FW
Bangladesh’s export earnings for the first seven months of fiscal 2016-17 went up 4.36 per cent compared to a year earlier. And receipts from garment exports, which typically account for 80 per cent of export receipts, were up 3.05 per cent year-on-year and 4.65 per cent month-on-month.
The country’s garment exports to the US, the country’s single largest export destination, declined 1.49 per cent during the January-November period of 2016. Garment exports to the UK, the third largest destination, declined 5.19 per cent in the first six months of the fiscal year. The jute and jute goods sector was one of the top performers during the July-January period, with shipments rising 14.05 per cent year-on-year. Shipments of leather and leather goods grew well during the seven-month period, up 12.18 per cent year-on-year. Furniture exports soared 23.37 per cent and pharmaceuticals 8.51 per cent.
Home textile exports increased 1.42 per cent and plastic products 45.74 per cent on the back of a ten per cent cash incentive on shipments. Among the poor performers, frozen and live fishes exports declined 0.80 per cent. Exports of petroleum byproducts declined 28.24 per cent.
Bangladesh has set an apparel export target of 50 billion dollars by 2021. But to achieve this more than 12.25 per cent export growth is needed every year.
"The 24th edition of Milano Unica, the Italian Textiles and Accessories Trade Show, held at Fiera Milano Rho from February 1 to 3, closed with positive sentiments especially from exhibitors, with regard the quality of contacts registered, thanks to the accurate selection made by the organisers. The edition included 427 exhibitors, of whom 300 were Italian, 65 European and 40 Japanese and 22 Korean."
The 24th edition of Milano Unica, the Italian Textiles and Accessories Trade Show, held at Fiera Milano Rho from February 1 to 3, closed with positive sentiments especially from exhibitors, with regard the quality of contacts registered, thanks to the accurate selection made by the organisers. The edition included 427 exhibitors, of whom 300 were Italian, 65 European and 40 Japanese and 22 Korean.
Ercole Botto Poala, President of Milano Unica inaugurated the fair. With a strong foreign participation, particularly important was the return of companies from the Russian Federation (+34 per cent). A growing trend is the participation of companies from the UK (+4 per cent), US (+2 per cent), Canada (+29 per cent) and China (+6 per cent), despite the concurrent occurrence of the Chinese New Year. At the same time participation from Japan and Turkey has gone down. The number of German operators too reduced.
Gearing up for the next edition
“The 25th edition of Milano Unica will be an additional confirmation that the route focusing on innovation and quality – the one that we are consistently pursuing – is the winning one not only from an image perspective, but also in terms of the commercial and marketing results obtained. This route, meant to make Milano Unica the perfect vehicle to showcase the excellence of Made-in-Italy and Made-in-Europe production, needs additional action, but we are confident and positive. Milano Unica will increasingly become an exhibition to show excellence, innovation and creativity to the world, confirming that fabrics and accessories – above all those Made in Italy and also a selection of the best Made-in-Europe products – represent the starting point for inspiration of international fashion,” commented Poala.
Poala said the interest attracted by MU365, a platform for selected customers to establish face-to-face with exhibitors every day, at any time round the clock, created in collaboration with the US Sundar startup, is proof of their focus on technology and determination to contribute to the growth of the industry. The said this is also a way to attract young talent and create opportunities for them. He urged participants to invest in young talent, adopt a startups, to stimulate action. “I also would like to underscore the importance of the ‘Back to School’ project, which closed with the enthusiastic success of Sir Paul Smith’s presentation before approximately 1,000 students attending international fashion schools. Ahead of us lies the challenge of the July edition, but I am confident that we will face it successfully,” addded.
Focus on youth
Keeping youth in focus the ‘Magazzini Aperti’ project developed in collaboration with Regione Lombardia, Piattaforma Sistema Formativo Moda and Milano Unica presented work by final year students of 10 fashion schools were presented, using fabrics and accessories donated by Milano Unica exhibitors.
The Trend Area, restyled both in terms of space and creativity, and the consolidation of the Japan Observatory and Korea Observatory, which demonstrated the complimentarity of excellent products was great attraction for visitors and exhibitors alike.
"America produces things at the top of the pile: airplanes, wind turbines, solar panels. These are not things competitors can quickly imitate as it requires expertise and innovation. They are products that take years to develop. China or Mexico can’t just get some guys in a room and give them aluminum foil and tell them to make a 747."
