with electronic jacquards and the latest entrant jet shuttle-less looms. A large number of units in the small and medium category have shifted to computerised rapier shuttle-less looms over the last decade. These units now grapple with shortage of technicals hands and engineers to operate and mend these looms. The computer-operated looms can weave yarn, like cotton, polyester, silk, span, nylon and produce international standard clothes. Several units in the state have turned to the state-of-the-art dobby and shuttle-less looms. Seth, who is also operating a textile unit, says government’s “indifference” can be judged from the fact that no textile policy has been devised after the one enacted in 2006. He feels that after agriculture, textile is the most labour-intensive sector offering employment to a high number of people. Another seasoned industrialist, Kamal Dalmia, puts it another way. He says the young generation coming out of technical institutes want to work on those machines which are operated through laptops while sitting in air-conditioned rooms. He says that teachers need to make them psychologically ready to work even in mediocre surroundings. He says that another reason behind worker shortage was the decline in arrival of migrant workers from the UP and Bihar. He added that arrival of migrant labourers came down by 60 to 70 per cent in the past couple of years. The city-based textile products is sold in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Southern peninsula states. High quality tweed, blazer, shawls and stoles are also sold to Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Italy, USA, Canada, Brazil, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and other countries. Rough estimates suggest export from Amritsar stands at about Rs 200 crore.

Source: Tribune India

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Khadi's share in textile production doubles in 5 years

While the mill fabric production was 2,486 million square metres in the 2014-15 fiscal, the production of Khadi was 105.38 million square metres – showing a share of 4.23 percent of the overall textiles production. The share of Khadi fabric in the total textile mill production has doubled to 8.49 percent in five years to 2018-19, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission said on June 18.  While the mill fabric production was 2,486 million square metres in the 2014-15 fiscal, the production of Khadi was 105.38 million square metres – showing a share of 4.23 percent of the overall textiles production. The mill fabric production dropped to 2,012 million square metres in 2018-19 while the Khadi fabric production was 170.80 million square metres – a share of 8.49 percent in overall fabric production. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the rise in Khadi fabric production from 4.23 percent to 8.49 percent could be possible due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clarion call to adopt Khadi. "It is encouraging for us that rise in share of Khadi production in the textiles sector in the last five years has gone from 4.23 percent to 8.49 percent, which is more than 200 percent. While from 1956 to 2013-14, the Khadi sector fabric production could reach the figure of 105.38 million square metres, in the last five years (from 2014-15 to 2018-19) it produced another 65.42 square million metres," he said. Saxena further said that the number of artisans are increasing in the Khadi sector because of the new policies and initiatives taken by MSME Ministry and KVIC in recent years. "We started registration of new Khadi institutions for widening the scope for employment as well as revival of defunct Khadi institutions, consequently rising the artisans number to 4,94,684. Not only that, the KVIC had also laid stress on many artisan-centric programmes since 2015 like distribution of 32,000 New Model Charkhas and 5,600 modern looms," he added.

Source: Money Control

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Zero-discharge textile park to be set up near Madurai

A ₹200-crore zero-waste textile processing park, which would do away with textile industry effluent, will be set up at Kariapatti in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district. Permission has been sought for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the 100-acre park, which will take a year to complete, project director of the park KR Gnanasambandan said. Gnanasambandan announced this recently at a curtain raiser event for the media for the textile expo to be held from June 18 to 21 at the Madurai District Tiny and Small-Scale Industries Association (Maditssia). About 35 textile units out of 75 in Madurai had closed down due to pollution issues. The remaining ones were suspended because power supply was stopped over the issue. Gnanasambandan said that the textile processing park project was signed by late Tamil Nadu state chief minister J Jayalalithaa at the 2015 Global Investors Meet and Maditssia was the first to take up the offer. The central government will contribute ₹100 crore and the state government and Maditssia ₹50 crore each for the park,’ he said. The park would house 40 textile units, which would be relocated into the park from in and around Madurai. The units would bleach and dye textiles, but there would be zero discharge, according to Indian media reports. He said 96 per cent of the water from the park would be recycled while the remaining—sludge—would be sent to the evaporator. After evaporation, the remaining solid, predominantly lime, would be sent to the cement industry. Once functional, the park would provide direct employment to 2,000 people and indirect employment to over 5,000 people, Gnanasambandan added. (DS)

