Textiles minister Smriti Zubin Irani told Rajya Sabha on Thursday said the overall global growth slowdown has impacted the growth of most of the domestic sectors including textiles and subsequent improved demand. “Overall global growth slowdown no doubt impacted the growth of most of the domestic sectors including textiles and subsequent improved demand and profitability will no doubt be partly countered by sticky working capital requirement,” she said in a written reply to a question on expected improvement in overall credit profile of textile sector As per RBI data, credit exposure to the textiles sector increased to Rs 2.03 lakh crore during March 2019 from Rs 1.96 lakh crore in October 2018 which reduced to Rs 1.87 lakh crore in October 2019. Credit availability is expected to grow further,” she said. In a separate reply to a question on Decline in production of textiles, she said: “As such, there appears no concrete report for decline in the textiles and handloom/handicrafts industries”.
Source: The Economic Times
After remaining largely range-bound in FY18, cotton yarn production in India saw a 3% growth y-o-y in FY19. Cotton yarn production stood at 4,182 mkg during FY19. India’s cotton yarn production is expected to remain largely stable at current levels and increase only marginally about 1.5-2.5% to reach 4,200-4,250 million kilogram (mkg) in FY20, despite high prices of the fibre and subdued demand, on back of higher demand from Bangladesh and Vietnam. The 100% blended & non-cotton yarn production is expected to witness a stable 2-4% growth to 1,710-1,740 million kilogram (mkg) on back of expectations of lower crude oil prices on year-on-year basis as well as marginally higher prices of substitute cotton in the domestic market, said Care Ratings in its analysis. After remaining largely range-bound in FY18, cotton yarn production in India saw a 3% growth y-o-y in FY19. Cotton yarn production stood at 4,182 mkg during FY19. Overall export demand for cotton yarn remained strong during FY19 on account of high demand from China, coupled with competitive prices in the international market. However, domestic yarn demand continues to be sluggish with substitution taking place from manmade fibres (MMF). During H1FY20, cotton yarn prices (cotton hank yarn 40s) witnessed a marginal uptick of about 2.7% y-o-y and averaged at Rs 274.7 per kg on back of increased raw material prices in the market. However, yarn demand for domestic players remained subdued in the export market during H1FY20, owing to higher domestic cotton prices compared to international prices of the fibre. Also, demand from China remained weak on back of free trade agreements with Pakistan, which competes directly with India’s cotton yarn, the analysis said. During FY19, as much as 35-40% of the total cotton yarn were exported to China (465 million tonne), followed by 18% to Bangladesh (225 million tonne), 5% to Pakistan (61 million tonne) and Egypt (58 million tonne) each and 3-4% to Vietnam (43 million tonne). India imports only 5-7 million tonne of cotton yarn primarily from China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Cotton yarn demand in India remained sluggish during FY19 at 2,933 mkg, registering a decline of 1.4% y-o-y, after increasing 3.9% during the same period last year. However, export demand saw a strong double-digit growth of 14.7% y-o-y and stood at 1,261 mkg after dipping 8.8% in FY18. With the industry stabilising after demonetisation and the goods and service tax (GST) implementation, the demand from downstream industry — apparels and made-ups — has started to marginally pick up in the past few months and is expected to witness a 10-12% growth y-o-y in FY20 on back of rise in disposable income and increased usage of plastic money. Also, Chinese yarn manufacturers have set up operations in Vietnam. Despite this, India is expected to continue being the largest exporter of cotton yarn in the world, the ratings agency pointed out. Going forward, with crude oil prices expected to moderate in FY20 on back of increasing US oil production and overall weak world economy on back of ongoing trade wars, the substitute MMF prices are expected to be competitive in the domestic as well as international markets. Hence, Care Ratings expects demand for cotton yarn to improve only marginally by 3-5% y-o-y during the coming season. However, cotton yarn demand will be closely monitored due to China’s policy and diminishing stockpiles as well as volatile crude oil prices that impact the prices of its substitute — MMF (synthetic yarns).
