The five states are Andhra Pradesh (Rs 2,525 crore), Telangana (Rs 2,508 crore), Karnataka (Rs 4,509 crore), Goa (Rs 223 crore) and Tripura (Rs 148 crore), according to an official statement released on Thursday. The finance ministry has permitted ve states to borrow an additional Rs 9,913 crore on aggregate through open market borrowings (OMBs) based on their implementation of reforms relating to the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ system. The ve states were Andhra Pradesh (Rs 2,525 crore), Telangana (Rs 2,508 crore), Karnataka (Rs 4,509 crore), Goa (Rs 223 crore) and Tripura (Rs 148 crore), according to an oicial statement released on Thursday In May, the Centre had allowed the states an additional borrowing of 2 per cent of gross state domestic product over the 3 per cent limit mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act in light of the added expenditure burden on account of the pandemic. While the move provided states with much needed scal headroom of up to Rs 4.28 lakh crore to meet the added costs in containing the virus, the additional amount came with certain caveats. From the 2 per cent, the central government allowed states to borrow the rst 0.5 per cent or Rs 1.07 lakh crore unconditionally via OMBs in June. The next 1 per cent was divided into four parts of 0.25 per cent each that were tied to four areas of reforms which, if successfully implemented, would be granted to the states. These four areas were ease of doing business, urban local bodies, power sector and the One Nation One Ration Card system. Borrowing of the nal 0.5 per cent would be enabled upon the states undertaking reforms in any three of the four areas mentioned. From these ve states, only Telangana belongs to the group of ten states that have not yet decided on the two options of raising additional funds the Centre gave the states in lieu of a direct transfer of the goods and services tax (GST) compensation. On Sunday, 21 states had agreed to the rst option of a Reserve Bank of India-facilitated special borrowing window, totaling Rs 97,000 crore, to meet the GST compensation decit, which the Centre estimated at Rs 2.35 lakh crore for FY21.
Source: Economic Times
NEW DELHI: The DPIIT has shared a list of 24 key sectors including food processing, toys, furniture, agro chemicals and textiles with respective ministries asking them to work on an action plan with a view to boost domestic manufacturing and make India a self-reliant country, an official said. The other sectors include organic farming, iron, aluminium and copper, electronics, industrial machinery, furniture, leather and shoes, and auto parts. "Each ministry has been sent those sectors to identify their response. What incentives they (sectors) need, what policy tweaking is required; they (respective ministries) should do that. We have given them a preliminary action plan and the ministries will work on that. Each ministry will bring its own policy on these sectors," the commerce and industry ministry official said. The government wants to make India a self-reliant country in these segments, boost exports and become a global supplier. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade ( DPIIT) is working actively on promoting domestic manufacturing of toys and furniture. "Several meetings were held with stakeholders to identify these sectors which have the potential to become global winners and make India a strong manufacturing hub," the official added. Promoting manufacturing would help create more jobs and push India's dwindling exports. The manufacturing sector contributes about 15 per cent to the country's economy and the government is aiming to increase it significantly. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for April-July contracted by 29.2 per cent. The manufacturing sector constitutes about 78 per cent of the IIP. Exports too contracted by 26.65 per cent to USD 97.66 billion during April-August this fiscal.
Source: Economic Times
Earlier this month, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said that India has given a "very good and balanced offer" to the US for such a pact. Despite India being an important partner for the US geopolitically, a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) is unlikely in the next four years regardless of who wins the upcoming presidential elections, a former White House economic adviser said on Thursday. Both US President Donald Trump and his opponent Joe Biden look at India amenably but have their own compulsions not to proceed with such a far-reaching deal, said Todd Buchholz, who served as the director of economic policy at the White House under president George H W Bush. Earlier this month, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said that India has given a "very good and balanced oer" to the US for such a pact. "I nd it diicult to imagine that in four years' time, there could be a FTA between the US and India," Buchholz said at an interaction organised by Axis Bank here. He said while Trump travelled to India in February and shares a great relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he would be wary of going ahead with the deal as it could irk the American farmers and also because of the wage dierentials. His opponent Biden will be under pressure from the left-leaning supporters in the Democrat camp who will demand a lot from India, including higher wages, better working conditions and shorter hours of work which any emerging nation cannot aord, Buchholz argued. Biden, who has a lead in opinion polls over Trump, is a multilateralist at heart and also part of the "Washington Consensus", but the pressure groups may prevent such a pact, he said. Regarding the election outcomes, Buchholz, who has served under a Republican president, said he does not believe the opinion polls and Trump can swing the verdict to his favour late as well, given that the Presidential debates are yet to be held. He also warned that if Biden wins the popular vote but loses due to the Electoral College, there can be violent agitations on the streets by the Democrat supporters.
