FW
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif had called a meeting of exporters associations after two and a half years. This is, after 50 per cent of the tenure of the incumbent government. At the meeting Sharif, gave time to the spinning sector representatives All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), while allotting little time to the vital value added textile export sector, said Muhammad Jawed Bilwani.
Bilwani also stated that the PM didn’t understand who to give more time to, the Spinning sector with exports of $just 1.8 billion or the value added apparel sector, which contributes $5.267 billion in exports. He added it is clear from this meeting that the PM did not understand, nor realise the crucial importance of the value added apparel sector, and has turned a blind eye and is being misled by APTMA. Bilwani feels that this is the reason the country’s exports are far behind, while Bangladesh’s exports are on the rise.
Globally, exports of a country rise rapidly as the main target is apparel sector whose value addition is higher, while the spinning sector's value addition is much less. The value added apparel sector, generates largest forex earnings and employment. Besides, the government has also not appointed a textile minister. Bilwani has urged the PM to take notice of the apparel sector and call a meeting separately of the value added apparel sector for a clear presentation.
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia says that at least 15 factories have removed workers, due to a lack of job orders. Union leaders on the other hand are demanding higher minimum wages. Cambodia’s manufacturing industry is one of the largest employment generator providing jobs to around 600,000 people. However, issues like low wages have been leading to strikes and conflict among workers, who have to deal with the rise in cost of living. More wage negotiations are expected to take place later this month.
Union leaders have announced they plan to negotiate for higher minimum wage than demanded earlier. Unions had been pushing for a minimum monthly wage of $177, up from $128, but now they will seek $207 per month.
The industry started suffering after labour disputes hit in 2013, with workers’ agitation leading to large-scale strikes around the country for increase in wages. Some of the demonstrations were led to riot like situation. To ease tension, the government increased monthly minimum wage from $61 to $80 in 2013, to $100 last year, and to $128 in January. After adding other benefits like housing assistance, transportation and other allowances, a worker’s minimum earnings reach to more than $150.
www.gmac-cambodia.org
The Rana Plaza factory tragedy in 2013 drew international attention of factory workers in the country, and prompted the National Retail Federation (NRF) and other associations to collaborate to improve worker conditions. A couple of years ago, the National Retail Federation (NRF) partnered with global retailers and other associations to build the Safer Factories Initiative and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.
Since then companies such as Gap, Sears, and Costco, along with organisations such as American Apparel & Footwear Association, Retail Industry Leaders Association, etc seek to prevent future tragedy through rigorous examination of Bangladesh’s garment industry. Thus, recently NRF representatives were in Bangladesh to review the progress to safeguard workers and improve their working conditions.
David French, NRF Senior Vice-President for government relations said they saw firsthand that significant progress was made to improve conditions at factories in the country and work was on track to see more improvements in the future. NRF Vice-President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold and French also toured factories and ports and met with local stakeholders and Alliance executives.
According to Alliance’s report, efforts have led to 661 factory visits, 591 approved corrective plans, and 6,177 payments to displaced workers. Besides, until July, 2015, 528 factories completed at least one remediation visit. Moreover, the Alliance also established a helpline in 414 factories connecting workers with resources. One of the Alliance’s biggest priorities though, this progress doesn’t ebb as the initiative enter the third year of its five-year commitment.
Mobile technology has now reached the textile town Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. Spinners are now using a newly designed mobile app that helps them track the demand-supply challenge. Indian Texpreneurs Federation is the force behind this app. It has selected 80 mills operating in polyester and polyester yarn with a capacity of 20-lakh spindles for this pilot project. The app lets the mills update the last-sold price of their yarn, stock position and related market data. The survey will be conducted periodically in a month to arrive at a standard price list of yarn from Tamil Nadu mills.
The application while protecting the identity of the mill entering the data about prices and stock, provides pure statistics such as average yarn selling price over the last week and average stock positions. The result of this exercise over the last four months was that the excess capacity gave buyers an upper hand and led prices of polyester cotton yarn down from Rs 185kg.Over the past few weeks in operation, the new system has helped Tirupur mills to find buyers for their yarn as high as Rs 161 kg.
The Paris edition of Premiere Vision is being held from September 15 to 17, 2015. For over 40 years, Première Vision has been held high for the quality and exclusivity of the fashion information it provides the global fashion industry.
The show features updated and newly adapted tools, redesigned informational forums and fashion seminars specifically developed by Première Vision for the benefit of international buyers. The covers highlights of the Autumn/Winter 2016-17 season. The fabric and accessory color ranges are featuring changes. Fabric color range is now made of fabric rather than paper. In addition to the poster and fabric color card, a new digital tool has been developed, forging a direct link between creative and industrial teams.
The tool allows industry brands, designers and manufacturers to render drawings into prints, jacquards, color-wovens, plains, harmonies and silhouettes for autumn winter 2016-17 with total color accuracy and an increased speed of execution and quality.
A new cutting-edge fashion information area – the Shoe Focus forum – has been developed. This cross-disciplinary fashion information forum showcases technical elements and components, ornaments and both leather and fashion material preferences for footwear, lending an exclusive and pertinent outlook to seasonal trends and footwear manufacturing secrets for autumn winter 2016-17.
www.premierevision.com/
India is increasingly becoming a dumping ground for countries like China. After a panel of industrialists raised their voice against it during a meeting with the PM Narendra Modi, industry associations too have warned the government saying if not checked in time, domestic industry would be extinct.
