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This week ‘Sustainable Brands’ will lay spotlight on SB’16 Copenhagen when it unravels its programme in preparation of the event when the Northern European business community would gather to collaborate on how sustainability-led innovation can be an essential driver of business success and value creation at the Radisson Blu Scandinavian Hotel in Copenhagen from September 26-28.
SB’16 Copenhagen will bring together senior business leaders, thought leaders and sustainability practitioners who influence the way brands innovate and communicate together to demonstrate the power of purpose-driven leadership.
Organizations and brands that would attend SB’16 Copenhagen include Novozymes, IKEA, GlobeScan, BASF, Kingfisher, HEINEKEN, The Body Shop, Philips Lighting, DONG Energy, L’Oréal, WBCSD and Dell among others.
At the venue, discussions will focus on the environmental, social and economic macro forces that are creating system conditions for purpose-driven businesses as well as strategies for connecting brand purpose with customer purpose.
Product and service innovation will focus on resilient and regenerative business models that are proving to be financially successful.
Initially, distinguished faculty and program highlights would have GlobeScan, SustainAbility and Sustainable Brands present results of new joint research projects surveying the landscape of purpose in terms of both consumer preferences and business leaders’ perceptions of achievement and gaps in sustainability actions by the private sector, NGOs and governments.
Secondly, IKEA, DONG Energy, Stora Enso, Marimekko and others will share how they have gone about pivoting their business models and innovation pipelines in the direction of future-proof products and services aligned with sustainability-inspired brand positioning.
Thirdly, John Elkington (Volans), The Future-Fit Foundation, BASF,Novozymes and others will bring up-to-the-minute insights on aligning the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with brand strategy, product and service innovation, employee engagement, and corporate sustainability goal-setting.
Fourthly, HEINEKEN, L’Oréal, Sprout and Arla Foods will be among the brands that will share how they conceived and implemented successful advertising campaigns aligned with a higher-order purpose inspired by social and environmental priorities.
And finally, Novozymes, Adidas and others will dive deep into the value chain of textiles with the goal of having a co-creative series of discussions that highlight best-practice breakthrough innovation and consumer engagement along the entire value chain, pointing out a number of successful case studies along the way.
At a time when international buyers were planning to place orders for Christmas, the apparel industry in Pakistan has claimed that it has been facing severe shortage of cotton yarn.
Basically, owing to artificial shortage of cotton yarn, created by the spinning as well as ginning industry, which are holding stock in the hope of further hike in rates and the price factor, the local garment industry is not capable of entertaining the international buyers, chief coordinator of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Ijaz Khokhar observed.
Overburdened by more than 11% multiple taxes and utility cost, the apparel industry has been demanding at least 15% special support to stay in international export market, otherwise all current businesses will out to other countries, he cautioned.
Further, the PRGMEA official rued that garment exporters were nervous to make any shipment well in time due to artificial scarcity of raw material that is forcing buyers turn to other countries that are offering lower rates.
He said that the apparel export sector was under severe pressure due to tough competition in the international market from countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia. Squeezing the apparel export sector will lead to decline in export earnings coupled with unemployment in the country, he warned.
Pakistan witnessed another dismal year registering 8 per cent decline in textile exports in the past year, whereas exports of non-cotton producing countries Bangladesh and Vietnam surged significantly. Excluding ready-made garments, exports of all other textile segments went down drastically in Fiscal Year 2015-16 (FY16) including raw cotton, cotton yarn, cotton cloth, and the like.
Stakeholders termed the federal government totally responsible for this worrying situation, saying that poor policies of the incumbent government had brought Pakistan’s most valuable sector on the verge of collapse. Increased sales tax led to piling up of exporters’ refunds with the tax department. Further, due to imposition of 10 per cent regulatory duty on yarn imports from India, the cost of doing business, and consequentially the price of domestically produced yarn increased manifold, they added.
Meanwhile, All Pakistan Apparel Forum (APAF) has written a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan appealing to revive the exemption of regulatory duty on import of cotton yarn. APAF is a joint forum of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association, Pakistan Knitwear and Sweater Exporters Association, Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparels Manufacturers & Exporters Association and Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association.