Source: Economic Times
Nepal’s yarn industry has recently witnessed a surge in demands that has increased the business operations for the local handloom producers up to 60 percent, news agency ANI’s report confirmed. Producers have attributed the business bloom to the increasing orders coming from India after the phased reopening and resumption of economic activities post coronavirus lockdown. The Government of India, under the India-Nepal Foreign Treaty of Trade Agreement imports woven handicrafts and home textile products essential to Nepal’s Textile And Garment Cloth Industries. Nepal’s GDP and livelihood of the small scale textile weaving businesses largely depend on these handicrafts exports. "We are now exporting the yarns to India. My company, in particular, is running at 70 percent of the capacity, other companies also are following the same steps," ANI quoted a Nepali proprietor Bishnu Neupane of Jagdamba Spinning as saying. "We are receiving high demands and orders from India," he stressed. Indian states of Punjab and Assam, and Siliguri, Guhawati, Gorakhpur, and New Delhi have been among the largest importers of Nepal’s yarn industry products for over several years. These states place bulk orders that comprise nearly 60 percent of Nepal’s total yarn manufactured goods export.
Source: Republic World
For 2019-20 (October-September) cotton year, CCI ended up procuring 115 lakh bales out of 310 lakh produced in the country. A huge inventory had threatened to overshadow the upcoming cotton season later this year. Agarwal said CCI had been able to offload around 58 lakh bales of the inventory it held. In a first-of-its-kind deal by India for any country, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is eyeing an important contract that will allow it to directly export around 10 to 15 lakh bales (each bale weighing 170 kg) of cotton to Bangladesh. This would allow the government to directly export cotton to another country. Bangladesh is an important market for Indian cotton, with the country importing around 25 to 30 lakh bales per year. Private traders corner exports; this would be the first time CCI is trying to enter the export market directly. PK Agarwal, chairperson-cum-managing director (CMD), CCI, said the contracts were in the final stages with governments of both countries actively negotiating the deals. “If CCI is able to corner around 50 per cent of the exports to Bangladesh, it will be a milestone for the organisation,” he said. For 2019-20 (October-September) cotton year, CCI ended up procuring 115 lakh bales out of 310 lakh produced in the country. A huge inventory had threatened to overshadow the upcoming cotton season later this year. Agarwal said CCI had been able to offload around 58 lakh bales of the inventory it held. “Around 20 per cent of the stocks was procured by MNCs (multinational corporation) who might have exported it further,” he said. With initial estimates pointing to another bumper crop, there are fears of a “bloodbath” at cotton mandis. Pradeep Jain, founder president of Khandesh Press/Gin Owners and Traders Development Association, said the next cotton season would start with a carryover stock of 100 lakh bales. Estimates by different sources have pegged India’s production to be around 400 lakh bales for the new season. “The increased production notwithstanding, the lockdown-induced slowdown in the sector will make it near impossible the private traders to pay the government-declared MSP (minimum support price) to farmers,” he Jain said. For this season, the government-declared MSP for medium staple kapas (raw unginned cotton) is Rs 5,515 per quintal, while that of long staple is Rs 5,825. Market sources feel the average traded price of the lint crop can be as low as Rs 4,500 and might rise to around Rs 5,100 in the season. The role of CCI in such a scenario assumes importance as the government body procures FAQ cotton at MSP. While Agarwal said the corporation was ready with its procurement plans, many in trade and farmer bodies were not as confident. “The CCI’s procurement can well be over 200 lakh bales this year,” said a trade source. Farm leader Vijay Jawandiya has asked for procurement centres in Maharashtra to begin operations from Dussehra to prevent distress sales by farmers.
