The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 1 AUG 2019


NATIONAL

 

INTERNATIONAL

National

AMI to organise apparel trade fair in Chennai next month

Apparel Manufacturers of India (AMI), one of India’s leading apparel group of manufacturers and traders, is going to organise its eight fair from August 6-8, 2019, at Sri Ramachandra Convention Centre, Chennai. The B2B fair will be inaugurated by Roshan, MD of Saarthas, Trichy, along with Ravindran from S Nallaperumel and Sons from Nagercoil.

AMI, which is the largest apparel trade fair in South of India, started in 2015 and till date has conducted 19 fairs. This edition of the fair has been named Advait, which in Sanskrit means ‘one of a kind’ or ‘unique’. AMI has been conducting exceptional fairs, inviting nearly 3500 retailers per edition and hosting brands, MBO’s, chain stores, all under one roof to showcase more than 125 brands from Mumbai in every edition.

This year too AMI will have more than 100 brands from Mumbai showcasing their latest fashions and trends for festive season, especially Diwali to retailers across Tamil Nadu. Some of the key brands including Era, Geevankee, Nextlook by Raymond, Femi Designs, Fayon Troupe, Lafille, Final Choice, EL2, and many more, will showcase their collection this time too.

“We are glad to see that our initiative has helped many SME’s and MSME’s grow and strengthen their business model. The idea behind starting AMI was to consolidate the entire Indian apparel market and provide one stop solution to industry colleagues. We are glad our peers have supported and motivated us in the same,” said Nikhil Furia, key organiser, AMI. “We will continue to stick to our aim of building a robust community for all apparel industry individuals and bridge the gap between manufacturers, retailers, agents and suppliers.” (PC)

Source:Fibre2Fashion

JNPT brokers new deal for inter-terminal rail transfer of containers

PSA’s complaint with CCI against rivals becomes redundant

The controversy over inter-terminal rail handling operations at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has been resolved with all the five terminals at India’s biggest container gateway signing a new memorandum of understanding amongst themselves.

The new MoU will render a complaint filed by Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT), a new facility opened by Singapore’s PSA International Pte Ltd at JNPT in February 2018, with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) redundant. PSA alleged in its complaint that rival terminals run by Dubai’s DP World (Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal and Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal (NSIGT) and Denmark’s APM Terminals Management BV (Gateway Terminals India) were “collaborating” on creating cost barriers, prejudicing the interests of BMCT.

CCI probe

In a preliminary order on November 9, CCI decided to probe the case further. DP World filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court seeking to stay the preliminary order of CCI. The High Court declined to stay the CCI probe and the petition will be next heard on August 6.

A PSA official told BusinessLine that it will inform the CCI that with the signing of the MoU, “there were no issues from this point on.”

The rail terminals of the older one are in a close proximity to each other, whereas BMCT rail lines are at an average distance of 5 km from others. “Hence, the additional cost factor due to the large distance was a major hindrance to the inter-terminal transfer between BMCT and other terminals. Hence, a new agreement was designed and agreed upon by all the terminals and will come into effect from August 1,” JNPT Chairman Sanjay Sethi, who brokered the new deal, said on Tuesday.

Charges will be levied on shipping lines as per the existing charges (₹400 per TEU) approved by the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) in 2007 for such transfers under the new agreement also. Besides, BMCT will pay an extra ₹500 per TEU to other terminals to compensate for the extra trucking distance they undertake to fetch containers arriving at BMCT. “The new agreement will improve the competitiveness of JNPT terminals and so increase both rail utilisation and overall volumes,” a spokesman for BMCT said.

Inter-terminal transfer of containers

The feud between the top global container operators relates to the inter-terminal transfer of containers, a system that is unique to JNPT, whereby container train operators run mixed trains that carry boxes designated for more than one container terminal.

It is the responsibility of the other terminals to send their trailers to fetch the containers from the “handling terminal” and move it to their respective terminals for further loading onto ships, according to the arrangement mutually agreed by all the terminals before PSA started operations at JNPT. The same process is followed for the import cycle also.

In its complaint to CCI, BMCT said that containers arriving on mixed trains at railheads other than the one at BMCT but destined for BMCT, were not cleared and delivered by NSICT and GTI on the same terms on which containers destined for NSICT, NSIGT and GTI are cleared among themselves.

