The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 08 MAY, 2020

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

Govt fast-tracks new definition of MSMEs

The government is fast-tracking the move to amend the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to allow these entities to grow in size. The plan, which has been in the works for months, is likely to be part of the stimulus package, that is expected to be announced shortly. There have been detailed discussions on the issue with the law ministry, which is open to allowing the definition change, sources told TOI. There are around 6.3 crore MSME units in the country, with over 99% categorised as small units. Unlike the current definition, which is linked to investment in plant and machinery, the government has been pushing for turnover-based classification, something that has been opposed by powerful lobby groups such as Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Laghu Udyog Bharti, arguing that it will not be in the interest of manufacturers but will benefit assemblers. Although the Centre had intended to amend the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Act, the existing law may give the government some leeway in adding an additional condition. The Narendra Modi government had proposed to amend the definition during its first term itself but failed to push though the legislative change due to opposition from the RSS affiliates. Last August, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the move as part of a series of stimulus packages announced by her in the wake of slowdown. So far, the government has once again been unable to move the Bill but is now keen to ensure that MSMEs, which want to scale up to take on competition from larger and foreign players, are not hobbled by the definition that was put in place in 2006. According to the earlier proposal, any unit with a turnover of up to Rs 5 crore was to be classified as a micro enterprise, while those with up to Rs 75 crore annual revenue will be in the small unit category. Similarly, entities with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore will be classified as medium-sized enterprises. Until the 2006 law was enacted, there was only one category of manufacturing that was classified as small scale enterprise, eligible for several benefits, including on payment of excise.

Source: Times of India

Back to top

Govt allows biz to verify monthly GST return through EVC

With requirement of digital signature delaying monthly GST return filings and tax payment, the government has allowed businesses to verify the return through EVC till June 30. In a notification, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said any registered person during the period from the April 21, 2020 to June 30, 2020, will be allowed to furnish the return under section 39 in Form GSTR-3B verified through electronic verification code (EVC). Currently, businesses are required to digitally sign GSTR-3B form while filing monthly return and paying taxes. However, with offices shut due to the lockdown, businesses are unable to generate digital signature which has led to delay in filing returns. The low collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April has forced the government to defer the release of monthly GST revenue data on May 1. Further, the CBIC has also introduced a new rule in Central GST rules stipulating furnishing of 'Nil' return by short messaging service (SMS) facility. This mean businesses with nil or no entry in all the tables in form GSTR-3B can file return through SMS using the registered mobile number and the said return will be verified by a registered mobile number based one time password (OTP) facility. AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said these procedural reliefs would come as a welcome move for the taxpayers and tax consultants, who can now complete the monthly chores without going to office. "Government is trying to woo the businesses only with the help of procedural reliefs, where trade and industry are in dire need of a fiscal stimulus," he added.

Source: Economic Times

Back to top

Procedural relief to GST payers, but experts say no substitute for financial package

The e-way bill generated on or before March 24 and expiring during the March 20-April 15 period would now be valid till May 31. The government has provided more procedural and compliance-related relief to GST taxpayers, but experts said these measures are not a substitute for a stimulus package in the form of tax relief to help struggling businesses, especially MSMEs. Among the measures announced late on Tuesday, the government extended the e-way bill validity for the second time since the lockdown was imposed. The e-way bill generated on or before March 24 and expiring during the March 20-April 15 period would now be valid till May 31. This is likely to help trucks stuck en route to reach their destinations. Further, the notification extended by three months the deadline for furnishing the annual return and GST audit for financial year 2018-19 to September 30. Additionally, a taxpayer can now furnish monthly return GSTR-3B showing nil sales through SMS using the registered mobile number. This return would be verified by a registered mobile number based one-time password (OTP) facility, the notification said. •These procedural reliefs will support basic finance functions of the industry, however, what MSMEs need currently is a big stimulus package, without which millions of jobs could be threatened,” Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG & Associates, said. Pritam Mahure, a chartered accountant, said the Covid-19 pandemic has left no choice for the government but to provide substantial tax relief for businesses as procedural relief would only help them manage the compliance burden.