Source: Indian Express
It said a review of procurement practices would encourage farmers to plant other crops. “The commission also recommends that openended procurement policy for rice and wheat should be reviewed and farmers should be incentivised to shift to oilseeds, pulses and nutricereals through effective procurement policy for these crops under PM-AASHA,” it said. The Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) that recommends minimum support price (MSP) for 22 crops had suggested in July that open-ended procurement of wheat and rice should be reviewed so that farmers are encouraged to plant other crops such as oilseeds, pulses and nutricereals. The government, however, has continued with the existing MSP operations without any changes and has given an assurance in Parliament that there would be absolutely no change in oicial procurement at declared prices. It said procurement should be strengthened in other states. Currently, government has no cap on wheat and rice procurement within a specified period. It procures around three fourth of marketable wheat in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, driving out private players from the market. High procurement of wheat and rice in some states discourages much-needed crop diversification, it said. “For example, oilseeds and maize have great potential to replace rice-wheat cropping system in Punjab and Haryana but farmers do not get assured remunerative prices for these crops. Since there is no assured procurement of these crops and generally, market prices remain well below the MSP, farmers have no incentive to switch to these crops,” the commission said. It said a review of procurement practices would encourage farmers to plant other crops. “The commission also recommends that open-ended procurement policy for rice and wheat should be reviewed and farmers should be incentivised to shift to oilseeds, pulses and nutri-cereals through effective procurement policy for these crops under PMAASHA,” it said. It said excessive procurement was driving out private trade in some states. It also recommended strengthening procurement operations in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar where wheat procurement is much lower than their share in total marketed surplus and production. The commission also strongly recommended a major policy change in pricing, procurement and use of other crops like oilseeds, pulses, maize and nutri-cereals to encourage farmers to shift to these crops, which have great potential for crop diversification. The commission also stressed on the need to continue subsidising fertilisers. It recommended direct benefit transfer of Rs 5000 per year as subsidy in two equal instalments to farmers — each at the beginning kharif and rabi season. “Farmers can make choices about use of different nutrients based on soil nutrient status. This would allow industry to introduce more efficient products such as water-soluble fertilisers, slow-release fertilisers and customised fertilisers, which will not only improve crop productivity but also check soil degradation,” the report said.
Source: Economic Times
NEW DELHI: The government wrongly retained Rs 47,272 crore of goods and services tax (GST) compensation in the Consolidated Fund of India in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and used it for other purposes, the Comptroller Auditor General said in its audit report of government accounts. It flagged that the amount was to be credited to the non-lapsable GST Compensation Cess collection fund - part of Public Account - for payment to states for loss of revenue due to implementation of GST since 2017, but the government did not do so, thus violating the GST Compensation Cess Act 2017. “Audit examination of information in Statements 8, 9 and 13 with regard to collection of the cess and its transfer to the GST Compensation Cess Fund, shows that there was short crediting to the Fund of the GST Compensation Cess collections totalling to Rs 47,272 crore during 2017-18 and 2018-19,” the CAG noted. “The short-crediting was a violation of the GST Compensation Cess Act, 2017… It is recommended that the Ministry of Finance take immediate corrective action,” national auditor said in its report tabled in Parliament earlier this week. The short crediting of cess collected during the year led to overstatement of revenue receipts and understatement of fiscal deficit for the year. The audit also revealed an accounting procedure error in the transfer of funds to Public Account where the funds where the funds were moved under major head of ‘transfer of Grants in aid to states’ instead of ‘other fiscal services.’ “The wrongful operation has implications on the reporting of Grants in aid, since the GST Compensation Cess is the right of the States and is not a Grant in aid,” the auditor said. CAG however noted that the finance ministry stated in February 2020 that the proceeds of cess collected and not transferred to Public Account would be transferred in subsequent year, accepting the audit observation. But any transfer in the subsequent year would become an appropriation from the resources of that year and would require Parliamentary authorisation. The auditor also noted that during 2018-19, Rs 95,081 crore was collected during the year as GST compensation cess but Rs 54,275 crore was transferred to the compensation fund as against budgeted provision of Rs 90,000 crore and an equal amount for release to states as compensation. “From the Fund it (department of revenue) paid out Rs 69,275 crore (inclusive of an opening balance of Rs 15,000 crore in the Fund) as compensation to the States/ UT. This resulted in savings of Rs 35,725 crore on account of short transfer to the Fund and of Rs 20,725 crore on account of payment of compensation to the States/ UTs,” the CAG said.