Incidentally, Pakistan is the world’s fourth largest cotton producing country.
As part of its initiative to promote the sale of Indian textiles in the world, the Union Ministry of Textiles has drawn up a comprehensive and integrated Annual Marketing plan in association with 11 sector Export Promotion Councils (EPCs).
While synergizing various ongoing market initiatives, the marketing plan has adopted a specific approach for traditional, emerging and other important markets, observed Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Irani.
A standard plan for international pre-fair and post-fair activities has also been developed for implemented by Export Promotion Councils. A key feature of the plan is to create a common umbrella brand for Indian Textiles which would be done by showcasing fibre to fashion products in an Indian pavilion, organizing road shows in tandem with the main event and organizing India Eve (B2B meetings) after business hours of event.
A senior official of the ministry would head the delegation to ensure successful implementation of the plan. An international media agency would be engaged to ensure industry participation during road shows. It would also be responsible for running proper media campaign before the event and also ensure wide media coverage.
It is also gathered that about 800 to 100 Indian exhibitors, 2500 international buyers and 1,000 Indian high volume retail buyers are expected to attend Textiles India, (the popular annual mega event) scheduled to be held in Delhi from October 6 to 8.
Participants are being invited from countries such as USA, U.K., Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Spain, UAE, China, Bangladesh, Turkey, Taiwan, etc.
The event covers the entire value chain from fibre to fashion. A highlight of the event is a Technical Conference titled “Advantage India: Sourcing Destination for The World”, which will have national and international experts on India’s role in global textile sourcing, key issues and way forward to achieve high growth.
India has fixed the maximum price for BG-II variety of BT cotton at Rs 800. Biotechnology enterprises are now prohibited from selling the BT cotton seeds above Rs 800 per packet of BG-II variety.
The decision was taken to bring BT cotton seeds under price control to bring uniformity in prices across the country in view of farmers feeling the pinch of bloated seed prices.
Monsanto had recently threatened to re-evaluate its presence in India and hold back new technology if the plan to reduce the trait value is not rolled back.
Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, a joint venture between Monsanto and Maharashtra-based Mahyco, has sub-licensed BT cotton seed technology since 2002 to various domestic seed companies.
The Indian government has only fixed the maximum sale price of the commodity itself, but not the price of discrete components of an essential commodity such as license fee that comprise the final sale price.
The fixed trait value is Rs 49 per packet of 450 grams.
In contrast to Rs 830 to Rs 1,100 cotton seed prices, the agriculture ministry in March had notified the MSP rate along with a pan-India ceiling price of BT cotton seeds at Rs 800 a packet on BG-II variety.
These fixed prices were recommended by a committee set up by the agriculture ministry and a notification was issued on December 7, 2015.
Trade has played a key role in China’s remarkable rise over recent decades, supported by its accession to the WTO in 2001. There is no doubt that trade will remain vital for the country’s continued economic development.
Chinese trade surplus increased slightly by 6.4 per cent year-on-year in June 2016. Exports fell 4.8 per cent year-on-year, worse than market expectations of a 4.1 per cent drop. In the last twelve months exports rose only in March. In yuan-denominated terms, exports grew 1.3 per cent year-on-year in June, following a 1.2 per cent rise in May.
Imports shrank 8.4 per cent, following a 0.4 per cent decline in May and market expectations of a 5 per cent drop. It is the 20th straight month of decline, a likely sign of weaker domestic demand and lower growth prospects.
Since 1995, China has been recording consistent trade surpluses which from 2004 to 2009 have increased ten times. In 2015 as a whole, China’s total trade dropped by 8 per cent, as exports shrank 2.8 per cent and imports fell sharply by 14.1 per cent due to a weaker currency and falling commodity prices.
In 2015, the biggest trade surpluses were recorded with Hong Kong, the US, the Netherlands, India, the UK, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. China recorded trade deficits with Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Brazil and South Africa.