America produces things at the top of the pile: airplanes, wind turbines, solar panels. These are not things competitors can quickly imitate as it requires expertise and innovation. They are products that take years to develop. China or Mexico can’t just get some guys in a room and give them aluminum foil and tell them to make a 747.
In such a scenario, America needs to answer a simple question as to why it should spend time making T-shirts and socks when they can train unemployed former textile workers to program, and help them get jobs in new industries. Long gone are the days of thousands of men standing shoulder to shoulder in a Ford factory making Model Ts. Now robots paint and weld, plus machines that help auto workers put cars together. The next great middle-class job isn’t the auto assembly line employee who works in the GM plant for 40 years and retires. It’s the computer programmer who helps make the robots that build the cars.
Game changing revolutions
The time is right for America to enact game-changing trade policies. The countries in East Asia are turning to the US for leadership and, for protection. They want to trust US, like Germany did, as a reliable and stable partner for trade and security. Even Vietnam, formerly its enemy, now seeks to become its friend.
They want to help it make the 21st century the second American Century. It is in their interest to help the country and in its own interest to take their help. Instead, the countrymen or rather the government at the helm is too busy making America ‘great’ again while losing ‘bigly’ in the process. The initial impact could be praising for the President but it would rather be short term.
So the next time you buy a T-shirt at Target, take a look at the label. There’s a good chance it came from somewhere that would have been a part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As you’re looking at that tag, please think about the Vietnamese garment worker who would have benefited from a shorter working day and from being able to unionize. Consider the family who could have fed their children better, worked in better conditions and enjoyed more health and safety protections.
For the first eight months of this year, Thai garment shipments fetched $1.95 billion, a slight increase of one per cent from the same period last year. However, they are expected to soar in the remaining months due to the festive season spending spree. Thailand’s garment exports are expected to grow by two per cent this year.
Right now the country can avail of GSP for exports to the European Union but this privilege may end early next year. If this happens, Thai garment exports to the EU would be subject to a 12 per cent import tariff, up from the current 9.6 per cent, making Thai shipments less competitive in the EU market, particularly against Vietnamese products. This may induce Thai manufacturers, particularly medium and large-scale operators, to relocate their production bases to Vietnam or Myanmar.
Slowing demand from the US and EU has been offset by a rise in Thailand’s exports to Asia - including China, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan - which now account for half the country’s total exports. Some 24 per cent of Thailand’s exports are within Asean and China takes up 12 per cent. But next year the country’s garment exports can grow five per cent if global economic conditions are in good shape.
Last year Uzbekistan processed 40 per cent of all cotton produced in the country compared to domestic processing at only seven per cent in 1991. Today, Uzbekistan exports textile products to more than 50 countries. In recent years, exports have expanded to Brazil, Chile, Croatia, and Nigeria.
The target is to process all cotton fiber processed inside Uzbekistan by 2020. Today cotton yarn accounts for nearly 50 per cent of cotton exports. The task is to increase export of products with high value added by a gradual reduction of yarn exports.
Currently the share of finished products in the total volume of production amounts to 47 per cent. In future the plan is to push up this figure to 65.5 per cent and increase the share of finished products in exports from 41 to 70 per cent.
Some $2.2 billion of investments (nearly half of them foreign investments) will be attracted by the industry in 2017-20. Special textile complexes will be launched on the basis of a four-phase system that from processing to production of finished products. More than 27,000 new jobs will be created. It is also planned to organize 120 new and upgrade more than 10 enterprises.
Turkey plans to impose anti-dumping duties on US cotton imports. But this decision may increase raw material costs of Turkish textile producers by two to three per cent and affect the price competitiveness of Turkish exports. Turkey has decided to place three per cent duty on US cotton imports with the argument that such imports were hurting domestic cotton production.
The face-off is likely to put a strain on trade relations between one of the world’s top fiber growers and one of its biggest customers at a time of weak global prices and demand. Turkey is the second biggest buyer of US cotton, with shipments ranging from 1.5 million to 2 million bales per year. Turkey exported $17 billion worth of garments and ready-to-wear clothing last year and $8 billion of textiles and raw materials.
The country has made headway in cotton production. Availability of high quality seeds, an increased number of harvesters and good farming practices have all facilitated higher yields. Turkish mills have been investing in new machinery and technology to increase quality and lower costs in order to get ahead in the very competitive international textile trade.
