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With favorable news on China-US trade war in early December, sales of polyester yarn turned better, promoting the inventory to decline from 14 days to 7 days. Some polyester yarn mills are even short of supply. Accordingly, recycled polyester yarn mills are also affected. As the relevance between virgin PSF and recycled one gets closer, recycled polyester yarn mills pay more attention to virgin PSF and polyester yarn price trend.
With the fourth quarter coming to an end, stable price is favorable for downstream to consume stockpiles, alleviating the weakness on market. Differences exist among spinners in North China and in South China. In South China, polyester yarn is sold quickly while in North China, polyester yarn mills are burdened with high inventory yet polyester yarn made of close virgin PSF performs well.
Currently, downstream demand stays bearish despite slight improvement. Market players still hold cautious attitude to the demand recovery before and after Spring Festival. If downstream demand does not restor e actually, sales of polyester yarn will face large pressure and the favorable factors brought by eased China-US trade war will not last long. As things standing, polyester yarn market seems stable on the whole in the fourth quarter. Most spinners sell actively to lower inventory, and they generally keep cautious to the market outlook in the first quarter of 2019. In terms of restocking and holiday plans, polyester yarn market will stay bearish in Q1 2019.
China is set to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy by 2032. In 2003, the world’s five largest economies were the US, Japan and three European countries. Thirty years later three out of the top five economies will be Asian (India third and Japan fourth) and only one will be European (Germany).
This year, the feel-good factor in global economy has largely dispersed being replaced by volatility and uncertainty. Trade tensions have come to the fore, with the US and China imposing substantial tariffs on each other’s export sectors.
So far, the US economy seems undeterred and 2018 has been another year of strong growth. This is in part due to the tax reform package passed in 2017, which has brought forward growth. However, it leaves a serious budget deficit problem that is likely to balloon over time. This means that in the case of an economic downturn, the US will have less fiscal headroom to use in order to avoid a recession.
China, on the other hand, has had more problems as the trade conflict weighs on an economy already under strain. In 2018, China finally seemed to be making progress in weaning its economy off the large volumes of debt that had been used to prop up growth after the financial crisis.
Tukatech and Lefty Production have collaborated to open a design center in the US. The facility offers complete pattern-making, grading and marker-making using TUKAcad and SMARTmark, virtual sampling using TUAK3D (eliminating physical samples), sample cutting with the TUKAcut laser cutter, production cutting and sewing, and cloud collaboration and asset management with TUKAcloud.
The center will allow smaller manufactures, independent fashion designers, freelance pattern-makers, graders, marker-makers or anyone else who wants to design clothes to walk in and allow fashion industry experts to assist and guide the way.
Tukatech is a global apparel technology solutions provider. The company aims to revolutionise the small and medium sector in the apparel industry. Its latest innovation aims to increase efficiency in product development, thereby reducing the time and cost in developing new samples and enabling effective global communications and faster sample approvals through TUKA Cloud.
Lefty Production is a top full package service provider. Lefty is a one-stop shop design house, apparel and accessories manufacturer. It works with designers, fashion brands, and retailers of all varieties and sizes. With this partnership, Lefty’s priority is to ensure its clients get the best possible products and the best possible service on time.
Going virtual has allowed apparel manufacturers to reduce their product development time considerably, and increase their first-sample acceptance rate.
As per Chinese Economy Blue Book 2019, released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the ongoing trade war between China and the US may be the biggest external risk for the Chinese economy in 2019, but it could also help the country further deepen reform and open-up.
According to Lou Feng, Director of the Economic Modeling Team at the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics under CASS, the biggest external impact on the Chinese economy next year will be the trade war. He urged both China and the US to strengthen consultation and avoid further escalation of the trade war.
Lou also called for deeper reforms to boost China's manufacturing transformation and upgrading. Many Chinese analysts have argued that the trade war could prompt China to carry out new reform and opening-up measures, which is a good thing, in theory. But others cautioned that China shouldn't be driven off its intended course under pressure.
More and more Americans are moving towards US-made products to support domestic companies. In recent years, there’s been growing demand for wool yarn that's completely produced in the United States, from sheep to skin. One reason could be that consumers are turning back to wool because of the environmental risks of microplastics in garments made from synthetics such as acrylic, nylon and polyester. The microplastics are released into waterways when the synthetic garments are washed.
Locally sourced yarn helps not only the environment but local businesses too. Shopping local is allowing farmers to raise and keep their animals on the farm. The farm-to-table movement of eating local, shopping local -- basically the major slow food movement -- laid the ground work for the knitting industry. Business is growing for fiber artists and companies that focus on producing high-quality, ethically sourced yarn with attention to their environmental impact.
Yarn company Brooklyn Tweed was founded in 2010 to preserve, support and sustain American textile production by doing business with sheep farmers, fiber mills and dyers across the United States. Most garments worn in the United States in the first half of the 20th century were American-made, but the decline of the American textile industry began after World War II.