Source: The Financial Express
Tamil Nadu's textile entrepreneurs are claiming a severe shortage of working capital with rising manufacturing costs and customers taking more time to pay, which they say is pushing their businesses into negative performance cycles. The Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), a grouping of 550 mills and garment makers in the country, submitted a memorandum to textile minister Smriti Irani recently, highlighting the results of surveys into the reasons for the capital shortage and analytics about recent business performance of yarn spinners and readymade garmenting units in the state. Volatility in cotton prices, the Eurozone crisis and extended credit period due to a liquidity crisis in the system counted among reasons highlighted for the shortage of working capital, an ITF news release said. About 300 entrepreneurs were surveyed on capital bottlenecks in their businesses and what would be required to turn around their businesses. “Business demands more money these days, and entrepreneurs have had to extend their credit limit. On one side, working capital from banks has eroded and (on the other) the market is demanding more credit. Unable to work in this system, a large percentage of units facing higher manufacturing costs in terms of raw material, energy, and lower price realisation of their products are in negative cycle now,” ITF convener Prabhu Damodharan said. In the survey, 85% of the respondents said they were impacted by liquidity issues, while 45% responded that their working capital shortage could be qualified as “severe to very severe”. The ministry has sought a larger survey with inputs from spinning and readymade garment sectors across the country for further action, Damodharan said. Tamil Nadu’s textile clusters are populated by small factories running on bank credit. Over the years, the number of days before a bank can declare a loan asset as non-performing has come down. “It used to be four quarters to declare NPA, then got reduced to 180 days, and now it is 90 days. In a business scenario where our credit lines have spread, these norms are impacting businesses, especially small businesses,” said a veteran textile mill owner on condition of anonymity. A mail sent to the Reserve Bank of India on asset classification rules remained unanswered at press time Tuesday. The working capital shortage is felt at a time exporters of man-made fibre apparel are trying to grow market share in the West, particularly in the American market. According to data from the ITF, Indian exports of products made of man-made fibre to the US totalled Rs 7,800 crore in the January-September 2019 period. The addressable market is estimated at Rs 2.9 lakh crore.
Source: The Economic Times
India's economy is expected to grow at 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of this fiscal amid concerns over crisis in the NBFC sector, according to Nomura. The Japanese financial services major also believes that the first quarter of 2020 will see a "weak" uptick in GDP growth at 4.7 per cent. "Domestic credit conditions remain tight as market concerns in the shadow banking (NBFC banking) have persisted too long," Sonal Varma, Chief Economist, India and Asia, said on Thursday. Contrary to the market's current optimism that growth has likely bottomed, Nomura believes it will slide further. It expects 4.9 per cent GDP growth in 2019, down from an earlier estimate of 5.3 per cent, and 5.5 per cent in 2020 against an earlier projection of 6.3 per cent. In 2021, it sees India's economic growth at 6.5 per cent. "On financial year basis, we expect GDP growth of 4.7 per cent in FY20, and 5.7 per cent in FY21, suggesting a delayed recovery and below-potential growth through end 2020," Varma told a media briefing in Singapore. The Reserve Bank is likely to slash key policy rates in the second quarter of 2020. However, the burden of growth heavy lifting now seems to be shifting to fiscal policies, she wrote in Nomura report "Asia 2020 Outlook". Moreover, the central bank will stay in pause mode in February 2020 as well, according to the report. The RBI kept repo rate unchanged at 5.1 per cent in the December meet. Nomura remains concerned about growth prospects, saying cyclical factors that were responsible for the slowdown look to persist well into 2020. Moreover, the current phase of slowdown comes in the middle of a broader downturn in trend since 2016, driven by a slump in investments and employment opportunities. "This has most likely led to the erosion of potential growth, suggesting that short-term surges in growth carry the risk of remaining shaken and unsustainable," said the report.
