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Aiming to tide over any supply shortfall, particularly at the end of the season, members of the Indian cotton fraternity plan to visit Colombo to meet port officials in that island country. The delegation would comprise of 4 to 5 members. Most likely they would travel in the first week of October. They are now awaiting confirmation from Colombo Port officials. ICF International sources perceive that textile manufacturers in Tamil Nadu would benefit if the proposal comes through.
Earlier, in his presidential address, J Thulasidharan, President, ICF had said the area under cotton in 2016-17 has been estimated to be lower by 10 per cent compared to the current year. He further said that China's fibre policy and release of old stock might tilt the global cotton demand and supply equation. Further, cotton supply could be tight due to the overall shortfall in acreage. It is therefore necessary to guide farmers on practicing Precision Cotton Farming.
The recently concluded Premiere Vision Paris held from September 13 to 15 saw a dip in number of visitors compared to the September 2015 edition. This is a trade show aimed at the leather, textile, yarn and accessories sectors.
The event welcomed a total of 56,475 visitors and 1,898 exhibiting companies in September 2016, an improvement over the February 2016 edition, but a slight reduction in exhibitor participation and visitor attendance compared with the same edition the previous year. Reasons for the drop include a market threatened by political tensions, security threats, weaker growth in countries like China as well as a downturn in global textile and clothing consumption.
As for the visitor profile, 73 per cent visitors came from 126 different countries. The UK was at the top of the four European visitor countries, followed by Spain, Italy and France. Germany showed a slight in decline in visitors compared with September 2015 but a steady attendance compared with February 2016. However, a higher number of US visitors registered in this edition compared to September 2015, and the US remains the seventh largest visitor country followed by Turkey, which registered a drop in attendance. A drop in number of Japanese visitors was also seen.
The textile and garment sector in Vietnam attained an annual export revenue growth of 15 per cent between 2010-2015 period. The sector is projected to grow strongly in the next decade owing to bilateral and multilateral trade agreements the country has signed, especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The industry’s shipments was worth $27.5 billion last year and is expected to touch $31 billion this year.
Large scale industrial parks, better traffic infrastructure, effective management of waste water treatment and environmental issues, and stable policies for taxes, fees and wages, and streamlined customs procedures are important factors for sustainable development of the industry. The industry needs large-scale industrial parks for domestic and foreign-invested producers of fiber and cloth and dyeing enterprises. Enterprises want loan interest support to invest in integrated wastewater treatment facilities.
Improved waterways and road connectivity between large-scale parks for apparel firms and ports and logistics centers will help enterprises in the sector lower costs. Since apparel importers are shifting orders to markets with abundant low-cost labor, the industry wants to adjust the master zoning plan for textile and garment industry development until 2020 with a vision toward 2030.
The country’s deeper international integration will enable the industry to bank on opportunities.
Fashion World Tokyo 2016 will take place from November 7 to 9, 2016. The exhibition has seven specialised fairs: textiles, fashion wear, bags, shoes, fashion jewelry, men's fashion and OEM. The number of exhibitors have increased by 190 to touch 860 compared to last year, and it will attract 28,000 buyers from all over the world.
Besides Japan, companies from 16 other countries including Italy, the US and India will join this edition of the fair. This is the second edition of the fair and exhibitors include textile manufacturers of cotton, silk and synthetic fiber, leather manufacturers and fashion material manufacturers of buttons and zippers.
A new production technology zone will also be launched in this edition, which will make the fair more satisfying for fashion manufacturers. It will feature sewing machines, a user-friendly CAD system, X-ray inspection units for quality control and various kinds of printers.
Additionally, the show will gather exhibitors carrying new and unique materials. A special textile with a ceramic ion material improves blood circulation, recovers muscle fatigue and eliminates active oxygen. A material knitted with paper has a smooth touch to the skin. Another textile aims for an activated carbon effect by using a thread spun out of carbonized cotton.
World’s leading biotechnology firms are mulling with the idea of merging themselves. But this could sound an alarming bell because the merger could result in steep increases in the price farmers pay for cotton seed and small increases in corn and soybean seed. This could potentially lead to increased consumer prices for food and fiber, according to a study by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University. The study was included as part of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the subject of consolidation in the US seed and agrochemical industry.
Both the Texas Corn Producers Association and Southwest Council of Agribusiness requested the study after the announcements of proposed mergers between DuPont and Dow as well as Monsanto and Bayer. On the other hand, corn could see an expected seed price increase of 2.3 per cent followed by the price of soybean seed of 1.9 per cent, the study noted. It is natural that when seed price increase, it would result in increased consumer prices.
The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) has severely criticised the government’s attitude towards continuously declining exports over the last few years. PHMA’s newly-elected chairman Mohammad Adil Butt bemoaned that even the benefits of GSP Plus status could not be of any help to the industry.
