The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 19 AUGUST, 2020

 NATIONAL

 INTERNATIONAL

PM chairs meet to review preparations for master plan for multi-modal connectivity to economic zones

The prime minister described it as an important endeavour that will boost productivity, infrastructure, economic progress and opportunities for youngsters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a meeting to review the preparations for the national master plan for providing multi-modal connectivity to various economic zones. The prime minister described it as an important endeavour that will boost productivity, infrastructure, economic progress and opportunities for youngsters. "Chaired a meeting to review the preparations for National Master Plan for Providing Multi Modal Connectivity to Various Economic Zones. This is an important endeavour, that will boost productivity, infrastructure, economic progress and opportunities for our youngsters," he tweeted. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Railway, and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were among those who attended the meeting.

Source: Economic Times

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Govt permits exports of certain non-woven fabrics used for making masks, coveralls  

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday allowed exports of certain non-woven fabrics used to make masks and coveralls with a view to push outbound shipments. However, export of melt blown fabric of any GSM (grams per square metre) continues to be banned. A notification dated July 13 was amended "to the extent that only melt blown fabric of any GSM...is prohibited for export. All other non-woven fabrics of any GSM (including GSM 25-70 which were earlier prohibited) are freely allowed for exports," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The export ban was earlier imposed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Economic Times

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Govt proposes Data Ombudsman, higher penalty for refusal to submit data for key economic stats

The Data Ombudsman shall in addition to the functions designated, also strengthen the system of mutual trust, building the goodwill and convict resolution through various conciliation processes,” the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) said in the proposed amendments to decriminalise the Collection of Statistics Act. The government on Monday proposed a ‘Data Ombudsman’ for in-house resolution of issues related to the collection of key statistics in the country so as to reduce the number of cases that need legal recourse. “The Data Ombudsman shall in addition to the functions designated, also strengthen the system of mutual trust, building the goodwill and convicts resolution through various conciliation processes,” the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) said in the proposed amendments to decriminalise the Collection of Statistics Act. Collection of Statistics Act. Collection of Statistics Act 2008 provides for penal action for refusal and failure to submit data. The Data Ombudsman would be a ministry official. Explaining that criminalizing procedural lapses and minor non-compliances increases burden on businesses, the ministry also said that an in-house resolution mechanism framework would help build goodwill so that the legal provisions are rarely taken recourse to. “The resolution framework would explore all instruments namely, persuasion, mediation, and negotiation, to name a few, before invoking the compliance through criminal justice system,” it said. The ministry also widened the scope of the Act to include processing, storage and dissemination of statistics and generate data systems for other areas of human development. At present, the Act has in its ambit the collection of statistics on economic, demographic, social, scientic and environmental aspects. The government has also proposed to increase penalties so that they act as deterrents for non-compliance with the law. For obstruction or interference of employees in the data collection exercise, a ten times higher penalty of Rs 1 lakh is proposed for companies and Rs 20,000 for individuals. Similar nest are proposed for employees for their failure to function as per the Act and also for those pretending to be authorized to collect statistics. Any company which fails, neglects, refuses wilfully makes any false or misleading statement can now be ned upto Rs 50,000 instead of Rs 5,000 at present while for individuals, this has been increased 10 times to Rs 10,000. “The penalty should be large enough (10 times high) that it has a deterrent effect on the person/company to effect compliance with the directions to furnish necessary information under the Cost Act,” it said. Failing to furnish the necessary information within 14 days from the conviction would attract double penalty Rs 10,000 for companies and Rs 2,000 for individuals.

