Led by a rise in global sourcing, exports of Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF) rose 40 percent to 23 KT during the second quarter of the financial year from 16.5 KT recorded during the fourth quarter of previous fiscal.
The fourth quarter of the previous fiscal was when lockdowns were implemented, while the second quarter of this financial year saw easing across many global markets.
The rise in exports mirrors an increase in production, a recent shift in the sourcing of textiles away from China and increased adoption of VSF-based garments globally due to awareness of the environment-friendly fibre. Global retailers such as Ikea, Tesco, Walmart, Zara, Marks & Spencer and H&M have also expanded their sourcing from India, riding on the growing demand for VSF-based garments across the world.
India, which is now emerging as a major hub for cellulosic fibre, had exported 16.5 KT of VSF in the first quarter of this fiscal. VSF-based garment exports have grown over 11 percent per annum during the five years between FY14 and FY19, according to senior officials of the Association of Man-made Fibre Industry of India (AMFII).
“VSF is the fastest-growing fibre in the Indian textiles basket and is one of the major contributors to Indian textile exports. The growth in VSF consumption over the last 5 years has led to the doubling of spindles deployed on VSF, thus generating additional employment of nearly 50,000 in the downstream value chain, M.P. Joseph, Secretary-General, AMFII said.
VSF consumption in India has more than doubled over the last five years to 594 KPTA in FY20, recording 14 per cent an annual growth rate, while that across the world remained at 5 per cent.
“We have grown around 900 per cent in our production capabilities. Liva (the fashion ingredient brand from Birla Cellulose) has been a great success in branding of quality products,” said K. Thirunavukkarasu, Managing Director Sri Choleeswarar Spinning Mill Group.
“The growth of the VSF industry has energised the entire value chain and the downstream ecosystem over the last few years. This has not only paved the way for increased investments but also created employment opportunities,” said S.P. Chandrasekaran, Executive Director of JPP Mills.
The Indian VSF industry had earlier earmarked investments of Rs 7,000 crore to strengthen value chain and boost employment generation. Above all, it will also give a fillip to the Government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
Swedish vogue retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) has overtaken its predominant rival Zara to turn into India’s largest clothes model by revenues in FY19-20, helped by aggressive retailer enlargement and decrease pricing.
H&M expanded gross sales 28% to Rs1582 crore through the yr ended March 2020, based on its newest submitting sourced from Altinfo, an information insights agency. In comparability, Inditex Trent, a three way partnership with Tata that runs Zara shops in India, noticed income rise 9% to 1,570 crore final fiscal.
While the distinction could also be small, H&M’s income is important contemplating it entered India in 2015, 5 years after the Spanish rival Zara opened its first door in 2010.
“The product prices of H&M is far more reachable and its consumers are younger compared to Zara which are priced higher with a mature set of consumer base. H&M is extremely aggressive in terms of store launches and its digital push,” stated Devangshu Dutta, founding father of technique consulting agency Third Eyesight.
This displays of their internet income too – H&M’s revenue was Rs8 crore, a decline of 82% whereas Zara’s internet revenue rose 45% to Rs104 crore throughout final fiscal. Janne Einola, the nation supervisor for India on the Swedish quick vogue retailer stepped down from the function final month after being on the helm for the previous 5 years.
Both manufacturers have been runaway successes in India since their arrival however Zara’s efficiency has been petering out because of sluggish outlet enlargement. For occasion, Stockholm-based H&M has opened a retailer a month in India on common up to now since its entry in India in October 2015, taking the full rely to 48. In comparability, Zara has opened 22 shops up to now, though its per retailer income is sort of double than its rival.
H&M shares quick vogue objects created in-house and groups up with designers for one-time collections. It retains a big stock of fundamental, on a regular basis objects sourced from locations together with India and Bangladesh that carry cheaper price tags than these of most of its rivals. Zara, then again, imitates the newest vogue, making inexpensive variations and stocking them for just some days. With most of its quick vogue friends providing merchandise at aggressive costs, Zara had minimize costs to maintain competitors over the previous few years.