The results of body’s elections were also announced. While Muhammad Amjad Khawaja was elected as senior vice chairman, Mohammad Younus Sony was elected as vice chairman. Besides this, Haji Mohammad Shafi of Faisalabad was unanimously elected as chief patron of PHMA (North Zone).
The newly-elected members of Central Executive Committee are Mohammad Mushtaq Mangat, Naseer Ahmad Butt, Syed Nahid Abbass, Javed Iqbal and Khawaja Musharraf Iqbal. Members elected on zonal committee include Usman Jawaad, Mohammad Imtiaz Ali, Naeem Ahmed, Dr Khurram Anwar Khawaja, Sheikh Mohammad Sarwat Kapoor and Mian Khalid Pervez. The newly-elected office-bearers will take their offices on October 1.
Cotton Council International will hold a seminar in Mumbai, September 29, on the cotton and cotton textile industry in India. The seminar will bring together experts from each segment of the supply chain to discuss raw material planning in today’s dynamic consumer environment. Cotton represents about one-third of world fiber usage and has been one of the most sustainable fibers for more than 7,000 years, used to clothe and nurture mankind. Spinning mills have catered to the needs of changing fashion and have made cotton a trend setting fiber.
India is considered as a spinner’s hub, with close to 52 million spindles and the capacity to produce 4.7 million tons of spun yarn. Indian spinning mills have been importing various varieties of cotton from across the globe. In apparel and home fashion, quality begins with the fiber. Supima, often known as the cashmere of cotton, is a special extra-long staple fiber grown in the US, known for its softness, strength, brilliance and lasting colors. Supima cotton is a key ingredient in manufacturing premium and luxury goods.
Indian textile mills are the top consumers of extra long staple cotton. In 2015-16 global textile mills consumed more than 4,25,000 tons of ELS cotton with India consuming 1,45,000 tons.
Hundreds of thousands of workers in Bangladesh are said to be making clothes for Swedish retailer H&M in dangerous conditions. Washington-based Workers Rights Consortium says there are severe safety hazards, including a lack of fire doors, fire exits, proper alarm systems and sprinkler systems. H&M became the first company to sign the Bangladesh Accord, which came about after the 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza, a building that housed several garment factories.
Considered the country’s worst industrial disaster, the collapse killed more than 1,130 people and brought international attention to the safety of garment workers. H&M is also said to have not followed up on its promises on labor rights and human rights. Last year H&M released a statement defending its progress, stating it only produced in factories that met standards required under the legally binding Bangladesh Accord and it was working to address safety concerns in its factories.
However, the company conceded that it experienced delays in upgrade work due to problems in deliveries of upgraded fire doors and sprinklers as well as a heavy workload for Accord inspection experts. H&M has contracts with 1,900 factories that employ 1.6 million workers. There are 4,100 H&M stores worldwide and another are 400 due to open this year.
Though Vietnam’s exports of textile-garment of increased in the first eight months of the year but it was a tad slower than the same period last year. The country shipped textile-garment products worth $18.7 billion in the January-August period (up 4.4 per cent) year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association (VCOSA).
VCOSA vice chairman Nguyen Hong Giang observed that due to a lack of orders and falling demand from global markets, growth slowed down compared to previous years. If the rough situation continues, things will get harder. Then it will be difficult for the sector to earn revenue of $29 billion this year which is even lower the target of $31 billion set earlier this year, Giang said. Decrease in export orders resulted from mounting competition from rivals including China, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. In addition, Cambodia and Myanmar enjoy tax incentives when selling textile-garment products to the European Union (EU), making their products even more competitive. Besides competition, domestic apparel firms are grappling with difficulties, brought about by the minimum wage rise and regulations on inspections.
Fewer FDI approvals have been registered for the textile and garment industry this year than in previous years. In 2014 and 2015, many foreign enterprises had shown interest in investing in the sector to capitalize on opportunities from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement which allows firms to enjoy tax breaks when exporting products to member states.
The recent spurt in cotton prices has resulted in higher input costs for the spinning sector in India. So the Cotton Corporation of India will sell its existing stock purchased under the minimum support price to spinning mills in the micro, small and medium enterprise category.
The industry is expecting a heavy squeeze on margins as the demand-supply imbalance is stoking cotton imports and new crop arrival is delayed due to late sowing of cotton.
Most spinners are likely to run short of raw material before the new crop arrives.
The cotton demand-supply imbalance is likely to last till November due to the late sowing owing to the delayed rains this year.
Prices are up 30 per cent in spot markets and likely to further increase due to the demand and supply imbalance.
The spinning industry is in dire need of fiscal incentives.
The demand- supply imbalance has fuelled cotton contracts for imports from Australia, Brazil, Pakistan, West Africa and the US. But most firms are not in a position to enter import contracts as shipments will be delayed and prices are on the rise.
Yarn manufacturers are likely to be the worst affected as moderate demand has left little scope for a rise in prices of products.
