FW
China plans to levy $60 billion as tariffs on US goods in retaliation to the 10 per cent tariffs that the Trump administration levied on $200 billion Chinese goods. The tariffs will be on items ranging from meat to wheat and textiles, and will take effect on September 24. President Trump has also threatened additional punitive measures against China if it targets "politically potent" US agricultural products. Earlier too, the Trump had levied a 25 percent tariff on about $50 billion in Chinese goods, and China responded in kind.
The American Apparel & Footwear Administration (AAFA), during its public review detailed the extreme damage this new tax will cause to the industry and its four million US workers. However, most of those pleas were ignored.
"In the past few years, the EU has contributed €69 million under EU4Business in Georgia, triggering €882 million worth of loans to Georgian companies, supporting almost 40,000 enterprises and creating more than 10,000 new jobs. Funded by the EU and implemented by GIZ, the ‘SME Development and DCFTA in Georgia’ project helps small and medium-sized Georgian enterprises (SMEs) become more competitive and adapt to the new regulatory environment created under the DCFTA. It lays the ground for strengthening of the SME sector to ensure a broad-based growth. The project is part of the EU4Business initiative, which brings together all EU programmes assisting SME and private sector development in Georgia."
In the past few years, the EU has contributed €69 million under EU4Business in Georgia, triggering €882 million worth of loans to Georgian companies, supporting almost 40,000 enterprises and creating more than 10,000 new jobs. Funded by the EU and implemented by GIZ, the ‘SME Development and DCFTA in Georgia’ project helps small and medium-sized Georgian enterprises (SMEs) become more competitive and adapt to the new regulatory environment created under the DCFTA. It lays the ground for strengthening of the SME sector to ensure a broad-based growth. The project is part of the EU4Business initiative, which brings together all EU programmes assisting SME and private sector development in Georgia. It enables the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the EU Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, which gives Georgia access to a common market of 500 million consumers.
As Rati Anjaparidze, Project Expert, ‘SME Development and DCFTA in Georgia’ says, enterprises that have been successfully audited under the amfori BSCI system will be able to diversify their export markets and client base more. There are cases when apparel producers have one or two clients, which is a high risk. In case the client’s interest change or if for any other reason the client stops buying, the supplier company is left without a client on the European market. Therefore, a high ranking for amfori BSCI enables you to establish more stable contacts with European clients and become a reliable partner in their eyes.
In line with this, it is important for EU companies to have partnerships with enterprises where employers
assume responsibility to protect their employees’ labour rights, they are also interested in having reliable suppliers. In the EU, industry players also assume social and other responsibilities and establish relevant standards both for local, European producers, as well as the global supplier chains.
The EU and GIZ project is also cooperating with three more companies in preparing them for the amfori BSCI audit – Elselema, Eurotex and Materia Fashion House. The elaboration of a National Strategy for Apparel Sector Development is also planned with EU and GIZ assistance, which should encourage diversification and exports of goods produced in Georgia.
Success story
One of the most successful companies in Georgia, MPT Georgia has been producing apparel products for Danish multi-brand fashion group DK Company, a leading fashion company in Europe, for the last three years. The labels of various brands that are part of the group – Coop Denmark, Denim Hunter, B-Young, Fransa – read ‘Made in Georgia’ in nine languages. The Danish company sells MPT Georgia-made clothing in Germany, the UK, Norway and Canada. MPT Georgia upgraded its manufacturing facilities in 2015 thanks to €100,000 of Danish investment. DK Company is MPT Georgia’s main and constant client; however, the Georgian manufacturer has also cooperated with other Danish companies in the past, such as Kompagniet and Qiero. Mikheil Getia, head, MPT Georgia, stated that the rating recently received as a result of undergoing an ‘amfori BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) audit’ – will help the company find other clients in the future. However, in order to do that, MPT Georgia will have to increase its production, as current production capacity is fully utilised at this stage.
Georgia’s advantage on that market is that Georgian company can produce and export small amounts of apparel products in a short period of time. According to Getia, the Georgian apparel business is barely represented internationally. However, Georgia can attract new clients through introducing European standards in manufacturing. Additionally, our country has one advantage, ability to produce and export relatively small amounts of goods to the relevant destinations in a very short period of time.
Agoa expo and trade fair will be held in New York from September 25 to 30. This is a business platform committed to celebrate US-Africa cooperation, strengthen bilateral trade relations, promote Agoa key export products and investment opportunities. It is an opportunity for US companies to expand business or introduce new products and services in the 40 African countries.
The trade fair is a business opportunity for African apparel, textiles, footwear, skins and leather products. The event will also host meetings, round tables, B2B conferences and workshops to focus on important topics to build capacities, raise awareness, present business opportunities and encourage trade between the United States and African countries.
A fashion week will present a platform for African fashion designers to update their knowledge about Agoa apparel and textile products, what they are eligible to export to the United States or to learn about the Agoa apparel exports process. Agoa experts from the US will train participants during workshops and master classes to help them increase their production, have more customers everywhere in America. It is also an opportunity to source, network with US manufacturers, machinery, yarn and fabrics companies, buyers and retailers.
Agoa provides eligible sub-Saharan countries duty-free access to the United States.
The Readymade Garment Exports (RMG) sector is continuously declining. From August to April the sector declined by 12.12 per cent to reach $6.61 billion down from $7.522 billion in April 2018. The major reasons are: rising cotton prices, GST and reduction in duty drawbacks. Post-GST, reduction in duty drawback, and remission of state levies are some of the other factors that have affected the industry badly.