Source : Economic Times
State GST (S-GST) collections in the last fiscal were about Rs 5.17 lakh crore or Rs 1.65 lakh crore less than what the constitutionally guaranteed 14% compounded annual growth would require. The compensation requirement for all states combined was nearly a quarter of their protected revenue under Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2019-20, according to official data. While the deficit of many states was in line with the national average, some managed to earn nearly 90% of protected revenue, while others resorted to compensation for nearly half of the protected revenue. State GST (S-GST) collections in the last fiscal were about Rs 5.17 lakh crore or Rs 1.65 lakh crore less than what the constitutionally guaranteed 14% compounded annual growth would require. While the compensation cess collection was only about Rs 96,000 crore for the year, the remaining shortage was made up from unutilised fund from previous years and also from states’ share of integrated GST that had gone to Centre due to lack of apportioning mechanism in the first few months after GST’s July 2017 launch. Among the states, Punjab struggled the most as it could collect just over 52% of its protected revenue through S-GST. This was followed by Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Delhi and Gujarat but the latter three were close to the baseline deficit for all states together which was at 24%. On the other side, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Telangana seemed to have cracked the GST code as their S-GST mop was nearly 90%, requiring only 11.3%, 12.8% and 13% respectively as compensation payment. This was followed by Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra. With compensation requirement in the current fiscal to be much higher partly due to the pandemic, the central government has proposed borrowing from the market by the states themselves to ensure states’ revenue is protected. The protected revenue for the states in FY21 stands at Rs 63,700 crore/month. The total shortfall for all states this year after taking into account the estimated cess proceeds is estimated at Rs 2.35 lakh crore.
Source: Financial Express
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has come as a much-needed respite for sports lovers who were famished by the drought of live sports for months owing to the outbreak of COVID-19. Not only from the sporting perspective, but this IPL also harbours the hope of helping a lot of economic sectors as by their dream tie-ups with the league and the franchises. This has also been the case for a Surat-based textile manufacturing industry. After Chinese products started getting banned in India, the import of Chinese circular knitted polyester cloth, which is worn by players in the league, was reduced from 800 tonnes to 200 tonnes. The Surat manufacturers grabbed this opportunity to produce the fabric used in the T-shirts for the players. Owing to the pandemic and its influence in the market, textile manufacturers are facing a 50 per cent cut in production. However, the circular knitwear sector in textiles is running at 80 per cent production, thanks to the Surat textile industry. The ecosystem was so far dominated by cotton-based circular knitting industries based out of Kolkata and Tirupar. Now, there is a demand for polyester-based circular knitwear that allows the fabric to dry faster, is lighter in weight and is use-and-throw has gone up. The circular knitting industries established in Surat 20 years ago have been undergoing up-gradation for the past 8 years. According to a report carried out in Ahmedabad Times, those leading the circular knitting industry in Surat said that there are 150 manufacturers in the city who have about 3,000 machines. The labour cost in creating these fabrics is only 50 paise per metre as compared to normal fabrics, and the demand in the local market is very high. Polyester fabrics made by circular knitting industry are in demand for its multipurpose uses, including the making of shoes, suitcases, baby frocks, swimming costumes, leggings and T-shirts. Before the pandemic, Surat used to import 800 tonnes of polyester knitted fabrics from China, which has now reduced to 200 tonnes. In comparison, Surat manufacturers produce more than Rs 5.5 crore worth of textiles at an estimated 4.5 lakh kg per day. About 80 per cent of this fabric that is used across the country is produced in Surat, while 20 per cent of the fabrics are exported to Arab countries.