Garment manufacturers and exporters in Bangladesh want a single agency than the three at present to inspect and monitor progress in remediation of factories. Currently, the Accord and the Alliance -- the inspection agencies of European and North American retailers and brands -- and the National Initiative backed by the government are inspecting and suggesting remediation to boost workplace safety.
All three inspection agencies apply different codes in inspection and as a result many owners face challenges in remedying their factories. Garment factory owners have prepared a new guideline for the next phase of inspection of apparel production units in a bid to reduce hassles and set a unified code of inspection. They have proposed that third-party auditors, having prior experience in audit and certification, will be hired for conducting all structural, fire and electrical audit.
Under the new initiative, factory assessment would be done on an individual basis and failure in the remediation in any particular unit would not impact other production units belonging to the same group. Laws of the land will be applicable for closure of factories, compensation for workers and penalty for the factory owners. The tenure of the legally binding Accord and Alliance will come to an end in June 2018.
Farmers in Pakistan say the drop in cotton production is due to the supply of substandard seeds and some other factors. The country’s cotton production this year is about 10.4 million bales, while the estimated yield was about 14 million bales.
So it’s now anticipated that billions of dollars have to be spent to import cotton, while if agriculture-friendly policies had been followed and good quality cotton seeds had been supplied to farmers, the need for importing cotton would never have developed.
Pakistan’s future cotton policy envisages a number of strategies which include: germ-plasm improvements, development of hybrid cotton, improved farm and crop management, bringing additional area under cultivation, minimising post-harvest losses, increasing cotton production, improving yields per hectare, evolving disease resistant varieties, promoting Bt cotton cultivation and improving the overall quality of cotton.
The country’s cotton production in 2015-16 declined by 28 per cent due to reasons like climate change, competition with other crops, lower market prices and the outbreak of pink bollworm. In Pakistan, economic losses from contamination cost the cotton value chain, from raw cotton to garments, 1.4 billion dollars per year.
To meet the demand for extra-long staple cotton, about two million bales are imported annually. The country is also encouraging multinational and national technology providers to introduce the latest and most effective insect protection technology.
Egypt is one of the leading textile exporters to Brazil among Arab nations. A leading Egyptian textile company Sammakia Embrator is looking for buyers in Brazil. Sammakia Embrator deals in men’s and women’s underwear and has a portfolio of more than 40 items. It operates in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia and has over 1000 stores. Other such Egyptian companies that are also interested in exporting to Brazil are Sky Tex and Shamtex, which deal in cotton yarn, Hesni, which deals in cotton textile, viscose, polyester, linen and others, Sogic, which deals in textiles and clothing, KCG Textile, which deals in curtains and bed sheets and Misr Spinning, Weaving & Beida, which deals in textiles and bedding.
In 2016 Brazil imported $9.4 million textile products from Egypt. Among Arab countries, Egyptians are the top sellers to the Brazilian market in this sector. Egyptian cotton is among the best in the world and Brazilian textile companies use Egyptian cotton to get higher prices for their products. Egyptian cotton is of the long fiber variety, which is dense, but results in a light fabric with a soft touch. The use of this kind of cotton is increasing in Brazil.
The second edition of ITMACH will be held in Gujarat from December 7 to 10, 2017. ITMACH is a textile machinery and accessories exhibition covering spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, printing, processing, digital printing, nonwoven and technical textiles, garmenting, quality control, utility machinery and so on. The show is expected to host over 750 exhibitors from around the world displaying textile machinery and technology to over 45,000 business visitors. The format covers 40,000 square meters of exhibition space. Several well-known machinery companies have confirmed their participation.
It will run concurrently with Indian Textile Sourcing Exhibition, which would cover the entire textile value chain with the aim of promoting sourcing Indian textiles and apparels.
The Indian textile industry’s need for textile machinery and technology, backed by continued investment and modernization of production capacities, is expected to grow in the next three years. The prime drivers of the upbeat investment mood are enhanced allocation of funds towards technology upgradation subsidy schemes, infrastructure building approach, export incentives and more importantly the fastest growing economy of the country.
Adding to that are policies which are wooing investors to create employment and additional revenue sources. Gujarat has been leading the investment in the textile sector for the past few years.
