FW
The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) says the textile industry in Pakistan is facing a crisis-like situation because of the high cost of doing business and liquidity constraints. APTMA, therefore, has demanded a further reduction of long term financing facility by at least one per cent i.e. from five per cent to four per cent, reduction in export refinance facility by another 0.5 per cent, i.e. 3.5 per cent to three per cent, and the provision of this facility to the complete textile chain i.e. from spinning to garmenting.
It also wants zero rating of all taxes on exports and providing a five per cent rebate against the export of yarns, fabrics, made-ups and garments. Also the duty on imports of manmade fibers like polyester, viscose, acrylic, and nylon should be done away with so that Pakistan’s yarn producers can compete with Indonesian or Chinese producers who have their own manufacturing capacities to produce these raw materials and their variants.
Pakistan’s textile industry exports registered a decline of over 10 per cent in January 2016, on a month on month basis. The industry has been functioning at 70 per cent capacity because of the liquidity crunch and energy constraints. APTMA wants investments to be encouraged in the sector so that the idle capacity of the textile industry can be energised.
Cambodia will host a beauty contest with a difference. As the Ministry of Labour is bringing back a beauty pageant for garment workers, which unions and commentators have deemed ‘regressive’ distraction from deep-seeded inequalities in the sector. The government has teamed up with the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and PNN TV for the pageant, which last year saw entrants compete for a first-place prize of $300 – more than double the $140 monthly minimum wage of a garment worker. The participants will be workers in the garment industry. Women have to be at least 1.58 meters tall and men have to be 1.62 meters. The contest aims to serve as effective advertising for the garment industry and to give women a chance to show off their beauty in public.
There are criticisms the focus should be on paying workers above the minimum wage, adjusting long hours, and improving safety in hot, crowded factories. The argument is that merely because there are a lot of women workers applying for it, that doesn’t mean they support it. It just means they want to earn money any way possible. The only contest that should be conducted for the dignity of garment workers is for brands to compete on the wages of workers. So it should be a competition on who gives workers a living wage rather than a beauty contest which is plain regressive and undignified.
But some women are looking forward to it. They feel this is a good chance for garment workers to compete on TV and to speak out on a national platform about life in a garment factory so the public can know about their lives and struggles.
Cotton in India could see a disconnect from global prices in response to the relatively tight balance sheet this season. But the upside will be limited due to negative global cues. China has once again emerged as a game changer for cotton as it has for other commodities. Cotton prices in China have fallen sharply. Indications are that China, the largest importer of cotton till 2014-15, could potentially re-emerge as an exporter.
The last time China emerged as a major exporter was in the 1999-2000 season when it exported close to 24 lakh bales. India opened the new season with a record opening stock of around 77 lakh bales. It’s this extreme supply heaviness that has resulted in cotton prices dipping below the minimum support prices in many regions.
China is now bound by mandatory imports of close to 53 lakh bales of cotton under the WTO. And stocks with China are much higher than before. In this backdrop, the global cotton crop could rebound in the next season as the weather turns normal world over and the alternate crops look even less attractive. Clearly, cotton price woes are far from over.
In the last three months, India consumed close to 76 lakh bales, exported around nine lakh bales and imported five lakh bales.
After Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), its textile and garment industry has emerged with many opportunities to access technology, information and services as well as better management practices and equality of tariffs between member countries. With its own advantages, such as political stability, productivity, low labour costs, diversity of garments, Vietnam’s textile industry has increasingly gained reputation in the world market.
A study of the Organization for the Promotion of Exports from developing countries to the EU (CBI) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands revealed that the growth rate of textile exports from 2005 to 2011 in Vietnam reached the world’s highest with 32 per cent, while China was 15 per cent, India 10 per cent, Turkey, Malaysia and Thailand reached 7 per cent.
According to information from enterprises of Vietnam Textile and Garment Group, orders for rest of the year is quite optimistic. Furthermore, after the TPP, the opportunity to increase the market share in export is wide open for Vietnam textile and garment industry.
Cambodia looks forward to investment from the European Union. The country wants firms and industries from the EU to buy rubber and rice from Cambodia since Cambodia need more markets for those products. The flow of investments from the EU to Cambodia is increasing, especially from the United Kingdom. As a less-developed country, Cambodia enjoys free export quotas and duties to EU markets under the ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative. The EU accounts for about 40 per cent of Cambodia’s total rice exports.
The EU is the biggest market for Cambodia’s milled rice exports. The EU in fact has been a good market for Cambodia’s agricultural products like milled rice and also garments and footwear. Bilateral trade between Cambodia and the EU reached more than three billion euros in 2014. Total direct investment from the EU to Cambodia between January and October 2015 was about 76 million dollars compared with 86 million dollars in 2014.
EU imports from Cambodia are dominated by transport equipment. EU exports to Cambodia are dominated by machinery, transport equipment and agricultural products. Cambodia is one of the 10 members of ASEAN. The countries as a group are the EU’s third largest trading partner after the United States and China.