Source: The Bridge
The report adds that garments & apparels exports faced a great demand-shock from the western markets during a good part of the first half of the year. India’s exports are gaining momentum and showing signs of a V-shaped recovery, while imports remain subdued with an expectation of L-shaped recovery, Maersk, the world’s number one container line, said on Thursday. The shipping giant said that during Q22020 (April to June), the Indian containerised trade contracted by almost 30% as compared to the same period last year. Exports out of India were down by over 24% while imports suffered a greater shock with a fall of almost 34%. Maersk said that the containerised trade has started showing signs of recovery from one of the biggest slumps in the modern times as the economies around the world started opening in a staggered manner. According to the report, which is a combination of market intelligence and Maersk data, despite the overall drop in exports from India, commodities such as plastic & rubber have been in great demand and their exports, especially to China have seen a tremendous growth, up by 70%, during Q2 of 2020. The plastic industry has a huge potential with the growth of end-user industries such as packaging,textile fibre and electronics. At the same time, tyre industry is one of the rare sectors which has not seen as much contraction as the others, giving a boost to the rubber exports, sources said. Vegetable exports have also seen a rise, especially to markets in the West Asia. Vegetable exports to the UAE have more than doubled in the said period as compared to 2019. The agricultural sector is expected to grow by 3% in 2020-21 while exports are expected to grow between 4% and 6% with minimal impact of Covid-19 pandemic. The report adds that garments & apparels exports faced a great demand-shock from the western markets during a good part of the first half of the year. On the import side, the container data shows that imports into India witnessed a great decline across all commodities, except for chemicals which form a very small portion of overall imports. Paper, appliances, kitchenware and metal imports have slid to almost half volumes in the second quarter as compared to 2019. Hike in import duty, import dependence on China and production stoppage across the country have hit imports in the short term. While there is an expectation of the import market to recover in 2021, it will surely be a longdrawn-out process that is further slowed down by government’s Atmanirbhar campaign, the report said. Steve Felder, managing director, Maersk South Asia, said that it is also extremely important to reduce the cost of logistics in India which stands at 14% as compared to 9- 10% in more developed countries. “Besides digital transformation, what the logistics sector really needs is agility and reduction of inefficiencies. Supply chains are complex by nature; however, we need to simplify them by focusing on customer needs and building solutions with a straight goal of reducing complexities,” he added.
Source: Financial Express
A textile processing park planned at Cuddalore by Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) will ensure that industries comply with all the norms of the Central and State governments, the association said, in the wake of recent protests against the park. T. Rajkumar, chairman of the park, told The Hindu, that the project, which is supported by the Central and State governments, will not draw water from the ground when the proposed desalination plant is commissioned. Also, effluents from the textile clusters in the State will not be brought by pipeline to the Cuddalore park for discharge, as feared by some sections of people. Mr. Rajkumar explained that the SIMA textile processing park with 10 textile processing units will come up on 237 acres at Periyapattu village in Cuddalore district in the third phase of the SIPCOT industrial park there. The units will need about 10 mld (million litres a day) of water for treatment. Though five borewells have been sunk at the park as part of the project, the plan is to take the complete requirement from the proposed desalination plant when it is set up. The Central government provides 40 % of the project cost and the State government will extend 9 % for the processing park. The promoters of the park will contribute 51 %. The association, which mooted the project in 2005, had finalised on Cuddalore as the location because of water availability. Further, marine discharge of treated effluents is an accepted technology worldwide and it can be implemented here. The Central and State governments will monitor whether the discharged effluent meets the norms. The effluent will not affect marine life in that area, he said. Even if one unit does not meet the standards, it will be shut from the rest of the system. “We are trying to have online control too,” he said. Earlier too the association had distributed pamphlets to the villagers explaining the details of the project and it has now submitted the required information to the government. The current challenge is how to draw water for the daily requirement till the desalination plant is set up. If this can be resolved, five units will commence operations in a year. The State Government has agreed to give water from the second phase of the industrial park as a temporary measure. The desalination plant is expected to be ready in two years, he added. The textile park will create 5,000 direct jobs and create more indirect jobs.