Source: Economic Times

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Trade pacts: Economic Survey argued FTAs beneficial but Niti Aayog wants a review

The calls for a less liberal foreign trade policy are getting louder and reaching a crescendo, with more sections within the government extending allegiance to the new-found cause. The Niti Aayog has suggested to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that a panel be set up to review India’s free trade agreements (FTAs), including with Asean, to “contain round-tripping of imports” into the country. In a recent presentation to the PMO, Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant is learnt to have said the panel could be set up under Niti vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar for the “evaluation of the performance of FTAs”. With this, Niti joins industry bodies and various ministries — from steel to dairy — in seeking a re-examination of various FTAs on grounds that these pacts have only worsened India’s trade imbalance over the years. But this view is patently at odds with that of the Economic Survey for 2019-20, which insists FTAs have actually benefitted India.  Taking into account certain confounding factors, the Survey pointed out that between 1993 and 2018, India’s annual exports of manufactured products to its trading partners, with which it had signed the FTAs, jumped by 13.4% and total merchandise despatches rose 10.9%. Similarly, while imports of manufactured products increased by 12.7% a year during this period, overall goods imports from these partners gained 8.6%. “Thus, India has clearly gained 0.7% increase in trade surplus per year for manufactured products and 2.3% per year for total merchandise,” the Survey under chief economic advisor Krishnamurthy V Subramanian concludes. In his presentation to the PMO, Kant suggested apart from Kumar and him, the panel can comprise the secretaries of finance, commerce, economic affairs and the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), and a report can be submitted in 45 days. Giving an illustration of the “round tripping” of supplies into India through an abuse of the rules of origin under the India-Asean FTA, Niti says after India’s customs duty hikes on certain electronic products in FY19, imports from China dropped, while those from some Asean members surged. According to the DGCIS data, imports from China dropped by 7.9%, year on year, to $70.3 billion. However, purchases from Singapore shot up by as much as 118%, Hong Kong by 68.5% and Vietnam by 43.3% in FY19. This suggests some Chinese supplies were diverted to India illegally through the Asean members in which Beijing has made huge investments. As such, India’s merchandise trade deficit with China stood at $53.6 billion in FY19, or nearly a third of its total deficit, and $48.7 billion in FY20, even without factoring in the deficit with Beijing-proxy Hong Kong. Some analysts point out that, given the surge in protectionism around the world, it’s imperative to ensure more and more Indian products get market access in FTA partners, without being subject to tariff or non-tariff barriers. To that extent, a review of existing FTAs is desirable. However, if the government decides to shelve such agreements, erect tariff barriers just to promote domestic industry, that would reverse the progress already made since the liberalisation in 1990s and would be detrimental to the country’s long-term interests. For its part, the government has maintained that its Atmanirbhar initiates are neither “protectionist nor isolationist”. After its pull-out from the China-dominated RCEP agreement in November last year, New Delhi had decided to step up talks for a slew of “balanced and fair” trade pacts, in contrast with earlier FTAs that “worsened India’s trade deficit”. It had aimed at a “limited” deal with the US, which had been in the works for several months, and a broader FTA after the presidential elections there in November. Similarly, India wanted to clinch a trade deal with Australia this year and revive stalled talks with the EU. The Covid-19 outbreak, however, has pushed the matters back, although the talks may resume once the pandemic is behind us. However, it also wants to rework its existing FTAs with Asean, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea to trim its trade deficit with these nations. Earlier this month, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal called upon Tokyo to reduce its huge trade surplus of about $8 billion with New Delhi.

Source: Financial Express

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GSTN enables functionality to help GST payers on ITC eligibility

GST Network on Tuesday said it has enabled a functionality to help GST payers know their input tax credit (ITC) eligibility in their Annual Return, making it more convenient to file GSTR-9. So far, the GST system used to compute eligible ITC based on suppliers' sales return GSTR-1, but the break-up at the invoice level was not provided. Taxpayers used to raise a query on the computation of ITC. In a statement, Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), which handles the technology backbone of GST, said that to bring the entire computation to taxpayers by way of showing each invoice filed by the suppliers and showing eligibility against each, this functionality has been developed. "GSTN has rolled out an important functionality today which will help GST taxpayers know their exact eligibility of ITC flowing in their Annual Return and thereby filing the annual return, i.e. GSTR-9 more conveniently," GSTN said in the statement. For this functionality, a new tab 'Download Table-8A details' has been introduced on the GSTR-9 dashboard of the GST portal from Financial Year 2018-19 onwards, it added.