Source: The Financial Express
Despite broad-based decline in manufacturing sector, the pace of contraction of industrial output slowed in October, falling by 3.8 per cent. Industrial production had contracted by an eight-year high of 4.3 per cent in September. The fall is attributed to smaller losses in manufacturing output and slowdown in capital goods production, even as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted for a third consecutive month, the data released on Thursday showed. Contraction in the manufacturing sector, which accounts for 78 per cent of the index, stood at 2.1 per cent, down from 3.9 per cent contraction in September. Of the 23 sub-sectors within manufacturing, 18 recorded year-on-year contractions, up from 17 in the previous month. The IIP database showed that contraction remained entrenched across automobile segments, with motor vehicle production falling by 28 per cent in October, after a 25 per cent fall in the previous month. Auto components, commercial vehicles, and two-wheelers were flagged by the government as sectors pulling the overall IIP growth down. Machinery production reduced 18.1 per cent, same as last month. However, the production of electronic goods sustained the biggest hit, going down by 31 per cent in October, up from a 10.6 per cent fall in September. This came after the government pushed manufacturing in the sector in a sustained manner over the past one year through a series of benefits and a phased manufacturing programme aimed at reducing imports of electronics goods. Most importantly, the capital goods segment, which signifies investment, contracted 21 per cent in October, after similar levels of fall in the previous two months. Production in the category remained in the red for the ninth-straight month despite government efforts to open up even more sectors to easier foreign direct investment (FDI) flows earlier this year. With heavy rainfall affecting the pace of construction, infrastructure/construction goods recorded an unsurprising deep 9.2 per cent contraction in October. September’s industrial production also showed that consumer demand continues to remain in the doldrums. October, the month when the festive season kicks in, saw production of consumer durables contract for a fifth consecutive month. Production contracted by 18 per cent, up from 10 per cent in the previous month. The negative growth baffled economists who said e-commerce sales in October were very high and should have been on the back of positive growth in this segment. Crucially, the consumer non-durables category continued to be in the contractionary zone for the second month, with production thinning by 1.1 per cent, after a 0.4 per cent in the previous month. “While the sharp contraction in capital goods and consumer durables appears alarming, it comes on an extremely high base of October 2018. In our view, we should await the data for November 2019, to get a clearer sense of how these two categories are likely to perform in Q3FY20,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA. With the output of the core sectors falling by a record 5.8 per cent in October to an at least 14-year low, and production by seven of the eight industries declining, slow economic growth is expected by economists in the second quarter of this fiscal year. Experts predicted that GDP growth is likely to slip in the second quarter of FY20 from the already multi-year low in the first quarter. As a result, the pressure on the RBI to go for another rate cut will increase, despite elevated CPI inflation, they said.
Source: The Business Standard
On the lines of the Delhi government's scheme for consumers under the VAT regime, the Centre's lottery system will aim to increase compliance. Taking a copy of the bill from the seller may turn rewarding, with the government planning a lottery scheme for customers to improve compliance. The measure is being explored by the revenue augmentation officers committee to boost collections and it may be put before the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council during its meeting on December 18. The Consumer Welfare Fund, where anti-profiteering proceeds are deposited, will be used to reward the lucky winners on monthly and annual bases. The prize money, yet to be fixed, may run into several lakhs of rupees for the annual draw, and about Rs 50,000 for monthly draws. “The idea is to encourage consumers to ask for a bill, which will push sellers to become GST compliant and pay tax. A lot of beauty parlours and small hotels, for instance, do not give a bill handout. The lottery scheme will have a significant reward amount and this will encourage people to participate,” said a government official. The lottery scheme will be available for business-to-consumer transactions. Consumers will require to upload sale receipts on a dedicated portal for where winners will be picked. The Consumer Welfare Fund was created by the central government to allow companies to deposit the profiteered amount in cases where it cannot be returned to consumers. According to the anti-profiteering rules under the GST regime, suppliers of goods and services should pass on the commensurate benefit of any reduction in the rate of tax on such supplies or the benefit of input tax credit to the recipient by way of a commensurate reduction in prices. Recently, Nestlé was ordered by the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) to deposit Rs 90 crore in the fund for not passing on the benefit of rate cuts to end consumers. The GST Network (GSTN), the National Payments Commission of India (NPCI), and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs are proposed to be involved in the lottery process. “Involving more agencies will reduce chances of any fraud in picking winners,” said another official. The lottery scheme will be on the lines of what the Delhi government had under the value-added tax regime for consumers, said the official. The Delhi government had introduced the Bill Banao, Inaam Pao scheme in 2015 during the VAT regime. According to the scheme, a customer was eligible for a prize of five times the taxable value subject to a cap of Rs 50,000, if he/she purchased from a registered dealer. The minimum taxable value of goods was Rs 100 and included eateries. Nearly Rs 5.65 lakh reward amount was distributed among the participants Because the scheme, the Delhi government found that 224 dealers manipulated their records. “Similarly, we aim to crackdown on tax evaders using this (lottery) scheme,” said the official. M S Mani, partner, Deloitte India, said that it is essential to ensure GST compliance across the value chain, especially at the retail level. "Hence, any measure to encourage end-consumer level awareness will lead to significant improvements in compliance behaviour at the preceding supply chain levels as well," he said. The government is brainstorming innovative ways to plug tax leakages and boost revenues. The revenue has fallen short of compensation requirements of states. The Centre has asked states to recommend ways to improve compliance and collections. States are yet to receive compensation dues of four months from August onwards, forcing a few states to plan legal action against the Centre.
