FICCI in partnership with the Ministry of Commerce & Industry is organising the India Pavilion at the 22nd Taipei, Innovative Textile Application Show (TITAS), being held from October 16 to 18, 2018. The pavilion is showcasing the best of Indian textile accessories, textile related technologies and services. The India pavilion has a strong exhibitor presence with companies like Indorama industries, J Korin Spinning, Dodha Synthetics, Paras Fashions, Kireet Apparels, etc, among the exhibitors.

One of the largest employment generator, Indian textiles industry is estimated at around $120 billion and is expected to reach $230 billion by 2020. The industry contributes approximately 4 per cent to India’s GDP, and 14 per cent to overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

With 45 million people employed directly, the textile sector is one of the largest sources of employment generation in the country. With 3,400 textile mills having installed capacity of more than 50 million spindles and 842,000 rotors, it is the second largest sector in the world

The textiles sector is also one of the largest contributors to India’s exports with approximately 15 per cent of total exports. The industry is extremely varied, with the hand-spun and hand-woven textiles sectors at one end of the spectrum, while the capital intensive sophisticated mills sector at the other end of the spectrum.

UK-based Fiber Extrusion Technology (FET) is a leader in melt spinning technology, securing new fiber extrusion systems, as well as upgrades for existing clients. The company, is a leading supplier of state-of-the-art process technology and equipment for the manmade yarns and fiber extrusion industry. It specialises in laboratory and pilot melt spinning systems for high performance textile materials and supplies high end equipment to over 35 countries on five continents.

The FET-100 Series is a multi-functional laboratory and pilot melt spinning system. It is designed to offer considerable flexibility with interchangeable pilot and production formats, including multifilament, monofilament and nonwoven. It is ideal for a wide range of research and development platform requirements.

At last month’s Cinte Techtextil China exhibition, FET shared an extended stand with Chemtax Industrial, its agent and partner. Chemtax supports and enables FET to effectively reach China and its immediate area both geographically and culturally. Cinte Techtextil was an ideal medium for FET to showcase its range of products.

Fiber Extrusion Technology, established in 1998, is a supplier of laboratory and pilot melt spinning systems for high performance textile materials. FET has numerous installations in the US and supplies equipment to over 30 other countries.

As per ICRA report, though the pace of growth is expected to moderate this year, India is set to record a strong growth in cotton yarn exports during this fiscal. This revival in export demand has enabled ICRA’s sample of large spinning companies report a comfortable volumetric growth of 5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the first quarter of this fiscal, which has translated into a growth of nearly 12 per cent in sales turnover during the quarter.

Indian cotton prices increased at a relatively slower pace vis-a-vis international prices during the seven-month period ended May 2018, reporting a 6 per cent increase in US dollar terms vis-a-vis a 20 per cent increase in the international cotton prices during the same period.

While the strong Y-o-Y growth of 56 per cent in cotton yarn exports during the four months of the current fiscal is partly attributable to the low base effect. It has also been driven by competitive Indian cotton and yarn prices. Competition from Vietnam and China’s efforts to improve cotton availability is also likely to moderate the export demand for India’s cotton yarns in future.

India’s exports of clothing and textile declined significantly last year. The reasons include the infrastructure and high transaction costs. Though India finds a place among top ten apparel exporting countries, its contribution is lower than that of countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh. These countries have tariff advantages in the form of duty-free access.

India has a tariff disadvantage ranging between one to 40 per cent in almost all top importing countries such as the US, EU, Canada, China, Australia, Switzerland, GCC countries, Israel and Chile. India’s apparel exports have shown an unencouraging trend, with a marginal de-growth of one per cent in fiscal 2018 as well as in the period April-July of fiscal 2019.

Several internal as well as external headwinds, the past year turned out to be rather challenging for India’s apparel exporters. Transition to the new taxation regime, besides posing liquidity challenges for the industry, added to uncertainties because of alternating stances on export incentives during the year. Further, a stronger rupee heightened the challenges in the international market by affecting the competitiveness of players in an intensely competitive international apparel market.

India expects to maintain double-digit growth in exports this fiscal despite fragile global recovery and trade tensions. Exports rose 12.54 per cent in the first six months of this financial year. However, this could not widen the trade deficit, which fell to a five-month low as the pace of import growth also slowed.

Imports rose by 10.45 per cent in September, against 25.41 per cent in August. September import growth was the second lowest this fiscal year, after the April growth figures of 4.6 per cent, bringing the trade deficit down. The trade deficit is the lowest in five months, despite high oil prices. Notwithstanding the dip in the trade deficit in September, the current account deficit is expected to triple in the second quarter of fiscal ’19, or around three per cent of GDP, from the second quarter of fiscal ’18.