Bangladesh is doing all it can to keep its garment industry secure in the face of international concern over terrorism in the country. But, besides security, exporters there also face congestion and delays.
This week, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the country’s home minister met the European retail association ‘Accord’ to assure foreign companies that their supply chains would be provided with security between the factories and the airport. On its part, Accord said that more than 200 of its members would continue to source garments from the country.
However, Bangladesh exporters have, till now, experienced some percentage of orders cut back. It has been reported that a company lost order as much as $3.6 million order last week from French retailer Celio.
To add to the country’s problems, both the port and airport continue to be congested. All ports of entry are now also subject to heightened security as the government attempts to stop arms entering the country.
Australia, the UK and Germany have all restricted air exports from Bangladesh, despite heightened security at its airports. New scanning requirements, in addition to extra exports in advance of Eid, have caused delays.
And shipments to Europe from Chittagong port are also experiencing congestion with delays of up to a week.
Forwarders are using sea-air routes to help importers of Bangladeshi goods. UK forwarder Ligentia is offering FCL or LCL shipments by sea to Colombo taking about 10 to 12 days to be on route cutting 15-20% off air freight costs before it is flown to Europe. A cheaper option via Dubai, saves 30-35% on direct air freight, but has a total transit time of about 18 days.
Edizione, the Benetton family holding company, has acquired a 0.25 per cent stake in the French luxury fashion label Hermès, as well as taken a 0.35 per cent stake in L Brands, the US group that controls, among others, the lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.
For the Benetton family, this is simply a financial investment, this time in the luxury goods sector which adds to other stakes held in insurance, banking and publishing industries. According to sources, the amount invested is close to €100 million.
Following directions by the Textile Ministry, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has decided to sell its remaining stock of about 24,000 bales of cotton to small and medium scale mills, informs B K Mishra, CMD, CCI. He claimed that as prices had shot up, these mills were finding it difficult to purchase cotton, so much so that they were mulling to shut down. The mills approached the ministry. It has now been decided that CCI would now sell the bales only to these mills, Mishra remarked.
Significantly, the spot price of the benchmark cotton variety, Sankar-6, was around Rs 33,000 per candy of 355 kg during the first week of April this year and it increased to Rs 42,700 by the end of June. Currently, it is selling at Rs 48,000 per candy. Thus, the price has increased by 45 per cent resulting in an increase of Rs 60 per kg of clean cotton cost used for combed count yarns.
The sudden rise in cotton prices could not be absorbed by the textile industry and spinning mills that were suffering due to surplus spinning capacity due to the reduced demand for yarn exports. High fixed costs make production cuts difficult.
As a result, non-performing assets (NPAs) are increasing and mills are partially or fully closing down. Old and new mills have a cost differential of 10 per cent in an industry which doesn’t even have a consistent net profit margin of 5 per cent.
Interestingly, CCI had purchased 8.4 lakh bales of cotton at minimum support price this year. The Corporation has supplied nearly two lakh bales to the National Textile Corporation and state co-operative mills. It also sold about 1.5 lakh bales a month over the last four months through e-auction. It now has some 24,000 bales which will be sold to small and medium scale mills.
The British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) has launched the new British Wool Premium Label Partnership with manufacturers who want to promote a higher content of British grown wool in their carpets, rugs and other products. This will give quality manufacturers a chance to influence how much wool of genuine British origin is used in the blend of their ranges.
The Premium Label Partnership defines the manufacturer of the product and their supply chain and ensures that the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring the content is sourced and verified according to the criteria that are set-out by the BWMB.
The Gold British Wool label and a pre-existing label named the Platinum label are included in the new Premium Label Partnership. The labels have been created to clearly define a higher level of British Wool content within a product – 70 per cent within the wool blend in the case of the Gold label and 100 per cent in the case of Platinum. The BWMB audits the chain and the product is only awarded if the strict content values of the specific label meets the standards.
The BWMB is owned by sheep farmers of the UK and sits between the wool producer and the textile industry providing wool for sale by auction across the year and promoting it through its Shepherd’s Crook licensed partnership programme.