Source: The Business Standard
Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Thursday said there is a need to re-look at public policies for small, medium and solo entrepreneurs so that highest standards of services reach them and they also get access to cheaper credit. He also said women need to be given special attention on nutrition and education, as these are important for them to become successful entrepreneurs. "I think there is a huge need for financial sector reforms, re-calibration..there is a huge supply bottleneck of credit in the financial system for small, medium and solo enterprises," Kumar said at an event here. He said that often, it happens that these people borrow money at a high cost of 3 per cent per month and there is a need to see what can be done in this area using technology. "We need to see how to create the culture of bringing angel investors for these small enterprises, how to bring technology...we have to see what could be public policy steps to ensure that the small, medium and solo enterprises have access to the highest and most-developed forms of services that they need. We need to focus on our policy," Kumar said. Services such as access to credit, technology, market and information are readily available to the formal sector but not to the informal sector, he said. "At the moment, there is nothing like that (access of services to the informal sector). As pointed out in the last economic census, we had 6 million economic units and 50 per cent of those are small, very small in the informal sector without any access to anything in the formal sector and, therefore, they employ only 13 per cent of the total employable," Kumar said. He added that it is good to dream about the fact that 50 per cent of the gross domestic product would come from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) but at the moment, we are too far away," He said the Indian entrepreneurs are the best in the world but they face lack of services that a developed state can provide. Talking about women entrepreneurs, Kumar said the ground reality is that there are women who are undernourished and it is even higher in case of female child. "This is the ground reality, which if we don't tackle now, I think all our dreams will come crashing down because anaemic women, anaemic mothers, undernourished children don't become entrepreneurs, they simply are fighting to survive," he said. "We have to take that into account and think that 3-4 per cent of our children are undernourished." The Niti Aayog vice-chairman also said there is mentality to think that women cannot become successful entrepreneurs. "Therefore, we need to start off with two or three major things if we want to achieve what we want. One, I think we need to do whatever we can to end the situation of women undernourishment, and along with that, we need to focus on women education," he said. "Unless you do those two things, I think rest of the things will not matter and women education is actually in a worse situation," he added.
Source: The Economic Times
The government may impose anti dumping duty on a chemical used in polyester fibres and films, imported from five countries as the commerce ministry has launched an investigation for the same. The ministry's investigation arm DGTR has initiated the probe into an alleged dumping of “Mono Ethylene Glycol” originating in or exported from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Singapore, following a complaint from a domestic company. Reliance industries Ltd has filed an application on behalf of domestic industry before the DGTR for initiation of the investigation. According to a notification of the Directorate general of Trade Remedies (DGTR), the company has requested for imposition of anti-dumping duties on the imports. India Glycols Limited has also supported the application. It said that the authority has prima facie found that there is sufficient evidence of dumping of the chemical from these countries. "The Authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping and consequent injury to the domestic industry," it said. In the probe it would determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry. If established that dumping has caused material injury to domestic industry, the directorate would recommend the amount of antidumping duty. The period of investigation is January - September 2019. It would also look at the data of 2016-19. Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of the World Trade Organization. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trade practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers.
