FW
US company Globe that makes clothing for firefighters is now using ‘Wearable Advanced Sensor Platform’ (WASP) tracks heart rate, heart rate variability, estimated core body temperature, respiration rate, activity levels, posture, and other physiological factors, as well as 3D location inside a building in its clothes. These high tech products have the capability to interact with their user or environment, by tracking and communicating data about the wearer or environment to other devices through embedded sensors and conductive yarns.
Firefighters experience extreme physiological stress during the course of their duties. Stress and overexertion account for 50 per cent or more of firefighter line of duty deaths. Factors that affect firefighter responses include exertion of work performed, elevated thermal environment, wearing heavily insulated protective clothing, carrying heavy equipment, as well as individual health status, fitness level, medication, and hydration levels.
Recent advances in technology have brought together the apparel, technology, and textile industries to develop new capabilities in fabrics with the potential to change how athletes, patients, soldiers, first responders, and everyday consumers interact with their clothes and other textile products.
WASP is the world’s only system for real-time monitoring of physiology and location designed for firefighters and first responders.
globeturnoutgear.com/
The yarn market has been stable in Bangladesh thanks to the declining cotton prices worldwide. Yarn stocks at spinning mills in Bangladesh have gone down amid rising demand from garment exporters. Garment exports increased 9.47 per cent year-on-year in the July-February period of the current fiscal year.
Bangladesh has recently overtaken China as the largest cotton importer in the world as China has stopped importing cotton due to its huge stockpile. As of August, China's cotton stock stood at 64.58 million bales, which is half the annual global production. China’s stock rose because of a drop in consumption that resulted from higher production costs and shortage of workers. In 2015, Bangladesh imported 6.1 million bales of cotton, which was 5.59 million in 2014.
The changing composition of readymade garment exports from Bangladesh in recent years has created a steady demand for yarn and cotton in the local market. This shift has taken place primarily because of two reasons: the necessity of establishing backward linkages to improve delivery response time for effective competitiveness; and the relatively small investment that is required to establish these linkages in the knitwear sector.
Investments in composite knitwear manufacturing units have gained momentum in the last 8 to 10 years, creating a substantial demand for good quality yarn and in turn demand for cotton for spinning.
The government of India issued the Cotton Seed Price (Control) Order which fixed a uniform price for seeds of Bt cotton, across all cotton-growing states. Under the order, a 450-gm packet of Bt cotton seed would be capped at Rs 800 for the 2016-17 seasons, compared to the current range of Rs 830 to Rs 1,030.
But the real point of contention between seed companies and the major developer of Bt cotton technology, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, an arm of the US seed giant Monsanto, is the royalty payment, technically known as ‘trait fees.’ This was slashed a steep 70 per cent from Rs 163 plus taxes per 450-gm packet (the standard unit for Bt seeds) to Rs 49.
Incidentally, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, which dominates the market, has threatened to ‘re-evaluate’ its India operations. In particular, it has challenged the Centre's power to fix trait fees as being contrary to various laws - in 2009. Mahyco Monsanto Biotech has also argued that the order restricts farmers' access to the latest technology.
Things became complicated when state governments started intervening in seed pricing. The genesis of the issue was that Mahyco Monsanto Biotech was initially the sole licensed producer of Bt technology under its brand BOLLGARD I (BG I) and charged a trait fee of Rs 1,250. Inevitably, this resulted in a sharp jump in cotton seed prices from Rs 500 to Rs 1,800.
The government’s decision to step into this corporate battle is hard to explain. But it did so in December last year, with the Cotton Price Control Order, which empowered it to fix a uniform national price of cotton seeds including Bt cotton and trait fees.
To commemorate the World Water Day, Levis Strauss announced it is making its innovative Water Less finishing techniques available to the public in an effort to encourage water conservation and create impactful change across the apparel industry.
The techniques were introduced by the company’s designers in 2011 and it reduced water used in garment finishing by up to 96 per cent. Since implementation, Water techniques have helped the company save more than 1 billion liters of water.
In addition, Levis Strauss also announced its participation in the White House Water Summit, where the company communicated its goal to train 100 per cent of corporate employees on water conservation through its ongoing partnership with Project WET, a non-profit that offers water education to help people understand and value water and ensure a sustainable future.
Despite eyeing 4 per cent growth this year, Mexico's textile sector faces looming threats including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Donald Trump's proposal to barricade its US border – which some executives estimate could trigger $2 billion in annual trade losses.
