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Kenyan government has recently announced that the cotton sector will be a key area of focus for growth in the coming months.
Increasing revenues from around US$35 million to US$20 billion, the introduction of biotechnologies and the creation of thousands of new jobs were among the main talking points of a statement made at a cotton stakeholder meeting in Nairobi.
Charles Waturu, director of the Horticulture Research Institute at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, stated that with the use of hybrids there has been plans to introduce the development of cotton production.
Waturu also demanded that this inventiveness could see 50,000 workers trained for employment within the agricultural sector and 500,000 succeeding jobs could be created in the clothing sector.
A provisional commercialisation of Bt cotton trials road map and have identified the nine sites for National Performance Trials was agreed in a recent appointed task force.
Kenya's cotton has been low in competition to the more efficient producers in India, China, Bangladesh and Vietnam, says, Dickson Kibata, technical advisor on fiber crops at Kenya’s Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
According to Kibata at present compared to a market demand of around 25,000 tonnes there are around 30,000 Kenyan farmers involved in cotton growing, producing 4,000 tonnes and so suggesting an increase in investment will be important to enable capacity building technologies to be implemented.
Gerber recently demonstrated on-demand manufacturing applications that included its Digital Solutions, integrating data from design to finished products.
These solutions enable brands and manufacturers to respond to demand versus producing to supply. The approach eliminates costly inventory and re-defines just-in-time manufacturing, so production adjusts as demands fluctuate – allowing products to be produced more efficiently and sold at full retail price without heavy discounting.
Gerber is leveraging YuniquePLM and the AccuMark Platform, digital printing technologies from industry leaders, Gerber’s Z1 single-ply cutter with ContourVision automated scan-to-cut system and both robotic and lean loop sewing operations.
These solutions also integrate software and smart machines, allowing companies to automate their entire process and streamline data and workflow necessary to provide insight, maximise throughput, minimise errors and reduce labour costs to be competitive in mass production environments.
The Indian government has objected to US decision of reviewing the eligibility of its $5.6 billion worth of exports that get low or zero duty benefit in the US.
The US had announced in April that it would review preferential or duty-free access to its market for India’s exports including mechanical and electrical machinery, organic and inorganic chemicals, plastics and vegetables as part of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme.
The review will impact almost 3,500 Indian products being exported to the US. The US wants to review India’s eligibility based on petitions filed by its dairy and medical device industries given Indian trade barriers affecting US exports in those sectors.
The US had changed the qualifications norms for its GSP programme last year. Now, a beneficiary country must meet 15 eligibility criteria established by the Congress, including equitable and reasonable market access.
Global norms governing the scheme state that developed countries should not expect developing countries to make matching offers in return for granting trade concessions.
India has cited this non-discrimination, non-reciprocity clause of the programme to argue its case.
Forced labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector needs to be tackled fast.
If Uzbekistan is to bring about real change on forced labor, it will need to establish irreversible operational changes and structural reforms at the earliest available juncture.
Despite rhetoric from leaders in Uzbekistan calling for an end to forced labor in the nation’s agricultural sector, there is still a long way to go before the Uzbek cotton industry will be free from slavery.
There has to be an end to the practice of mobilisation of education and healthcare workers to harvest cotton.
Channels have to be established to receive and react – transparently and with accountability – information and data from civil society monitors.
A time-bound roadmap has to be developed to reform and remove structural features of forced labor in the cotton sector and end the imposition of labor and production quotas on public institutions.
A roadmap has to be published– in print and online –to protect citizens from forced labor through measurable milestones for progress, sufficient resources for implementation, transparent processes for receiving and reporting on feedback from independent monitors.
The United States has banned imports of Turkmenistan cotton due to the prevalence of forced labor in its production.
The central government will depute two members from the duty drawback committee to analyse the situation of textile manufacturers in Surat for appropriate revision of the existing duty drawback rates.
This decision was taken after the demonstration of Synthetic and Rayon Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) chairman Narain Agarwal.
At present, the garment and made-up sector are allowed to reduce state levies under the duty drawback scheme. After the representation, even yarns and fabrics have been included in the scheme. This will provide substantial relief to the man-made fibre.
Synthetic and Rayon Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) considered review of accumulation of input tax credit (ITC) at various stages of textiles, including weaving, processing, embroidery and other value-added segments for enabling full refund.
The refund of ITC will help make textile exports from the country more competitive.
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), has totally disallowed the export package extended by the previous government, the reason being that it would reverse 15 per cent growth in exports.