Source: Business Standard

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India-Japan-Australia supply chain in the works to counter China

NEW DELHI: India, Japan and Australia have begun discussions on launching a trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) to reduce dependency on China, necessitated by Beijing’s aggressive political and military behaviour. The initiative, first proposed by Japan, is now taking shape, ET has learnt. Dates are being worked out to hold the first meeting of the commerce and trade ministers of the three countries by next week. Japan through its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry approached India recently and pressed on the urgency to take the initiative forward, according to people in the know. Tokyo was in favour of launching SCRI by November, sources said. The government is moving on the proposal quite seriously, especially in the light of China’s aggressive moves on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. Usually, the sources said, New Delhi would consider any such proposal cautiously as it would be seen as an alliance against China. This time, the government appears to have taken the call at the highest levels to become part of the global supply chain, thus emerging as an alternative to China. The subject was also one of the key themes of PM Modi’s Independence Day speech on Saturday, where he said that businesses have started viewing India as a possible “hub for supply chains” and that now India must also “make for the world”. The two-fold objective of the Japanese proposal is to attract foreign direct investment to turn the Indo-Pacic into an “economic powerhouse” and to build a mutually complementary relationship among partner countries. The idea, sources said, was to also throw open the initiative to the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) after India-Japan-Australia understanding on the matter. To begin with, the aim is to work out a plan to build on the existing bilateral supply chain networks. India and Japan, for instance, have an Indo-Japan Industrial Competitiveness partnership, which deals with locating Japanese companies in India. Those aware with the details of initial deliberations told ET that the purpose eventually is to improve supply chain resilience across the Indo-Pacific, which through such an export can develop a sound economic profile to its security logic. SCRI is a direct response to individual companies and economies concerned about Chinese political behaviour and the disruption that could lead to supply chains, according to the sources. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, following the Covid-19 outbreak, has already instituted a $2-billion fund to help Japanese companies shift back from China. Australia and the US, amid growing security and transparency concerns, have already entered into an ambitious agreement to create what’s being called a ‘China free’ supply chain for rare earth materials.

Source: Economic Times

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India-US trade negotiations still a challenge: Moody's Investors Service  

US-India trade negotiations will continue to be challenging and are likely to get delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Moody's Investors Service. The two sides have been trying to thrash out a trade package with limited scope with the long-term aim of a free trade agreement (FTA) since last year, amid a plethora of unresolved trade issues. Delay will be seen in other global trade negotiations as well, including phase two of the US-China agreement, European Union trade talks with the US and Britain, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in Asia and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trade talk. Govt permits exports of certain non-woven fabrics used for making masks, coveralls Synopsis A notification dated July 13 was amended "to the extent that only melt blown fabric of any GSM...is prohibited for export. All other nonwoven fabrics of any GSM (including GSM 25-70 which were earlier prohibited) are freely allowed for exports," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. New Delhi: The government on Tuesday allowed exports of certain non-woven fabrics used to make masks and coveralls with a view to push outbound shipments. However, export of melt blown fabric of any GSM (grams per square metre) continues to be banned. A notification dated July 13 was amended "to the extent that only melt blown fabric of any GSM...is prohibited for export. All other non-woven fabrics of any GSM (including GSM 25-70 which were earlier prohibited) are freely allowed for exports," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The export ban was earlier imposed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Economic Times

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Lack of clarity over restructuring under faceless assessment scheme leads to chaos