Source: Financial Express

Back to top

Govt working on financial package for all sectors amid Covid outbreak

Union Minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said "a package is going to be declared". The government is working on a comprehensive financial package not only for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) but for all sectors of the economy, a top official said on Thursday. “The Union government, Prime Minister’s Office, and the Department of Economic Affairs are already working on a package, which includes not only the MSME but also the entire industry. All sectors of the economy being taken care of by a comprehensive package, being worked out in the government,” said Giridhar Aramane, secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways. He was speaking during an interaction with members of SIAM Institute via videoconferencing. Participating in the same meeting, Union Minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said “a package is going to be declared”.  The minister noted that the pendency of dues owed to MSME units by the Centre and states, public sector undertakings, and major industries was “very high”. “My request to all of you, as members of major industries, if it is possible for you to at any cost release the payment within a month. Don’t take more time than that otherwise the situation is very bad,” he said. “But still if anywhere you have a problem, please be positive about this sector, because this is really on the verge of collapse,” Gadkari said. He said the ministry had firmed up plans to execute Rs 15 trillion worth of highway projects in the next two years. It is learnt that this Rs 15 trillion worth of projects are part of the National Infrastructure Pipeline, announced by the Finance Minister  in December.  Gadkari said he had asked the officials to finalise the auto scrapping policy quickly. India has registered 3,561 cases and 89 deaths in a single day, taking the total confirmed cases to almost 53,000 as of Thursday, according to the health ministry data. India has so far conducted 1,357,413 tests, the Indian Council of Medical Research data said.  According to the COV-IND-19 Study Group, to get to 1 per cent of the population tested, India needs to be at 13.5 million tests. It said while India seems to have done relatively well in controlling the number of cases  in the early phase, there is a critical missing or unknown component in this assessment. “The number of truly affected cases,” which depends on the extent of testing, the accuracy of the test results and, in particular, the frequency and scale of testing of asymptomatic cases who may have been exposed,” the study said.

Source: Business Standard

Back to top

Indian spinners stare at $3-billion loss in FY21: Icra

The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting the domestic cotton spinning sector hard, with performance in FY21 likely to be at multi-year lows.  Amid severe demand disruptions, pressure on realisations as well as contribution margins, the operating income of cotton spinners is expected to decline 15-20% on a year-on-year basis, while the operating margins are estimated to correct by 200-400 bps for the full year FY21, compared to the FY20E levels, said an Icra note on Thursday. This comes at a time when the Indian spinning sector was just starting to come out of a challenging FY20 that saw severe demand-side pressures and unfavourable movements in raw material prices and yarn realisations. There had been a visible weakening in credit profile of domestic spinners in FY20, corroborated by a credit ratio (upgrade to downgrade) of 0.35 times during the year. With widening impact of the pandemic and no meaningful recovery in sight, at least in H1 FY21, Icra is maintaining the negative outlook on the cotton spinning sector, assigned in August 2019.This apart, weak demand outlook for India’s apparels and home textile exports is expected to affect yarn consumption by the downstream companies engaged in exports. “With expectations of a slow paced and elongated recovery post the initial lockdowns, we expect severe pressures on the performance of the domestic spinning companies in FY21, and a loss of business to the tune of $2.5-3 billion in FY21,” said Jayanta Roy, senior vice-president and group head, corporate sector ratings, Icra. Demand for the downstream products such as fabrics, apparels and home textiles, has been sluggish beginning March 2020, amid the lockdown across nations. Being vulnerable to consumer sentiments and discretionary spending, downstream segments are likely to witness severe demand-side pressures over the next two quarters as well, even after the initial lockdown is lifted. Yarn, being an intermediate product, is likely to face a ripple effect of the contraction in demand in the downstream segments. Icra expects India’s cotton yarn exports to fall 18-20% to nearly a decade-low level of 750 million kg in FY21, closer to the level of exports last seen in FY12, following an estimated 25% decline in FY20, as domestic cotton yarn remained uncompetitive in global markets during much of the previous year. The situation is likely to worsen, given the supply glut situation, which is currently evolving in China. As the lockdown in China was lifted from the beginning of April 2020 onwards, spinners there have been scaling up operations even as demand from the downstream segments remains subdued amid weak domestic consumption demand as well as lack of demand in the export markets. As a result, there are reports of inventory pile-ups in China. Besides affecting direct demand from China, as it generally consumes 8-10% of India’s cotton yarn production, the supply glut in China is likely to result in an increase in competition for India’s cotton yarn in other overseas markets as well. “Though performance pressures are expected across the spectrum, highly leveraged entities in lower rating categories would remain more vulnerable over the next few quarters, with heightened challenges of increased working capital requirements and diminishing order book position. In comparison, we expect the impact to be lower on credit profiles of companies with an established customer base, low term debt obligations and companies which have stocked lower cotton fibre at high prices,” Roy said.