Source: Fibre2fashion

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Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi gets extension as DGFT

Senior bureaucrat Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi was on Tuesday given extension of over three months as Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), a Personnel Ministry order said. Chaturvedi, a 1986 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, will continue upto September 30, i.e. the date of his superannuation, beyond June 18, it said. He is Director General, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

Source: Business Standard

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Global Textile Raw Material Price 18-06-2019

Item

Price

Unit

Fluctuation

Date

PSF

1061.19

USD/Ton

0.41%

6/18/2019

VSF

1602.62

USD/Ton

-0.45%

6/18/2019

ASF

2512.21

USD/Ton

0.81%

6/18/2019

Polyester    POY

1107.39

USD/Ton

0.52%

6/18/2019

Nylon    FDY

2324.52

USD/Ton

-0.62%

6/18/2019

40D    Spandex

4331.40

USD/Ton

0%

6/18/2019

Nylon    POY

2671.03

USD/Ton

0%

6/18/2019

Acrylic    Top 3D

1241.67

USD/Ton

0.58%

6/18/2019

Polyester    FDY

2598.84

USD/Ton

-0.55%

6/18/2019

Nylon    DTY

5457.56

USD/Ton

0%

6/18/2019

Viscose    Long Filament

1342.73

USD/Ton

0.54%

6/18/2019

Polyester    DTY

2194.58

USD/Ton

0%

6/18/2019

30S    Spun Rayon Yarn

2338.96

USD/Ton

-1.70%

6/18/2019

32S    Polyester Yarn

1682.03

USD/Ton

-0.85%

6/18/2019

45S    T/C Yarn

2613.28

USD/Ton

-1.63%

6/18/2019

40S    Rayon Yarn

2151.26

USD/Ton

-0.67%

6/18/2019

T/R    Yarn 65/35 32S

1876.94

USD/Ton

-2.26%

6/18/2019

45S    Polyester Yarn

2310.08

USD/Ton

0%

6/18/2019

T/C    Yarn 65/35 32S

2685.47

USD/Ton

0%

6/18/2019

10S    Denim Fabric

1.32

USD/Meter

0%

6/18/2019

32S    Twill Fabric

0.76

USD/Meter

-0.38%

6/18/2019

40S    Combed Poplin

1.03

USD/Meter

-0.14%

6/18/2019

30S    Rayon Fabric

0.61

USD/Meter

-0.47%

6/18/2019

45S    T/C Fabric

0.68

USD/Meter

0%

6/18/2019

Source: Global Textiles

Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14438 USD dtd. 18/06/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com.  SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.

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Unifi announces new sustainable fibre

Unifi, a maker of Repreve recycled fibre, has launched a new sustainable product that enables customers and consumers to play a role in solving the ever-growing problem of ocean plastic. To deal with the root cause of ocean plastic, Repreve Our Ocean fibre is made from bottles collected within 50km of coastlines in countries or areas that lack formal waste or recycling systems. “Repreve Our Ocean is a premium collection of fibre and resin sourced from bottles at high risk of entering in the ocean,” said Jay Hertwig, Group Vice President of Global Branded Sales for Unifi. “We have long cared for our air, land and natural resources by transforming billions of plastic bottles into Repreve recycled fibre. With Repreve Our Ocean, we offer a unique opportunity to for brands to tell an ocean-focused story.” Each year, at least 8.8 million tons of plastics make their way into the ocean, which is the equivalent of dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. In addition, at least 80% of plastic flows into the oceans from land, and at current rates, there will be more plastic by weight than fish by 2050. “Forward-thinking brands that want to take a stronger stand in addressing ocean pollution and want to make an even more specific statement about protecting the environment now have a brand-new option,” added Mr Hertwig. “Repreve Our Ocean is made for the good of tomorrow, and this premium product will appeal to consumers that want to do all that they can to help protect the environment for the next generation.” Repreve Our Ocean fibre will be on display at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, which opens its doors today in Denver, CO.

