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India and the United States will explore opportunities to break down barriers to facilitate movement of goods and services. They will support deeper integration into global supply chains, thereby creating jobs and generating prosperity in both economies. The countries will make efforts to stimulate consumer demand, job creation, skill development and innovation. There will be a greater focus on bilateral trade.
Discussion on the US-India totalisation agreement will continue. The agreement seeks to do away with double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes. Under this agreement, professionals of both countries will be exempted from social security taxes when they go to work for a short period in the other country.
There will be greater movement of professionals, investors and business travelers, students, and exchange visitors between the countries to enhance people-to-people contact as well as economic and technological partnership.
The two countries have also committed to make concrete progress on IPR issues. There will be increased engagement on trade and investment issues under the Trade Policy Forum. American private sector companies will be involved in India’s Smart City program. Efforts will be made for the entry of India into the Global Entry program within three months.
Hong Kong fashion week will be held from July 4 to 6. The trade event will house dedicated sections or zones to promote and differentiate fashion categories. The four main categories will be: apparel, upstream supplies, fashion accessories and technology and business matching.
The different zones under the four broad categories will cover footwear, leggings and socks, hair accessories and headwear, belts and ties and embroidery and sewing supplies. Other zones include: active wear, sportswear, intimate and swimwear, children’s wear, men in style, denim arcade and fabrics and yarn.
This is the world's second largest and Asia's largest fashion event. The fashion week will offer business matching services, networking receptions, seminars and buyer forums. A small order zone will be available for buyers who want to source from 5,000 to 1,000 pieces. A series of fashion shows and runway parades will be held.
Around 1,200 worldwide exhibitors are expected at the fair. The previous edition attracted 16,000 buyers from 65 countries and regions. This edition is for Spring/Summer. It will debut women’s wear and knitwear zones to optimise buyers' sourcing selection. There will be a unique premium section dedicated to promoting brand name garments in an elegant setting. International Fashion Designers’ Showcase will feature designer collections and fashion design talents.
The free fall of India’s exports is likely to end soon. Exports are likely to recover in the second half of this fiscal, led by a combination of factors such as rising commodity prices (especially crude and metals), comfortable position of the rupee against the dollar and other currencies, demand pick up in off shore markets along with the fading base effect.
The assessment is that crude prices and metal prices firming up will help. Also the current exchange rate, or the value of the rupee vis-a-vis other global currencies, is quite healthy. India’s exports have been slipping for the last 17 months, recording a decline of 6.74 per cent in April due to a sharp fall in shipments of petroleum and engineering products amid tepid global demand.
The entire last fiscal also saw a decline in exports. The total merchandise shipments in 2015-16 fell by 15.85 per cent, a five-year low figure. There are fears that if the fall in exports continues it would soon start resulting in job losses and creating a pressure on the current account deficit. In many sectors, volumes have grown, but due to the exchange rate the values do not show a growth. But growth in values is expected to be back soon.
The garment sector in Bangladesh is rapidly transforming its manufacturing units into green factories. Manufacturers have been focusing on building green factories to meet the growing demand for environment-friendly products in the international market. The process will preserve the environment from pollution and encourage international retailers to place more work orders, thus helping the country to achieve its vision of $50 billion of readymade garment exports by 2021.
Green buildings have numerous benefits, including reduction of energy consumption by more than 24 per cent and water consumption by 50 per cent. Garment factory owners are interested in building green factories to reduce health and safety hazards at the workplace as well as the cost of doing business. Such factories also increase productivity and help create a brand image.
So far, 35 garment factories from Bangladesh have received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the United States Green Building Council. To receive this certification, building projects must satisfy certain prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of certification. Of the factories, nine have been conferred platinum status, 17 gold status, and seven silver status.
LEED is a green-building certification program that recognises best-in-class building strategies and practices.
More and more western companies are showing interest in sourcing from Africa. The likes of Vanity Fair and PVH are now setting up base in countries like Kenya and Ethiopia. However, manufacturers in Africa face numerous challenges due to infrastructure, strained further by the lack of qualified workers. Productivity is the key to unlocking Africa. The continent has to boost its competitive advantage in the textile and apparel sector.
AGOA, the trade treaty has helped many African nations to boost exports. For example, the Tanzanian textile and apparel industry has had 71 per cent growth under the AGOA agreement. The cotton-rich country is leading the way in terms of sustainability, catering strongly to the increased desire for ecological transparency throughout the supply chain. The region’s minimal use of pesticides has resulted in growing interest from the likes of the Better Cotton Initiative and Cotton Made in Africa.
For future growth, it is essential for Africa to maximise the opportunities presented by AGOA, and more importantly develop the local market. This could involve addressing restrictions between African countries to support inter-regional trade, and removing barriers such as customs and trade barriers.
Audits alone will not bring compliance. These social and environmental matters require collaboration in order to achieve continuous improvement across the value chain. AGOA was initially intended as a springboard for African growth and development into the global economy.
Chairman of the Pakistan Apparel Forum, Muhammad Jawed Bilwani anticipated the skyrocketing price of cotton yarn would seriously affect the country’s value added textile exports and increase in yarn prices will ruin the government's efforts to enhance exports and reduce the ever widening trade gap while setting a milestone in export figures. During July-Sep 2017, cotton yarn exports were 1,23,346 metric tons valued at $3,20,942 during the same period of last year where exports were 1,07,122 metric tons valued at $3,06,958 which shows a 15.15 per cent increase in quantity and 4.56 per cent in dollar terms. This reveals that cotton yarn, basic raw material, is exported in huge quantity and at low prices, while the cotton yarn is highly priced in the local market.