Source: The Economic Times
The Rajya Sabha passed the International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) Authority Bill by a voice vote on Thursday after a brief debate, paving the way for setting up a unified regulator for the IIFCs. “In a path breaking reform, both Houses pass International Financial Services Authority Bill, 2019. It will set up a world class unified regulator for international financial services combining powers and functions of RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA,” Department of Economic Affairs secretary Atanu Chakraborty tweeted after the passage of the bill, which had been passed by the Lok Sabha on the previous day. As per the bill, the authority will consist of nine members, appointed by the central government. Besides the chairperson, it will have a member each to be nominated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It will regulate financial products, financial services and financial institutions in an IFSC which has been approved by any regulator. All powers exercisable by the respective financial sector regulatory (such as RBI, Sebi, Irdai and PFRDA) under the respective Acts shall be solely exercised by the authority in the IFSCs insofar as the regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions that are permitted in the IFSC is concerned.
Source: The Economic Times
Goods imported as ‘gifts’ have been prohibited by the India government. Such duty-free imports via courier as well as through post will no longer be cleared by Customs, the government said in a notification on Thursday. The move is aimed at curbing imports by Chinese ecommerce vendors who were evading duties by declaring commercial shipments as gifts. “Import of goods, including those purchased from ecommerce portals, through post or courier, where Customs clearance is sought as gifts, is prohibited,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification. “Import of goods as gifts with payment of full applicable duties is allowed,” it said, amending the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20. Exceptions would only apply for import of life-saving drugs and rakhis (a usually colourful talisman that girls tie to their brothers’ wrist as part of the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan). ET was the first to report on November 25 that the government was looking to amend a rule which allowed citizens to receive gifts valued up to ?5,000 without paying duties. The amendment comes more than a year after the express courier port in Mumbai stopped clearing ‘gifts’ after it found that Chinese ecommerce vendors were misusing the channel. Subsequently, the other two express courier ports at Delhi and Bengaluru also refused to clear ‘gifts’. Nearly 90% of such shipments were through the three express courier ports. Other large courier ports — in Chennai, Kolkata and Kochi — also banned them earlier this year. “We now urge CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) to create a prepaid customs and IGST system so that cross-border shipments can seamlessly come to India (after paying appropriate taxes),” said Sachin Taparia, founder and chairman of LocalCircles, who had flagged the issue last year to government officials. The government has also identified other channels that are being misused by overseas ecommerce vendors to evade duties, ET had reported earlier.
Source: The Economic Times
The Home Fashion Products Association’s (HFPA) legal counsel has an offer for companies seeking to get an exemption on tariffs. Robert Leo, senior partner of Meeks, Sheppard, Leo & Pillsbury, already provides services to HFPA members and now will offer a special rate to non-members. The customs and trade law firm has filed over a hundred of exclusion requests for the Chinese-produced products on Lists 1, 2 and 3 and have had success in some cases, mostly notably on behalf of the American Down & Feather Council, an HFPA member. “A key benefit of filing a request is the opportunity to obtain a retroactive exclusion and refunds of the additional duties already paid since September 1, 2019,” said Leo. “From our experience, the argument from a company and the industry is more persuasive when more companies from the industry file detailed exclusion requests.” Companies that are not members of HFPA program can pay a $500 initial retainer that allows the firm to offer its time at half its normal hourly rates for the first 10 hours, 3/4 hourly rate for the next 10 hrs. and regular rates after that. “This allows your company to use our firm for the exclusion request and follow-up, including following your company’s requests, other companies’ exclusions, and obtaining refunds through Post Summary Changes and protests. This program would also cover work needed if your company’s other products end up on List 4B (scheduled to be effective on December 15, 2019) and additional exclusion requests are needed,” said Leo. HFPA members, even those who have just joined, are able to use the HFPA Legal Services Program. Non-members and those who don’t wish to tap into the association’s legal program can pay a flat fee of $2,500 US. This option includes the firm providing the form, advising on and developing arguments for the exclusion request, as well as completing and filing the exclusion request. It would also include informing the company of any opposing comments and assisting with the drafting and filing of rebuttal comments, if necessary. However, this option does not include the post-exclusion submission work regarding other companies’ exclusions or obtaining refunds should an exclusion be granted. The HFPA has been urging its members and the broader home textile community who are opposed to tariffs to make their voices heard. Conversely, the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), which represents US textile and fiber manufacturers, has been an active supporter of tariffs on Chinese imports, although it has petitioned for exclusions on some of the early tariff list textile component categories.