Consumers’ urge for food for vogue on demand is at an all-time excessive, placing at an obstacle attire distributors not refreshing their collections commonly. Analysts really feel the recognition of quick vogue over the earlier decade has taken conventional retailers unexpectedly and altering buyer preferences clearly mirror within the sturdy outperformance of quick vogue retailers. “H&M and Zara have caught the fancy of India’s consumers and have outpaced growth of other traditional brands. While brands have been impacted by aggressive online discounting over the past three years, H&M and Zara have managed to report strong growth,” stated a report by Edelweiss Securities.
SOURCE: The Greater India
The RoDTEP Committee, however, will give its recommendations based on actuals, say officials
The Centre may limit benefits for exporters under the new Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme, the rates for which are being finalised on a priority basis for select sectors, owing to a resource constraint.
But the RoDTEP Committee set up by the Finance Ministry to calculate the rate of remission of duties on inputs, including embedded taxes, for exporters in various sectors will give its recommendations based on actuals, an official close to the development told BusinessLine.
“The RoDTEP Committee has been asked to calculate ceiling rates for refunding input taxes for exporters, including embedded taxes, on the basis of actuals. It will do exactly that. If caps have to be fixed because of paucity of resources, then it is the government which will do so,” the official said.
Last year, the Finance Ministry announced the new RoDTEP scheme to replace the popular Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS). The MEIS was ruled by a World Trade Organization panel to be against multilateral trade norms. It is set to expire on December 31, 2020, if not further extended.
Although the RoDTEP scheme, designed to be fully WTO-compliant, is supposed to be in place from January 1, 2021, the RoDTEP Committee has been asked to work out the rates for just three sectors — ready-made garments and made-ups; automobiles and auto-parts; and iron and steel products — to begin with.
“The government has indicated that it may need to cap the RoDTEP rates if it has only ₹10,000 crore at its disposal, as per a calculation made earlier this year. Textiles itself will require ₹7,500 crore once the benefits under the present RoSCTL scheme are converted to RoDTEP. That will leave only ₹2,500 crore for the iron and steel and the auto and auto components sectors, that too, if the scheme is not expanded at the moment to bring in more products,” the official explained. Interestingly, the Finance Ministry had estimated an annual cost of ₹ 50,000 crore for the exchequer when it announced the scheme last year.
A three-member RoDTEP Committee, under former home and commerce secretary GK Pillai, was constituted in July 2020 to work out the modalities for calculation of duties/taxes/levies at the Central, State and local level, borne on the exported product. This will include prior-stage cumulative indirect taxes on goods and services used in the production and distribution of exported product.
The Centre may ask the Committee to fix rates for more products after it submits its first report, likely this month, but it may take a long time before all sectors are covered under the RoDTEP due to both a lack of resources and the complicated procedure of fixing rates, the official added.
SOURCE: The Business Line
INTERNATIONAL
Dior has joined forces with Snapchat for an exclusive augmented reality experience that is set to allow users and patrons of the brands to try sneakers on virtually before buying them.
With this new try on technique, Snapchat users can test six pairs of the brand’s sneakers including the new B27 model.
Snapchat will also allow users to purchase the sneakers they like through Dior’s profile on Snapchat or the luxury label’s website.
The social media platform has a large user base among Millennials and Gen Z shoppers, and more than 180 Snapchatters use augmented reality features every day.
Geoffrey Perez, Snapchat’s head of luxury, said in a statement, “Dior is an incredibly innovative partner. They are one of the very first fashion houses to recognise the tremendous scope and value of augmented reality.
The way consumers interact with products has changed very drastically due to digitisation and Dior has adapted to this very quickly, realising its importance.
Clothing in augmented reality will determine the user experience and future of social commerce.”
Founded by Christian Dior in 1946, the eponymous label is headquartered in Paris, France. With 200+ locations worldwide, Dior is now a part of the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Source: Apparel Resources
Retail giant C&A has announced that it has now paid its apparel suppliers in full for all orders which it cancelled or delayed after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company was previously criticised for cancelling an estimated US$1.5 billion of orders and while most were later reinstated, some remained cancelled without compensation.
That left the company listed as having made no commitment to pay in full for cancelled orders, which were completed and in production, on the COVID-19 tracker run by the Worker Rights Consortium.
Source: Eco Textile
Attending the 13th Istanbul Fashion Conference on Thursday organized by the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association (TGSD) and Istanbul Apparel Exporters Association (IHKIB), Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said that Turkey ranks sixth among all countries in the world in terms of the garment and ready-wear industry exports. Saying that the Turkish garment industry recorded a $16.5 billion (TL 130 billion) external trade surplus in 2019, Varank added that the industry has high added value in exports.