Source: Innovations in Textiles

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Xi, Trump hold talks amidst trade dispute

As the trade dispute between the United States and China continued, the Presidents of both the nations held talks via phone on Tuesday. The talks were held at the request of US President Donald Trump, according to Chinese state media agency Xinhua. Speaking to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Trump said that he looked forward to discussing issues of common concern when they meet during the upcoming G-20 Summit in Japan's Osaka later this month. The US values its economic and trade cooperation with China, Trump added during the conversation on Tuesday. He hoped for both the sides to resolve the ongoing dispute as soon as possible. This comes as the US and China are locked in a bitter trade dispute which has seen both the sides increasing tariffs on each other's imports after the talks held to resolve the matter failed. Trump has previously accused China of backing out of the deal at the last minute. Speaking to Xi on Tuesday, Trump further said that the world hopes to see the United States and China reach an agreement. The Chinese President said that both the countries gain from cooperation and "lose from confrontation," Xinhua added. He further said that the two sides should push forward the China-U.S. relationship on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit. Xi expressed his readiness at meeting Trump at the Summit to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral relations. He also said that the two countries should solve their problems through dialogue "on an equal footing." He also added that China hopes that Washington can treat Chinese firms in a "fair manner," in an apparent reference to the recent crackdown against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Source: Business Standard

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Xinjiang textile firms hit by US tariffs

As the US continues its widely opposed trade war with China, many textile companies in Aksu, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have been hit hard by the US tariffs or, more precisely, the uncertainty of the trade war. Still, many businesses remain surprisingly upbeat about their business prospects, as they shift their focus to the domestic and other markets under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and receive policy and other support from the government. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, many companies in the massive Aksu Textile Industrial Park were closed for a one-day weekend. But a few remained open, including Aksu Hengchang Textile Ltd, where several workers were rushing to put the last touches to socks bound for the US market. "We are trying to rush this to the US before the new tariffs," Hou Jianfu, owner of Hengchang, told the Global Times on Sunday. "If we cannot make it and we get hit by a 25 percent tariff, then we make nothing." US officials have threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on about $300 billion worth of Chinese products, including various textiles, apparel and footwear products. Despite widespread opposition, including from hundreds of US companies that have warned of dire consequences, the US appears to be moving forward with the tariffs. Great uncertainty" It is the uncertainty about the tariffs that really hurts us," Yang Xiaoqiang, executive chairman of Xinjiang Jinliyuan Garment Co, told the Global Times on Monday. "The whole garment industry is under a lot of pressure." Due to such uncertainty, many companies in Aksu that make products for US companies such as Disney have already seen the impact, according to Wang Yongfeng, deputy head of the industrial park's management committee."Many companies here have been impacted. Some have seen their orders drop dramatically," Wang told the Global Times on Sunday. To avoid potential losses, Hou of Hengchang said that his company has already slashed orders from US companies with delivery dates after August by two-thirds. Yang also said that some US companies have cut orders from his company and one US brand even broke a contract worth 40 million yuan ($5.78 million) and still owes his company a final payment of 2 million yuan. Some Chinese companies are trying to negotiate with US companies about prices after the tariffs. "The feedback from our US partners is that they will shift the tariffs to the consumers. But I don't know how that will work," Hou said. Still confidentDespite the concerns, there was also a palpable level of confidence among the executives. "The Xinjiang regional government has been a great help in areas such as financial incentives, labor recruitment and security," Yang said, noting that these benefits were the reason his company, which is based in East China's Shandong Province, moved part of its production to Xinjiang. Aksu has become an increasingly popular alternative for many textile companies in traditional manufacturing hubs in China's eastern coastal areas, where production costs have risen sharply in recent years, prompting many to shift production, with some even moving their factories out of Southeast Asia. For many companies, Aksu was a better choice than elsewhere in Southeast Asia, because, apart from relatively low labor costs, Aksu also offers a wide range of policy support for companies, including subsidies for construction of new factories, transportation and electricity costs, according to Wang. In order to boost the local economy and create jobs for ethnic minorities in the region, the local government has invested 6 billion yuan and attracted 24 billion yuan more from companies in the industrial park, which is said to be the largest of its kind in the country with 100 companies so far. Many companies have also moved to Aksu, which sits on the border with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, to explore markets in Central Asia and beyond. "Part of the reason we moved here was to expand into the markets in all the neighboring countries," Hou of Hengchang said, noting that his company is already expanding into central Asian countries and the Middle East. Jinliyuan has also been looking to other countries, as far away as Brazil. "We are now exploring other markets, as well as the domestic market," Yang said, noting that his company will start new brands and open as many as 150 new stores across China to sell its products. "Ultimately, I think we will be just fine," he said.