Source: Home Textiles Today
Zimbabwe and Brazil have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the up-scaling of cotton production in Zimbabwe. The MoU will see Zimbabwe receive Brazilian expertise on cotton production and the project will kick off in January 2020. Speaking at the signing ceremony yesterday, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ambassador James Manzou said it was Zimbabwe’s desire to learn from Brazil. “On behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe, l would like to express gratitude for the assistance that has been extended to Zimbabwe by the Government of Brazil through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency. Zimbabwe values the excellent relations that exist between our two countries especially cooperation in exchange of technical expertise and technology in the agricultural sector. “The Government of Zimbabwe is truly honoured and appreciates Brazil’s continued assistance. This project is coming soon after another gesture that was extended following the signing of the livestock and development project on 1 November 2019,” said Ambassador Manzou. Brazil had shown it understood that agriculture was the mainstay of the Zimbabwean economy which needed diversification to create more opportunities for value addition. “The validation mission on cotton production is critical to the country’s economic growth. This cooperation will go a long way in enhancing efforts to improve livelihoods, strengthen the economy and realize Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030.’’ Brazilian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mrs Anna Maria Pinto Morales said the agreement was meant to offer Brazil’s expertise to Zimbabwean in cotton production and institutions involved in cotton production. “We want to renovate and develop the production of cotton up to the industry and manufacturing. The idea is to help Zimbabwe to recover the textile industry. “We will provide capacity building. Brazil is a provider of technical cooperation and technology. There are many actions already and some actions to be developed. It needs some time and we are discussing the time frame,’’ she said . As a result of inadequate levels of inputs and agronomic support by cotton merchants — which led to low yields, high side-marketing and poor debt recovery in the past few years — the cotton industry almost collapsed.
After successfully establishing sustainable fibre brands such as Tencel and Ecovero, Lenzing has now brought to India its beauty and body care fibre brand Veocel. Derived from renewable raw material wood, Veocel provides natural care, every day, and is committed to driving industry standards around sustainability and natural comfort in the nonwovens sector. Veocel fibres are certified clean and safe, biodegradable, from the botanic origin, and manufactured in an environmentally responsible production process. With changing consumer habits, more and more nonwoven producers are shifting their product pipelines towards natural and eco-friendly materials to enhance product appeal and open more business opportunities. Lenzing being a pioneer in innovation has helped in fulfilling these needs through a more incorporating Veocel fibre in a diverse range of products. Blending Veocel branded fibre with other fibres adds a greater degree of smoothness and absorbency to nonwoven products and will significantly improve the liquid absorbency in products like wet wipes, offering a more convenient way to clean surfaces. Veocel brand offers a broad range of applications that cater to daily use, including beauty, baby care, body and intimate care and surface cleaning. Consumer applications such as face sheet masks, facial cleansing wipes, deodorant wipes, baby wipes, hand sanitizing wipes, intimate wipes, diapers, sanitary napkins, disinfectant wipes, etc made using Veocel branded fibres have distinctive features such as strength, absorbency, liquid management, biodegradability while giving additional features like comfort, cloth-like feel, and smoothness, making it a viable eco-friendly option to choose from. Worldwide efforts advancing towards eco-friendly plastic alternatives have skyrocketed in recent years, as different stakeholders are eager to make a difference in their field of expertise. When it comes to personal care products, fibre transparency becomes an important benchmark in determining the sustainability of products such as wipes and facial sheet masks. The soon-to-be-published European Union Single-Use Plastics Directive had identified wipes as one of the ten most polluting items found on European beaches and calls for clearer marking requirements, which shall disclose the presence of plastic materials in wipes and disposal options on the product packaging. This concern plagues India and as the country moves towards getting rid of single-use plastics by 2022, there would be no better time than