“Among the production and industry sectors, we have the most exports in ready wear. The unit price per kilogram of our ready wear sector has surpassed $13 while this figure is at an average of $1.30 in our other exports,” he added. “Since the 1980s when we started opening up, the ready-wear sector has rapidly developed itself and adapted to the ever-changing market conditions and reached quality and productive level. Thus the garment industry can catch up with today’s environment and continues to create economical value,” he said. Varank also underlined that over 1 million workers are directly employed in the industry and 68% of these employees are female. “We have supported TL 7.5 billion of fixed investment with our incentive certificates. Thanks to that, 350,000 more jobs have been created,” he said.
He also noted that the Government is supporting sector groups in several provinces and has developed industrial zones in North-West Bolu, Bursa, Yalova, Khramanmaraş, Kilis and Diyarbakir in the south-east. Varank also stressed that through Turkey ‘s highest science agency, the Turkish Scientific and Technical Study Council (TÜBITAK), and the Turkey Small and Medum Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), government funding for research and development and development projects in the clothing sector was given.
Source: Textile Focus
Finding new buyers or suppliers in the readymade garment industry is a daunting task. This is even more difficult for small businesses. However, to change that situation, Merchant Bay has made arrangements to bring buyers and sellers under one roof with the help of information technology. Bangladeshi factories connected to the platform will be able to find domestic and foreign buyers online. Buyers can also order online if they want.
Merchant Bay has been launched at the initiative of Sayem Group, which has been involved in garment exports for over 20 years. So far, 1,170 garment and textile suppliers have joined the Bitubi platform from which 700 are garment factories and the rest are textile and equipment manufacturing factories and wholesalers. On the other hand, thousands of local and foreign brands and buyers are being contacted. They have already been added300 organizations.
Abrar Hossain, Managing Director of Merchant Bay, said the type of business of buyers and brands has been changing over the years. Fashion is rapidly changing due to innovations. Buyers are likely to call everyone who looks appropriate if there are only a few. In this case, having a profile of the supplier on the digital platform is helpful to get the buyer.
The Merchant Bay website contains detailed information, including a profile of the supplier, as well as pictures of several products. This will allow the buyers to easily find their desired suppliers. If the buyer wants, he can place a purchase order directly through the platform. There is also an opportunity to place orders through the Merchant Bay Authority. In this case, the company will act as a buyer like a buying house.
Merchant Bay debuted last month after working with that idea for a year. To join the platform, suppliers and buyers have to register online for free. Afterward, the staff of Merchant Bay will check and select them and will give them final approval to use their platform. If you are a verified supplier, then you have to pay annually 20 thousand Taka.
Many of the big buyers of readymade garments and brands have their offices in Dhaka. They complete all the processes starting from placing direct purchase orders. As a result, in response to the question of whether the purchase orders of big buyers and brands will be available on the online platform.
Abrar Hossain said, even if they do not place a purchase order, they will have the opportunity to check the price of clothes and equipment online. This will increase the chances of getting a purchase order in a competitive market.
The number of small and medium factories is the highest in the garment industry in Bangladesh. On the other hand, many small foreign buyers are ordering the production of 500 to 2,000 pieces of clothing. However, even with good prices, it is often difficult to find the desired supplier. Abrar Hossain commented that to get that purchase order Bay will play a big role.
International buying and selling using the Merchant Bay platform have not yet begun. Over the next year, they will focus on building trust between buyers and sellers.
Abrar Hossain, Managing Director of Merchant Bay is working not only with foreign but also with domestic buyers. For them, wholesale market traders like Islampur in old Dhaka are also joining the new platform. Local buyers and sellers have already started trading through Merchant Bay.
Although it is currently working with suppliers and buyers in the garment industry, Merchant Bay will work with entrepreneurs in various sectors including jute, leather and shoes in the future.
Also, the company will provide various digital services to increase production capacity and improve the management of the factory.
Abrar Hossain said international buying and selling has not started yet using the Merchant Bay platform. Over the next year, they will focus on building trust between buyers and sellers. Strict supervision is also in place to ensure that no party is deceived.
Source: Textile Today