PRGMEA chairman Mubassar Naseer Butt has urged the adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investments Abdul Razak Dawood to rationalise duty structures and minimise taxes and duties on import of raw materials in the RMG sector. The ministry should also discourage export of raw material and encourage export of value-added items. He reiterated the request of value-added textile exporters to the State Bank of Pakistan to facilitate exporters' authorised dealer to make import advance payments against irrevocable Letters of Credit (L/C) up to 100 percent of the value of the goods and up to $10,000 per invoice for the import of all eligible items without the requirement of L/C or Bank Guarantee from the supplier abroad.
Expressing concern over extreme cash flow crunch, Mubassar Butt asked the government to announce a clear policy to finally clear all the pending refund claims within stipulated time. Government should also clear old duty drawback claims of exporter for the period 2009-2012 as these claims are pending since long. The PRGMEA chairman requested the bank to support the exporters in a way that first they ensure 50 per cent banking compliances in 2019 and a further 25 per cent may ensure in the next year and so on. Butt also extended an assurance on behalf the value-added textile industry by supporting the government in achieving its target of economic growth and overcoming the unprecedented trade deficit.
For Chinese polyester staple fiber plants, the cash flow stayed high on the whole in 2018. Overall operating rate before August 2018 was higher than that in the same period of 2017, but affected by the sharp ups and downs it slid in August to October. As a result, the operating rate in 2018 approached 81.8 per cent, which was 2.3 per cent lower than in 2017.
Therefore, production of most old plants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang declined, and those in Fujian was flat last year, while some new or restarted plants saw higher production. In addition, differentiation among polyester staple fiber plants increased. The proportion of polyester staple fiber for spinning showed a downward trend. As a whole, although capacity of virgin polyester staple fiber for spinning improved, consumption declined for the first time in the past five years.
In conclusion, direct-spun polyester staple fiber 1.4D ran well in 2018. Amid booms and slumps, PSF plants cut or suspended production to avoid risks, which not only lowered losses but also paved the way for healthy operation in the fourth quarter. It has become one of the products with quick recovery and the strength to resist a crash.
Cotton growers in Nigeria are losing out with rising demand for the commodity in the global market. They face lack of high quality seeds, poor access to extension services, low prices of the produce, pest infestation, price fluctuation, and a dearth of ginneries and textile mills.
Farmers want improved seeds, fertilizer, modern equipment like tractors for clearing of land and the right support. Farmers are also looking for viable markets. They say allowing foreign markets to determine the price of the produce has led to the death of cotton industry in the country. Production of cotton in Nigeria is dominated by small scale farmers.
The cotton industry in Nigeria used to be very viable, employing a large number of people. But this became history right from the 1990s. The capacity utilization which was more than 63 per cent dipped considerably. The number of textile mills dropped. The entire industry has virtually become moribund.
The Institute of Agricultural Research is the only institute mandated to work on cotton in Nigeria. But it is poorly funded and not able to function well and produce good quality seeds for farmers. The Central Bank of Nigeria has come up with a textile intervention fund to boost the sector.
As per Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, knitwear exports during first five months of current financial year increased 10.58 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year. The country exported about 52,171 thousand dozens of knitwear worth $1.214 billion during the period from July-November, 2018-19 as compared to exports of 43,388 thousand dozen valuing $1.098 billion of same period of last year.
Meanwhile, the country also earned $1.022 billion by exporting about 18,465 thousand dozen of readymade garments as against the exports of 15,306 thousand dozen of readymade garments valuing $1.019 billion of same period of last year. The exports of readymade garments during the last five months witnessed a 0.28 percent growth as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
Bedwear exports from the country, in first five months of current fiscal year, were recorded at $966.007 million as compared to exports of 947.404 million of same period last year. About 165,686 metric tons of bedwear was exported during the period from July-November, 2018-19, as compared to the exports of 156,823 metric tonne, registering an increase of 1.96 percent.
India managed to grow its exports in 2018. Double-digit export growth continued for half the year. But high crude prices and rising domestic demand continued to inflate the trade deficit at a faster rate. The year started with monthly trade deficit soaring to a 56-month high. By October, it had risen to more than $153 billion. Crippling capital inadequacy was felt in the wake of GST.
Imports also shot up as volatile crude prices made a comeback to haunt policymakers after a year of relative ease. India’s current account deficit is expected to triple in the second quarter of fiscal ’19, or about three per cent of GDP, from the second quarter of the last fiscal year.
As a result, import restrictions were placed and inbound duties were raised on six separate occasions for hundreds of products including textile inputs, steel, mobile phones and solar panels, among others. The move was strongly criticised for raising protectionist barriers at a time when economic growth was tepid. But India managed to navigate through a field of tariff landmines as a trade war between the United States and China heated up throughout the year. The US threatened to cut market access for Indian goods but negotiations are on.
