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Egypt will no longer subsidise cotton farmers. Reason: many Egyptian spinning factories have stopped buying Egyptian cotton. Local and international manufacturers have abandoned Egyptian long staple cotton as new technology enables them to extract large quantities of yarn from short-staple varieties as well.
Farmers who still want to grow cotton, particularly the long staple variety, will be on their own when it comes to finding buyers. Many farmers have turned to more lucrative crops and local textile firms have shifted their focus to creating low quality products with cheap raw cotton imports. Removing subsidies effectively means the end of Egyptian cotton. Market prices of cotton are currently low; without the subsidy, farmers will not be able to sustain the cost of planting cotton.
Cutting cotton subsidies is the latest measure taken by the government to reduce public expenses. Egypt’s long staple cotton, the finest in the world, is used in high quality clothing for its softness and strength. Cotton is cultivated on four per cent of the country’s arable land.
Egypt exported $83.8 million worth of raw cotton in 2013-14, down from $120.3 million the year before. Imports of raw cotton, however, grew to $117.8 million in the same year, up from $51.3 million.
The Vietnam Textile and Garment (VTG) exhibition will be held from October 21 to 24, 2015. Over the last four years, the show has become one of the more influential and comprehensive exhibitions for textiles and garments in Vietnam. During the four-days, latest machinery, equipment and technologies will be displayed by top exhibitors from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, US and Vietnam.
VTG 2015 will set an exclusive business platform for domestic and international quality suppliers of textiles and garments to take their business to the next level. The Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry will set up its own special pavilion with 12 top companies, showcasing leading machinery and cutting-edge technologies for the Vietnamese market. Their presence will consolidate the event’s international status.
Foreign investment in Vietnam’s textile and garment sectors is growing rapidly as international firms seek to take advantage of the benefits the country will potentially derive when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement comes into being. There are several companies from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and South Korea that have made large investments in the sector since the beginning of this year.
www.vtgvietnam.com/
After witnessing strong growth in the number of visitors last year, Yarn Expo Spring 2015 is set to continue its momentum at a new venue -- the National Exhibition and Convention Center, Shanghai from March 18 to 20, 2015. The three-day event will be held over an area of 8,000 sq. mtr. Yarn Expo showcases a wide spectrum of natural and blended yarns including cotton, wool, flax, regenerated flax, and man-made fibres and yarns as well asspecialty products including elastic, and fancy and blended yarns.
The Spring edition saw over 200 per cent rise in visitors coming to source from 233 exhibitors. Last year, over 20,212 buyers from 72 countries and regions visited the fair, while 46 per cent of them were manufacturers. In order to capture the ever-growing Chinese market, Indian and Pakistani exhibitors have already confirmed their participation at the upcoming Spring edition.
Other than cotton yarn products from India and Pakistan, next year’s spring fair will once again feature the Chinese Fibre Hall to showcase innovative man-made products from the country, such as nylon, viscose filament, and renewable and recycled fibres. Moreover, the fair is increasingly known for providing the latest technologies in the innovative yarn section as visitors can gain inspiration and market guidance in the Trend Area and through a series of seminars.
Held concurrently with Yarn Expo Spring 2015 are another four textile trade events, namely Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition 2015, PH Value 2015, China International Fashion Fair 2015 (CHIC) and the Planet Textile Conference. Together these five events will bring apparel fabrics, yarn and fibres, knitwear and other fashion garments under one roof, presenting a one-stop sourcing platform to the whole textile industry.
yarn-expo-spring.hk.messefrankfurt.com
Bangladesh has a plan to promote jute-based handloom industries in rural areas.
The idea is that these will be run mainly by women and contribute to their empowerment, one result of which would be enhanced exports to international markets. Also promoting jute-based handloom industries is seen as vital for enhancing exports of quality jute products and earning more foreign exchange.
Women would be trained in setting up jute-based cottage and handloom ventures. These entrepreneurs would be provided a package of services like marketing facilities and the necessary capital, support and the latest technologies for producing high valued, quality and diversified jute products.
Jute growing is particularly suited to the poor. Women figure particularly prominently across all levels of the jute industry – as farm laborers and mill workers, and as small businesswomen and employees making and selling jute products.
Known as the golden fiber jute has been traditionally cultivated in the Bengal delta for many years. Around 33 per cent of all jute comes from Bangladesh, making it the world’s second largest jute producer.
Bangladesh is the largest producer of raw jute or jute fiber in the world. Production of jute is highly labor-intensive, creating seasonal employment for 48,000 women on the land.
Innovations for Sustainable Textile Production ... Connecting the Dots will be held in Mumbai, February 20, 2015.It will discuss cleaner and greener processing solutions from both machinery and chemicals and dyestuffs.
The theme highlights the need to improve production practices for sustainable working and growth of the textile industry.
The international conference aims to address the problems faced by the textile industry, with regards to effective use of fast depleting natural resources and curtail its adverse environmental impacts. It will provide an insight to the possible solutions to the textile processing industry for cleaner and greener chemicals and dyestuffs, sustainable processing techniques, better processing machinery and effective effluent treatment methods.
The event includes sessions on various topics like sustainable fibers for the 21st century, resource management, innovations in machinery, innovations in processes, effluent management, and denim for tomorrow.