 The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) sub-sections are working on identifying ofcers that will be moved to different locations as part of the re-organisation, said people aware of the developments, adding that the exercise would have to be completed within two days. Income tax eld oices are yet to receive orders from the top on re-organisation of units under faceless assessment scheme, leading to uncertainty. The Central Board of Direct Taes (CBDT) sub-sections are working on identifying oicers that will be moved to dierent locations as part of the re-organisation, said people aware of the developments, adding that the exercise would have to be completed within two days. “Orders are expected by 19th, but which oicers will have to move and to which locations is still unclear,” said an oicial, asking not to be named. Another oicial said that many oicers were continuing to work from home amid the Covid 19 pandemic, but may still have to shift locations when the re-organisation orders come in. “Faceless assessments can be done from anywhere, so shifting of oicers may not be needed, but as part of the re-organisation several are expecting transfers,” the oicial said, requesting anonymity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the faceless assessment scheme along with the taxpayers’ charter on August 14, aiming to bring transparency in tax administration. CBDT has been piloting faceless assessment since October 2019 and has processed over 8,000 cases as of July. In order to implement the scheme pan-India, the National eAssessment Centre (NeAC) has been set up which will direct about 30 Regional eAssessment Centres (ReAC) across the country. In some cases, regional oices have been merged, for example Gurgaon with Faridabad, moving manpower from one centre to another while in some cases manpower has been increased in smaller centres such as Bathinda, Shimla and others, insiders added. The CBDT has also claried that rectication proceedings, demand collection management, tax recovery proceedings, proceedings to give eect to appellate orders among others will remain with the eld oicers, under the scheme. But lack of clarity for oicers on the ground could become an impediment to implementation of the scheme. “Oicers have to be taken on board… else there can be unwarranted delays,” a third oicial said. Under faceless assessment, power of survey and seizure under the Income Act will be exercised by the Investigation Directorates and the ta deducted at source (TDS) charges only, and cases related to central charges and international tax have been kept out of the ambit

Source:   Economic Times

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Economy blues: Credit flows slow as economy remains in slowdown mode and bankers stay cautious

With deposits in full flow, the large surpluses with banks are finding their way into risk-free paper ; close to Rs 4 lakh crore of G-Secs, T-Bills and SDLs were issued in July. The flow of credit continues to decelerate as the economy remains in slowdown mode and bankers stay cautious. While non-food loans grew at just 5.2% year-on-year in the last fortnight of July, the lowest levels seen since March 2017, the value of corporate bonds issued in July, at Rs 49,013 crore, was the smallest in at least 10 months. The value of commercial paper (CP) — a short-term borrowing instrument for companies —floated in July was the smallest in many months at Rs 91,338 crore. Since April, non-food credit has contracted by 1.3% with the outstanding levels down at Rs 101.87 lakh crore, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows. Bankers appear to be participating actively in the corporate bond markets. Close to Rs 80,000 core was raised by companies in April which was not very much smaller than the Rs 85, 000 crore mopped up in February. State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar recently observed the investments made in corporate bonds needed to be considered while assesing the flow of credit. “When it comes to credit growth, we also cannot ignore the investments made in the corporate bond market…If we take all of this together, our growth would have been about 10%,” Kumar observed. The lender has moderated its loan growth expectation for the year FY21 to 8% from over 10% earlier. With deposits in full flow, the large surpluses with banks are finding their way into riskfree paper ; closeto Rs 4 lakh crore of G-Secs, T-Bills and SDLs were issued in July. Deposits with banks stood at Rs 141.62 lakh crore as on July 31, up 11% y-o-y and at an all-time high. The average yield on G-Secs, in the primary market slipped to 5.65% in July from 5.8% in June but banks do not seem prefer sovereign paper to corporate credit. Dipak Gupta,Joint MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank recently admitted the lender has been going slow on fresh loans. “We have not increased our book significantly. We have done a lot more of treasury investments where the yields are lower but are safer. So, while you see that the balance sheet has grown, it has come largely from safe treasury investments,” Gupta said. Banks have also been stashing away large sums in the RBI’s reverse repo window at just 3.35%. Sujan Hajra, chief economist at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers, said RBI’s liquidity infusion and the government’s credit guarantee scheme are yet to reflect in bank credit expansion. “Banks are parking money either in excess SLRs which is now around Rs 16 lakh crore or in the LAF window. While lower economic activity is a major drag on credit growth, banks, too, remains risk-averse to lend to lower-rated entities,” Hajra wrote. The loan restructuring scheme may be the next trigger to stimulate growth, he added.