Given the country’s dependence on imported fuels, the elevated crude oil prices and the modest expected impact of the measures initiated so far to reduce the trade deficit, the current account deficit is now expected to widen significantly to be about 2.9 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal year. Though there was a marginal contraction of exports in September, primarily due to the high base effect last year, the aggregate value of exports in September is more than in April, June and July.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has completely overhauled its website. The cutting-edge site is more interactive and intuitive. It’s faster and more responsive. It makes it easier for people to find exactly what they’re looking for.

A learning corner is dedicated to teaching environmentally conscious best practices for cotton cultivation. At an interactive forum cotton professionals can discuss the industry’s biggest opportunities and most pressing challenges.

The site also employs powerful new functionality that puts the world of cotton information — literally — at the user’s fingertips. From the home page, visitors now need only three clicks to access comprehensive statistics from any country in the world, with no login required.

When a user clicks on Global Cotton Information and Advisory on the home page, they see a map of the world. One more click on the continent and another on a specific country, and users will see its cotton area, yield, production, consumption, exports, imports, stock-to-mill-use ratio, and more.

ICAC is the world’s leading source of unbiased, impartial information about the global cotton industry. International Cotton Advisory Committee seminars are held the world over. Among other issues these seminars explore the utilization of automation in the production process as well as innovative applications combining cotton and synthetic fibers.

Some 1,200 garment factories have closed down in Bangladesh over the last four years because of their lack of compliance and falling behind in the competitive landscape. It is feared falling profits will lead to the closure of some more factories. Bangladesh’s garment products have been losing competitiveness because of longer lead time, poor productivity and poor demand for apparel worldwide.

In 2014, the global market size for apparel was $483 billion; in 2017, the figure declined to $454 billion. Between 2014 and 2018, the prices of Bangladesh garment items declined in the US market by 11.72 per cent while the cost of production increased 29.54 per cent.

Similarly, the prices of Bangladesh’s garment items declined in the EU markets. But at the same time, garment owners have spent on fixing electrical and structural loopholes as per the recommendations of Accord and Alliance. The cost of production will go up further after the implementation of recommended minimum wage from December this year. Wages comprise nearly five per cent of the total production cost of garment items.

The garment sector has been witnessing a peaceful and calm situation over the last four years as have been no incidents of unrest. But a lot of workers will lose their jobs if any garment factory is shut down for any reason.

As a part of its evolution under designer Riccardo Tisci, Burberry will start releasing limited edition of clothes and products every month, joining a growing number of rivals in the luxury sector trying to turn out collections more frequently to keep clients interested.

New items under the brand will be made available on the 17th of every month. The first release, which follows a similar one around Tisci's debut runway show last month, will feature unisex white T-shirts and sweatshirts with the brand's new monogram, available for 24 hours on a handful of social media channels like Instagram.

Burberry will still produce regular summer and winter catwalk collections and other pre-collections. The company, which is looking to reposition itself as an even more upmarket brand, also plans to create more targeted collections that would help it limit waste.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) believes the implementation of new wage structure for apparel workers may lead to the closure of a number ofreadymade garment (RMG) units. On September 13, the Bangladesh government set Tk8,000 as the minimum monthly wage, with Tk4,100 as basic salary, for the country’s apparel workers. The new wage structure is set to become effective from December.

Without an increase in prices to go with the higher wages, this new wage structure could lead to the closure of a number of RMG businesses. From 2014-2018, about 1,200 RMG factories had to shut down their operations. The prices of Bangladeshi apparel goods had seen an 11.72 per cent fall in the US market, which is the single largest export destination for Bangladeshi goods. The BGMEA president also urged the trade unions and other stake holders not cause conflict regarding the new wage structure by spreading incomplete information.

The annual convention of the International Apparel Forum (IAF) will be held in Pakistan next year. IAF is the only global federation representing apparel associations from 60 countries representing over 1,50,000 companies. The convention will gather apparel industry leaders from across the world and will be a unique opportunity for Pakistan’s apparel industry to learn new techniques.

IAF has been developed to deliver a unique forum for credit professionals from the international apparel sectors. The aim is to equip members with the practical strategies they need to meet the challenges of a changing business environment and add value to their roles. It provides a community for members to meet, network and learn.

It enables members to exchange experiences and views on issues of common interest, share practical ideas that members can implement in their own organizations, develop and promote best practices in the credit and risk management community. It facilitates improvement of knowledge and skills and keeping up to date with industry developments and connecting credit leaders and practitioners with each other and with industry experts. This is for the first time that a convention of the International Apparel Forum will be held in Pakistan. It will be held in the fourth quarter of 2019.