FW
In 2014, the European Union's apparel and textile imports saw an increase of nine per cent and eight per cent respectively. Exports increased by five per cent for apparel and two per cent for textiles.
Last year, apparel imports accounted for €73.06 billion worth of goods, including €54.9 billion from Asia (10 per cent) and €14.02 billion from Mediterranean countries (five per cent). Textile imports totaled €26.4 billion euros, including €16.8 billion from Asia and €5.6 billion from the Mediterranean countries.
Apparel exports, on the other hand, accounted for €21.9 billion euros, including €5.2 billion for Asia and €1.9 billion for the Mediterranean countries. In terms of textiles, Europe reached €21.2 billion in exported goods, including €4.8 billion to Asia and €4.8 billion to the Mediterranean.
EU textile and clothing imports rose in value in 2013 following a decline in the previous year and, as a result, imports remained short of the peak reached in 2011. In volume terms, imports rose faster but remained below the levels reached during 2007-08 and 2010-11. More than 70 per cent of EU imports of textiles and clothing come from Asia. The United States is the world’s biggest textile and apparel market.
The jute industry has demanded imposition of a countervailing duty on jute imports from Bangladesh. Indian jute manufacturers have raised the demand ahead of the Union Budget to counter surging imports from Bangladesh that have grown 35 per cent in the April-December period of this fiscal.
Over the same period, domestic jute bag manufacturers cut production by more than 25 per cent. The main complaint is that there is zero duty on import of jute goods from Bangladesh, thereby creating a non-level playing field between jute manufacturers of India and Bangladesh.
The industry has also urged the government to expedite the use of jute geo-textiles in at least 15 per cent of the road construction program, as using this product in about 200 projects has been found to be beneficial and cost effective in road construction, river bank protection as well as hill slope stabilization.
Mills estimate it’s possible to reduce the cost of jute bags supplied to the government for food grain packing by as much as 30 per cent over the next two to three years through technological upgradation of jute mills and product redesigning. They say if market stability is provided by the government to the industry for sacking, jute mills would be able to increase the share of value added jute products from the current two per cent to seven to eight per cent in the next five years.
Shanghai Tex will be held from June 15 to 18, 2015. This edition will see an expansion of digital printing machinery zone showcasing latest digital printing technology and create a trendsetting direction for low carbon and a green future. Exhibitors in the zone include: Epson, Zimmer, Kornit Digital, Fujifilm, Reggiani, Toshin etc.
The three-day forum includes activities such as technical seminars, a fashion show and product showcase, where visitors may experience the business potential of digital printing from multiple perspectives. Shanghai Tex is also cooperating with Shanghai University of Engineering Science and holding a textile design contest.
Utilising latest digital printing technology, young designers’ conception and ideas will be actualized and young designers will also be able to experience power of the most advanced digital printing technology.
Digital printing has witnessed a boom in recent years. As an emerging high tech industry in the international market, digital textile printing promises extensive applications. It has an edge over traditional printing in environment-friendly production, product diversity, small batch production and product customization.
Global digital printing output is expected to reach 10 per cent of total textile printing output and the installation base for digital printing equipment will hit 50,000 machines.
www.shanghaitexonline.com/
SDC Enterprises has combined its extensive knowledge of fabric quality control, textile testing, dyeing and continuity of technical performance in test materials to develop a range of verification fabrics to improve the controls available to organisations involved in textile testing. Use of these fabrics will provide a simple and effective way for laboratories, either test houses or manufacturers in-house facilities, to implement verification or control procedures for their testing. The verification of the consistency of lab results can be assessed, over time, or between labs, technicians and pieces of equipment. The range can also be a useful addition to the assessment and training of technicians, or they can be used as control fabrics to ensure test procedures are conducted correctly or equipment is performing as expected.
All the fabrics have been manufactured and dyed or finished in the UK under the complete control of SDCE to guarantee future reproducibility and traceability. Each fabric has been tested repeatedly throughout the batch to ensure test results are identical whatever the quantity or frequency of purchase. This testing will be repeated over time to ensure users can safely benefit from verifying the same test over extended periods of time.
Also available to retailers and organisations running accreditation schemes is a similar range of correlation fabrics. While these fabrics cover the same test methods as the verification range, instead of the long-term continuity of results these products will vary by batch ensuring different results and traceability for individual accreditation schemes.
www.sdcenterprises.co.uk/
Kanoria has set up a new denim fabric plant in Ethiopia with an installed capacity of 10 million meters of fabric per year. The factory will employ 600 people and produce both yarn and denim for textile and garment factories.
The products will be sold in Ethiopia and African, Asian and South American markets. Established with an extimated capital of $35 million, Kanoria will use cotton procured from local markets and imported from India and Pakistan. The new denim factory is beneficial in terms of transferring technology advancements and knowledge to the country, saving foreign currency, meeting the high demand for denim fabric and creating employment opportunities.
Kanoria Chemicals and Industries is a leading manufacturer of chemical intermediates in India. The company obtained an investment license two years ago. In Ethiopia, there are 130 medium and large-scale textile and garment factories, of which 37 are owned by foreign investors while the remaining are owned by domestic investors.
