The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

MARKET WATCH 3 JULY, 2015

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

 

Textile Raw Material Price 2015-07-02

Item

Price

Unit

Fluctuation

PSF

1204.27

USD/Ton

-0.27%

VSF

2056.07

USD/Ton

0.16%

ASF

2480.34

USD/Ton

0%

Polyester POY

1178.16

USD/Ton

0%

Nylon FDY

3043.31

USD/Ton

-0.53%

40D Spandex

6282.43

USD/Ton

0%

Nylon DTY

3279.92

USD/Ton

0%

Viscose Long Filament

5988.71

USD/Ton

0%

Polyester DTY

1457.20

USD/Ton

0%

Nylon POY

2855.65

USD/Ton

0%

Acrylic Top 3D

2627.20

USD/Ton

0%

Polyester FDY

1387.03

USD/Ton

0%

30S Spun Rayon Yarn

2725.11

USD/Ton

0%

32S Polyester Yarn

1925.52

USD/Ton

-0.84%

45S T/C Yarn

2969.88

USD/Ton

0%

45S Polyester Yarn

2137.66

USD/Ton

0%

T/C Yarn 65/35 32S

2496.65

USD/Ton

0%

40S Rayon Yarn

2888.29

USD/Ton

0%

T/R Yarn 65/35 32S

2692.47

USD/Ton

0%

10S Denim Fabric

1.14

USD/Meter

0%

32S Twill Fabric

0.96

USD/Meter

0%

40S Combed Poplin

1.35

USD/Meter

0%

30S Rayon Fabric

0.77

USD/Meter

0%

45S T/C Fabric

0.78

USD/Meter

0%

Source: Global Textiles

Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.16318 USD dtd. 02/07/2015)

The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com.  SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.

US free trade pact with trans-pacific nations will hit Indian apparel exports

With the United States in advanced stages of signing the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with 11 countries, including Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore and Canada, Indian textile exports, especially apparels and denim, might be adversely affected. One of the largest free trade agreements to be signed till date and involving 12 countries, TPP will enhance trade and investment among the TPP-member countries, promote innovation, economic growth and development, and support the creation and retention of jobs, apart from providing comprehensive market access by eliminating tariffs and other barriers to goods and services. TPP is the initiative of the US with an aim to protect its domestic industry by gaining duty-free access to markets. The negotiations to enter into TPP began in 2005 and are reaching final stages in 2015. As per a report by IndiaNivesh Securities Private Limited, Asia Pacific is an important zone with respect to trade and all non-member countries are likely to be impacted by TPP. Quoting industry experts from Textile Export Promotion Council and Wazir Advisors, the IndiaNivesh Securities Private Limited report says, “India, along with other textile-producing countries like China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, is likely to be negatively impacted from TPP. Due to duty-free access to Vietnam exports, competitiveness of India can be impacted to a great extent.” “India has become an isolated country and such a country can't flourish. All such isolated countries don't get free trade benefit. Now, in this TPP, one country will manufacture fibre and another garment all under one pact and no customs duty will be charged. Vietnam's growth is phenomenal and is still one of the lowest wage countries will make it quite competitive. India will have a clear disadvantage, especially in exports of commodities like T-shirts, men's wear, denim, pullovers and sweaters, among other things,” said a senior AEPC official. Industry experts say the impact seen will be in terms of fresh opportunities that had begun to divert to India, which might now again turn in favour of the TPP-member nations. The industry also anticipates a marginal slowing of Indian apparel exports, which was otherwise anticipated to grow at 12-15 per cent per annum for the next few years.

According to the IndiaNivesh report, Vietnam is a significant player in the textiles and apparel industry. Vietnam exports of textiles to the US has increased from $2.88 billion in 2005 to $9.96 billion in 2014, signifying 14.8 per cent CAGR over the period, making it the fastest growth for any country with a sizeable market share. Moreover, Vietnam's share in the US import of textile and clothing has increased from 3.2 per cent in 2005 to 9.3 per cent in 2014. However, Anil Rajvanshi, chairman of Synthetic Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council, said, “The TPP will not affect Indian textile exports but rather open a window of opportunity for Indian textile companies to invest in Vietnam, which neither grows cotton nor has enough fabric units. Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently extended credit line of $300 million dollars to Vietnam, strengthening our relationship with that country.” Both IndiaNivesh report and Rajvanshi are of the view that given the yarn forward rule of origin requires that textile and apparel products should be made using yarns and fabrics from a TPP country to qualify for the benefits of the agreement, Vietnam would require investment from other countries such as India and China, which the former can take benefit from. "India is planning to set up capacities in Vietnam to take advantage of TPP, which would adhere to the yarn forward rule. The Vietnamese government provides tax holidays, import duty exemption, concession on land lease charges, electricity, among other things for Indian investors,\" the IndiaNivesh report stated.

