FW
With the number of orders receding despite the marriage season, weavers in the silk city Berhampur in Odisha are feeling the heat of demonetization as cooperatives are unable to pay these artisans, apparently due to cap on the withdrawal limit. Sale of Berhampuri pattas have come down 60 per cent while cooperative societies are struggling to pay weavers their wages due to the cash crunch, says T Gopi, President, All Odisha Devanga Mahasangh.
There is a huge demand for ‘Berhampuri pattas’, famous for its ‘phoda kumbha’ and ‘patta’ and ‘joda’ (for men). These are mostly sold through cooperative societies like’Boyanika’. The annual sales turnover of the ‘patta’ is around Rs 2.50 crore to Rs 3 crore.
The Berhampur Cotton and Silk Cooperative Society is also facing problems in paying weavers. While earlier they used to take payment in cash at the time of delivery, now they are reluctant to take cheques. The cooperatives have asked weavers to open accounts in which the money would be transferred. Over a long period of time, ‘sari’ woven from Berhampuri silk, has been exported to Southeast Asian countries. The sari and joda have got the geographical indication (GI) tag from the Centre.
To enhance Pakistan's export competitiveness and institutional strengthening under the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2015-18, the federal government would spend Rs 20 billion in the next three years. In response to emerging international changes, several other initiatives are being implemented to enhance the export basket and market share. The total volume of Pakistan's exports that was $24.5 billion in 2013 fell to $20.8 billion in 2016.
Among the steps taken by the government to enhance exports are: sales tax zero-rating regime for five export oriented sectors comprising textile, leather, carpets, surgical and sports goods has been introduced from July this year. The other steps were establishment of Export Promotion Council for Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics, and Rice Export Promotion Council, support for import of plant & machinery to strengthen supply chain and encourage value addition and performance based incentive (PBI) to offset burden of higher utility costs and local levies and taxes on export sectors.
Under short-term export enhancement measures, four product categories comprising basmati rice, horticulture, meat and meat products and jewellery were aimed at with parallel focus on markets including Iran, Afghanistan, China and European Union. An additional Rs 6 billion was available this fiscal year to exporters through Textile Policy. 2014.
Of the total €81 billion import of clothing from 28 countries to the European Union, 77 per cent is from Asia. That is almost double of what came out of Asia just 10 years ago. As is already known when import increases, prices drop. In the last 10 years, clothing import from the EU grew €32 billion with €30 billion coming from Asia alone. Out of that €30 billion, 75 per cent was from China and Bangladesh. The low costs and high concentration of companies makes it increasingly interesting to import clothing from Asia.
Some countries even live off of the export: clothing represents 47 per cent of Bangladesh’s total export in 2015 and Cambodia (27 per cent) and Sri Lanka (17 per cent) also benefit from the clothing industry. The consumer also takes advantage of the low costs in Asia. In the last two years, prices have dropped nearly 4 per cent and the 2015 levels were lower on average than that 10 years ago. Prices are also at their lowest in the last 10 years. The peak was in 2007, when clothes were nearly 4 per cent more expensive than in 2015.
SPGPrints and Stovec Industries printing machihe evoked keen interest at the recent India ITME 2016 in Mumbai. SPGPrints and Stovec displayed several inkjet and rotary screen printing machines at ITME 2016. Many printers showed keen interest in SPGPrints’ Javelin ® digital inkjet textile printer. Sales were recorded for both the 1850mm-width version of the machine for the apparel market and the new 3200mm-width version for interior decor applications. The new 3200mm-width Javelin will have its global debut at Heimtextil 2017.
India ITME 2016 marked the first showing of the Javelin printer in India. The machine was operated throughout the show giving visitors a real-time experience of its quality, flexibility, productivity and ease of use on even the most challenging substrates such as millimetre paper. Using Archer® technology, Javelin fires a variable ink drop a distance of 4mm, enabling a wide range of textiles to be printed with sharp detail, smooth gradations, solid blotches and precise registration.
SPGPrints also saw strong demand for its rotary screen technology, with several sales of the company’s printing lines and digital prepress systems. Sales were recorded of the RD-6 rotary screen printing line, which combines high productivity, rapid design changeovers, straightforward operation and quality consistency with minimal manual input.
World's biggest clothing retailer, Inditex has reported a 9 per cent rise in its nine-month profit. It also reported that its sales growth jumped in recent weeks despite warmer than usual autumn weather in many European countries.
As its fashion peers struggle to adapt to changing consumer tastes with Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap posting dismal Q4 sales last month, Inditex's fast-fashion business and online prowess have kept it ahead. The owner of Zara is known for speedily reacting to changing trends and weather by keeping its manufacturing bases close to its distribution centre in the northern Spanish region of Galicia. Items are designed, made and shipped to stores often in less than a month, which boosts its profitability.
Items such velvet dresses, military blazers and mini-skirts helped push sales up 14.5 per cent in local currencies in the nine months to October 31. Net profit was up 9 per cent at €2.2 billion ($2.3 billion) while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 8.4 per cent at €3.6 billion, both results in line with anaysts' forecasts, according to a poll.
To help exporting units tide over the impact of demonetisation, the Apparel Export Promotion Council has urged the government for increased withdrawal limits and relaxation in rules for payment of statutory dues like PF, ESI and service tax for some time. The Council has shared recommendations with the government to facilitate transition towards digital payments and less cash usage, the exporter’s body.