Source:   Financial Express

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Govt to invest about Rs 50k crore for developing economic zones

NEW DELHI: New Delhi: The road, railways, shipping and civil aviation ministries have prepared a detailed connectivity road map for over 200 economic zones such as food and agro zones, fishing and defence clusters, electronic, textile and pharmaceutical parks by 2024. The government will invest about Rs 50,000 crore in these economic zones in the next four years. Sources said seven infrastructure ministries and seven others joined hands to prepare the National Master Plan for providing multi-modal connectivity to various economic zones including three big industrial areas at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Tumakuru in Karnataka and Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting on this on Monday. He tweeted, “Chaired a meeting to review the preparations for the National Master Plan for Providing Multi-Modal Connectivity to Various Economic Zones. This is an important endeavour that will boost productivity, infrastructure, economic progress and opportunities for our youngsters.” include food products, textiles, electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and cold storage. “The main objective of preparing the Master Plan is to guide departments and ministries while they are planning individual projects. This will also ensure aligning the funding of projects by ministries as per the Master Plan. The logistics department will coordinate with the respective ministries to make the plan better,” said a source. Sources said to improve connectivity, the road transport ministry has said construction of more highways including economic corridors would cater to the needs for economic zones while railways has planned to increase cargo handling by at least 33% by 2024, which will ensure faster movement of raw and finished material and would also reduce logistics cost.

Source: Times of India

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Overcoming challenges of indigenisation to boost manufacturing sector

The monthly Index of Industrial Production (IIP) report for June states that growth of the industrial segments in the recent months, in the grip of pandemic, need not be compared with those before the outbreak as the production of all units has suffered due to the prolonged lockdown, disappearance of market demand, diversion of government funds towards health, medical relief with not much of investible resources left after meeting the unprecedented level of social protection needed for millions of our countrymen. Government revenue took a severe beating with declining collection of GST, other taxes, and levies. Among the industry sectors, the FMCGs, the two-wheelers and tractors are exhibiting increasing sales, which indicate a rise in rural demand with agricultural income getting a boost from the government’s recent farmer-friendly announcements and rise in food prices. On the other hand, thrusts on Atmanirbhar Bharat, Vocal for Local and Make in India programmes provide a signal that the government is keen to pull up manufacturing from the labyrinth of poor productivity, lacklustre growth and little contribution to employment and income generation. The Indian manufacturing sector, to recall a historical perspective, lost its prominence after the third Five-Year Plan, when it was felt that industrial orientation, specifically the policies helping the heavy industry, need to be changed towards the primary sector to resolve the recurring food problems in the country. Subsequently, India experienced spectacular growth in the services sector, the IT and ITES, and received global recognition with record receipt of foreign exchange through exports of knowledge and skill in software technology. The manufacturing sector all along played a second fiddle, but was recognised by the government to enhance its share in the GDP from 16-17% to 25% by 2022, which remained a dream in the last few years till the recent thrust of enhancing the finished goods production capability to cater to domestic and global demands while discouraging export of raw materials by converting them into finished goods. This came as a major plank of the manufacturing policy. Undoubtedly, this is what is presently required to take Indian manufacturing sector to a glorious journey ahead. Some of the recent announcements indicate the government’s desire to handhold the manufacturing sector. India imports annually around 6-7 million tonne of engineering goods that contain a good number of special alloys, SS grades and high-grade carbon steel. If these steel grades can be made available indigenously, the vendors manufacturing these goods would be encouraged to set up facilities in India and can participate in the Global Value Chain (GVC). The ability to supply these goods in the international market would increase the total requirement of the special grades steel (alloy/SS and carbon) and incentivise local steel producers to manufacture these grades. It is essential to draw up a clear policy that would require an inter-departmental team manned by domain experts, policy planners and industry representatives to implement this policy in right earnest within a time schedule. Many localised efforts are already on. However, the import substitution of such a massive scale urgently needs cohesive policy guidelines, covering a number of industries in various segments under manufacturing like food processing, textile, printing, chemical products, fabricated metals, electrical equipment, vehicle and other transport manufacturing, machinery and equipment etc. The recent announcement by the Ministry of Defence to indigenise production of 101 items and thereby substitute imports is very laudable. It would create business opportunities worth of Rs 4 lakh crore in the next five-seven years. The major items like artillery guns, assault rifles, light combat helicopters, armoured vehicles for the army, submarines for the navy, light combat aircraft and others for the air force would face an import embargo. Around 69 different items would have no imports beyond December 2020, 11 items beyond December 2021, four items beyond December 2022, eight items beyond December 2023, eight items beyond Dec ember 2024 and one item beyond December 2025. In addition, the Defence Acquisition Council has decided to acquire 106 basic Trainer Aircraft from HAL worth of Rs 8722 crore as a step for higher indigenisation of defence imports. BEML, GRSE are developing new facilities to serve the defence infrastructure. It is needless to add that Indian manufacturing sector is predominated by MSME sector for whom the government has endeavoured to increase liquidity by empowering NBFCs, loan restructuring and moratorium and easy availability of credit. The implementation of these measures must be smooth to encourage the sector to participate whole heartedly in the Atmanirbhar revolution. The current expansion of the definition of MSME sector would help more production capacities to come up. It is imperative that many big players can identify competent small industry partners and associate them to produce engineering goods hitherto imported, based on supply assurance of required steel grades. Import substitution always offers a tremendous challenge of matching the quality and price competitiveness. Being a part of Global Value Chain provides relief to achieve economic scale of operation and offer competitive prices. Thus, the process of GVC in each component and sector must start immediately. The government wings, Niti Aayog and other professional agencies, can initiate sector and component specific studies on huge potential of the global market. It is observed that issuance of global tender for procurement of goods and services has made limited efforts towards indigenisation. The call for a self-reliant India would be successful if only Indian manufacturing is able to pull up its strings in all fronts.