Source: Financial Express

Back to top

India can notch up incremental exports of $20 bn in next 5 years, if opportunities are capitalised on: SBI’s Ecowrap

India can look at incremental exports growing by $20 billion (in the least favourable outcome) to a significant $193 billion jump in the five-year horizon only if it builds its capabilities and captures share from China, according to State Bank of India’s economic research report ‘Ecowrap’. Although 2020 is a lost year in terms of trade, India can think long-term and build relations so that it can occupy the space vacated by China, the report said. India has a very small manufacturing base as compared to China and the government will have to give a significant push, both in terms of strategic relations and structural reforms, it added. “When we look at the value of merchandise exports for 2019, China exported $2.5 trillion worth of goods, while India exported $0.3 billion worth of merchandise. This means that China exports seven times the amount of goods India exports in a year,” Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, SBI, said. The report said the manner in which India manoeuvres the geo-political space will clearly determine how successful it is in becoming an export behemoth. “With just 1.7 per cent in global merchandise exports, India has a long road ahead to catch up with China. But it must be now, now and now !” it said. Referring to Vietnam, which has rapidly captured merchandise exports, the report observed that it is also said that a fair number of the factories being rapidly put up in that country are owned and financed by the same Chinese companies being dislodged in their home country. However, there is no denying the fact that Vietnam has gained in this trade war, with its cheap labour and cheap currency. Ecowrap noted that although the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) for India is lower than China as far as capital goods exports are concerned, India can still capitalise on this opportunity to push its capital goods exports. However, the bigger opportunity right now is in the consumer goods sector, in which India has an RCA greater than China, it added. Within consumer goods, the biggest concentration of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country is in the textile and clothing sector (17.30 per cent), followed by food products (12.30 per cent) and crop and animal production (10 per cent). “Although we do have comparative advantage in textiles and animal goods, in food products we are not competitive. The government can give a direct push to this sector, so that MSMEs involved in the manufacture of food products are benefitted,” the report suggested.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Back to top

SEZ units want customs duty waiver for domestic sale as exports plummet

NEW DELHI: Faced with extensive cancellation of global orders due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, units in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) want the government to allow them to sell their products in the domestic market without payment of customs duties. At present, SEZs are also not able to sell their products in the domestic market, as payment of customs duty as per Section 30 of SEZ Act, 2005, is making their products uncompetitive, the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES) said in a letter to commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal. Asking for a waiver of customs duties, the council said that SEZ units should be allowed to make Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) sale on payment of duty in line with EOU (export-oriented units) or equivalent to duty forgone on the raw material used in the manufacture of finished goods sold in DTA market. “This will help SEZs to survive and utilize their spare/idle manufacturing capacity as well as to give employment with wages as well…This will help these units to survive in the domestic market,” it said in the letter as besides cancelled export orders, there will also be minimal export orders in the near future. As per the council, EPCES sector provides direct employment to more than 25 lakhs people with investment of more than 5.5 lakhs crore and contributes Rs 7.87 lakhs crore to India’s export basket.