In its request, the Council has suggested exporting units be allowed a higher threshold of cash withdrawal for making payments to artisans, loaders, purchases for developing new samples and for payment towards small freight amount. It also requested that adequate cash should be made available at banks in key clusters. It also asked for opening bank accounts of workers in RMG export sector on the unique identity basis. The account should be maintained in Employees Provident Fund Organisation in lieu of initiating a fresh KYC (Know Your Customer) requirement by the bank, it said.
Shorn wool production in Australia for the 2015-16 season is expected to decline 6.2 per cent over the previous season. But almost all major sheep producing areas across Australia are reported to be experiencing good to excellent season conditions and an abundance of feed after a very wet spring. This is expected to result in even better average wool cuts per head in 2016-17 than anticipated.
The mean fiber diameter for Australia in 2016-17 to November was 20.7 microns, the same as in 2015-16. There was an increase in the volumes of wool for all micron ranges between 18.6 microns and 23.5 microns.
Some regions, notably in Victoria, in the tablelands of New South Wales and in Tasmania, have experienced a rather tough winter after seeing very dry conditions up until May. So fleece weights are only now starting to improve. The full benefit of the improved seasons is expected to be seen during autumn shearing.
Shorn wool production is expected to increase in New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. The increase in Queensland is particularly welcome after three consecutive years of decline and in part reflects sheep returning to the state after the breaking of the long drought. Production in Victoria is expected to be steady, with an improvement in the second half of the season while production in Tasmania is predicted to be slightly lower.
Egypt’s garments and textiles industry suffered badly since when the Central bank began pegging the pound against the dollar, post the uprising in 2011. The problem became more acute as currency controls tightened over the past couple of years with exports of garments plummeting 14.7 per cent in the year to end of June and cotton textiles by 7.2 per cent.
With last month’s sharp devaluation of Egypt’s currency, there could be boost in demand for garment and textile products at home and abroad. From 2003 to 2011, textile exports shot up on an average 17 per cent annually and garment exports by 19 per cent, only to begin slackening thereafter. Textile exports surged from $120.1 million in 2002-03 to $782.6m in 2012-13 before falling back to $682m in 2015-16. Similarly, garment exports rose from $218.3m in 2002-03 to $810.3m in 2014-15 before taking a plunge to $690.8m last year.
Mohamed Kassem, Chairman, Readymade Garments Export Council of Egypt says already there has been an increase in orders since Egyptian pound was floated on November 3 but it will take time before exports surge. The devaluation, which has made imported products more expensive, should increase local demand for garments and textiles as well.
They will see two waves of production growth in textile and garment: first, with the use of idle capacity and later with new investment. The fact the pound’s price has fallen more than half means Egypt is back on the radar of foreign textile buyers. But because many components and materials are imported, the price of Egyptian textiles will not fall by half.
A report by World Bank published in November, around 81 per cent of the apparel factories in Bangladesh have no Research and Development (R&D) cell while research is the key to development of economy in present era. That goes to show that only 19 per cent of Bangladeshi apparel factories have a R&D cell each. On the other hand, investment in this sector is equivalent to Africa's countries. India is in the top among South Asian countries with R&D cell. Nearly 56 per cent of Indian factories have R&D cell.
According to the report, as the amount of investment in research is less, progress is less in successful management, efficiency of the workers and the financing. The report suggested Bangladeshi apparel factories use technology and improve workers efficiency through research. The World Bank report also suggested increasing investment for R&D cell of apparel sector. The experts also see the need for more research to develop country's apparel sector and meet the RMG export target $50 billion by 2021. They said to adjust with global change Bangladesh entrepreneurs have to go for new trend and research.
Executive director of Policy Research Institute (PRI) Ahsan Mansur observed research institutes don't play direct role in any sector for expansion of sector-wise trade except the agriculture. Research on quality of goods and creating innovation in design is essential in trade related sectors. VP of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers & Exports Association (BGMEA) Mahmud Hasan Babu says two types of R&D are necessary for the RMG sector. One, is research to bring quality development and diversity and other is the development of efficiency. There is R&D in about 50-60 factories in developing quality and creating efficiency in our country. Besides, research is being carried out in appointing efficient persons including industrial engineers.
In a move that is expected to generate annual net profits of $119 million and 24,000 new jobs, the government of Bangladesh has decided to modernise 24 public sector jute mills with Chinese funding. For several years, state-owned jute mills have been loss-making units and in the last fiscal year their losses amounted to Tk 588 crore.
The production capacity of these mills is 275,500 tons but the actual annual production is 108,656 tons. This yields Tk 1,041 crore in revenue. About 82,000 people are employed in the mills and the government has to give subsidy every year to keep the mills running.
Subsequently, the government has decided to take up a project worth Tk 2,800 crores for balancing, modernising, rehabilitating and expanding the mills. China will put in about Tk 2,240 crore in this investment. China Textile Engineering Corporation has already conducted a feasibility study on jute mills. Due to a lag in technology, low efficiency, obsolete equipment, single product focus, lack of competitiveness and confused management, Bangladesh is losing its position in the global jute industry, said the Chinese company's feasibility study.