Source: Financial Express

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View: Nothing wrong with reviewing the economic rationale and fallout of India’s varied trade agreements

Can one unambiguously conclude that all RTAs lead to trade-investment creation? No. The answer is empiricaland depends on specics of the agreement: how substantial is the agreement? How deep is its coverage? Arelarge chunks of the trade basket left out because of negative lists? There have been reports that GoI intends to review India’s regional trade agreements (RTAs). Signing RTAs or opting out of them isn’t a binary. This is akin to the old trade diversion-creation and………

Source: Economic Times

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Pakistan:Waiver of 37pc tax on yarn urged

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FPCCI) Standing Committee on Imports, has asked the government to waive 37 percent tax on the partiallyoriented yarn (POY 5402.4600), which is the basic raw material of the textile industry and small and medium units, a statement said on Monday. FPCCI Standing Committee on Imports Chairman and Yarn Trade Committee Convener Khawar Noorani said that this would encourage the investors to set up Draw Textured Yarn (DTY) manufacturing plants and local production will be able to meet the demand for raw materials of domestic industries. Noorani expressed concern over the equal tax rate on imported POY and DTY, and termed it unfair even though the duty on POY is less across the world. “Only two plants in the country directly produce 20 percent DTY from PTA and MEG, while DTY can also be produced from POY, and that is why industries have 80 percent dependence on imported DTY,” he said, adding that these two local producers get advance payments from factories and not in a position to provide DTY yarn due to capacity issue.

