FW
The textile ministry, in an effort to enhance exports from the country, has designed a new marketing plan that will help various segments in the industry to increase exports. The Ministry will follow a segment wise methodology to cater to the specific needs of countries and has to this effect identified 13 potential markets where it will begin marketing activities to promote Indian products such as handicrafts, jute, cotton, textiles and apparel. Textile exports have been on the downslide post GST, which had significantly reduced import duties which is a bone of contention in the industry. Textile and apparel exports from the country have dipped in recent years due to subdued demand in key importing countries including the US and the EU.
Following this debacle, an Integrated Marketing Plan 2017-18 has been created by the Ministry of Textiles to enhance exports. The country’s total textile and apparel exports for the last fiscal was $ 39.7 billion. The textile ministry has set a target of $45 billion exports for the 2017-18 fiscal. The Integrated Marketing Plan 2017-18 will be launched through promotional activities such as B2B meetings, exhibitions and road shows in countries like Germany, France, Italy, the US, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, Australia, Russia, the UAE, Brazil, Egypt and Chile, as per the requirements of Indian products in these markets.
The Ministry said in a statement, “There exists a huge potential for India to increase its market share in various markets by aligning the product with specific market. In line with this, the Marketing Plan has been prepared to synergise various on-going marketing initiatives while adopting specific approaches for traditional, emerging and other important markets.”
The government is also working towards expediting the delayed India-EU FTA. The textile industry has long since been asking for duty-free access for Indian textile and garment items to the EU following competitive pressures from countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan.
The US President, Trump, discussed bi-lateral trade relations with leaders of mainland China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other US trade partners, during his two-week trip to Asia but seemed to have made no headway as no specific takeaways were in his basket. Simultaneously, the 11 members of the Trans- Pacific Partnership strove towards modifying and implementing the TPP agreement. While President Trump said at the APEC summit in Vietnam to “Make bi-lateral trade agreements with any Indo-Pacific nation that wants to be our partner and that (they) will abide by the principles of fair and reciprocal trade,” it is doubtful whether his apparent attempt to strengthen US trade and economic relations with Asia, including mainland China, will produce any meaningful results.
The President stressed the importance of ‘rebalancing’ trade relations with China in a way that “strengthens American jobs and exports.” He also called on the Chinese government to guarantee “fair and reciprocal treatment” to US companies, provide greater market access to U.S. exports and firms and speed up implementation of market-oriented reforms to reduce its trade surplus with the US. Trump criticised government intervention in mainland Chinese economy, which he said “has caused stresses in the global trading system,” and stated that the US “will use all available trade remedies to create a level playing field for US workers and businesses.”
The US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, welcomed the signing of business deals between the US and mainland Chinese companies valued at over $250 billion that are expected to “bring thousands of new jobs to America” by increasing U.S. exports to the mainland and stimulating investment throughout the US.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) have launched an on-line platform for market intelligence for cotton products, which will enable cotton producers, traders and policymakers to better harness market opportunities in the sector. The Cotton Portal, revealed at the WTO's 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, will contribute to a more efficient cotton trading system by providing improved transparency and accessibility of trade- related information for cotton products and other relevant information for the daily activities of cotton producers, traders and policy makers.
The launch of the Cotton Portal delivers on a key commitment of Nairobi’s decision to identify and examine market access barriers, including tariff and non- tariff barriers for cotton products, particularly those exported by least-developed countries. ITC Executive Director Arancha Gonzalez says that Cotton Portal will enable cotton producers and traders to harvest greater benefits from increased participation in global trade, particularly for least developed countries. By making the sector more transparent, businesses will have easier access to trade and market intelligence, allowing them to add additional value to their exports.
The Cotton Portal is designed for exporters, importers, investors and trade support institutions to search business opportunities and market requirements for cotton products. It provides a single entry point for all cotton-specific information available in WTO and ITC databases on market access, trade statistics, country-specific business contacts and development assistance-related information as well as links to relevant documents, webpages and to other organizations active in the cotton sector.
The 2015 Nairobi ministerial decision on cotton contains provisions on improving market access for least-developed countries, eliminating export subsidies, and the efforts to be made to reform domestic support. It also underlines the importance of effective assistance to support the cotton sector in developing countries.
For decades, donation bins have offered consumers in rich countries a guilt-free way to unload their old clothing. In a virtuous and profitable cycle, a global network of traders would collect these garments, grade them, and transport them around the world to be recycled, worn again, or turned into rags and stuffing. Fashion trends are accelerating, new clothes are becoming as cheap as used ones, and poor countries are turning their backs on the secondhand trade. Without significant changes in the way that clothes are made and marketed, this could add up to an environmental disaster in the making.