Source: Global Times

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An eye on the markets: uncertain times for textiles

Alan Wheeler, Director of the Textile Recycling Association, considers how changes at home and abroad are influencing the textiles market. The textiles market is clouded in uncertainty after a steady year, with export market and potential regulatory changes threatening to upturn the market once more. The value for used clothes has not quite recovered from the crash in prices we saw in 2014, where charity shop grade textiles were trading for as much as £600 per tonne, falling right down to less than £200. We’re now creeping back up to £400 for good material. However, there’s been a shift in quality. Charities report having to pick out the real rubbish from their material stream and although there is always variable quality of material in textile banks, if you look at the market prices now, they're much closer than they ever used to be. Changes in public awareness of textile waste have exerted a slight downward pressure on prices. More media coverage has led to more donations to charity shops, which has also seen an increase in lower-quality textiles making their way into the material stream. A lot has been said about the impact of Marie Kondo’s Netflix series [which encourages people to declutter theirhomes], but this has only been in areas that Netflix is popular. Despite this increase in public awareness and donations, significant amounts of clothing are still going to landfill. Since WRAP’s 2016 textile market situation report, which stated that 350,000 tonnes of textiles entering the general waste stream, we’ve seen a fall to 300,000 tonnes, which is in the right direction. We are also seeing some operators bringing their sorting process back to the UK, reversing a trend some of our members reported 18 months ago. Sorting of textiles is where the value is created, with some high- end sorted textiles trading for up to £2,000 per tonne, though this does not reflect the mix in quality when merchants purchase material. Looking ahead, we are in uncertain shape as always. Exports continue to be a big market for textiles and the outlook for this could be profoundly impacted in a number of ways. Firstly, Brexit continues to cast a shadow, with the potential for customs delays, complicated by the fact that, being out of the EU, UK textile exporters will have to comply with the EU Waste Shipments Regulations to EU countries. Many destinations might classify textiles as waste for even small considerations like the presence of coat hangers. Possibly the biggest long-term issue for the market is the impact of China exporting more used clothes, as its middle class becomes more affluent. This is notably already having a major impact on East Africa markets. For example, China is now responsible for 30 per cent of textile imports in Kenya; the UK’s share is now 20 per cent. It’s worth noting a potential future scenario in 20 years time where the size of China's market is the size of the current global export market by collecting just half as much clothing per head as we currently do in the UK. East Africa is also continuing to generate its own issues, due to missed payments and currency fluctuations, though the threat of an export ban to East African countries proposed by the East African Community in 2016 has subsided. Looking at mid-term factors in the UK, the recent UK Resources and Waste Strategy identifies textiles as one of the five priority waste streams for an extended producer responsibility (EPR) regime and invoking the polluter pays principle. Clothing should be a priority as it accounts for around 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and I hope it is introduced before 2022. Perhaps on the cards a bit sooner, the government’s proposals for tackling waste crime include bringing in full environmental permitting for the collection and processing of textiles waste. The annual processing limit is set to change from 156,000 tonnes of textiles a year down to 100 tonnes, meaning that every textile waste collector large or small would have to have an environmental permit. This will come at considerable cost to many operators, forcing them to change their professional practices, while it could also depress prices as operators are pushed out of the market. Defra has stated that this change will likely come in after Brexit is completed – so we may be waiting some time!

Source: Resource.com

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