Speakers of global repute will be sharing their knowledge. Representatives of various brands, chemical companies, garment manufacturing firms, machinery manufacturers, laboratories and textile processors will be participating.
Up to 500 delegates are expected to attend the conference, which will see the participation of the complete textile supply and value chain and international brands, along with presentations from well-known international speakers on contemporary technical topics.
Vidarbha has expressed the need for a textile manufacturing hub in Nandgaonpeth, Amravati, so that cotton is processed and goes out of Vidarbha as fabric, in short, fiber to fabric.
Road shows will be held in Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu to market Nandgaonpeth as a textile hub.
However, certain parameters have to be made conducive for the establishment of a textile industry in Nandgaonpeth. Water rates have to be made competitive and common effluent treatment plants should be made affordable.
Textile centers are being planned for Vidarbha. At least three textile parks have been planned to facilitate cotton cultivators to sell their cash crop within the region and reap the benefits.
The region has received proposals for 14 spinning mills with a likely investment of Rs 666 crores and three composite spinning and weaving units which could pump in investment of Rs 700 crores. Together these units could offer over 7,000 new jobs. Investors are scouting for land and other infrastructure.
A 10 per cent subsidy is being offered to units coming up in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh areas. Another major reform on the agenda is addressing the power crisis which has been dissuading industries in the cotton growing belt of Vidarbha.
The review committee on garment factory inspection in Bangladesh is waiting for the government’s direction to take action against factories which have failed to conduct detailed engineering assessment of their factory buildings within the stipulated time. Of 49 factories, 14 units are yet to conduct the assessments. The 14 factories are on the inspection lists of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.
The review committee was formed last year to decide on shutdown of any garment factory due to safety concerns. If the three initiatives find serious faults in any factory, they can suggest the review committee to look into the matter and only the review committee can announce closer of a factory if it finds any safety risk.
In the process, the review committee received recommendation for reviewing 41 buildings where 84 garment factories were located.After review the committee announced closer of 32 factories, while 21 units were partially closed, and 49 were asked to conduct the assessments.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has already sent a list of the factories to the labor ministry seeking necessary direction in this connection.
Jeans Care was the first factory where Accord inspection teams found structural faults and sent their report to the review committee for further decision.In the first week of April the review committee asked the authorities of the factory to conduct the DAE within six weeks but the company is yet to do it.
Exports of Vietnamese apparel are expected to touch $24.5 billion thereby surpass the set target by nearly a billion. The garment and textile sector continues to top Vietnamese exports, mainly due to the right strategies. These include: hiking the percentage of locally made raw materials to 50 per cent.
Vietnam exports garments worth $8.85 billion to the US, $2.38 billion to Japan and $1.96 billion to South Korea, all of which put together account for 70 per cent of exports from the sector. Signed and pending free trade agreements are opening up a lot of chances for the sector to grow further, as import tariffs may drop to zero in many markets.
The tax incentives to be ushered in with the signing of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement in 2015, will also create favorable conditions for clothing exports to the US market. If TPP deal is inked, it would help Vietnam capture 10 per cent market share from China, as Vietnamese textiles and apparels would then enjoy greater benefits than China, which do not form part of the TPP agreement. Globally Vietnam ranks fifth in textile and apparel exports.
Indian textile associations want some more time to fulfill their export obligations under the export promotion capital goods scheme. Mills say they were not able to fulfill the obligation due to recession for the last six years. So they want time and they say the export obligation should be only six to eight times the duty saved.
India’s share in the international market is 32.9 per cent for cotton yarn, 3.53 per cent for cotton fabric, 11.25 per cent for cotton made-ups and 3.86 per cent for garments. One problem facing the industry is that subsidies under the Technology Upgradation Fund scheme are yet to be refunded. The Associations say the delay has impacted projects. They want the Centre to allocate an additional Rs 3,000 crores for the scheme in the upcoming Budget.
The Indian share in global textile and apparel exports is miniscule due to various levies on manmade fiber made products. The industry wants import duty, special additional duty, and anti-dumping duty to be removed and the central excise duty on manmade fiber to be reduced.
The government stopped extending benefits to the industry from June 2010 to April 2011. One specific request the industry has is that raw material costs, costs of converting raw material to finished goods as well as power tariffs should be less than or equal to global prices.
The next edition of Heimtextil will be held in Germany from January 14 to 17, 2015. This is a trade fair for home and contract textiles. It is a platform for manufacturers, retailers and designers to stock up on their year’s quota of best raw materials at cheapest prices. Leading textile manufacturers from all over the world bring their best materials to this fair. Heimtextil is normally the first trade fair of the year.
The products include bed linen, upholstery, furniture fabric, household decorative covers, garments etc. Four major design trends for this year are: Sensory, Mixology, Discovery and Memory, these will be featured at the show. Sensory trend comprises delicate, clinically cool colors such as Whisper White, Spa Blue and Moonstruck. Mixology is characterized by contrasting dynamics, bright colors and ethnic patterns. Discovery is an attempt to create profound feelings with pronounced fabric structures and colors such as black, purple and silver. Memory stresses on picturesque and romantic images with saturated colors including True Navy and Scarlet Sage.
These textile trends signify a yearning to satisfy one’s desire for well-being and luxury. But they also fulfill the principle that aesthetics and functionality always go hand in hand.
www.eventegg.com/heimtextil/