Source: The Hindu
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
788.28 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
VSF |
1304.76 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
ASF |
1758.24 |
USD/Ton |
1.61% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Polyester POY |
738.46 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Nylon FDY |
1948.72 |
USD/Ton |
-0.37% |
28-09-2020 |
|
40D Spandex |
4249.08 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Nylon POY |
1904.76 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
893.77 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Polyester FDY |
2197.80 |
USD/Ton |
-0.33% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Nylon DTY |
5274.72 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
945.05 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
Polyester DTY |
1816.85 |
USD/Ton |
-0.40% |
28-09-2020 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
1787.54 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
1377.29 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2219.78 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
1560.44 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2080.58 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
1934.06 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
1706.96 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.15 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.65 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
0.94 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.48 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.66 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
28-09-2020 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14652USD dtd. 28/09/2020). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been causing serious damage to the production and business activities of enterprises nationwide, especially the key industries. Most of the export sectors that bring billions of US dollars, such as garment and textile, leather and footwear, electrical and electronic products, mechanical engineering, and wooden products, have declined sharply. According to the assessment of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), from the beginning of the year to now, the Covid-19 pandemic has been developing complicatedly around the world. Therefore, in the first eight months of this year, the index of domestic industrial production merely increased by 2.2 percent, much lower than an increase of 9.5 percent in the same period last year, the lowest increase in many years. Complicated developments of the pandemic have caused the supply chains of raw materials to be interrupted, and the consumer market has also narrowed down significantly. The recurrence of Covid-19 in late July have affected the recovery of industrial production. Some key industrial products in the first eight months fell sharply over the same period last year. Particularly, automobile production plunged by 12.5 percent; crude iron and steel sank 7.8 percent; motorbikes dropped 7.1 percent; mobile phones went down 4.4 percent. As a result, the main industrial production in the first eight months fell by 14 percent over the same period. Although the Government has directed the implementation of appropriate social distancing measures, maintaining production and business activities, manufacturing enterprises still face many difficulties. Some countries, which are important trading partners of Vietnam, have not fully opened their doors yet, resulting in a shortage of imported raw materials and a reducing consumer market. Although the production situation of industrial enterprises is showing signs of recovery, it has yet to regain steady growth. In Ho Chi Minh City, the index of industrial production in the past months slid by 5.5 percent over the same period. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a shortage of imported raw materials, poor consumption, a reduction in the production scale of enterprises. Similarly, the report by the People's Committee of Binh Duong Province shows that the index of industrial production in the first eight months of this year only climbed by nearly 6.5 percent over the same period, the lowest increase in recent years of this province. Or in Dong Nai Province, the index of industrial production in the first eight months of this year also increased by just over 5.3 percent. Of which, electronics production slumped by 5.56 percent as it suffered the worst impact with many production and business contracts canceled, so some companies have to produce perfunctorily. According to economic experts, to soon revive production and business activities, at first, it is essential to have breakthrough solutions and policies to quickly support manufacturing enterprises, especially key industries. Besides ongoing solutions, such as credit support, debt rescheduling, interest exemption and reduction of loans, as well as supporting administrative procedures, quickly solving difficulties and problems for enterprises, it is necessary to flexibly implement specialized mechanisms, including inspecting, supervising, and changing from pre-mortem to postmortem review, avoiding overlapping in inspection, and creating the most favorable conditions for enterprises. Provinces need to carry out programs to connect goods consumption with provinces and cities across the country to expand consumption for industrial manufacturing enterprises. At the same time, they need to support enterprises to participate in online trade promotion with foreign partners after international flights are reopened. ‘Enterprises need assistance to promote online commerce, diversify import markets. Moreover, the encouragement of the use of domestic goods and the implementation of the campaign “Vietnamese people prioritize using Vietnamese goods" will help domestic industrial production to quickly recover and develop,’ Mr. Pham Ngoc Hung, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Association, proposed. To continue to support enterprises at a macro level, the MoIT has been collaborating with ministries to develop policies and measures to develop some priority industries with potentials and development opportunities, such as the automotive industry, garment and textile, leather and footwear, electronics, minerals, and supporting industries. It will unify resources from the central to the grassroots levels to focus on investment and development of industrial projects, especially the supporting industries and some basic material industries, consisting of hot-rolled steel, fabric manufacturing, textile dyeing, and new materials, to overcome the dependence on imported raw materials, components, and accessories. On the other hand, it will strengthen preferential policies, investment support, and attract investment shifts in manufacturing industries, including the production of components and accessories, from China and other countries to Vietnam.