Likewise, containers arriving at BMCT’s railhead but destined for any other terminals are not collected by the other container terminal operators at all, in sharp contrast to how they collect, clear and deliver such containers amongst themselves.

Therefore, BMCT is constrained to use its own trailers at its own cost, to collect containers destined for BMCT and arriving at the railheads of other container terminals and to deliver containers destined for the other terminals and arriving at its railhead.

Source: The Business Line

Core sector growth slows to a 0.2% crawl in June

Likely to pull down IIP growth for June, say economists

After a strong showing in the first two months of this fiscal, the growth of eight core industries slowed sharply in June, at just 0.2 per cent.

The eight core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — had grown 7.8 per cent in June 2018.

In April 2019, the core sector output had grown 6.3 per cent, and had remained a robust 5.1 per cent in May.

For June, four sectors — crude oil (-6.8 per cent), natural gas (-2.1 per cent), refinery products (-9.3 per cent) and cement (-1.5 per cent) — saw a sharp contraction.

Likely to pull down IIP growth for June, say economists

After a strong showing in the first two months of this fiscal, the growth of eight core industries slowed sharply in June, at just 0.2 per cent.

The eight core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — had grown 7.8 per cent in June 2018.

In April 2019, the core sector output had grown 6.3 per cent, and had remained a robust 5.1 per cent in May.

For June, four sectors — crude oil (-6.8 per cent), natural gas (-2.1 per cent), refinery products (-9.3 per cent) and cement (-1.5 per cent) — saw a sharp contraction.

Source: The Business Line

India's exports need to contribute USD 1 trillion in economy: Piyush Goyal 
 

The minister asked exporters and importers to flag issues regarding availability of land, labour, common effluent treatment plants, cluster development and logistics support required in ports, airports and customs to the ministry.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said India's exports will have to contribute USD 1 trillion as the country aims to become a USD 5 trillion economy in the next few years. Speaking at an interactive session with the exporters, Goyal urged manufacturers and exporters to come forward with data and details which directly and indirectly add to the cost of exported products like cess paid on coal, electricity and royalty paid on mines.

"All this adds up to the cost of the export product per unit basis, he added. Commerce and Industry Minister said that the ministry is working on making India's export products competitive and simplifying rules and regulations for easy availability of export credit," an official release said.

Goyal stressed that in order to achieve the target of USD 5 trillion economy, India's exports will have to contribute at least USD 1 trillion, it said.

The minister asked exporters and importers to flag issues regarding availability of land, labour, common effluent treatment plants, cluster development and logistics support required in ports, airports and customs to the ministry.

This would help the ministry to iron out the issues impeding India's exports and facilitate the exporters to take maximum benefit from tariff escalation between the US and China, the minister said.

A section of the industry has opined that some of the conditions, like requirements of local experience, are limiting their participation in Chinese procurement process.

The government, the release said, has been engaging with the relevant Chinese government entities to ensure that Indian companies get market access for their products.

Speaking at the event, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash asked exporters to take the window of opportunity that has opened up due to tariff escalation between the US and China.

Parkash said manufacturers must build capacity and make the most of the opportunity that is now available to the country to enlarge its exports to both the US and China.

Source: The Economic Times

In 3 months, fiscal deficit exceeds 61% of full-year target

Fiscal deficit for the first three months of the current financial year has reached more than 61 per cent of the Budget Estimate, according to government data released on Wednesday.

Fiscal deficit is the difference between government’s earning and expenditure. At 3.3 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the government has budgeted over ₹7-lakh crore as fiscal deficit for the current fiscal.

According to data made public by the Controller General of Accounts, the Government received over ₹2.89-lakh crore during the first three months of the current fiscal. It comprised ₹2.51-lakh crore of tax revenues (net to the Centre), ₹33,475 crore of non-tax revenues and ₹4,764 crore of non-debt capital receipts. More than ₹1.48-lakh crore was transferred to States as devolution of share of taxes up to June; this is ₹8,896 crore less than the previous year.