SOURCE: The Business Standard

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China wants to combine 'Make in India' with 'Made in China' to reduce trade deficit

China said it is making "every effort" to address India's concerns on $47 billion trade deficit as it called for combining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative with its 'Made in China' to step up investments. "We are making every effort to fundamentally solve the issue. We need to find a new channel, new methodology to break the bottle neck," said Huang Xilian, Deputy Director General of the Asian Affairs department of the Foreign Ministry.  China is trying to address the issue by promoting mutual investments to balance the trade. "We have agreed two industrial parks and encouraging more Chinese investments in India to promote exports to China," he said. "We are ready to buy. This is next five years we are experted to import commodities from $10 trillion. We hope we could import as much as possible from India," he said. "We should try to combine 'Make in India' and 'Made in China' strategy together. The key word in India-China relationship is development, which is a major factor of our cooperation," he said. India's trade deficit with China averaged around $47 billion in last year's trade of over $70 billion. Huang said China has sent delegation to India to discuss measures to increase imports. China is importing films from India, he said, referring to recent success of PK which grossed over $16 million. China is also stepping up imports of Indian pharmaceuticals, Huang said.

SOURCE: The Economic Times

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India, Thailand still disagree on FTA details: Thai official

The much-awaited free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Thailand has hit a slight bump as the two sides still disagree on key details, according to a senior Thai official. Director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department Thawatchai Sophastienphong said that the points of contention included a Thai proposal to extend the talks to cover textiles and petrochemicals and India’s request to withdraw sugar and rubber gaskets from planned tariff cuts. High-ranking officials of the two countries held talks on FTA from 15-17 June last month in Bangkok. During the meeting, India proposed a new schedule for talks with the investment sector, a revision of the criteria on sanitary and phytosanitary (pests and pathogens) measures, and an acceleration of liberalisation for occupations India is interested in. The two sides will meet again in September to evaluate progress. Thawatchai said Thai commerce minister Chatchai Sarikulya wanted to finalize the FTA this year. Thailand and India signed a framework agreement covering the liberalisation of trade in goods, services and investment on 9 October 2003.

Under the framework, Thailand and India would begin talks and establish a Thai-Indian FTA covering trade in goods by 2010. Both countries initially agreed to implement an early harvest scheme, which means agreements on one or more topics have to be concluded before the scheduled completion of a multi-issue round. The agreement specified tariff reductions under the environmental, health and safety (EHS) for 82 items, including fruits, processed food products, gems and jewellery, iron and steel products, auto parts, electronic goods and electric appliances. Tariffs on these products under the EHS were eliminated on 1 September 2006. Bilateral trade between Thailand and India reached $8 billion in 2014 and is forecast at $12 billion this year. Thailand had a trade surplus with India of $2 billion last year.

SOURCE: The Livemint

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India may change its WTO stance, seek another package

In a major change of stance, India might decide to settle for yet another package at the coming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), similar to the Bali deal, through which some of its interests can be secured, instead of demanding the entire Doha Development Round be discussed. A ministerial conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO, after the General Council. Here, trade ministers of all member countries meet to hammer out decisions of mutual interest. The 10th ministerial conference, or MC10, will be held at Nairobi, Kenya from December 15-18, this year. The last such ministerial conference took place in Bali, Indonesia. At that time, India was able to secure an interim measure for its food stockholding programme. Among developing countries, India has always taken the lead on the principle of single undertaking. In other words, it has always insisted on discussing the entire Doha Development Agenda, launched at the Qatari capital in November 2001 for tariff reduction in agriculture, as well as in industrial goods. However, in a departure, India is now ready for another "Bali-type deal" that will offer it, as well as other developing countries, potential gains, say officials in the commerce & industry ministry.