EDANA, the international association representing the global nonwovens and related industries closed its third Outlook Asia Conference in Singapore recently. The two days of presentations from economists, product and technology specialists, a review of the challenges to the industry of managing the waste that comes from the end of life of products and the actions, EDANA and its member companies are taking to address these issues.
While opening the conference, Pierre Wiertz, General Manager of EDANA said that since the late 1990s, strong income growth in Asia has been transforming the global income distribution. EDANA is dedicated to providing forums like this to deliver our common objective to contribute to the sustainable growth of the global nonwoven hygiene and personal care products industries, he added.
Participants highlighted their delight at the event, especially with the growing representation and attendance of regional professionals. Additionally, the range and coverage of topics presented by speakers was regarded as a positive reflection on the state of the Asian Pacific region, recognising both opportunities for growth, and its responsibility not just to its consumers, but to our broader society. The conference attracted 155 delegates, and an audience representing companies from 23 countries, with more than 90 professionals from the Asia Pacific and Australia.
A resurgent textile industry in Kenya using locally grown cotton would have a beneficial effect along the entire value chain. It would also benefit the local dairy industry as the cotton seed would go into making cake for cows.
The solution would seem to lie in giving individual farmers the incentives to grow cotton together with their subsistence crops. This would include high-yielding seeds and other inputs on credit. Farmers would also need extension services by well-trained officers working on set targets.
Kenya is best advised to base its manufacturing plans on attracting local investors with foreigners coming to supplement these efforts. Ideally, the revived cotton growing and textile firms would create the base on which the expected foreign investors would build their factories to produce finished clothes for their global customers.
However, Kenya won’t benefit much if the main reason that attracts multinational investors is cheap labor. This would be particularly true for firms relocating from China because the workers there have begun demanding a living wage. Such firms would be mainly attracted by the cheap labor in Kenya and especially in Ethiopia which offers wages that are even lower than Kenya’s.
This attitude coupled with multinationals’ track record of avoiding payment of legitimate taxes in countries where they are making the bulk of their money means the host country is a net loser.
Punjab Agricultural University's (PAU) two-day Kisan Mela with the theme of 'Kheti Melain De Rang, Sudhre Beej, Machinery, Kitaban De Sang', is aimed at urging farmers to use improved seeds, make optimal use of farm machinery and read farm literature for technical guidance.
In his inaugural address, the chief guest, PAU vice-chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon, appealed to farmers to not make use non-recommended cotton varieties and pesticides. Agro-chemicals should be used in the right amount and at the right time and right place, he advised. Expressing concern over water issues and changing climate, he urged farmers to diversify by growing alternate crops like maize, fruits, and vegetables.
The guest of honour, Counsel General of Canada in Chandigarh, Christopher Gibbins said that out of 12 lakh Indo-Canadians, 7 lakh are from Punjab and they are making immense contribution to Canadian agriculture. Gibbins added that they would like to expand their research programmes by venturing jointly with Punjab in dairy and fishery sectors, food-processing, farm mechanisation and climate change.
Pakistan wants to have stronger relations with Turkmenistan. Lack of direct cargo links, safe and direct land routes, knowledge of Pakistani products and visa facilitation are the main hindrances hampering trade growth between the two countries.
Efforts are being made to overcome these issues and strengthen trade by enhanced market access, trade promotion and facilitation. Bilateral trade between the two countries is $25 million.
Turkmenistan’s textile industry is being developed with a special focus on production of export quality products. Currently 80 per cent of the country’s textile products are exported. The country seeks Pakistani investment in various sectors to cash in on the opportunities that the emerging market presents since Pakistan has a complete chain of industries in the textile sector.
The two countries have decided to pay special attention to establishing air, road and rail links on a priority basis. Pakistan is keen to see Turkmenistan join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in order to promote linkages with the southern port of Gwadar and the Arabian Sea. The western route of CPEC would provide landlocked countries of Central Asia the shortest trading route with east Asia.
CPEC has been compared in significance to the great trade route discoveries of the world.
Pakistan and Turkey will soon sign a free trade agreement. This will bolster trade between the two countries. It could spur joint ventures as, besides increasing trade, it would help lower the current high customs duties between the two sides.
The two countries have very close cooperation in diverse fields including defence and fighting war against terrorism and extremism. Current trade between the two countries stands at $600 million, but after signing the agreement it has the potential to touch the two billion dollar mark. Pakistan mainly imports telecommunication equipment, TV, cameras, radar apparatus, textile and machinery, while Turkey’s imports from Pakistan include textile yarn, cotton, woven fabrics, apparel and clothing accessories, plastics and organic chemicals.
Pakistan and Turkey have been negotiating the FTA for quite some time. Current Pakistani exports to Turkey are concentrated in a limited number of products as compared to Turkey, whose exports to Pakistan are much diversified. Though Pakistan currently has a trade surplus with Turkey, yet this can change quickly owing to Turkey’s wider range of product offerings.
Turkey is known to liberally use anti-dumping laws. It has already initiated anti-dumping cases on major Pakistani exports in the past.