CEC has also criticised the reduction in rebate and exclusion of yarn and fabric from the list. The CEC also rejected the imposition of 11pc duty, on import of cotton from 15th of July. Also, CEC has detained that the imposition of import duty on cotton would erode the viability and competitiveness of industry and nullify the gains in exports during the last one year. APTMA had agreed with the last government that there would be no refund on yarn and grieg cloth provided that the payment of refund on made ups and printed and dyed fabric is subject to use of domestic yarn and Grieg cloth.
APTMA has strongly objected to the decrease in the rates of DLTL which, in the current scheme ending June 30th, is 7pc on made ups and 6 percent on other items, which has now been reduced to a maximum of 4 per cent.
Because of the reduction in DLTL rates and exclusion of yarn and grieg cloth which is $4 billion of total exports the reappearance of export will decrease substantially and the imposition of duty on cotton will hit the industry hard.
Exports of Tirupur in the last financial year have gone down by 5.6 per cent from the previous year.
Among the reasons are the changes in duty and tax structure such as GST. There is no customs duty levied in other countries, especially Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, on import of yarn to produce fabric and garments meant for exports, except in India.
Another serious concern is a backlog of Rs 500 crores (approx US$ 75 million) due under Rebate on State Levies from the Centre to the exporting units of Tirupur since April last year. The RoSL has been slashed from 3.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent while the excise portion of duty drawback of 5.7 per cent has also been withdrawn.
About six lakh employees work for 6,500 knitwear and apparel units in Tirupur, helping to earn Rs 50,000 crores (approx US$ 7.500 billion ) in exports a year.
The climate change too played havoc. Production of cotton remained minimal and could only meet five per cent of the requirements of Tamil Nadu spinning mills.
Increasing critical inputs cost have had a huge impact on prices of silk saris. The imports resulted in a steep rise in prices of handloom products. The price of cotton in early 2016 hovered around Rs 28,000(US $ 415 US) a candy but has now shot up to Rs 45,000 (US $ 666) .
Active wear brand The North Face has launched a pilot program that will promote a circular fashion system through the sale of recycled products.
The collection features apparel sold by the brand that was returned to the company after use. Comprising returned, defective and damaged pieces, this campaign brings greater awareness to different sustainable shopping and manufacturing options.
After customers provide the previously worn apparel to the company, the pieces are then processed for resale. Following a thorough inspection, products are cleaned and refurbished during a process that ensures the items are repaired according to The North Face’s standards.
The line is meant to generate attention toward manufacturing and distribution that will reduce threats to the environment by using different methods of recycling. Through repairing and reselling secondhand items, The North Face hopes to fortify its presence as a vehicle for change toward greener practices in the apparel manufacturing industry.
The North Face takes a holistic approach to sustainability. As the brand addresses the impacts of its products over their entire lifecycle, recommerce is an important next step in opening new markets and minimizing the impact on the planet. The brand is furthering its sustainability goals without sacrificing durability or technical standards. Ultimately, it will be proving a larger, circular model for the industry.
The main aim of EURATEX General Assembly 2018 was the revival of the textile and clothing industry and its visions for the future, among numerous participants in Brussels.
The event, held in Brussels on June 7, 2018, attracted more than 120 attendees. It offered an opportunity to gain interesting insights on the sector which is regaining a leading position in the EU industrial landscape.
The topic of this year’s event was investments in the textile and clothing factories of the future in Europe. The conference was moderated by John Scrimshaw, Head of Content, World Textile Information Network (WTiN), with Irmfried Schwimann, Deputy Director-General of DG Grow, being the keynote speaker.
The main discussion at the event was divided in two panels. It focused on investment trends in recent years and visions for the industry in the future, respectively.
Also, CEOs and representatives from seven European companies shared their first-hand experience in facing the challenges of the sector, from the need of skilled workforce, efforts in moving to sustainable processes and materials, and surpassing barrier regulations that can hinder exports.
Thai Acrylic Fiber has launched a new gel-dyed acrylic textile fiber which uses less energy and water than conventionally dyed acrylics.
Gel-dyeing of wet-spun fibers is not new. But this method is supposed to give an average of 20 per cent savings in water and energy compared to conventional techniques. In addition, because there’s no need to dye at the yarn or fabric stage, the method lightens the effluent pollution load of wet processing further downstream.
Although gel-dyeing has been used before to dye tow where soluble dyes are applied to wet-spun fibers such as acrylic, the new method is even more efficient – especially when it comes to water savings.
The new fiber is a ready-to-use gel dyed product which comes in a range of vibrant colors, which is said to shorten dyeing times considerably. It is said to have good color fastness, consistency and shade uniformity. It can be blended with other fibers such as polyester or can be spun as 100 per cent.
Thai Acrylic Fiber is owned by Aditya Birla. The company is now working with a Chinese supplier to spin its dyed fibers which are being used for a range of woven blankets, sweaters and other types of high-loft knitwear in a wide range of yarn counts and gauges.