The negative trend in export has become one of the most worrying factors affecting the RMG industry. Recently, the export fraternity met the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) discussing the ongoing challenges in the industry. But an announcement is yet to be made as they believe that it may negatively impact the relationship with their clients.
A delay will drive buyers to competitors Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Myanmar. And once they settle there it would be difficult to bring lure them back to India. Meanwhile, the season will go off with partial orders.
Parley for the Oceans, a nonprofit, has collaborated with Adidas to produce textiles from ocean waste. Working with a global cleanup network, Parley removes plastic debris from coastlines, ocean waste, and illegal deep-sea gill nets, and transforms it into yarns and filaments.
Since the team released the first prototype, a concept sneaker, in June 2015 in a limited run, it has put out many more shoes and garments, including a midsole 3D-printed from ocean plastic. The newest shoe, Parley Ultra Boost, consists of 95 per cent ocean plastic, or about eleven plastic bottles. Addressing plastic pollution in the oceans is an ecological challenge of massive proportions.
A number of other brands have since followed Adidas’s example of partnering with nonprofits to tackle the plastics problem. Ananas Anam has created a natural textile Piñatex made from pineapple leaves. The product makes use of fiber by-products of pineapple agriculture and requires no additional land, water, fertilizer, or harmful chemicals. The result is a lightweight, flexible, and breathable alternative to resource-intensive leather. Ananas Anam is continuing to develop the material, aiming for a fully biodegradable product. Efforts to grow climate-beneficial fibers are on.
The National Council of Textile Organisation (NCTO) has applauded the Trump administration’s September 17 Section 301 tariff announcement as necessary to resolve longstanding trade inequities with China. The organisation, however, strongly believes that the administration’s continued focus on added tariffs on upstream textile inputs while thus far refusing to impose tariffs on finished Chinese textile home furnishing and apparel, is flawed.
The organisation also thanked the Trump administration for removing various items from the latest retaliation list, including rayon fiber and certain dyes and chemicals. The US textile industry requested the exclusion of these products as they are not available domestically and China is the only significant source of supply.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
Sri Lanka has slashed the value added tax on fabric imports to five per cent from 15 per cent. This is aimed at helping the apparel industry, particularly small exporters. An interest subsidized loan scheme helps medium and small-scale manufacturing industrialists obtain fabric as raw material at a low cost. The US is the biggest buyer of Sri Lankan apparel, growing 3.8 per cent. Exports to the EU are a close second, growing 7.8 per cent.
The trade dispute between the US and China is helping Sri Lankan apparel exports to the US. However there’s a concern on European markets due to the weather conditions. Because of the long winter in Europe, the retail sector has slowed down as the long winters cause people to spend lesser time in shopping.
Some manufacturers in Sri Lanka are still engaged in manufacturing basic apparel despite the country’s gaining the GSP Plus concession last year. What the industry is also doing is upgrading itself to the next level by focusing on high tech and designer apparel. India and Sri Lanka are widening the scope of FTA they already have by including services and investments. The free trade agreement was arrived at in 2000.
As per a new report by the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) under Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), it will take about three years for the US-China trade war to take effect on Vietnamese economy. The report also forecasts, the war can cause Vietnam’s GDP growth to lose 0.03 and 0.09 percentage points in 2019 and 2020, respectively, before reaching its peak of 0.12 percentage points in 2021. In the following years, the effect would fade gradually.
Vietnam’s economy until 2017 stood at $220 billion. Given the 6.8 per cent growth (expected) this year, the scale could be $235 billion. With supposed GDP’s growth of 6.5 per cent on average within the next five years, Vietnam economic value would reach $302 billion. Also, the US slaps 25 per cent tariffs on imports worth $34 billion from China would cause an annual loss of VND6,000 billion (US$258 million) for the Vietnamese economy during 2018-2020.
As many as 150 exhibitors displayed more than 300 brands at the August Gartex in New Delhi. It witnessed 18,100 trade visitors including garment and textile manufacturers, garment and textile machinery importers and exporters, fashion designers, merchandisers, distributors and wholesalers.
Exhibit categories included embroidery machines, cutting and sewing machines, fabrics and accessories, needles and threads, laundry and washing equipment, finishing equipment, laser cutting machines, automation and software.
The platform showcased digital textile printing machines, pre and post-treatment equipment, inks, sublimation paper, heat transfer machines, sublimation machines and direct-to-garment printing machines. Segments under which the exhibiting companies displayed their innovations include: digitex, embroidery machines, highlighting innovations in the embroidery sector, garmenting and apparel machinery, fabric and accessories pavilion and denim show.
A conference on the denim industry was conducted on the third day of the show. The talks comprised a series of events to discuss innovations in design and trends besides highlighting changing technologies on the denim manufacturing front. Gartex is India’s fastest growing and one-of-its-kind exhibition on garmenting and textile machinery, fabrics, accessories and allied industries. It helped exhibitors with expanded business contacts through corporate networking besides locating and reaching out to target customers. The show also staged educational workshops which focused on enhancing industry skills.
Sanjay K Jain, Chairman, CITI has revealed that exports of textile and clothing sector recorded a hike of 18 per cent fetching Rs 21,895 crores during August 2018 compared to Rs 18,533 crores in the previous year. The progressive figures witnessed a 6 per cent growth and registered Rs 1,01,727 crores during April-Aug this year as compared to Rs 95,888.00 crores recorded last year during the same time period.
Imports for textile yarn fabric & made-ups recorded a surge of 32 per cent at Rs 1,196 crores during August 2018 as compared to Rs 907 crore during the previous year. The cumulative import figures stood saw a hike of 11 per cent at Rs 5,347.00 crores during April-Aug 2018 from Rs 4,799 crores last year.