The Nairobi ministerial might give rise to yet another package that will seek to address the concerns of both developing and developed countries. But the question is what could India demand that rich countries will be willing to offer? This is also something being discussed at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. Experts seem to be divided on the issue. Some say India should take on the risk of settling for yet another smaller package, which negates the very ethos of the Doha Development Agenda, only if it is confident it will get something in return. "At a time when the US is focused on the Transpacific Partnership and the European Union is busy with its own set of problems, it will be impossible to get anything from them at this juncture. The Nairobi ministerial is going to be a damp squib. If India thinks it will be a successful round such as Bali, it is wrong because Bali was largely about securing a clarification, not an objective. India should not give into pressure from the US," a former Indian ambassador to the WTO and its chief negotiator told the Business Standard.

Another set of economists say though there is no harm in deviating from the concept of a single undertaking, India should first weigh the gains. "India should look at closing the Doha round with lower levels of ambition. Some flexibility is required on the format of single undertaking. With 160 members, it isn't possible to get everyone to agree on everything anymore. So, what India can do now is demand liberalisation of agricultural trade and industrial tariffs, which, in a way, is the crux of the Doha round," said Anwarul Hoda, professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and former deputy director-general of WTO. According to Biswajit Dhar, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the situation is different today compared to 2013 ministerial conference in Bali. Besides, at that time, there were issues on which India could bargain for a beneficial package. Dhar said though it did no harm to have a smaller package culled out of the Doha deal, India should tread carefully in making a list of demands.

SOURCE: The Business Standard

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Global crude oil price of Indian Basket was US$ 61.18 per bbl on 02.07.2015

The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 61.18 per barrel (bbl) on 02.07.2015. This was lower than the price of US$ 61.84 per bbl on previous publishing day of 01.07.2015.

In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket decreased to Rs 3889.21 per bbl on 02.07.2015 as compared to Rs 3934.26 per bbl on 01.07.2015. Rupee closed stronger at Rs 63.57 per US$ on 02.07.2015 as against Rs 63.62 per US$ on 01.07.2015. The table below gives details in this regard: 

Particulars

Unit

Price on July 02, 2015 (Previous trading day i.e. 01.07.2015)

Pricing Fortnight for 01.07.2015

(June 12 to June 26, 2015)

Crude Oil (Indian Basket)

($/bbl)

61.18             (61.84)

61.66

(Rs/bbl

3889.21        (3934.26)

3935.76

Exchange Rate

(Rs/$)

63.57            (63.62)

63.83

SOURCE: PIB

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Textile industry: Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) for creating stable environment

Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has stressed the need for creating a stable environment with more market access to deal with competitiveness issue as country's textile industry has lost its viability against regional competitors. Textile industry is the only hope for revival of country's economy which is currently jolted by high cost of doing business.  Commenting over the prevailing situation on Thursday, Sohail Pasha, Chairman of the Association pointed out that, textile industry, economy's mainstay is facing unprecedented crisis since many years. Consequently, sizeable textile capacity had been severely impaired and textile exports, both in quantity and value terms had declined across the value chain. The major factor behind the declining trend is the erosion of textile industry's competitiveness, particularly against the huge incentives being provided by the competing countries to their export sectors. With Government support, regional rivals have accelerated export growth and have increased their market share in global textile trade. Quoting the growth rate, he said that textile export growth in Bangladesh is 20%, India 12% and China 12%; whereas in Pakistan is just 3%. With such speedy growth, Bangladesh has increased its share in global textile trade from 1.09% in 2006 to 3.30% in 2013. Similarly, India increased from 3.4% to 4.70%, China from 27% to 37% while Pakistan has dropped from 2.20% to 1.80%. If growth factors remain the same, Bangladesh's share in world market in 2020 would be 6%, India's 7%, China's 56% and Pakistan will be limited to 1.50%, he opined.

