FW
The UK textile and clothing industry is experiencing year-on-year export and domestic growth. Apparel manufacturing has grown by almost 11 per cent between 2008-2012, mainly concentrated in major sourcing hubs such as the East Midlands, Manchester, and London.
Leicester is an important manufacturing centre for many fashion brands and retailers and is part of a re-emergence in UK textile manufacturing. The landscape of the industry is not comparable to what it used to be. In the past, there were large, iconic firms that were unionized. Now there are just under 4,000 small and micro firms at an average employment size of 8.6 employees. Over the next 10 years, re-shoring of textiles and apparel has the potential to increase annual output.
Fast fashion sourcing trends and shorter lead times are acting in UK's favor, but many hurdles still remain. Barriers to growth include a lack of retailer knowledge about the UK supply base, an ageing workforce, endemic skill shortages and lack of investment.
Other challenges include the UK’s micro suppliers, typically employing less than ten employees, which are over-exposed to the market power of retailers and unable to quickly service large orders along with the industry’s sweatshop image.
The spinning yarn industry in Punjab has serious grievances. They feel the government is not doing enough to protect them from uneven competition from neighboring states. They says the Punjab government will suffer a revenue loss of Rs 1,500 crores for the year 2015-16 by way of VAT exemption for yarn coming from outside the state. Another issue is that the new industry policy related to spinning has not been implemented yet.
Apparently of the 130 spinning mills in the state around half have already shut down. Mill owners say they have suffered huge losses due to building up of cotton yarn stock. And this in turn is due to lack of demand in domestic market and curbs on cotton yarn exports.
Escalating input costs is another problem. Shortage of labor means that capacity can’t be used fully. This in turn hits bottom lines. Mill owners say neighboring states impose no VAT on their spinning yarn mills whereas the Punjab government imposes a 6.6 per cent VAT on mills in the state. Besides, Punjab also levies a 10 per cent surcharge on the mills. They say that when the yarn is brought into Punjab from neighboring states, the carriers have to pay just two per cent central sales tax.
The Centre has been asked to facilitate cost-effective transportation of cotton and textile goods among five major cotton and textile goods manufacturing states to sustain their global competitiveness. These states are: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Greater efficiency at ports can translate into better logistics.
Mills in Tamil Nadu are seeking certain concessions and relaxations in the budget for Indian shippers so as to bring down the cost of cotton transport on par with foreign shippers. They have also appealed for duty-free bunkers for Indian flag vessels for carrying cotton and textile products on Indian coasts.
Due to the steep increase in lorry freight, transportation of cotton by road has become unviable. The current lorry freight for transporting cotton from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu is Rs 865 per bale. Currently, mills are spending Rs 85,000 to bring 100 bales by lorry from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu which works out to around Rs 5.30 per kg whereas China is able to transport 150 bales of cotton from Gujarat to Shanghai at $100 to 350 using empty cargo vessels returning in the same route.
Mills in Tamil Nadu account for 44 per cent of the total spinning capacity of the country and 60 per cent of its yarn exports.
On February 12, with an overall feeling of optimism and a cautiously positive business climate, Première Vision Paris closed its doors on its first fully integrated edition. After three days of strong business networking, fruitful meetings and professional exchanges, the show at the Parc des Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte received a strong support from the global fashion industry.
Exhibitors and visitors were positive about the high quality contacts to growing sales activities and international visibility at Première Vision Paris. With its six integrated shows, Premiere Vision stood out as the industry’s forefront seasonal event.
At Premiere Vision Leather, the recent effective integration with Première Vision was also received well by exhibitors. The attachment of the show to the group is perceived as beneficial, a constructive development. Also exhibitors at Première Vision Manufacturing - the show of fashion manufacturing - applauded a global event for providing business opportunities and greater visibility through promotional campaign. With its integration into Première Vision, the emphasis was also on inter-show synergies, especially between the weavers at Première Vision Fabrics and the fashion manufacturers who are eager to collaborate with them.
In total, some 58,443 visitors attended Première Vision Paris, with almost 73 percent international visitors which, after registering steady growth over the past several years, showed a slight decline of five percent against February 2014 event. The decrease in attendance was largely due to a decline in Russian visitors, a result of the economic and political instability in the country and the region, and a decline in American attendees, whose presence was affected by the New York Fashion Week, held simultaneously.
www.premierevision.com
China's top cotton producer, a quasi-military body formed 60 years ago to settle the far west Xinjiang area, is resisting a government policy that could force it to cut output in an industry employing hundreds of thousands in the restive region. Beijing has pledged to end a costly stockpiling program that has artificially inflated cotton prices and in Xinjiang helped underpin an influx of Han Chinese workers, creating friction in an area home to the Muslim Uighur people.
Reluctant to accept the current weak market price, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) has asked the government to buy part of its crop and store it in state reserves. XPCC has become a sort of state within a state and gained a dominant role in industries such as cotton, where it employs about 2,00,000 mainly Han Chinese on some of Xinjiang’s best land.
Beijing has promised subsidies to help cushion the impact of ending stockpiling, but the total amount is unclear and with the local cotton price plunging any threat to the industry could be a fresh source of competition for jobs. Beijing previously acquired almost all of China’s cotton at high prices and then auctioned it off to textile firms. But it incurred huge costs and left masses of fiber unsold in reserves.
Its new policy has already caused prices to plunge. A subsidy - a replacement for stockpiling - may not be enough to encourage farmers to keep growing.