Source: Saigon Online
Mountains of waste, plastic-infested oceans, negative CO2 footprints – the need for more sustainable ways of living has never been more urgent. Consequently, it is logical that recycling solutions are becoming increasingly important within the textile industry. This was also tapped into at the first virtual Global Fiber Congress in Dornbirn with a session that focused specifically on the topic. In front of around 400 participants, Markus Reichwein, Head of Product Management at Oerlikon Barmag, also spoke about solutions currently on the market. As the only manufacturer, the Oerlikon Group’s Manmade Fibers segment offers the entire mechanical recycling chain – from preparing the recycled materials, producing the melt all the way through to the textured package. Here, the company utilizes the VacuFil solution supplied by its subsidiary Barmag Brückner Engineering (BBE) – which, in addition to mastering bottle-to-bottle and bottle-to-textile processes, is also able to process textile waste into chips. This permits the running of textile production operations very much in line with the zero-waste philosophy. VacuFil ensures a stable process in the case of recycled quality yarns The reliable removal of contaminants is vital for a stable and efficient spinning process and outstanding yarn quality. At the same time, stable operating conditions with minimal fluctuations are essential. The greatest challenge here is the differing qualities of the bottle flakes fed into the system, as the extrusion process is barely able to balance these fluctuations. Here, the VacuFil concept counters with blending silos, which reduce the differences in the viscosity of the polymers considerably and guarantee high yarn and fabric quality. The VacuFil concept is installed upstream to an Oerlikon Barmag POY system, which transforms the recycled melt into filament yarn of the accustomed high quality. As texturing solutions, Oerlikon Barmag offers its state-of-the-art automatic eAFK-series systems, including the latest generation of the eAFK Evo, which was unveiled at the ITMA Barcelona last year. Yarn manufacturers wishing to continue texturing manually can use the eFK series. With the VarioFil R+, producers of smaller batches now also have a compact system with an integrated recycled materials preparation unit at their disposal. The system offers a special extrusion system for bottle flake materials, the very latest metering and mixing technology for spindying and expanded 2-stage melt filtration. The four spinning positions are each equipped with an Oerlikon Barmag 10-end WINGS POY winder. While mechanical recycling has already been extensively developed, chemical recycling for mixed fabrics is still presenting the textile industry with huge challenges. The Oerlikon Group’s Manmade Fibers segment is currently working on solutions and concepts for transforming these fabrics into new textiles.
Source: Textile World
In recent months, the U.S. began negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement with Kenya. These negotiations are aligned with the current administration’s vision for trade reciprocity rather than unilateral trade preference programs. Although these negotiations could produce the first bilateral trade agreement between the U.S. and a sub-Saharan African country, a shift from regional preferential trade agreements to bilateral free trade agreements could undermine the growth of smaller countries, who may not be of enough economic interest to the United States. Bilateral agreements could also undermine efforts to create a regional economic bloc through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). When President Bill Clinton signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2000, African countries were given a competitive edge by providing unilateral duty-free exports for 6,500 products from Africa to the United States. Twenty years after AGOA was first adopted, we see that it has created long-term, sustainable growth by stimulating the private sector and creating jobs in a region where many countries are battling high unemployment, thereby addressing structural challenges the region faces. Additionally, in choosing a regional approach for the trade agreement, Clinton empowered both big players like South Africa and smaller players like Lesotho. In many ways, this approach aligns with the “trade not aid” mantra. Although AGOA has been extended twice, most recently until 2025, it has come under threats over the last four years, as tariffs were imposed on key steel and aluminum products and duty-free access was suspended for apparel imports from Rwanda. Any further disruptions to AGOA could devastate the region, particularly in the medium to long term as economies seek to recover from the impact of COVID-19. In South Africa, AGOA has contributed to substantially increasing export-led job creation in many sectors, including automobiles and agriculture ($553 million and $364 million, respectively, in 2019). AGOA has boosted South African agricultural exports such as wine and citrus, the latter of which is one of the agriculture sector’s most labor-intensive sectors. An analysis by the University of South Africa found that in 2017, the U.S. imported roughly $59 million—or 10 percent—of its wine from South Africa, which is a sizable share given global competition. A partial equilibrium simulation showed that in the short run, South Africa would lose a wine-products market of approximately $8.1 million if AGOA benefits were replaced with reciprocal tariffs through the Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff system. This would mean a loss of 14 percent of wine export revenue, which would have a direct impact on the industry that provides 300,000 direct and indirect jobs. But small countries have benefited immensely too. Although Lesotho’s textile and apparel industry was first established in the late 1980s, exports skyrocketed after AGOA (Figure 1). The industry grew from having a handful of factories in the 1990s to becoming the largest private-sector employer (43 percent), providing 40,000 jobs, which directly and indirectly benefit 13 percent of Lesotho’s population. Lesotho exports