Source: The News

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Dhaka authorises BGBHA to certify garment buying houses

 The Bangladesh textiles ministry last week recognised the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association (BGBHA) as the authority to issue certificates to registered garment buying houses in the country. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which has been at loggerheads with BGBHA, is dissatisfied over the government decision. BGMEA leaders said recognising BGBHA as the related trade body for registering buying houses with the department of textiles (DoT) would hamper the country’s export business as more than 1,500 of its associate members are operating buying houses. The government on May 28 last year asked all buying houses to get registered with the DoT within 60 days as per the section 14 of the Textile Act 2018. Earlier, the ministry issued a gazette notification detailing the procedure for the registration of buying houses with the DoT that said applicants would have to produce membership certificates from the trade body concerned. But the Textile Act 2018 did not mention any name of the related trade body that would be authorised to issue such a certificate.Following the government circular, the BGMEA sent a letter to the textiles ministry to give registration of its 1,500 associate members who were running buying house business. Opposing the BGMEA proposal, the BGBHA sent a letter to the textiles ministry and said that it was inappropriate for the BGMEA to have any role or say in determining the eligibility of an applicant for registration as a buying house. BGBHA said the nature of business of BGMEA members and the buying house association members is different and the government should consider BGBHA as the sole trade organisation of buying houses in Bangladesh.

Source: Fibre2Fashion

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COVID-19 Further Unravels Ghana’s Textile Industry

Manufacturers of Ghana's iconic fabrics have come under increasing pressure as counterfeits made in China undercut local production. COVID-19 and the resulting steep decline in sales has added more woes to this industry. Producers are hoping that measures aimed at stopping the counterfeits will turn things around. Ghana has a rich history of textile production, making different fabrics from woven kente to brightly-colored batik to wax prints where designs carry meanings. Consumers will often buy new fabrics to mark occasions, like funerals. However, counterfeits have severely impacted batik producer Esther Amate’s business. About 15 years ago, she started seeing counterfeit batik in Ghana — with lower prices — driven by consumer demand. While she makes the batik fabric she sells in her store in Accra, she also sells counterfeit wax prints. But now, she says COVID-19 has underscored the importance of supporting local industries, so she has vowed to stop selling Chinese imports. “When people started demanding what they wanted then I said ‘okay, I am a businesswoman so I have to go in that way too’, but now I want to stop. Now we need a lot of support so that we can stop and do our own thing because we can do very nice fabrics,” she said. Wax print textile company GTP has designed and printed fabrics in Ghana since 1966. Their print designs are often stolen, printed in China and other Asian nations and then smuggled back into Ghana, severely undercutting the business. It is also very hard to tell the real fabrics from the fakes, GTP’s Marketing Director Stephen Kofi Badu says. “It’s highly, highly frustrating — very frustrating and sometimes it’s really worrying not just for us but also for the country because I can tell you the African print market is a very huge market but unfortunately for us, our government does not get the necessary revenues that it is supposed to get because of the huge amount of smuggling,” he said. COVID-19 compounded these issues. During the recent lockdown in Ghana, sales dropped from about 1 million yards a month, to less than 100,000. However, sales are slowly recovering and GTP remains hopeful. It even brought out new designs inspired by Ghana’s handling of the pandemic, with prints to represent the president’s addresses to the nation and to reflect lockdown measures. But, Badu says he will not be surprised if these too are soon counterfeited. GTP does have measures in place to protect its products. In 2015 it started working with Ghanaian company mPedigree, which uses technology to help buyers know what they purchase is authentic. The fabrics have a scratch code on them which buyers text to a number to get confirmation the fabric is from GTP. “The revolutionary aspect about the technology is how it arms not regulatory systems per se, or the government alone, but more importantly the consumers. It makes consumers the vanguards against counterfeits or spurious products in this case textiles,” said Eugene Kwaku Boadu, the director of corporate affairs at mPedigree. For the past few years, Ghana’s government has been considering measures to regulate the industry and curb illegal imports, such as creating a stamp for fabrics produced in Ghana and a taskforce to look for counterfeit goods. GTP’s Badu hopes that legislation to enact these measures will be introduced next year.