Source: Economic Times

Back to top

As cotton swabs run out, ICMR looks at polyester

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been evaluating the effectiveness of polyester swabs for Covid-19 test kits amid a shortage of cotton swabs. Nasal and throat swabs are used to detect the presence of the coronavirus and the shortage of cotton swabs could lead to a slowdown in the testing process in India. The government and companies are looking at other options and polyester swabs are being considered a suitable alternative. A study by an infectious disease physician in the Seattle area found that Covid-19 specimens can be successfully taken with polyester swabs. The US Food and Drug Administration changed its guidelines recently to allow polyester swabs, with samples stored in saline, to be used for testing. The ICMR has validated polyester swabs made by Suparshva Swabs, said Rahul Jain, a partner at the New Delhi-based company that makes Tulips-branded products. ICMR’s validation came through on Tuesday, Jain said. Until last month, polyester swabs were not manufactured in India and were imported from the US or China. With global demand for this product going up, it became difficult and more expensive to buy these swabs from either country. India was facing a shortage as it is an imported material. They were not only 10 times more expensive but there was a shortage, too,” said Jain. ICMR approached the company last month to make polyester swabs, Jain said. “We changed our production line to make the requisite product as per the ICMR guidelines. With the approval coming in, supply will start to the VTM (viral transport medium) manufacturers,” he said. The company produces 2 million polyester swabs a week. India uses the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) process to detect the presence of the coronavirus and plans to increase its testing capacity to 500,000 a day by July.

Source: Economic Times

Back to top

Refunds for garments exporters: Govt clears Rs 3,000-crore pending claims, more to follow

To ease liquidity for garment and made-up exporters, the government has cleared long-pending claims worth roughly Rs 3,000 crore since January under a so-called Rebate of State and Central Taxes & Levies (RoSCTL) scheme, trade sources told FE. The revenue department has also asked the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) to release Rs 464 crore against pending claims under another scheme, Remission of State Levies, which was replaced with the RoSCTL programme — meant for compensating them for various state as well as central government impost — on March 7, 2019. Benefits under the RoSL were stuck for more than a year, triggering protests from the cash-strapped exporters. In an office memorandum dated April 30, reviewed by FE, the revenue department has said it has approved the release of the RoSL benefits, which will, however, be in the form of scrips, instead of cash. Exporters will also be allowed to use the scrip for the payment of customs and central excise duties. Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman A Sakthivel welcomed the government’s move and expected that the benefit comes at a time when the industry is going through a rough patch due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The move comes at a time when the Covid-19 outbreak has already accentuated a slowdown in merchandise exports. Outbound shipments of garments shrank 4% year-on-year in FY20 to $15.5 billion (even on a favourable base), aiding a decline in overall exports that contracted by close to 5% in FY20. But the government has already scrapped benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) for garments and made-up exporters retrospectively from March 7, 2019. However, to offer some relief to the exporters from the retrospective move, an earlier government order had said if the RoSCTL benefit between March 7 and December 31, 2019, was lower than the combined incentives under the MEIS and RoSL (which they were enjoying until the RoSCTL roll-out), the government would provide an “additional ad-hoc incentive” of up to 1% of FoB value of exported products, with a cap of Rs 600 crore, for this period. But, compounding exporters’ woes, it had asked those who had availed of the MEIS benefits between March 7 and July 31, 2019 ( after which MEIS benefits were blocked to them), to return the incentives, or the amount could be suitably adjusted against their future benefits. Exporters had said even with the extra incentive, the total benefit was lower by as much as two percentage points than what they used to get in March 2019. A senior government official had earlier told FE that the resource-strapped revenue department felt that since garment/made-up exporters were to get the RoSCTL benefits (which are not extended to other exporters), they shouldn’t be simultaneously granted the MEIS benefits, which, in any case, had come under the WTO scrutiny. However, the textile ministry was learnt to have been backing the garment exporters’ claims and wanted both the MEIS and RoSCTL to co-exist.