PTEA's group leader Ahmad Kamal was of the view that Pakistan's textile exports were too close to Indian textile exports few years back but with 5% industrial growth rate, their annual textile exports have crossed USD33billion mark. Due to conducive policies, heavy investment was made in terms of machinery in competing countries. During 2008-13 periods, China added further 35.29million spindles; while India added 14.20million and Bangladesh added 1.98million spindles in textile sector. In Pakistan, only 1.02million spindles were added in five years. Comparing the results of first five year textile policy 2009-14 with India's 11th five year plan 2007-12, he said that implementation of country's first ever textile policy 2009-14 with outlay of Rs188billion was implemented just 15% which results 0% growth in textile exports, only 1million spindle addition, no new jobs created and world market share dropped from 2.2% to 1.8%. On the other hand, India's 11th five year plan 2007-12 with outlay of Rs140billion was implemented by 115% bringing 76% increase in exports, 14 million spindle addition, creation of 16million direct job and increase in world market share from 3.5% to 5%. Vice Chairman PTEA, Rizwan Riaz Saigal said that the cost of doing business in the textile sector has sky rocketed and the burden of incidental taxes, provincial cess, system inefficiencies and the punitive withholding tax regime have added fuel to the fire. Government should provide level playing field to double its existing share in global textile trade.  PTEA urged the government to restore the competitiveness of the industry by ensuring uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity at regionally affordable rates, liquidation of all pending refunds, removal of all innovative taxes and restoration of zero rating regimes for textile export chain.

SOURCE: The Business Recorder

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Foreign investors eye Vietnam's textile industry ahead of free trade pact

Vietnam's textile industry has been seeing a strong flow of foreign investment over the first half of the year, a trend that many say is spurred by a trade treaty expected to be completed by this year-end. News website Saigon Times Online reported on Wednesday that Taiwanese-owned Polytex Far Eastern Company has been granted a license to build a yarn factory in the southern province of Binh Duong, which neighbors Ho Chi Minh City. It was the largest foreign project in the province in the first six month, with a cost estimate of US$274 million for the first stage, according to the website. Between $700 million-1 billion was planned for the second stage, a representative of the investor was quoted as saying.

The company's third textile project in Vietnam was meant to take advantage of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, which, when signed, will give Vietnamese products duty-free access to major markets, the representative said. Previously, authorities in HCMC and the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Tay Ninh, where foreign investment was once restricted in the textile sector out of concerns over labor intensity and pollution risks, licensed three projects with the total investment of over $1.12 billion, the news report said. They were the biggest FDI projects to be approved in Vietnam by June 20, accounting for 29.2 percent of the total new pledges during the time, according to a recent report by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

With an investment of $660 million, Turkish-owned Hyosung Istanbul Tekstil Ltd.'s yarn factory in Dong Nai was the largest of the three, followed by the $300-million project by British-owned Worldon Vietnam Ltd., Co. in HCMC. The third one is invested by Hong Kong-owned Lu Thai Textile Co. Vietnam licensed 757 new FDI projects with total pledges of $3.83 billion by June 20, down 21 percent year on year, the Foreign Investment Agency reported. Meanwhile, $1.65 billion has been registered for existing projects, a year-on-year decrease of 17 percent.

SOURCE: Thanh Nien News

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UAE textile printing industry set for big growth

Textile printing industry in the UAE is set to gather momentum as the country stands as the world’s fourth largest trading centre of textiles, generating about $17.5 billion annually, a top official said, citing a global report. Meanwhile, the global printed textiles market is projected to touch 29.8 billion sq m by 2020, due to the technology enhancements aimed at improving print speeds, design and efficiency, explained Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, chairman of International Expo Consults (IEC),organisers of the upcoming Sign and Graphic Imaging Middle East 2016 in Dubai, UAE. Organised by IEC, the event runs from January 10 to 12, 2016 at World Trade Centre. UAE can capitalise on the fast growing textile printing industry and the country has a huge potential to become one of the market leaders, he said. Screen printing continues to hold a major share of the global textile printing market, in terms of production volume of printed textiles. However, it is facing a strong competition due to the fast adoption of digital technology. “Growth in the coming years will surely be driven largely by the digital textile printing market. Manufacturing of high-quality inkjet print heads, presence of open system inkjet print heads that enable use of inks from multiple vendors, and launch of lower priced competitive solutions are expected to fast-track the adoption of digital printing technology,” said Falaknaz. “The textile printing industry is taking the fashion world by storm. New York Fashion Week recently featured a runway show parading pieces of clothing made of digitally printed textiles.