Experts claim as much as 60 per cent of dumping happens from China, and as per unofficial estimates, the size of this trade varies between 20 and 40 per cent. Chairman for Policy, Apparel Export Promotion Council Premal Udani, said that if the dumping activities continue without getting checked in time the domestic textile industry will be extinct over the next few years. He added that China, facing over capacity situation, has for long been dumping their fabrics and ready-made garments in the Indian market through Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam and even Cambodia.
He appealed to the government to ensure that Indian borders are better policed, and the customs officials undertake vigorous inspection of the country-of-origin of goods being shipped in, while engaging in better terms of trade with the neighbouring countries. He pointed out that China uses tactics like sending shipments via countries like Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia to avoid customs inspections. Even companies such as Birla Cellulose, Century, and other textile mills have expressed concerns over the rise in dumping.
www.aepcindia.com
Garment manufacturers in Aba, the commercial centre of Abia state, Nigeria, are seeking support from government agencies to produce seamless products that would withstand competition in international markets. Manufacturers have specially appealed to the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Nigerian Export, Import Bank (NEXIM), for this purpose.
Manufacturers have urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to use part of the N220 billion small and medium enterprises fund, to acquire modern equipment needed in the industry, which would help in finishing of their products. They feel that the garment makers in Aba have the capacity to manufacture for local and export, with the right facilities and equipment.
The President of Association of Tailors and Fashion Designers (ATFAD), Onyebuchi Nwaigwe, says if sector operators are properly empowered, then good quality products would be produced, and this would help create jobs and contribute to the country’s GDP. Besides, he urged the Abia State Government to fulfill its promise of developing the industrial cluster at Umukalika in Obingwa Local Government Area. This would create a more conducive environment for the leather and garment sectors of the country. Aba has one of the largest concentrations of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and a huge number is engaged in leather works, steel fabrication and garment making. Estimates state that Aba has 110,000 shoemakers and 50,000 garment makers.
The region’s artisans’ ingenuity grabbed the attention of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to collaborate with the Federal Government, to set up a Common Facility Centre (CFC) in the city, which would support the clusters to further develop their skills.
Bangladesh is setting up its first polyester staple fiber plant. This is expected to cater to 40 per cent of the country’s annual demand. The plant is an initiative to make the country self-sufficient in polyester staple fiber. This fiber is a key raw material for spinning mills.
The plant will come up on 30 acres of land and be a backward linkage for the garment sector. It will directly employ 2,000 and indirectly another 6,000 people. Once the factory is up and running it will produce 400 tons of polyester staple fiber a day. Raw materials for the plant will be imported from Arabia, India, Indonesia and China. Fabrics from polyester yarn are used extensively in apparel and home furnishings--- shirts, pants, jackets, hats, bed sheets, blankets, upholstery, furniture, and so on.
This move may inspire many other companies to set up polyester staple fiber factories in Bangladesh. Demand for the product is increasing by 12 to 15 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Polyester staple fiber is a fiber produced from synthetic chemical compounds and is strong enough to be twisted into yarn similar to natural fibers such as cotton or wool. It’s a substitute for raw cotton.
With the constant decline in merchandise exports since last December, the government aims to announce a package to boost shipments. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman indicated this while speaking at a recent convention. She said that the package would include extension of existing interest subvention scheme to many more sectors.
“The finance ministry has given us an outlay for interest subvention. We (commerce ministry) have laid out rules by which different sectors would be given this benefit. These will soon go the Cabinet for a decision,” Sitharaman said. Under the scheme banks provide three per cent interest relief on export credit and get compensated for the same.
The minister further added that the government will look into the ‘Merchandise Export for India Scheme’ for rewarding export performance, at the time of a mid-term review of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20, which will be held in the months of September/October 2017. Responding to the discussion on foreign investment in B2C e-commerce, she said that some states are yet to revert with their responses on the issue. However, she added that the government was not considering allowing foreign investment in multi-brand retail, neither had it received any applications from companies in this regard.
In Budget FY16, the FM had announced Rs 1,650 crores for interest subvention scheme for exporters. This amount is expected to be increased significantly. The rate of export credit in India is 11 to 12 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent in China, 6.2 per cent in Malaysia, 4.6 per cent in Thailand, 2.6 per cent in Taiwan and 2 to 3 per cent in the euro area except Greece. Talking about the delay in FTA talks with EU, she said that India is awaiting a response from the EU on why they chose to act against the country’s pharmaceutical sector, which is world-renowned as suppliers of authentic but cheaper generic medicines.
India Trend Fair will be held in Japan from October 27 to 29. It is an attempt to promote Indian textile products. The event is being organised by the Tirupur Exporters’ Association with the support of Indian embassy in Japan, the Japanese government and various trade bodies in Japan and India.
Textile exporters from clusters like Panipat, Karur, Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi have been roped in for the event. Japan imports 90 per cent of its apparels from China and only three per cent from India. India wants to have at least 65 per cent share. The event will exhibit woven and knitted garments, home furnishing and handicrafts, sportswear, cushion covers, floor mats, decorative articles, bags, shoes, jewelry and fashion accessories.
The scope of the fair has gone beyond textiles and materials to encompass a fusion of new fashion and cultures. It’s aimed at helping India enter the Japanese mindset and fuel the Japanese people’s interest in India, which will also help tourism grow. Buyers would include manufacturers, wholesalers, trading companies, importers, select and specialist shops, department stores, volume and online retailers.