Source: Financial Express

Back to top

Textile units in Karur hit hard by nixed orders

With Europe and the US most affected by COVID-19, experts and industrialists have calculated a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore. The pandemic and resultant lockdown across the globe has dealt a body blow to textile industry in Karur which is bracing for a loss of around Rs 1,500 crore. Karur is one of the hubs for manufacture and export of kitchen and household textiles. For over 25 years, manufacturers and exporters from the district have been participating in the annual international textile fair in Germany through which they receive the majority of their orders. Industries also receive orders from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Every year, the industries receive orders worth Rs 3,500 crore in foreign exchange. Though this year the industries received their share of orders, many were cancelled due to the pandemic, resulting in huge losses. With Europe and the US most affected by COVID-19, experts and industrialists have calculated a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore. Gopalakrishnan, former secretary of Karur District Exporters Association, said, “Industries here receive orders in December and January, April and May and August and September. These are our peak seasons and business amounts to Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore. Now, finished products are lying in factories as we are unable to export them.” He added, “The government has given the nod to start production. We can operate now, but many of our foreign buyers have cancelled orders. Till now, over 50 per cent of orders have been cancelled. It would be a miracle if there is business of over Rs 500 crore. We would lose August and September orders too if the crisis does not come to an end. Industries here are on the verge of facing a loss of around Rs 1,000 to 1,500 crore.” Speaking on assistance from the government, Gopalakrishnan said, “The government must provide us an exemption from paying ESI and PF to employees for at least six months. Interest on loans received for export trading must be waived and the repayment period of our loan amounts extended without any penalty. The central government must provide financial assistance and a fund of Rs 2 crore to MSMEs through banks. Only through these kinds of assistance would industries here be able to restart production.”

Source: The New Indian Express

Back to top

Govt appoints Tarun Bajaj as Director on RBI Central Board

The government has appointed Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj as a director on the central board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Bajaj replaces Atanu Chakraborty, who retired on April 30. "The Central Government has nominated Tarun Bajaj, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India as a Director on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India vice Atanu Chakraborty," RBI said in a statement on Wednesday. The nomination of Bajaj is effective from May 5 and until further orders, it said. Prior to taking over as Economic Affairs Secretary, Bajaj, a 1988 batch IAS officer, was the Additional Secretary in Prime Minister's Office. Before joining the Prime Minister's Office in 2015, Bajaj was Joint Secretary in Economic Affairs Department, looking after multilateral funding agencies division.He worked as Joint Secretary and Director in the Department of Financial Services. As a Joint Secretary in the Department of Financial Services for four years, he was looking after the insurance division.

Source: Economic Times

Back to top

Common tariff code glitch creates minor roadblock for mask exports

A six-digit code that identifies over 5,000 goods worldwide has emerged as a roadblock stalling exports of cloth masks from India even as exporters have been flooded with queries for coloured and designer masks. India has banned export of masks that fall under specific tariff code. Smriti Irani-led textiles ministry has initiated talks with commerce ministry on how to address the issue. “The issue is all masks have the same HSN code. N-95 and surgical masks are required for Covid-19.The issue is now being examined,” said an official in the know of the details. The government in March, had banned the exports of all ventilators, surgical/disposable masks (2/3 ply) masks only and textile raw materials for masks and coveralls in certain tariff codes. However, industry says that customs authorities are not permitting export of knitted cloth masks under the apparel and clothing accessories tariff code. Every traded product is categorised under an HSN code — the global systematic classification of goods. “Considering the business opportunity including exports potential, may we request…to kindly help to permit for export of cloth masks, failing which all the orders will naturally go to our competitors and we will be missing to capitalise the opportunity,” said Raja M Shanmugham, President, Tiruppur Exporters’ Association in a letter to textiles ministry.