approximately $250 million in garments to U.S. brands such as Levi’s, Walmart, and Old Navy. The duty-free access afforded by AGOA is important for increasing the competitiveness of the African garment industry, which isn’t covered by the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), another preferential trade program. Some of this competitive edge was lost in 2005 when the World Trade Organization’s Multi-Fiber Agreement expired, which ended export quotas and increased competition from China and other Asian garment producers (Figure 2). Still the duty-free access has allowed sub-Saharan Africa to grow the textile and apparel sector, which is a large-scale employer of low-skilled labor. The benefit of preferential trade agreements is that they can create sustainable structural changes. After 18 years of benefiting from AGOA, a computable general equilibrium analysis by the World Bank in 2018 showed that if AGOA was terminated, it would lead to a 1 percent loss in income by 2020 and a 16 percent decline in textile and apparel. But simulations also showed that trade facilitation measures that decrease average trade costs by 2 percent per year would eliminate the adverse income effects that result from the elimination of AGOA. The infant industry protection provided by AGOA allowed the industry to develop and flourish, such that decreasing trade costs by just 2 percent would allow Lesotho to maintain its competitiveness. While Lesotho has benefited from AGOA for two decades, other industries and sectors are just starting to benefit. Namibia has a large livestock sector with over 7.7 million cattle, sheep, and goats. In 2019, Namibia became the first country in Africa to export beef to the United States after 15 years of working to satisfy safety regulations and logistics, and is set to export 860 tons of beef to the U.S. in 2020, rising to 5,000 tons by 2025. Exporting to the U.S. is a big market opportunity for Namibia—the U.S. is the largest consumer of red meat with Americans consuming an average of 120 kilograms of meat per person annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Namibia’s Meatco benefited from duty-free access to the U.S. market through AGOA—given the infancy of the beef export relationship with the U.S., a disruption to AGOA could risk its sustainability and undermine capital investments within the sector. U.S.-Africa trade relations are currently being reshaped—and if AGOA is further disrupted or replaced by bilateral free trade agreements, it could be a blow to a number of economies in the region.
Source:Brookings.edu
Bernie de Le Cuona, founder and CEO of her eponymous fabric house, has been working with natural fabrics for many years with the understanding that her company was handling production in the best way possible: sourcing from quality European mills and primarily using linen, which comes from flax—a more sustainable crop than, say, cotton. But while visiting the mills over the past few years, she began to hear stories about how the chemicals used in the production process were giving workers respiratory problems and, in some cases, burns; she also discovered that the dyes often polluted local water sources. “I decided to try to trace our fabric from the farm all the way to the finished product, and I couldn’t,” de Le Cuona tells Business of Home. “Nobody could tell me exactly what had happened to the fibers or which farm the flax came from. There’s no transparency in the process, and I decided I wanted more control over my textiles.” That decision led de Le Cuona to the Global Organic Textile Standard, a partnership between four member organizations—the Organic Trade Association in the United States, as well as textile and manufacturing trade groups in Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom—that strictly ensures the organic status of textiles, from the harvesting of raw materials through responsible manufacturing all the way up to a product’s labeling. While some home industry brands, like Boll & Branch, meet GOTS standards, no textile house had offered a line of GOTS-certified fabrics—until last week, when de Le Cuona launched Pure, a collection of organic linen. It took over two years to create Pure (which is already available in the U.K. and launches in the U.S. next week), a process that de Le Cuona says was “really, really difficult—even before the pandemic locked everything down.” In order to achieve a GOTS certification, brands not only have to work with a GOTS-certified mill, but also with farmers, weavers and dyers that meet the organization’s standards. “We had to change everything—our packaging, our labeling, even the cardboard tubes that the fabric is rolled onto,” she says. “Everything had to be carefully thought out and approved.” The collection was originally intended to launch in March, but the onset of the coronavirus halted production at the two European mills. The process was then further complicated by Brexit, which has triggered new controls on imports between Europe and the U.K., where de Le Cuona is based. “It’s been enormously tricky, but I was very determined,” she says. Working in this new way influenced the design of the collection, which features ethereal patterns in a soft palette of creams, pinks and grays. “I had to think more about what the end result would be before it was made, because in the GOTS process, once the fabric is woven, you’re only allowed to treat it with water, which is very different from traditional methods.” She envisions the line being used in nurseries or spas—places where customers prioritize health and tranquility. “I believe so strongly in this that we started on another one before the first one was available,” says de Le Cuona. Because only 1 percent of the world’s linen is organic, her company must reserve the yarn far in advance. “If we didn’t start now, another line would take years and years.” While de Le Cuona is pleased to be the first in the industry to offer a GOTS-certified line, she is hopeful that others will follow. “I hope I can be an example to show the industry that it’s not that hard to achieve this standard,” she says. “It’s possible—even in the middle of a pandemic!
Source: Business of Home
