FW
Sri Lanka will set a minimum wage for all private sector workers, including those in the garment industry. The legislation will see wages backdated to May 1. Under the plans, private sector workers will see their wages increase by 15 to 35 per cent. The increase is a step to reduce the huge gap between private sector employees and state sector employees.
Garment worker salaries are based on market conditions and are higher than the rates set by national wage board for state employees. The garment industry is the second largest forex earner. Women constitute about 85 per cent of the country’s industrial workforce, and majority of these are between 25 and 30 years of age.
The industry initially flourished on the basis of low cost labor, but an increase in the cost of living has made factory work much less attractive for workers. At one time, foreign garment buyers were asked to pay a few cents more for garments bought from Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, to help pay decent wages to garment workers.
Big western retailers like Walmart, Carrefour control large shares of the western garment retail markets. This gives them bigger bargaining power on how much they pay local factories for garments they buy from Sri Lanka and other Asian countries. Right now there is growing pressure on local factories by big buyers to reduce their selling prices.
For 2014-15 India's exports of textile and clothing may dip by five per cent. The reasons for this are: sluggish global demand and declining competitiveness. On a standalone basis, though, apparel export is expected to show 10 to 13 per cent growth. This would be the lowest in recent years.
The 10-month period of April 2014 to January 2015 saw textile and clothing export grow almost four per cent. There are several export-related incentives the industry has been demanding from the government. It faces reduced competitiveness as compared to peers. For next year to be better, the government will have to take steps to incentivise textile and garment exports further.
Almost the entire value chain, barring garments, is witnessing lower export growth trend. Exports of cotton yarn are 110 to 120 million kg while the export capability is 140 to 160 million kg of cotton yarn. In June 2014, estimates were that the sector’s exports in 2014-15 would grow 25 per cent. The apparel and textile industry in India accounts for 14 per cent of total industrial production, contributes to about 30 per cent of total exports and is the second largest employment creator after agriculture.
India has topped the ranking of Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which has released its annual report for 2014 noting significant growth in the standard’s certified facilities. There are now 3,663 GOTS certified facilities across the globe – up 18 per cent since last yea. The annual report, GOTS released version 4.0, notes that the top 15 countries in terms of total number of GOTS-certified facilities are (by rank): India, Turkey, Germany, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Italy, South Korea, Portugal, Japan, France, USA, UK, Austria, and Hong Kong.
Certification rise in a year was up 338 per cent in India, in Bangladesh it was 89 per cent, Germany 32 per cent, Turkey 21 per cent and China 18 per cent. The update saw a ban on virgin polyester and angora for certified products, as well as more stringent recycled synthetic fibre allowances.
According to Claudia Kersten, GOTS Marketing Director, the growth in certifications demonstrates that GOTS has become the standard of choice for brands and retailers to efficiently manage their organic fibre supply chains. She further added that certification to GOTS also demonstrates a company’s commitment to sustainability through third party and independent GOTS certification and reference to GOTS on product labels instead of self-claims.
GOTS magaging director Herbert Ladwig, claimed the report shows the standard is strengthening year on year.
Bangladesh Denim Expo took place on May 11 and 12 and attracted a good response from the industry. This time the exclusive focus was on denim and jeans products. The expo was aimed at attracting at least $7billion worth denim exports, which would help the readymade garment sector meet its $50 billion export target by 2021. Another object was to make the Bangladesh denim industry sustainable.
With the overwhelming response from global brands and retailers, another such show will be held in Bangladesh on November 11 and 12, 2015. Some Turkish companies are setting up offices in Bangladesh to expedite operations smoothly as it is the second largest sourcing country and a major supplier of denim products.
There are 27 denim factories in the country in the readymade garment sector with an investment of $900 million while about 10 factories are poised to come into operation soon. Local denim factories produce around 30 million yards of fabrics a month, meeting half of the local consumption.
In the global $60 billion denim market, Bangladesh lags behind China, the US, Italy and some Latin American countries. The country’s readymade garment sector plays a significant role in converting Bangladesh to a middle income country.
www.bangladeshdenimexpo.com
Cambodia’s garment exports rose by 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest forex earner as it accounts for 80 per cent of the country’s total exports. The country exported apparel products worth $1.73 billion during January-March period this year, up 11 per cent from $1.56 billion over the same period last year.
Cambodia’s garment products mainly go to the European Union, the United States, and some Asian countries, particularly China, South Korea, and Japan. During the first quarter of this year, apparel exports to EU increased 16 per cent, exports to the US saw a one per cent fall and to other countries it rose 21 per cent.
Expectations are that the country’s garment sector would see higher growth for the rest of the year thanks to production increases as strikes over wages have ended. Cambodia has emerged a global manufacturing hotspot despite outbreaks of violent industrial action and safety concerns.
In recent years, Cambodia’s apparel and textile exports have grown at a fast pace. However, growth has slowed down in recent months, mainly due to an increase in wage bills of garment factory owners. While rise in wages has increased the cost of garment factory owners, the prices that Cambodian factories receive in their main markets have been stagnating or declining in recent years.