According to Juan Alfonso Ayub, President of main textiles trade lobby Canaintex, a 6 per cent to 7 per cent jump in export value will drive this year's hike and domestic demand is also set to increase as a sagging peso fuels import substitution. Ayub notes the TPP is a rising red flag at a time when Mexico continues to lose market share to Vietnam and other formidable Asian rivals. We are very worried, Vietnam is an evident risk to our country and enjoys big government subsidies, said Ayub. Fifteen years ago, Mexico was the number one or two suppliers to the US. Now they are the fifth or sixth.
As a part of the game-changing potential of the TPP, Latin America's second-largest economy negotiated a 16-year, 25 per cent average duty phase-out for 80 key apparel and textile products. Yet Ayub says that's insufficient to protect suppliers from Vietnamese competition and the lingering risk that China will use its neighbour to triangulate exports.
A court order has prevented textile maker Alok Industries from selling its assets or changing its equity structure till a winding up petition filed by HSBC against the company is settled. The court set the date for next hearing on April 6.
HSBC has filed a petition on behalf of a consortium of unsecured lenders led by VTB Capital, to liquidate Alok Industries and settle outstanding dues of $55 million from a loan of $125 million that the company had taken. For it, the company had offered guarantee in an off-shore holding company which has no assets that can be seized by these lenders.
Alok Industries is in the process of undergoing a strategic debt restructuring in which a joint forum of 25 banks led by State Bank of India that lent around Rs 13,000 crores to the company decided in January to convert the loans into a 65 per cent equity stake.
SBI Capital Markets has since been mandated to run a formal auction process to sell the core businesses as a whole or in parts, and had called an extraordinary general meeting earlier this week.
While the process is aimed at repayment of secured lenders, mostly public sector banks, it has no proposals for unsecured lenders, who as the term suggests rank lower in the repayment scheme.
www.alokind.com/
Exporters of textile and leather products in Pakistan want a zero-rating regime available to them. They say this will help them compete with their rivals in international markets. Pakistan’s exports of textile and leather products have been persistently declining. And the exporters’ margin of profit is a meager 4 to 5 per cent. Local taxes and levies are reducing the liquidity of export oriented sectors. Increasing prices of raw materials, high banking service charges, high export refinance rates and the uneven taxation system are added reasons for falling exports.
Exporters want electricity and gas tariffs to be reduced and that the export sector should have a separate head of account in the tariff structure. They also want export-oriented industries to be ensured with a regular supply of all utilities to run the manufacturing units without any interruption.
Another complaint of theirs is that trade organisations are not consulted during the preparation of policies and neither are their recommendations included in decision making. Sales tax refund claims are pending approval. They say any delay in implementing the zero-rating regime would not only make it difficult for exporters to meet targets it would also make things worse for the already deteriorating sector.
"As Robert Sinclair, COO of LF Sourcing observed at the recent Prime Source Forum (PSF) conference in Hong Kong, Vietnam with or without TPP, remains a good sourcing destination, but warns it has its limitations. Sinclair compares the country's population of just over 90 million to that of China's Guangdong province, which has a labour pool of 104 million."
While all member countries stand to benefit from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Vietnam is poised to be TPP’s biggest winner. According to a study, compared to a baseline with no TPP -- Vietnam’s income gains in 2025 with a comprehensive TPP would be over 13 per cent higher, while its exports in 2025 would be over 37 per cent greater. Much of these gains would come, especially initially, from Vietnam’s growing production and export of apparel and footwear, resulting from the phase out of high duties in TPP partner countries, especially the United States and Japan.
While acknowledging this potential, a number of industry executives are expressing a degree of skepticism about whether Vietnam will be sufficiently prepared to fully appreciate any benefits from countries investing in its economy - and more specifically, its textile and clothing industry.
As Robert Sinclair, COO of LF Sourcing observed at the recent Prime Source Forum (PSF) conference in Hong Kong, Vietnam with or without TPP, remains a good sourcing destination, but warns it has its limitations. Sinclair compares the country's population of just over 90 million to that of China's Guangdong province, which has a labour pool of 104 million. “If we have to factor that in, there is a limitation on what they're going to be able to produce and therefore benefit from TPP as a manufacturing country.” He believes this uncertainty means the door is left open for the Asian subcontinent in general and India in particular.
Challenges ahead
Li & Fung grew its business in Vietnam by 50 per cent, making it the company's second-largest sourcing destination after China between 2014 and 2015. The company employs 325 staff in the country and is obviously a big proponent of it. But even so, Sinclair reiterates concerns over its threshold and limitations.