The Centre’s total expenditure was more than ₹7.21-lakh crore out of which ₹6.58-lakh crore was on revenue account and ₹63,000 crore on capital account. Out of the total revenue expenditure, more than ₹1.41-lakh crore was on account of interest payments and over ₹1.51-lakh crore for major subsidies.

According to Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist with ICRA, a post-election and pre-Budget lull in spending in June kept the the fiscal deficit in the first quarter largely in line with the year-ago level, even as tax growth remained subdued. Tax collections (gross of States’ share) grew by a disappointingly low one per cent in Q1,.

Direct tax and GST collections meeting the target, and dividends/surplus from the RBI, nationalised banks and financial institutions, and PSUs will be crucial to prevent a revenue slippage. Moreover, the speed with which the disinvestment programme kicks off and the response to it will be critical. “At present, we can’t rule out expenditure cuts to prevent a fiscal slippage, if revenue targets are missed,” Nayar said

Devendra Kumar Pant, Chief Economist and Senior Director (Public Finance) at India Ratings and Research, said that while the income tax and GST collection growth are relatively better, the corporate tax mop up has not been robust. “Unless the consumption slowdown is reversed quickly, it will be a tough task for the government to achieve the FY20 fiscal deficit target,” he said.

Source: The Business Line

India only Asian economy that's growing its export share amid trade war

The only major Asian economy that’s grown its export share since the start of the tariff wars in 2018 is the one with the fewest trade links to China.

India’s share of world exports rose to 1.71 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 from 1.58 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017, data compiled by Bloombergshow. The share of every other economy among Asia’s 10 biggest exporting nations fell in the same period.

Part of the reason for India’s outperformance is that it’s not as integrated into global manufacturing supply chains as peers, which means exporters are cushioned from rising trade tensions in the region. It’s a sentiment that was flagged by central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das in a recent interview.

“India is not part of the global value chain,” he said. “So, US-China trade tension does not impact India as much as several other economies.”

China is the biggest buyer of goods from South Korea and Japan, whose share of world exports have fallen the most in Asia. For India, China is the third-largest market, after the US and the UAE.

 “Our biggest advantage is that our product basket and market basket are both quite diversified,” said Rakesh Mohan Joshi, a professor at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in Delhi.

Trade tensions between the US and China have given India an opportunity to ramp up exports to both countries, according to Ajay Sahai, director general and chief executive officer of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. India’s exports to the US grew at the fastest pace in six years in the year ended March 2018, while exports to China surged 31 per cent, the second highest annual pace of growth in more than a decade, data from India’s Ministry of Commerce show.

“China is more willing to give market access to India than ever before,” said Sahai, pointing to increased access for products such as rice, fruits and vegetables, with potential for greater exports of pharmaceuticals and automobile components to China.

On the other hand, India’s exports to the US could lose momentum. President Donald Trump has criticized India for its tariffs on US products, and withdrew trade concessions on $6.3 billion of Indian goods on June 1. India responded with higher tariffs on about 30 American products.

Source: The Business standard

 

International

NAPED merges with a division of NAUMD in US

The North American Association of Uniform Manufacturers and Distributors (NAUMD) and National Association of Police Equipment Distributors (NAPED) recently announced the merger of the latter within the former’s Public Safety Suppliers & Retailers Division starting August 1. The merger will help NAUMD raise public safety impact, said its chairman Phil Newman. 

“Our expanded association will continue its mission to improve business practices within the public safety market for both distributors and manufacturers, said Steve Zalkin, president of NAUMD. 

As part of the merger reorganization, several NAPED members will serve on the NAUMD executive committee and board of directors to ensure a smooth transition for the membership and take an active role supporting the needs of the public safety membership. 

Eldon Griggs, vice president of business development for GALLS, currently serves on both NAUMD executive committee and NAPED boards and will remain on the NAUMD executive committee. 

Tim Brown, chief operations officer of GT Distributors and former president of NAPED and James Witmer, chief executive officer of Witmer Public Safety Group Inc. and current president of NAPED, will join the NAUMD board of directors. 