The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (ATPMA) has asked the Pakistani government to take over the country’s textile industry owing to several issues, it has been facing that are causing hurdles in the country’s export competitiveness.
APTMA Chairman SM Tanveer and a group leader Gohar Ejaz have said the textile industry has become unviable because of heavy subsidization in competing countries of the region. The Pakistan readymade garments manufacturers and exporters association (PRGMEA), on the other hand, has demanded special status to export-oriented value-added textile industry allowing it zero rating facility to boost new investment and revive economic growth.
The APTMA also briefed on the plight of textile industry after comparing it with the Indian industry on the basis of a study conducted by the Gherzi International, a Switzerland-based textile industry consultancy. Tanveer said that the duration of load shedding in Punjab’s textile industry has increased by two hours and the industry gets gas for only six hours, which is badly impacting it from achieving its export target.
www.aptma.org.pk
Bangladesh’s export proceeds slowed down to 1.16 per cent in April compared with the same period last year. Exports of readymade garment in July and August 2014 witnessed a 0.07 and 4.23 per cent growth compared to that of the same period of 2013 while receipts fell by 2.06 and 9.69 per cent in September and October.
But earning from overseas sales rebounded in November with 9.71 per cent growth in the same year and slowed down to 2.38 per cent in December 2014, while it has been maintaining a moderate growth since January this year. Income from exports of apparel products recorded a significant growth of over seven per cent in the first three months of the calendar year.
Knitwear earnings stood at $10 billion and wovens fetched $10.55 billion during July to April of the fiscal year 2014-15. But both the sectors failed to achieve targets by 6.31 per cent and 4.53 per cent set for the period.
Knit exports fell significantly in April due to fall in orders, mainly due to the recent political turmoil. Buyers followed a wait and watch approach and placed work orders at a reduced volume at the end of last year as the safety drive went on.
Vietnam has taken a decision not to permit projects that violate environmental norms. Two textile and dyeing projects proposed by foreign investors that were to be located in an area known for its sandy beaches have been refused clearance. In principle, only facilities that use clean technologies will be approved. The reasoning is that the added value a textile and garment project can bring to a locality should not be smaller than the losses it causes to the environment.
Some analysts argue such restrictions will prevent Vietnam from taking full advantage of the pending US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. The country as a whole licensed only 448 new FDI projects by April end, a drop of 17.1 per cent from the previous year. Some cities have experienced a sharp decline of as much as 45 per cent in foreign direct investment in the first three months of the year.
Vietnam is currently the second largest garment exporter to the US and is the fastest growing garment manufacturer in the world. The top three areas in Vietnam where foreign direct investment takes place are manufacturing, trading, energy and water distribution. Helped by low costs and an eager government, Vietnam is taking over China’s role as Asia’s hot spot for foreign investment in manufacturing.
For the first quarter, Indonesian exports of non-knitted clothing declined by 2.9 per cent while shipment of knitted goods dropped by 4.9 per cent. Indonesia is preparing to start talks on the long-delayed comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the EU, which is expected to boost the competitiveness of its products to the 28-member bloc.
Without free trade deals, Indonesian textile and garment producers are currently being charged duties ranging from 11 to 30 per cent to main export destinations, including the EU and US. The trade arrangement may push down levies to as low as zero per cent, resulting in an enhanced edge of traded goods in terms of price.
Indonesia has seen its share decline in textile trading with major partners from 2007 to 2013. New challenges have been faced in recent years, including automatic electricity-price adjustments. Power prices fluctuate each month depending on the rupiah exchange rate, crude oil price and inflation.
Depreciation of the local currency against the dollar has been pushing up electricity rates, which contributes between 18 per cent and 26 per cent to costs in the textile and garment industry. Indonesia’s main destinations of textile and textile products are the US, Japan, Turkey, Germany and South Korea.
Euratex, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, has launched the Energy Made-to-Measure (EM2M) campaign. Sustainable use of resources is among Euratex’s key priorities. Launched in 2014 by Euratex in collaboration with dozens of organisations across Europe, the EM2M campaign promotes key results of successful initiatives for energy efficiency in the sector.
It aims at supporting textile and clothing companies, especially small and medium enterprises, which are not fully aware of their actual energy consumption and of the saving potential. The campaign provides companies’ managers with tools, best practices and training to take informed decisions to launch energy efficiency actions.
With a new focus on energy efficiency in textile production processes, Energy Made-to-Measure in 2015 starts collaboration with the initiatives of two national associations of textile machinery manufacturers – VDMA in Germany and ACIMIT in Italy.
VDMA is a German engineering federation and the largest engineering industry network in Europe. VDMA’s Blue Competence initiative supports sustainable textile production realised by more sparing use of resources and more efficient manufacturing processes. The Energy Made-to-Measure campaign was invited to present at the annual VDMA press conference held at Techtextil in Frankfurt.
ACIMIT (Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers) promotes the Italian textile machinery sector and supports its activity, mainly abroad, through updated and innovative promotional means.
www.euratex.eu/