“As UAE is one of the most fashion forward places around the globe, we are sure to adapt this style—whether it’s for the fashion or the interior design industry. Digital printing gives freedom not just for designers but also for fashion enthusiasts as the latter can design their own prints and acquire a tangible version of it—whether it’s clothing, accessory, or even furniture,” he added. SGI Dubai 2016 will include an exclusive textile printing focused pavilion called ‘SGI Textile’. This announcement will see the introduction of new technologies under two broad printing categories namely ‘technical fabric’ and ‘garment decoration’ alongside other major pavilions. "Textile is the oldest trade in Dubai, with some merchants established for more than 60 years now. With over 750 wholesale textile shops and an import of Dh10 billion ($2.72 billion) annually, the textile sector is one of the largest trade segments of Dubai," said Ashok Sawlani, former chairman and present Managing Committee member at Texmas. "The potential of the textile trade is enhanced with the construction of Dubai Textile City by Texmas, an association of textile merchants, and the upcoming Dubai Design District (D3) promises a new dimension to textiles business with a large number of new and established fashion designers in the region,” he added.

The SGI Dubai 2016 show is the most anticipated event of the year in the Mena region with the successful history of creating a great platform for exhibitors and visitors in the signage, digital signage, retail signage solutions, outdoor media, screen and digital printing industries. SGI Dubai 2015, an official DSF event welcomed over 400 global exhibitors from across 34 countries and registered over 12,781 trade visitors from 78 countries. “The retail industry in UAE is a preferred destination for an international shopping experience as it is constantly improvising. We are pleased to introduce this exclusive segment - Textile pavilion at SGI Dubai 2016 to fulfil the growing industry requirements”, concluded Falaknaz

SOURCE: The Trade Arabia

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Kenya: Multi million investments as US extends AGOA trade deal

Kenya expects 20 companies to start investing about 8 billion shillings ($80 million) immediately in the African nation's textiles industry after the renewal of a deal offering access to the U.S. market, its industrialisation minister said. President Barack Obama signed the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) this week, renewing a deal allowing Sub-Saharan African countries to export thousands of products to the United States, without tariffs or quotas, for a further 10 years. By the time AGOA finishes, before it is renewed (again), we would like to do $10 billion. The companies had been awaiting the AGOA extension before moving ahead with their investments, Kenyan Industrialisation and Enterprise Minister Adan Mohamed told Reuters. "The biggest opportunity that we have in this country is accessing the U.S. market," he said in an interview at his ministry office.

Kenya is the leading exporter of garments under AGOA in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mohamed said the industry earns about $400 million a year exporting garments Kenyan firms stitch together using imported fabrics. Kenya needs to boost exports to rein in a gaping current account deficit and ease pressure on its currency, which has been hit by global dollar strength and slide in foreign exchange earnings from tourism after a spate of Islamist attacks. Half of the 20 firms that are ready to invest are already operating in Kenya and want to expand, Mohamed said. "The other half are companies that are coming from Sri Lanka, from Bangladesh, from India that are coming here looking at opportunities in this place," he said. "We want to get to a billion (dollars in export earnings) in the next two years," he said. "By the time AGOA finishes, before it is renewed (again), we would like to do $10 billion." Mohamed said the main challenge facing the textile industry was staying competitive on labour costs.

Labour and fabric import costs together make up 80 percent of firms' operating costs. "That is my biggest headache at the moment," he said. The minimum wage in Kenya is about $135 a month compared with $35-$45 in Bangladesh, a garments exporting powerhouse, and $65 in Lesotho, the number two exporter of textiles under the AGOA facility, executives in the textile industry said. "I don't have a problem with the cost of labour being high but the productivity must match that high cost," he said, adding improvements in training, working closely with unions over pay and investing in more efficient machinery would all help.

SOURCE: The Africa Report

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Zimbabwe: FTA Challenges for the Country

The launch of a Free Trade Agreement by three African economic blocs in Egypt recently was indeed an important step towards a potentially game-changing common market spanning the entire African continent. Already under implementation, the deal between the East African Community, Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa will create a market of 26 countries with a population of 625 million and gross domestic product of more than $1 trillion. For Zimbabwe, the continental free trade presents both opportunities and challenges. The opportunities are the creation of bigger market access, which will see Zimbabwe accessing 625 million people with GDP of $1,3 trillion. This is significant considering that Zimbabwe has a population of about 13 million people and the GDP of only $13,5 billion. All things being equal, local firms should brace for big business, but this is easier said than done. Certainly, there are challenges, which come with this arrangement such as loss of fiscal revenue, stiff competition and potential problems of unemployment.