Russia, since break up of Soviet Union, has undergone significant changes. Moving from a globally-isolated, centrally-planned economy towards a more market-based and globally-integrated one. Russia is now a growing market with about 144 million population. Russia imported nearly $14 billion textiles and apparels with $5 billion of only textile product from the world in 2013. However, its import of textile and clothing from India during 2013 was only $338 million (8 per cent). Russia’s import of man-made fibre textiles in 2013 was $3 billion. However, import of man-made fibre from India was only $24 million accounting for 0.8 per cent of total imports of MMF textiles.
A promising market
Russia is a growing market for Indian MMF textiles and exports were worth Rs $24 million in 2013-14, a growth of around 2 per cent compared to the previous year. India’s current share is below one per cent in Russia’s import of $3 billion of MMF textiles during 2013. Thus, there is substantial scope for exports of Indian MMF textiles and to increase our market share in Russia.
The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) report suggests Indian textile manufacturers and exporters should explore the Russian market with the aim of enhancing exports and raising foreign exchange. Russia’s imports alone are worth about $14 billion textile products a year and despite India being one of the leading textile exporting countries, its textile exports to Russia are extremely low, at just $300 million. Besides focusing on markets in Europe and America, textile producers and exporters should penetrate the Russian market that was spending $ 3 billion a year on imports of man-made fibre textile. It may also be pointed out that Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine are also potential textile markets and Russia may be a gateway for exports of Indian textiles including MMF textiles to these countries, points out the SRTEPC report.
Safexpress, India's largest supply chain & logistics firm serving the fashion and apparel industry has launched another logistics facility in Jammu. Spanning over an area of 80,000 sq. ft., this ultra-modern Logistics Park is strategically located on Jammu-Pathankot National Highway.
Speaking at the launch, Rubal Jain, Director-Corporate Strategy, Safexpress said, "Jammu is a key city in northern India. The city has a number of small industries. Jammu region has a large count of food-grain mills and its economy is predominantly dependent on agriculture and allied activities. The state has rich resources of agro, water, forests, herbal and minerals, in addition to its unparalleled natural beauty. From the supply chain & logistics perspective, Jammu holds strategic importance due to its location, skilled manpower and favorable government policies.”
The Logistics Park at Jammu has a column-less span of over 100 feet and enables loading/unloading of over 26 vehicles simultaneously. The dedicated bays and docks provide an uninterrupted and unidirectional flow of inbound and outbound goods. The Logistics Park has a floor load capacity of six metric tonnes per sq. mtr. and has a truck docking area width of over 40 feet.
Apparel Sourcing Paris closed its doors on Thursday after four days of intense business networking and activity. The eighth edition of the trade fair welcomed 11,639 visitors from 111 countries. 165 producers from eleven countries unveiled their latest products and solutions for next winter. Exhibitors from new countries such as Tunisia, Cambodia and Vietnam joined this year, positioning the trade fair as Europe’s premier international sourcing platform.
In addition to regular buyers, exhibitors also benefited from the flow of visitors to Texworld. The event had on display a wide collection of quality products. Regular fashion shows also took place during the four day event. The creations of the Frankfurt Style Award were able to impress the audience with their boldness and eclecticism. Over a dozen silhouettes inspired by the theme ‘United Diversity: Uniform, Unisex, Unicult’ showcased the creativity and skills of the finalists. Young designers graduating from various universities and international fashion schools participated the event.
The ‘Fashion by Tunisia’ show brought together the fashion industry and eight companies which demonstrated their skill in knits, unstructured garments, denim and seamless pieces for the first time at Apparel Sourcing Paris. The international designers Ahmed Talfit and Ali Karoui closed the show with ‘Spirit of Couture’ range for the international market. Fashion by Tunisia demonstrated the capacity and creativity of this sector, which is the country’s second largest industry.
The next Texworld will take place from September 14 to 17, 2015 at Paris Le Bourget.
apparelsourcing.messefrankfurt.com
Exports of readymade garments from India in January this year have increased by15 per cent over exports in December 2014 and showed an increase of 9.21 per cent compared to exports in January 2014. India exported ready-made garments worth Rs 9,869 crores in January this year. However, the progress is far from satisfactory considering the staggering strides made by China in the global textile arena. China this year eyes $300 billion exports of textiles and clothing with a growth rate of five per cent. But India’s overall annual exports of readymade garments presently are just $15 billion.
Though global consumption share of apparels made of man-made fibers has been inching to 65 per cent, cotton remains the main raw material for production of readymade garments from prominent clusters like Tirupur, constituting about 85 per cent of the total volume.
India needs to ease controls on import of man-made fibers like polyester and viscose. Pakistan, one of India’s main competitors, extends many sops to import man-made fibers. This helps businessmen there get one kg of polyester at an equivalent of Rs 71 while apparel producers in India have to pay almost Rs 94.
Three exhibitions, Inatex, Indo Intertex and Technitex, will be held in Indonesia, from April 23 to 25, 2015. These cater to suppliers of the Asean textile and garment region with exclusive business platform. More than 380 companies from 20 countries will participate in these events. The three exhibitions are expected to attract more than 8,000 local and international visitors and professionals who are constantly exploring options to improve their productivity and to respond promptly to customers’ demands.
Technitex is a new addition this year. It covers raw material, product and equipment of the nonwoven industry. Since Indonesia has a growing nonwoven and technical textile sector, there would be a smooth transition of many producers willing to diversify from traditional textile production.
Inatex will show products and accessories from the textile and textile product industries. Indo Intertex will show new machinery and technology on the textile and garment industry.
The events are supported by the Indonesia Ministry of Industry, Indonesian Textile Association, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Indonesia Exhibition Companies Association as well as other strategic partners. They give visitors the opportunity to meet international decision makers, developers and buyers of the entire value creation chain.
www.indointertex.com/venue