Located 55 miles North of Delhi, the dusty city of 450,000 has served as the world's largest recycler of woolen garments for at least two decades, becoming a crucial outlet for the $4 billion used-clothing trade. Panipat's mills specialize in a cloth known as shoddy, made from low-quality yarn recycled from woolen garments. Much of what they produce is used to make cheap blankets for disaster-relief operations.
What's good for Panipat and its customers is bad news for donors and the environment. Even if Panipat were producing shoddy at its peak, it probably couldn't manage the growing flood of used clothing entering the market in search of a second life. The good news is that nobody has a bigger incentive to address this problem than the industry itself. By raising temperatures and intensifying droughts, climate change could substantially reduce cotton yields and thus make garment production less predictable and far more expensive. Industry executives are clearly concerned.
None of these options can replace Panipat and the other mill towns that once transformed rich people's rags into cheap clothes for the poor. But, like it or not, that era is coming to an end. Now the challenge is to stitch together a new set of solutions.
China’s cotton imports are predicted to significantly rise in volume terms this season due largely to the demand for high-quality fibre by their local spinning industry, US officials analysed. The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Beijing bureau assessed China’s cotton imports at 1.30m tonnes (5.97 m bales) in 2017-18, on an August-to- July basis. That would represent an increase of over 2,00,000 tonnes year on year, significantly bigger than the 58,000-tonne increase, to 1.15m tonnes (5.30m bales), that the USDA has officially forecast.
The bureau’s estimate comes despite persistent market rumours that China may be poised for accelerating buy-ins, with some rumours of a potential increase in their import quota of 8,94,000 tonne permitted in with a 1 per cent tariff that is within an agreement with the World Trade Organisation.
The bureau emphasised that since July, anecdotal reports have circulated that the Government might be considering special approval to allow for some imports of high-grade cotton. Given the Chinese textile sector’s increasing demand for high-grade cotton, traders anticipate the government may increase its flexibility in issuing additional import quota.
The Chinese textile sector grew steadily in 2017 and in consideration of all these factors, it is logical for the Government to approve some cotton imports to meet the industry demand in 2018, the bureau said, adding that it remains unclear when the government will allow additional cotton imports.
Latest Chinese cotton import customs data, for October, the month after the closure of the government’s 2017 auction programme of supplies from the country’s cotton stockpiles, came in at 78,128 tonnes, a rise of 89 per cent year on year.
Nandan Denim of the Chiripal Group, is implementing strategic initiatives to enhance its overall profitability and strengthen its global footprint at this opportune moment when China’s textile competitiveness is being downgraded by higher labour costs. During 2016-17, Nandan Denim’s revenue crossed Rs 1,200-crore for the first time. The company is now focusing on growing internationally with the largest denim manufacturing capacity in India. This has only enhanced its prospects from being a peripheral player in the denim segment to becoming a global payer.
The brand has expanded its denim manufacturing capacity from 99 MMPA in FY16 to 110 MMPA in FY17 making it the largest denim manufacturer in India and a leading global manufacturer. It has also expanded its spinning capacity from 70 TPD in FY16 to 141 TPD in FY17. The advanced spinning facility is capable of producing specialised yarns such as dual core, coloured slubs and cotton stretch yarns.
The company has invested in manufacturing competitiveness mainly due to integration of its yarn spinning at one end and denim manufacture at the other. Through the years, it has strengthened its manufacturing integration through various priorities including balancing its manufacturing across both products thus enabling the yarn it manufactured to be consumed in the downstream production of denim resulting in larger value addition; investing in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies from leading suppliers worldwide, which translated into a higher capacity utilisation and lower waste generation; it addressed the manufacture of value-added denim, making it possible to somewhat insulate itself from the competition.
Switzerland-based digital print start up Mouvent, is set to exhibit at next year’s TPF digital print exhibition in Shanghai, which keeps a close watch on market trends and technology development. The company will be demonstrating the TX801 - an 8-colour multi-pass digital textile printer producing the highest print quality on textiles with up to 2,000 dpi optical resolution that compliments high printing speeds.
Reto Simmen, CEO, Mouvent disclosed they started to focus on textile and realised China has one of the biggest market potential besides India, Italy and Turkey. Taking into consideration the competitive environment, they have positioned their printer in the mid-to- high end segment of the market as it delivers crisp, colourful and very high printing quality in a cost-effective way. The textile market is next that is going digital and they have started to set up a network within the textile industry. They have established a strong working relation with Paul Yuan in China and experts in other countries.