Source: Economic Times

Back to top

Carpet exporters look to regain lost business with ‘virtual’ fair

With the on-going global pandemic bringing carpet exports to a halt and organising exhibitions and fairs becoming a near impossibility, exporters are trying to step into the previously uncharted territory of virtual fairs to gain back business. The attempt would be to create the same physical experience for foreign buyers and buying agents for the sourcing that they are used to, exporters say. “Because of the pandemic, we cannot allow business to stop. There is no alternative other than making a success of a virtual fair as we cannot physically organise the bi-annual exhibition that our foreign buyers are so used to attending to place their orders,” Sanjay Kumar, Executive Director, Carpet Export Promotion Council, told BusinessLine. Carpet exports from India were valued at about ₹12,000 crore in 2019-20, but in the current fiscal, because of the lockdown, outbound shipments could decline significantly. This would not only serve a blow to over 25,000 businesses engaged in this sector but also affect the livelihoods of an estimated 20 lakh workers and artisans. “Carpet exports have come to a standstill since the lockdown was implemented from March 25. There has been large-scale cancellation of orders from our major markets in the EU and the US. By organising a successful virtual fair, we can try to get back business, pointed out Siddh Nath Singh, a UP-based exporter and Chairman of CEPC. Singh expressed hope that with meticulous planning the virtual exhibition could be a big success as the only thing missing would be the touch and feel of the product which is important to determine quality. However, the problem could be resolved by sending the sample to the buyer before finalising the order. On the bright side, Singh expects more than the 400 usual foreign buyers who visit the CEPC bi-annual exhibition regularly, will participate in the virtual fair. “Since buyers need not travel physically to reach the fair, the number of participants may be much more than what we have in our physical fairs. It could be close to 700-800,” he said.

Positive response

A video conference was organised by CEPC on Tuesday to get the views of buyers and buying agents on the virtual conference. “We got a positive response and hope to hold the exhibition sometime in August or September,” Singh said. By that time, exporters hope, the associated problems being faced by carpet units with the partial lifting of the lockdown would be sorted out. Sellers from all major carpet producing areas like Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, Panipat and Srinagar are expected to participate in the exhibition.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Back to top

Global Textile Raw Material Price 08-05-2020

Item

Price

Unit

Fluctuation

Date

PSF

763.57

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

VSF

1226.79

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

ASF

1582.84

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

Polyester    POY

768.50

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

Nylon    FDY

1833.13

USD/Ton

0.78%

08-05-2020

40D    Spandex

4018.79

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

Nylon    POY

937.72

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

Acrylic    Top 3D

2157.45

USD/Ton

0.66%

08-05-2020

Polyester    FDY

5189.17

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

Nylon    DTY

987.07

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

Viscose    Long Filament

1734.42

USD/Ton

0.82%

08-05-2020

Polyester    DTY

1748.52

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

30S    Spun Rayon Yarn

1741.47

USD/Ton

-0.40%

08-05-2020

32S    Polyester Yarn

1339.60

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

45S    T/C Yarn

2150.40

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

40S    Rayon Yarn

1551.11

USD/Ton

-0.90%

08-05-2020

T/R    Yarn 65/35 32S

2016.44

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

45S    Polyester Yarn

1903.64

USD/Ton

0%

08-05-2020

T/C    Yarn 65/35 32S

1663.92

USD/Ton

-3.28%

08-05-2020

10S    Denim Fabric

1.13

USD/Meter

0%

08-05-2020

32S    Twill Fabric

0.65

USD/Meter

0%

08-05-2020

40S    Combed Poplin

0.93

USD/Meter

0%

08-05-2020

30S    Rayon Fabric

0.49

USD/Meter

-0.58%

08-05-2020

45S    T/C Fabric

0.64

USD/Meter

0%

08-05-2020

Source: Global Textiles

Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14101 USD dtd. 08-05/2020). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com.  SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.

Back to top

What a sustainable circular economy would look like

More than 100 billion tonnes of materials entered the global economy in 2017 to generate power, build infrastructure and homes, produce food, and provide consumer goods such as clothes and phones. There are now more phones than people on the planet, and the amount of clothes purchased is forecast to reach more than 92 million tonnes by 2030. Some estimates suggest that 99% of the things people buy is discarded within six months of purchasing without the material being recovered. That's because we have what you might call a linear economy. It works by extracting resources and manufacturing products from them, that are sold to people and then generally disposed of after a short period of use. But the COVID-19 pandemic has upended normal economic activity, dipping the global economy into what may become the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Rather than try to revive a system that's inherently wasteful, the European Commission has vowed to build a sustainable circular economy post-pandemic. The idea of a circular economy is simple: to make better use of resources, close loops of resource flows by fully recovering materials instead of wasting them, and prevent waste and pollution by better design of products and materials and keeping them in use for longer. Sounds great, but how might it work? Our research programme supported the implementation of a circular economy in the UK and we discovered that three broad types exist.