He said prices of yarn were rising in the local market following unchecked exports of yarn as the government was providing four per cent duty drawback on export of yarn which discouraged the value addition and value added garment sector. Bilwani said they had proposed to the government that four per cent drawback should be given on indirect exports (local sale of yarn in the domestic market to Pakistani exporters) instead on direct exports to our competitors like China and Bangladesh who will get Pakistani yarn at four per cent less cost than the Pakistani exporters. Four per cent incentive on sale of yarn to Pakistani value added textile exporters (indirect exports) will provide support to the knitting, weaving, processing, denim and home textile export industries and allied industries such as packing and printing, labels, sewing threads, label and tags, hangers, zippers, buttons, belts, inter lining materials and other accessories and associated services sector like logistic providers to earn more foreign exchange through export of value added products. In case, yarn is exported then four per cent drawback should not be provided.
He disclosed, Pakistan’s value added textile sector is reeling under immense pressure of high costs of doing business, rising utility rates and several other problems. Further, huge number of weaving industries has already closed down and spiralling prices of cotton yarn will crucify our exports of value added textile which will lead to further closures of large number of export oriented units.
Low prices and a global oversupply of cotton have been putting a lot of pressure on America’s cotton producers. They have been having a tough past few years for a number of reasons. Among these are low demands and reduced federal subsidies, stemming from a World Trade Organization dispute. Brazil had complained that US subsidies were distorting global trade markets. The WTO agreed, and the US revised its subsidy program for cotton farmers in the 2014 farm bill.
And China, which had been holding a lot of cotton stocks in reserve, has been releasing them into the global market, pushing prices down. That means the price of cotton is not covering the cost of production.
Cotton growers will be given $300 million in aid to help stabilize the industry. Texas is the nation’s leading cotton-producing state. The new aid program will offer producers one-time payments that are determined by their acreage last year and a portion of average ginning costs in their regions. Ginning is the process by which cotton lint is separated from cotton seed. The aid will mostly help farmers finance their operations. The aid program caps payments at $40,000 per producer.
Cape Town is hosting the fourth edition of Source Africa from June 8 and 9, 2016. This is an annual pan-African textile, clothing and footwear trade event. It brings together manufacturers, buyers, suppliers and service providers from across the continent, Asia and even the United States of America.
The aim is to promote African-made textiles to international buyers and to boost trade between African countries and to promote investment into manufacturing capacity in Africa and accelerate job creation. In 2016, the trade show has more of an international flavor with exhibitors from China and the US. There will be African country pavilions, informative business seminars, fashion shows and networking functions.
Thirty-seven Mauritian enterprises are participating. The main objectives of this participation is to maintain visibility as the next door preferred partner and to further boost exports to South Africa. Mauritius is occupying more than 25 per cent of the floor space and the companies are showcasing a wide range of products like knitwear, T-shirts, polo shirts, jeans, high-end suits and accessories.
The 2015 expo attracted over 1,300 decision makers who had the opportunity to meet with more than 220 exhibitors from 15 countries. What they found was a supply chain that is featuring innovation, high quality fabrics and yarns and compelling products and designs.
Simparel president Roberto Mangual is now taking over as its CEO. Mangual brings more than 17 years of executive-level apparel manufacturing and information management experience to his new role. As CEO, Mangual will expand his current duties and assume overall responsibility for all day-to-day operations and strategies.
Mangual has rapidly advanced with Simparel, serving as president, COO and vice president of operations since joining the company in 2012. For the prior 13 years, he held the position of CIO and vice president of operations for branded sleep and leisurewear company Richard Leeds International.
Designed for apparel, footwear, accessory, home furnishings and other soft goods industries, the Simparel Enterprise Solution empowers brands, manufacturers and vertical retailers reach their full potential by accelerating and improving performance across the entire business and global supply chain.
This advanced, natively integrated system provides global process visibility, control and collaboration by combining traditionally independent Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Warehouse Management (WMS), Mobile Wholesale Solutions (MWS) and other productivity tools into a single, fashion-focused business system.
The end-to-end capabilities of Simparel keep teams and vendors working on the same page by providing always up-to-date tech packs, forecasts, sampling, costing, order status, quality control, production, logistics, inventory management, accounting, compliance and other mission-critical activities and reporting.
The Reserve Bank of India has kept short-term bank rates unchanged. And manufacturers in the capital-intensive knitwear sector have hailed the decision. The repo rate was cut by 25 basis points during the monetary policy review in April. But they say banks should reduce the base rates proportionately in tandem with the reduction in credit policy repo rates, which did not happen on the previous occasions when the repo rates were cut.
The apex bank has kept the policy repo rate (the rate at which RBI lends to commercial banks) under the liquidity adjustment facility unchanged at 6.5 per cent and the cash reserve ratio at four per cent of the net demand and time liabilities.
There is also an opinion that the RBI should effectively monitor the calculation of base rates to ascertain whether the banks use only the marginal cost of funds method. Presently there is no transparency in the banking system for consumers to understand how the base rates are fixed by various banks after every reduction in the short-term bank rates announced by RBI. Without the proper transmission of the rates, especially in the case of older loans, consumers are not going to get loans at lower interest rates.