Zimbabwe at this juncture cannot benefit from this free trade agreement. Already, the country has been relegated to being a nation of consumers and heavily relies on imported products because of low productivity. For instance, South Africa alone takes more than 60 percent of shelf space in the domestic supermarkets. As such, this makes it difficult to compete with producers or businesses from the whole African continent if the country cannot compete within the SADC region. The two fundamental challenges that could inhibit Zimbabwe from benefiting from the free trade agreements are lack of competitiveness which have negatively affected productivity. "We don't have capacity to sell locally and let alone to export. It is very difficult to imagine that we can tap into the 625 million people in Africa when we cannot supply to 13 million," economist and trade expert Dr Gift Mugano said. "The reality is that we will soon be swept away by the wave of regionalism and become a warehouse of the global economy. Zimbabwe needs to move swiftly to identify the deterring factors in raising production capacity. This much we know but we now need to collectively move to identify problems which require money to be solved and separate them from ones which require policy reforms." He said the challenges of low agricultural productivity were to do with incentives and policy issues.

For instance, on policy issues, the Government needs to give title deeds to farmers, which can be used as security when seeking finance from the banks. This on its own would unlock finance and transfer the burden from the Government to the markets. In the same vein, the institutions established to support economic programmes like the Commodities Exchange must be operationalised. In 2011, Zimbabwe launched the Commodities Exchange which was supposed to be a mechanism for raising agricultural productivity by addressing efficiency in production, reducing post-harvest losses and bridging the financial gaps through the use of warehouse receipts as instruments which can be used by the bank as col- lateral. "To date, there is no movement on this issue. This then creates a fundamental challenge and one needs to understand why we establish these institutions," Dr Mugano said. With respect to incentives, economic analysts say the Government should consider introducing tax incentives aimed at supporting value chains and cluster initiatives. This was a complex task, but to make the issue simple, one could look at how procurement by the supermarkets could be localised through contract farming or direct purchases. But this must be enforced by a carrot and stick approach. On the carrot side, Government would give tax reductions such as corporate tax for a complying company. "Naturally, this normally receives resistance from the Ministry of Finance but the business case is that the value chain process if applied will widen the tax base and ends up give the Treasury more money," said one analyst. "On the stick side, tax disincentives will have to be applied for non-complying companies. This is what they are doing in Africa, like in Zambia and South Africa. This approach will definitely raise productivity but requires policy reforms, not money. The money is already available as supermarkets are using it to import. We must direct it into the economy."

SOURCE: All Africa

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Swedish co unveils new fabric made of recycled polyester

It was a different kind of catwalk in Almedalen in Sweden. At a seminar called ”The world’s most sustainable catwalk” a garment made of the water repellent and fluorocarbon-free fabric OrganoTex was presented. The material was made of recycled polyester from 7-up bottles collected by the Buddhist charity organization Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan, Swedish clean-tech company OrganoClick said in a statement. Water repellent treatments (so called DWR’s) for textiles and garments contain almost always fluorocarbons, a group of chemicals that are bio-accumulative and can cause cancer and are hormonal disturbance. OrganoClick has developed an alternative DWR-technology free from fluorocarbons which only contains non-harmful substances which are biodegradable. At Almedalen, during the seminar, “The world’s most sustainable catwalk”, an OrganoTex-treated garment designed by Karolina Nilsson was presented. “By using biodegradable and non-toxic chemistry in our products we can be sure that we don´t cause any environmental problems which the long-chain fluorocarbons do”, said Robin Grankvist, business area manager for performance textiles & nonwoven at OrganoClick.

The new fluorocarbon-free technology has been developed by OrganoClick´s scientists and in January 2014 it was implemented in factories at Chang-Ho Fibers, a Taiwanese textile producer. Since then about 100 textiles has been developed which are water repellent and free from fluorocarbons. Filippa K was the first fashion brand to start use OrganoClick’s technology in its collection in February 2015. The garment shown in Almedalen is made from recycled polyester made by OrganoClick´s Taiwanese partner Chang-Ho Fibers. The raw-material for the fabric originates from 7-up bottles collected by the Buddhist charity organization Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan. The fabric is not dyed and thereby the original green color of the 7-up bottle has been preserved which saves great amount of chemicals, water and energy during the manufacturing process. The garment has been developed in a collaboration between OrganoClick, Chang-Ho Fibers, the Textile University of Borås and TEKO.

SOURCE: Fibre2fashion

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