now for Lenzing to bring Veocel to Indian beauty and home brands. With brands currently using materials that are single-usage applications and do not possess processes that reduce the ecological footprint, there is a need to bring about fibre options such as Veocel into the Indian market. Global beauty brands across Europe, US, South East, and North Asia have now been using Veocel fibres as part of their product range, making a change towards sustainable living. “2019 has been an exciting year for Lenzing. Earlier, we forayed in footwear with Tencel and now beauty and body products with Veocel. We are confident that brands and consumers will also welcome Veocel and appreciate the experience our fibres create. We will continue to drive innovation and transparency efforts in the nonwovens segment and work closely with industry partners to co-create a more nature-friendly future. Since the inception of the Veocel brand, we have been pioneering the development and application of sustainable nonwoven technologies and applications. Promoting a circular economy will continue to be a key strategy of the Lenzing Group,” said Avinash Mane, commercial head – Lenzing South Asia. The Lenzing Group stands for the ecologically responsible production of specialty fibres made from the renewable raw material wood. As an innovation leader, Lenzing is a partner of global textile and nonwoven manufacturers and drives many new technological developments.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
President Donald Trump said the U.S. and China are very close to signing a “big” trade deal that’s expected to see him reduce existing tariffs and delay ones due to take effect on Sunday, sending stocks to new records. “They want it, and so do we!” he tweeted five minutes after stocks opened in New York. Trump is due to meet with key trade advisers at 2:30 p.m. at the White House, a person familiar with the negotiations said. His statement Thursday that the U.S. wants a deal soon contrasted with remarks he made earlier this month that suggested he was willing to wait until after the 2020 elections in the U.S. to sign a pact. The S&P 500 Index rallied to a record after Trump’s tweet, and the MSCI All-Country stock index surged to its first record since January 2018. The U.S. has added a 25% duty on about $250 billion of Chinese products and a 15% levy on another $110 billion of its imports over the course of a roughly 20-month trade war. Discussions now are focused on reducing those rates by as much as half, as part of a phase-one agreement Trump announced almost nine weeks ago. A phase-one pact is expected to be built largely around a significant increase in Chinese agricultural purchases in exchange for the U.S. delaying a new round of tariffs scheduled to take effect Dec.15 and a reduction in existing levies on Chinese goods. Officials have also said it will include Chinese commitments to do more to stop intellectual-property theft and an agreement by both sides not to manipulate their currencies. Put off for later discussions are knotty issues such as longstanding U.S. complaints over the vast web of subsidies ranging from cheap electricity to low-cost loans that China has used to build its industrial might. While the White House gathering may highlight continuing divisions over whether to hit Beijing with a new wave of tariffs, Trump’s tweet suggests he may be willing to forego escalation for now. December tariff round would have more costs than benefits for the U.S. Officials from the world’s two biggest economies have been locked in negotiations on the phase-one deal since Trump announced it. The new duties, which are due to go ahead at 12:01 a.m. Washington time on Sunday unless the administration signals otherwise, would hit some $160 billion in consumer goods from China including smartphones and toys. Before today, Trump’s advisers have sent conflicting signals and stressed that he hadn’t made up his mind on the next steps. Advocates of delaying the tariff increase have argued that continued negotiations with Beijing will enable him to maintain a tough line with Beijing without the economic damage that more import taxes might bring. The decision facing Trump highlights one dilemma he confronts going into the 2020 election: Whether to bet on an escalation of hostilities with China and the tariffs he is so fond of or to follow the advice of more market-oriented advisers and business leaders who argue a pause in the escalation would help a slowing U.S. economy bounce back in an election year. Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative leading the negotiations with China, is in a camp who sees progress in talks and wants them to continue without further escalation, according to people familiar with the discussions. That would set up a push to conclude the talks in January, possibly before a State of the Union address to Congress by Trump.
Source: Bloomberg