NAUMD was has been the voice of the uniform industry since 1932. It is composed of manufacturers, distributors and associated companies that have a common bond. NAPED was created by bringing together law enforcement distributors, industry professionals and manufacturers to form a network for the purpose of mutually sharing the vast amounts of market experience, resources and product knowledge comprised within its membership. (DS)

Source: Fibre2Fashion

Gen.G Esports partners with Meta Threads

Gen.G Esports has signed a manufacturing and distribution deal for North America with Meta Threads. Gen.G, the parent company of the Seoul Dynasty, and hosting some of the top players and teams across nine games, is one of the largest esports organisations worldwide. The goal is to improve brand merchandise and logistics for North American fans.

Meta Threads continues to create the trend in gaming apparel and joined Gen.G to create a full solution for their popular players and teams to design and create a line of gear that captures the Gen.G spirit. 

"We're really excited to work with Meta Threads to expand our merchandise offering in the US. They are a great partner for us and will help us continue to build and reach out to a unique fanbase around the world. We've got a lot of exciting plans ahead for all our fans," Arnold Hur, COO of Gen.G said. 

Reaching out to fans and giving them a variety of gear to choose from is core to both Meta Threads and Gen.G’s direction. As esports grows quickly across the globe, organisations continue to look for the best ways to reach their fans. (SV)

Source: Fibre2Fashion

US Fed cuts rate for the first time in more than a decade: Top highlights

As widely expected, the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut the interest rates by a quarter percentage point or 0.25 per cent for the first time since 2008 to insulate the economy from a global slowdown and escalating trade tensions. The short-term benchmark rate now stands between 2 per cent and 2.25 per cent.

The US central bank also left the door open for more rate cuts in the coming months. However, Fed chair Jerome Powell, later in the presser, said that the Wednesday's rate cut has been in the pipeline for a while and doesn't necessarily portend a long cycle of rate cuts.

Powell said the rate cut should be viewed as a "mid-cycle adjustment" to monetary policy that will help the economy perform as the Fed wants. The rate cut "will work" to help the economy.

Eight of the 10 Fed officials voted in favour of a rate cut while two dissented from the decision in favor of holding rates steady.

Wall Street appeared unimpressed by the Fed comment as stocks ended in the negative. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 333.75 points lower, or 1.2 per cent, at 26,864.27. The S&P 500 slid 1.1 per cent to close at 2,980.38. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2 per cent to 8,175.42.

Here's a look at the key highlights from the latest rate-setting meeting of the US Fed -

First rate cut in more than a decade: The US Fed slashed interest rates for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. Most market participants had projected the Fed to cut rates given global slowdown and muted inflation. “In light of the implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures, the committee decided to lower" rates, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), led by Jerome Powell, said in a statement following a two-day meeting in Washington.

The rate reduction was the first since December 2008 when the Fed dropped its benchmark effectively to zero as it battled recession and financial crisis. It began raising borrowing costs in December 2015, doing so another eight times, Bloomberg reported.

Fed stops shrinking of balance-sheet: Ending the quantitave tightening (QT), the Fed officialls announced they would end the runoff of their $3.8 trillion asset portfolio on Thursday, two months ahead of schedule.

Following the 2008 economic crisis, the US Fed had decided to follow a policy of quantitative easing (QE). QE is a monetary policy where the central banks purchases government securities or other securities from the market in order to increase the money supply and encourage lending and investment. Later, starting in October 2017, central bank started shrinking its balance sheet as it realised too much money had been pumped in the economy and continuing to do so will have severe implcations.

Rate cut decision not due to political pressure: The Fed chairman said that the central bank didn't cut rates due to pressure from the US President Donald Trump. He told reporters, "We also don't conduct monetary policy in order to prove our independence," but to fulfill its goals of maximum employment and price stability.

Earlier this week, Trump had tweeted, “The Fed has made all of the wrong moves. A small rate cut is not enough, but we will win anyway!. “The Fed ‘raised’ way too early and way too much.”

Concerns over risks from abroad: While the domestic economy has performed relatively well, the Fed cut amid concern that softness abroad threatens the decade-long US expansion, Bloomberg reported. Trump’s trade war with China is hurting foreign demand. Data released earlier Wednesday showed the pace of quarter-over-quarter growth in the euro area slowed by half in the latest three months to 0.2 per cent.