In the current scenario, production is moving to countries that can produce cheaply, correspondingly Chinese printer manufacturers to be in the business have to come up with new ideas. Besides they have to be fast because most businesses are looking at digital printing systems which is the only way to move their business forward. Currently there are a few strong local brands established in China. The business trend is to look at faster printers, so organisations have to keep up with reality or stagnate.
Reto Simmen says with an ink development centre in Switzerland, in the second half 2018 the company is planning to introduce a double speed machine with 16 heads, this will double the output. In 2019, their future plans are to introduce a single-pass machine. He is convinced that China is a good market. TPF 2018 will be organised by UBM China and Sunexpo will be held from April 19 to 21, 2018 at Shanghai New International Expo Centre, China.
The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Eureatex) and the Brazilian Textile Industry (ABIT), representing the Textile and Clothing (T&C) industries in both EU and Brazil, welcomed negotiations for an important EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA). ABIT and EURATEX has said, The T&C industry is a vivid and global sector in which Europe and Mercosur countries have a key role to play. “Our focus is on high quality products manufactured in a sustainable manner under high standards, be it from an environmental, labour and the social point of view. Euratex and ABIT maintain strong cooperation links since many years and we have always been supportive of the conclusion of an FTA.
Over the last months, we have intensified our talks and we have jointly worked on a wide range of topics related to Textile and Clothing trade namely regulatory cooperation, customs procedures, technical barriers to trade, sustainability requirements etc. Tariffs dismantling and rules of origin have also been very much at the centre of thorough and sometimes hard talks.
The EU-Mercosur FTA benefit, both parties and increase trade and investments of T&C industries of both sides, Euratex and ABIT made efforts to build a balanced rules of origin considering the structure of industries. Therefore, they are happy to share a suggestion from the private sector to both governments with our common views on the Product Specific Rules and Tariff Dismantling to be enshrined in the EU-Mercosur FTA.
Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.2 per cent in 2018 and go up further to 7.4 per cent in the following year on the back of strong private consumption, public investment and the ongoing structural reforms, says a UN report. The ‘World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018’ report unveiled by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) stated the overall, economic outlook for South Asia is seen largely favourable and steady for the short term, notwithstanding significant medium-term challenges.
On India, the report has projected a positive outlook despite the slowdown early this year and the lingering effects of demonetisation. The UN DESA report says that the GDP growth is projected to accelerate from 6.7 per cent in 2017 to 7.2 per cent in 2018 and 7.4 per cent in 2019.
The report further stated that Central banks in developed economies are currently operating in largely unchartered territory, with no historical precedent as guidance. This makes any adjustment of financial markets less predictable than during previous recoveries and amplifies the risks associated with policy errors.
Michael Kors Holdings, and Ralph Lauren Corp. are some of the top fashion brands who are in a high-stakes battle this Christmas. Unfortunately, success will not go to the company that sells the most, it will be the company that closes inventory with the least amount of unwanted goods. Inventory management is tough business. Big brands are increasingly using sophisticated software to track apparel and accessories through the supply chain this holiday season. The key is to improve profit margins, even if it means losing some revenue, say experts.
The decline of department stores has worsened the problem, in recent years, with their unending discounting that is hurting the perceived value of brands such as Polo amongst others. That’s increased pressure on brands this holiday season. On the first day of every week, retailers conduct a manager meeting to look at the sell-through rates, or the percentage of the total inventory sold, during the last seven days and decide if they should continue promotions or increase their markdowns to ‘get rid of’ inventory.
The rise of omni-channel marketing, including ‘seamlessly’ e-commerce, has its share of problems when say customers may buy an item online and then return it to a brick-and- mortar store. Michael Kors and other upmarket brands are still using discounts to drive sales. But they’re aiming to be more targeted with their promotions. Michael Kors Chief Executive Officer, John Idol has announced plans to reduce the number of days with big promotions by as much as 65 per cent this quarter.
Building an impression of scarcity is the key for high-end brands. Research firm Edited which supplies the world's leading fashion retailers with the retail analytics they need to have the right product at the right price, at the right time discloses that ‘Toward that end, Michael Kors lowered its number of stock-keeping units by 12 per cent this month.’
In the week leading up to Black Friday, the number of marked-down apparel and accessories was up threefold when compares to the same period in 2014, as per EDITEDs data, which tracks the websites of America’s 19 largest retailers. Retailers have mainly been dependent on past sales and loyalty data to predict trends. In an era of big data, they’re relying more on analytics and artificial intelligence to maintain inventory more efficiently.
It’s probably safer to stock too little than too much. But that means companies will have lower sales growth when they begin to rebound, said Simeon Siegel, an analyst at Instinet LLC. He says lean inventory is like being on antibiotics, a painful but necessary part of getting healthy again.