1. Closing loops with energy from waste

The first strategy to "close" loops of material flows is energy from waste (EfW) – burning discarded material to generate electricity. This has replaced landfill as the main processing method for household waste in the UK. Local authorities in the UK collect 26 million tonnes of waste per year, of which 11 million tonnes goes to EfW while three million tonnes ends up in landfill. Between three to six times more waste plastic, food and textiles go to EfW than are recycled, as does two-thirds of waste paper and card. Burning materials that could be recycled means everything invested in them is lost, such as money, energy, water and labour. Materials such as nutrients in food and fibres in textiles are then replaced by virgin resources, perpetuating the unsustainable impacts of resource extraction. Although a recent inquiry suggests EfW may have some social benefits—like providing heat to fuel-poor households—it creates fewer jobs than recycling, reuse, repair and remanufacturing and releases greenhouse gases. But investment in the UK favours EfW. It's the path of least resistance, requiring hardly any changes to supply chains or how goods are consumed and disposed of. The UK is practically heading for this pseudo circular economy that is effectively unchanged from the linear take-make-waste model, fitting in with the prevailing short-term economic thinking and a singular focus on GDP growth.

2. A circular economy based on recycling

One step up from EfW is the recovery of materials—recycling. In England, the volumes of municipal waste and the proportion that is collected for recycling has remained more or less unchanged (42%) for the past ten years. Some recycling rates have gone up (eg. from 5% to 11% for food) but others have dropped (56% to 53% for paper and card). Textiles are particularly poor. The average UK citizen buys 26.7 kg of clothing annually—the most in Europe—and one million tonnes are discarded each year in England. Most binned clothes are incinerated, and increasingly less are recycled (from 17% to 11% since 2010). The recovered fibres are normally suitable only for lower-value applications, such as carpets and insulation. New clothes rarely contain more than a few percent of recycled material, sustaining demand for virgin natural resources. In a circular economy that relies on recycling to close loops, people aren't forced to change how much stuff they buy, but manufacturers and waste management companies would change more radically. For example, drinks bottles often use different plastics for the body, cap and label. If these mix in the recycling process they reduce the quality of the recycled material, but separating them is awkward. All products should be redesigned to ensure they are recyclable. Manufacturers should use more recycled material in new products too, creating markets for recovered materials. Massive investment in recycling infrastructure would be required though. Just to meet plastic packaging recycling targets, more than 50 new recycling plants would be needed in England. Although recycling normally is less energy-intensive than processing virgin resources, it still uses a lot of energy which produces carbon emissions. Even if all recycling used renewable energy, the new infrastructure would require vast amounts of virgin materials to be built. In developed countries the total amount of materials within the economy has to be reduced.

3. A sustainable circular economy

To achieve a truly sustainable circular economy, consumption and production practices would need to change together. A sustainable circular economy involves designing and promoting products that last and that can be reused, repaired and remanufactured. This retains the functional value of products, rather than just recovering the energy or materials they contain and continuously making products anew. We have to do more with less material and consume responsibly. For example, people in the UK should buy fewer new clothes and wear what they already have more often. Repairing and restyling our favourite clothes can also help to use them more and waste less. New ways of consuming opens up opportunities for circular economy business models, such as leasing clothes and producing things that people need on demand only. Business models based on reuse, leasing, repair and remanufacturing could generate four times more jobs than waste treatment, disposal and recycling. They generate local economic activity, helping to strengthen relations within communities. A sustainable circular economy represents a new economic model in which the aim shifts from narrow GDP growth to "multi-dimensional progress"—the broader strengthening of environmental quality, human well-being and economic prosperity for current and future generations. Only such a circular economy could potentially regenerate the environment. How we use resources has transformed our economy and society in the past. A circular economy offers us a chance to deliver sustainable benefits for the future. Let's not waste it.