Ethiopia's textile and garment sector has been a poor performer over the past years, with one of the major problems being the poor supply of cotton, and others being poor planning and management.
www.kanoriachem.com/
Aiming to making unemployed rural women self-sufficient, and enabling them to earn a sustainable livelihood through garment production, the Aditya Birla company Utkal Alumina has opened a garment manufacturing unit at Tikiri in Rayagada district of Orissa. The company has already imparted tailoring training to 60 women from the underprivileged class in its periphery. Around Rs 33 lakh have been invested for the project.
The market linkage would be with Fabindia, Boyanika and similar large scale garment units. The product portfolio includes women’s tops, kurtis, chudidars, salwar kameez, skirts, school uniforms and institutional uniforms for hotels, hospitals and industries.
Aditya Birla is a dominant player in viscose staple fiber, metals, cement, branded apparel, financial services and other sectors. It spans over 20 nations with 100 state-of-the-art manufacturing units. Utkal Alumina is a refinery project in Rayagada district.
www.hindalco.com/utkal-alumina
Huge losses are being reported by owners of silk handlooms makers in different villages of Sadar and Shibganj districts of Bangladesh due to the ongoing blockade enforced by BNP-led alliance since January 6. This has resulted in temporary joblessness for hundreds of handloom workers. An owner from Laharpur village in Sadar has stated that his business had virtually stopped due to the blockade and he suspended production. Over 250 other handlooms at the village also stopped weaving. Owners who have taken loans from banks and NGOs are now worried about timely payments.
Workers, who usually earn Tk 250 to 300 a day for weaving silk, have reported difficulties in running day to day life due to the country-wide blockade. Around 2,500 weavers work at as many handlooms in the district, said an office-bearer of the Baroghoria union weavers association. Elaborating further, he said that wholesalers from different places cannot come to the district for buying clothes including saris, scarves, shirt, kurta pieces, and curtains due to the blockade. Weavers cannot send the items either.
With the setting up of India's first yarn bank in the powerloom clusters of Ved Road and Pandesara in Surat, the country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) centre, hundreds of small and medium power loom weavers will have direct access to polyester yarn at concessional rates. The Union ministry of textiles has formed two special purpose vehicles, Ved Road Art Silk Small Scale Co-operative Federation and Pandesara Weavers Co-operative Society, for setting up the yarn banks.
These banks have been started with an initial corpus fund of Rs 1 crore for purchasing yarn from the open market and selling at concessional rates to its initial 1,000 member weavers. The yarn banks would provide an opportunity to the weavers to arrest the price fluctuations and curb the presence of the middlemen. The yarn banks will allow the weavers to procure yarn on credit and repaying the amount in installments.
Surat has around 5.5 lakh powerloom machines producing three crore meters of fabrics every day and employs around seven lakh workers. As per the official of Ved Road Art Silk Small Scale Co-operative Federation, there are more than one lakh weavers in Ved Road and Pandesara clusters and the yarn bank will be catering to only 100 units initially. It has started approaching the frontline spinners for the bulk procurement of yarn on concessional rates.
The yarn bank will serve twin purposes. Firstly, it will get yarn samples from around the world and store it. The domestic industry can get access to yarn samples of global standards and do further research and come out with innovative products. Second is the price benefit.
Muharrem Kayhan will be the global president of the Textile Institute from 2015 to 2017. Kayhan is from Turkey and a textile engineer with MBA. At present Kayhan is chairman on the board of Soktas. The company produces shirting fabrics in Turkey and India and has investments in the dairy sector. He has represented the interests of the Turkish textile industry at various European Union platforms.
He has served on the boards of the Aegean Chamber of Industry, the Exporters’ Union, and the Turkish Textile Employers’ Union of which he is currently president. He has served as the chairman of the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association between 1997 to 1999 and is now one of its honorary chairmen. He received the Turkish National Assembly Distinguished Service Award in 2009.
The Textile Institute is the leading professional body in textiles, clothing and footwear industry. It is a unique membership organisation for textile professionals and serves textile related industries worldwide. It was incorporated in England by a royal charter granted in 1925 and is a registered charity.
The aim of the institute is to facilitate learning, to recognize achievement, to reward excellence and to disseminate information within the global textile, clothing and footwear industries.
www.texi.org/
Textiles constitute 12 per cent of India's total forex earnings. They have the potential to be the prime source of foreign exchange. To fully exploit this potential, loans for the textile sector should be given at an interest rate of seven per cent. This step will encourage investment in the sector and reduce the interest payment burden of textile exporters.
Cost of credit is a major source of concern for the Indian textile industry. Interest subvention is a support for India’s textile exports and it should be continued for all textile product categories. The policy should give a clear visibility of continuity of interest subvention for the next three to five years.
India’s share in the world textile market is a mere four per cent compared to China’s 35 per cent. If India desires to enhance its global share, it should focus on scale of operations. Scale can be achieved through investments in mega textile parks. A new scheme of incentives for setting up mega textile parks can be a game changer for the future of the textile industry.
The textile industry faces difficulties in getting TUF refunds. This entire process takes around five to six months. Exporters lose working capital for this period. The procedure should be simplified. Banks should pay up the industry’s claims and in turn claim refund from the government.