Earlier this month, Jerome Powell had told lawmakers,"People are very concerned about global growth, and we will feel that over time." He cited examples of businesses holding back on investment. “It has really slowed down here, and one of the reasons is uncertainty around trade and global growth,” The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Powell as saying.

Source: The Business Standard

China and US hold 'frank and constructive' talks to end trade war

Chinese and US officials held "frank" and "constructive" talks in Shanghai on Wednesday and agreed to meet again in September to negotiate a trade deal to end the ongoing trade war between the world's two largest economies even as their meeting was eclipsed by President Donald Trump's Twitter tirade against Beijing.

Since the commencement of trade war last year China and US have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade.

Trump kicked off the trade war demanding China to reduce massive trade deficit which last year climbed to over USD 539 billion. He is also insisting on China to workout verifiable measures for protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) technology transfer and more access to American goods to Chinese markets.

The 12th round of talks between top trade negotiators from China and US, the first after they broke down in May, lasted just half a day and ended with no sign of a breakthrough, but a willingness to continue discussions.

The talks were held in Shanghai unlike the previous rounds which took place in Beijing and Washington. The abrupt end of talks sparked speculation that a trade deal was unlikely before the 2020 US presidential elections.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took part in the talks with a Chinese delegation headed by Vice Premier Liu He. The talks were relatively brief and the US officials left for the airport without speaking to reporters.

"The meetings were constructive, and we expect negotiations on an enforceable trade deal to continue in Washington DC, in early September," White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in Washington.

"The two sides discussed topics such as forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights, services, non-tariff barriers, and agriculture. The Chinese side confirmed their commitment to increase purchases of US agricultural exports," Grisham said in a statement.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency said that the two sides "conducted frank, highly efficient and constructive in-depth exchanges on major issues of common interest in the economic and trade field."

Both sides discussed "the issue of China increasing its purchases of US agricultural products according to its domestic needs" and the US creating "favourable conditions for these purchases", it added.

Trade talks between US and China started last November at the direction of President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, when the two leaders during their meeting in Argentina on the sidelines of the G-20 summit asked their officials to conclude a trade deal in 100 days.

The deadline was extended till May. It was resumed last month.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying in her media briefing in Beijing hit back at Trump's barrage of tweets against China.

Seen as an attempt to increase pressure on China, Trump tweeted on Tuesday saying his team is "negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit."


Trump said China was supposed to start buying US agricultural products but they have shown "no signs that they are doing so".

"That is the problem with China, they just don't come through," he said.

Trump said that China is waiting for the next presidential elections and hopes that he will be defeated and then they can talk with his next Democratic successor. He warned that if he wins re-election in the November 2020 US presidential contest, the outcome could be no agreement or a worse one.

Reacting to Trump's tweets, Hua said, "the US is the one that has flip-flopped in the whole process. It doesn't make any sense for the US to exert pressure for maximum campaign. I believe the US should show more sincerity and good faith."

She also reacted sharply to Trump's comments that the Chinese economy is doing badly.

"You say Chinese economy is not that good. It is obvious fact that China's GDP in the second quarter is 6.2 per cent. The US GDP is lower (2.1 per cent). Who is better is very obvious fact. I believe the exercise of maximum pressure is not constructive at all. What matters is that we have to show sincerity, mutual respect and good faith to resolve our differences and concerns. I believe this makes the only right way forward," she said.

Commenting on the US ban on Huawei, she also took pot-shots at Trump saying that US business suppliers are now anxious to do business with the Chinese telecom giant which on Tuesday announced an increase of 23.2 per cent revenue year-on-year to $58.3 billion in the first half of this year.

"Increasing number of US business hope they can supply parts to Huawei. So I believe it is the American business that are the more anxious about it. We have full confidence in Huawei and it is the US that is most worried," she said.

The US has banned Huawei, the world's leader in telecom equipment and the number two smartphone producer, over concerns of security.

Reacting to abrupt end to the 12th round of trade talks, observers said China seems to be watching the US presidential race with interest, to see how it will affect trade policy.

"China has started to buy soybeans from the US, which could help Trump to counter domestic political pressure, meanwhile US tech firms have raised their voices to lobby the US administration to loosen export controls on Huawei," Wang Yong, a professor of international relations with Peking University, told the South China Morning Post.

Source: The Business Standard