Source: The Conversation

Back to top

UKFT announces updates on international textile shows

UKFT has announced the updates on international textile shows. UKFT helps fashion and textile companies exhibit at a range of international events including Pitti Uomo, Playtime Paris, Première Vision, Intertextile Shanghai, Heimtextil, and Paris Fashion Week. It also provide export grants on behalf of the department for international trade. The Paris and Shanghai textile shows are expected to go ahead on their originally planned dates. The fashion and footwear show scene, however, is more complicated. Most shows originally scheduled for June and July are looking to go ahead from September onwards on the assumption that there are no further outbreaks of Covid-19 and that exhibitors and collections are able to travel. In a number of cases, men’s and pre-editions of shows are looking to align with existing womenswear dates with Paris, the most notable, being in the first week of October. This is an interesting new trend as it potentially gives strength in numbers, and is in line with many of the newer fashion weeks, enabling menswear and womenswear collections to be bought at the same time, according to a press release by UKFT. The Berlin Fashion Week and Playtime Paris will be held online and dates will be announced soon. Pitti Uomo will be held from September 2-4, 2020, Pitti Bimbo will be held on September 9-10, 2020. Who’s Next Paris will be held from September 4-5, 2020, and Unique by Eurovet will be held from September 5-7, 2020. Première Vision Paris will be held from September 15-17, 2020. Intertextile Shanghai will be held from September 23-25, 2020. New York Women’s Fashion Week will be held from September 20-24, 2020. Paris Men’s, Pre and Splash and Paris Women’s Fashion Week will be held from October 1-6, 2020. Most of the Berlin shows (Premium/Seek and Panorama/Selvedge Run) have cancelled their physical events but will be offering a virtual alternative. Details on the platforms should follow soon. Neonyt have yet to make an announcement but are likely to follow suit. Unique has announced that it will go back to its original timeslot alongside Who’s Next in Paris. The childrenswear show Playtime has announced that it will not run a physical show, preferring to promote its www.playologie.com online format which is already popular with buyers. The situation in the US is less clear. The New York Men’s events MRket, Project, and Liberty will show at the same time as Coterie, Capsule NYC, and Woman NYC. The Miami Swim Week events are still currently scheduled to be held from July 11-14, 2020. This seems problematic and further announcements are expected. MAGIC and the other Las Vegas Fashion Week events are sticking to their original dates from August 17-19, 2020, but this may need to be kept under close watch. The same also applies to the Chicago Menswear Collective currently scheduled to be held from August 2-4, 2020. The Chicago Mart is looking at dates to see whether it is feasible to move the show into September or later. Most trade shows and showrooms are determined to get back to business as soon as possible, but it is not clear which international retailers will choose to travel and, once there, what budgets they may have. The online platforms and showrooms can potentially address the issue of retailers who are unable to travel but we know that many stores have excess stock on their hands for Spring/Summer 2020. Some are looking at representing this in 2021.

Source: Fibre2Fashion

Back to top

Italian textile machinery orders decline in first quarter

ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, has announced that during the first quarter of 2020, the orders intake of Italian textile machinery has registered a sharp drop. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted heavily on the Italian textile sector. The consequences on the orders will be more negative in the second quarter. The index of orders intake for textile machines drawn up by ACIMIT for the period from January to March 2020 fell by 31 per cent, compared to the same period of 2019. The index value stood at 72.2 basis points (2015 = 100). Orders intake was negative both on foreign markets and in Italy. In the foreign markets orders were down 26 per cent, while on the domestic market they marked -57 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2019, according to a press release by ACIMIT. “The orders index sank compared to 2019, a year already negative. Indeed in 2019 the Italian textile machinery industry observed a decrease both in production (-13 per cent) and in exports (-14 per cent) compared to the previous year,” Alessandro Zucchi, president of ACIMIT said. Following a difficult year, the Italian textile machinery had to face COVID-19 pandemic, which led, as a first consequence, to the slowdown of the main markets in the sector, China, Turkey, and India, in the first month of 2020.

Source: Fibre2fashion

Back to top