Raphael Madarang, Director of global trade compliance and supply chain solutions for APL Logistics believes Vietnam faces a number of challenges if it is to take on the volume of business expected as a result of the fall-out from China, particularly from an infrastructure perspective. He mentioned this in the back drop of the news that Vietnam could experience a manpower shortage by 2017 and 2018, so they may not have enough people to run the factories and the mills.
One of the unique features of the TPP for textiles is that it has a yarn-forward rule of origin, which means the yarns used in the products should only be sourced from member countries. Vietnam, however, sources a large amount of yarn from China, a non-TPP country. Ultimately, this means Vietnam will have to make up for that production with a substantial investment in domestic spinning and dyeing facilities. Madarang felt, from a logistics standpoint, there is going to be a lot of movement in raw materials. He also expects a possible movement of raw materials from the US to Vietnam in order for them to capture this benefit since there is also a lot of yarn production in the US.
Foreign investment options
A potential solution to this situation is seen by cotton yarn, fabric and garment supplier Texhong Textile Group is foreign investment. The China-based company began investing in Vietnam in 2006, and last year invested in 500,000 new spindles, bringing its total in the country to 7 million. In 2015, around half of Texhong's capacity came from Vietnam, making it one of the first enterprises in China to have more capacity abroad than at home.
Explains Hong Tianzhu, CEO of Texhong that for Vietnam to enjoy TPP benefits and avoid a shortage of fabrics, there is a need for more weaving plants. In a bid to meet that potential demand, the company is building a 3,300 sq. ft. integrated industrial park in Quang Ninh Province to support the future development of Vietnam's textile industry. The so called Vietnam Galaxy project will include weaving, dyeing and apparel production facilities, and is due to begin production in 2017.
Texhong's investment will not only serve Vietnam's needs, but also help alleviate some of the pressure from higher costs in China. Nonetheless, Tianzhu also has confidence in the consumer market in China, and so, in a further strategic move, is positioning the industrial park on Vietnam's Northeastern border to serve both markets. Despite Texhong's promise to offer Vietnam a sizeable supply of fabric and yarn, one Malaysian manufacturer believes it is in high end apparel that the country is still lacking. Prabakaran Kesavan, Founder of Venlaakwear International is of the opinion that the service level in China is well-established, as is its R&D. These things take time to be copied into other markets like Vietnam. So there is a time gap. But China is not going to be replaced by the TPP. Gradually maybe, and it will start with the downstream. But we are not in competition with China.
Lenzing’s consolidated revenue climbed six per cent in the 2015 fiscal. This increase is particularly due to higher fiber selling prices, the growing share of specialty fibers in its product mix and positive exchange rate effects. Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) improved by 20.7 per cent.
Adjusted equity increased by 15 per cent. The adjusted equity ratio amounted to 50.6 per cent, the highest level since 2006. Net financial debt was sharply reduced by 27 per cent. Accordingly the ratio of net financial debt to Ebitda declined from 1.9 at the end of 2014 to 1.1 at the end of 2015. The return on capital generated by the Lenzing group improved thanks to the positive earnings development. As a result, the return on capital employed increased to eight per cent compared to minus 0.1 per cent in the previous year. Return on equity rose to 13 per cent.
The share of specialty fibers as a percentage of total group revenue was 40.5 per cent in the 2015 financial year compared to the 35 per cent the previous year. Expenditures for research and development were increased by 47 per cent in line with the company’s strategy of focusing on the development, production and marketing of innovative specialty fibers.
www.lenzing.com/
As a ‘guest nation,’ India has been invited as the first ever country to be hosted at the Sydney Royal Easter Show (SRES). This is seen as a great opportunity for India to showcase its indigenous skill and prowess overseas. India’s participation is being viewed as a gesture towards elevating mutual cooperation.
Known as the Easter Show, the Sydney Royal Easter Show is a celebration of Australian culture and the flagship event of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales (RAS), a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1822 to measure and maintain excellence in agriculture. Not only does it celebrate the contribution of agriculture in Australia, but it also applauds its highest achievers in agricultural excellence.
At the opening of the Indian pavilion, the visiting delegation from India was led by officials of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), a government of India enterprise, promoting Indian trade globally.
Praising the contribution of Indian migrants to Australia, RAS Chief Executive Michael Kenny said, today there is a community of nearly 400,000 Indian Australians who contribute to the greater national community in their roles as farmers and rural workers as well as teachers, doctors, accountants, engineers and researchers. Over 85 exhibitors from India will be housed in the Guest Nation India Pavilion, for 14 days during the Easter Show.