Source: Voice of America

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Forensic Research: Textile Fibres Can Be Transferred without Contact

This new forensic discovery has not been demonstrated before and could have a major implication for fiber evidence in certain criminal cases Breakthrough forensic research at Northumbria University, Newcastle, has revealed for the first time that textile fibers can, under certain circumstances, be transferred between clothing in the absence of contact. This new forensic discovery has not been demonstrated before and could have a major implication for fiber evidence in certain criminal cases. Researchers within Northumbria University’s Department of Applied Sciences have proved that contactless transfer of fibers between garments can be possible through airborne travel. Because it has largely been assumed that fiber transfer only occurs when two surfaces touch, it is generally accepted in a case that two surfaces have, at some point, been in contact with each other. However, researchers at Northumbria University have revealed that under certain conditions, this is not necessarily always the case. Dr. Kelly Sheridan, who led the research at Northumbria University, said: “Our experiment was simple but efficient. We used fluorescently tagged fibers to track their airborne transfer between clothing. Everyday tagged clothes—jumpers, long sleeved tops and fleeces—were worn by two people who stood in opposite corners of an elevator. The elevator operated as normal and non-participants of the study entered and exited as usual. Following the experiment, the surfaces of the recipient’s clothing were photographed using UV-imagery techniques to determine the number of fibers that were transferred from one person to the other. The results of the study were remarkable. It not only proved that textile fibers can transfer between garments in the absence of contact, but they can do so in relatively high numbers.” In this study, the potential of fiber transfer between different items of sheddable clothing through airborne travel has been assessed for small, compact, and semi-enclosed spaces, such as elevators. The results of this study demonstrate that when certain strict conditions are met (i.e. time, sheddability of garment, proximity, and confined space), airborne transfer of fibers can occur in forensic scenarios, and that these could be in potentially significant numbers for fiber types, such as cotton and polyester. The results of this study define a set of circumstances that can be used as a ‘baseline’ to evaluate the likelihood of an alleged activity being conducive to contactless transfer. Textile fibers are one of forensic sciences’ fundamental evidence types and have been pivotal in solving some of the UK’s most notorious crimes; for example, the murders of Stephen Lawrence and Joanna Yeates, as well as the Ipswich serial killings. Establishing textile fiber links, however, is only half the battle, according to fellow Northumbria researcher, and co-author on the paper, Dr. Matteo Gallidabino. “What is equally, if not more, important, is how that fiber was transferred from one surface to another,” he said. “This research shows that airborne transfer is viable in a number of case scenarios despite previous beliefs and could explain the presence of fibers on a variety of surfaces.” Dr. Ray Palmer, a visiting academic and former senior lecturer in forensics at Northumbria University and co-author on this research paper, has given evidence at numerous high-profile trials, including that of the so-called Suffolk Strangler in England and the Claremont serial killings in Western Australia. “This study was designed so that the experimental parameters were as conducive to contactless transfer as possible, whilst still maintaining a real-life scenario," he said. “Since there is a paucity of published studies relating to contactless transfer, the results obtained from this study will be useful to forensic practitioners as a ’baseline,’ in evaluating how likely it is that a proposed activity or case circumstance has resulted in contactless transfer.” The paper, "A study on contactless airborne transfer of textile fibres between different garments in small compact semi-enclosed spaces," was published in Forensic Science International on Friday August 14, 2020.

Source: Lab Manager

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Where will the global factories of tomorrow be located?

The covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns has been a good time to sit back and ruminate, introspect, and plan corrective/mitigation measures for a world that was already in a mess. And many of the discussions have either overwhelmingly hovered around or at least touched one elementary question: where will the global factories of tomorrow be located? "While buyer/importer compulsions and sentiments in the backdrop of anti-China sentiments, political tension and trade wars are significant, what is just as important to keep in mind is the ability of the factory countries to emerge from the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, as unscathed as possible," writes Subir Ghosh in the August 2020 edition of Fibre2Fashion. The biggest player, China, has already made a comeback. The country, therefore, is expected to do well. Whether that will happen depends on extraneous factors, though China is well placed both as an apparel exporter as well as producer of textiles to take on the same mantle as it did during the financial crisis, Ghosh adds in his article 'Uncertainty Ahead'.

Source: Fibre2Fashion

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