FW
The cotton growing area in China is expected to fall 9.4 per cent from the previous year.Due to rising cost and falling profitability of cotton growing and the government’s abolition of its temporary purchasing policy to hold up prices, the cotton growing area in the Yangtze River basin and the Yellow River basin has dropped by a relatively big margin.
Current Chinese cotton stocks are abnormally high, and to reduce these and return to normal levels, China would have to produce less, consume more, or reduce net imports or some combination.
China’s cotton stocks-to-use ratio surged to a record level of 180 percent in 2013-2014. As Chinese textile industry is recovering from its decline in 2013, the demand for cotton is expected to increase by half a million tons from the previous year to 8.5 million tons.
India, another major cotton exporter, is also expected to export only 5.7 million bales in 2014-2015, due to weaker global import demand. In the present scenario, it will be a daunting task for China to implement policies to reduce its cotton stocks, and hence the excess stocks are likely to remain for a while.
Cotton demand in China is expected to exceed its domestic supply by two million tons from September 2014 to August 2015.
Exports of apparel from India shot up by 17.9 per cent during April to August 2014. In the fiscal year 2013-2014, India’s apparel exports increased by 15.7 per cent year-on-year. In August 2014, India’s clothing exports rose 23 per cent compared to August 2013.
In January to July 2014 Indian apparel exports to the US increased by 5.62 per cent year-on-year. Except for Vietnam (13.85 per cent) and India (5.62 per cent), US garment imports saw decline from all major suppliers during the seven-month period over the corresponding period of last year.
During the first half of 2014, India’s clothing exports to the EU surged 16.33 per cent year-on-year. During the period, EU’s total apparel imports increased at 12.63 per cent year-on-year.
In June 2014, garments imports by EU registered an increase of 19.29 per cent compared to the same month of the previous year. During the month, EU registered positive growth in apparel imports from all four top suppliers, with the highest import growth being registered by Bangladesh (33.07 per cent), followed by India (27.17 per cent).
Apparel exports from India have been helped by strong demands in non-traditional markets like Latin America, west Asia, southern Africa and east Asia.
Textile maker Mount Vernon Mills has added to its portfolio of flame resistant denim fabrics with the launch of Phoenix TC denim. Phoenix TC denim is a tencel and cotton blend developed to enhance the softness and comfort of flame resistant jeans without a trade-off in durability.
Apparel manufacturer Bulwark is adopting this new technology for its denim jeans. Bulwark garments made with Phoenix TC denim are aimed at electric utility and oil and gas customers, providing solutions to some of the challenges being faced by safety professionals.
Tencel is a cellulosic fiber like cotton, yet it is the strongest cellulosic fiber available, and is used to make fabrics softer and more comfortable without sacrificing performance. Despite the added strength, denim made with tencel feels lighter than its true weight.
Mount Vernon Mills is based in the US. It makes flame resistant fabric. The mill produces a wide variety of denim including washed, over dyed, and stretch fabrics. Other products include twills, drills, duck and plain weave fabrics as well as piece dyed fabrics for career apparel, work clothing and sportswear.
Bulwark FR is an American company that manufactures and distributes flame-resistant protective apparel to the North American industrial market.
Exports of apparel from India shot up by 17.9 per cent during April to August 2014. In the fiscal year 2013-2014, India’s apparel exports increased by 15.7 per cent year-on-year. In August 2014, India’s clothing exports rose 23 per cent compared to August 2013.
In January to July 2014 Indian apparel exports to the US increased by 5.62 per cent year-on-year. Except for Vietnam (13.85 per cent) and India (5.62 per cent), US garment imports saw decline from all major suppliers during the seven-month period over the corresponding period of last year.
During the first half of 2014, India’s clothing exports to the EU surged 16.33 per cent year-on-year. During the period, EU’s total apparel imports increased at 12.63 per cent year-on-year.
In June 2014, garments imports by EU registered an increase of 19.29 per cent compared to the same month of the previous year. During the month, EU registered positive growth in apparel imports from all four top suppliers, with the highest import growth being registered by Bangladesh (33.07 per cent), followed by India (27.17 per cent).
Apparel exports from India have been helped by strong demands in non-traditional markets like Latin America, west Asia, southern Africa and east Asia.
The garment and footwear industry of Cambodia reported a 12.6 per cent rise in exports in the first seven months of 2014. The growth in the garment and footwear sector is low because some international buyers have reduced their purchase orders following wage protests earlier this year.
This industry is Cambodia’s largest income earner. Products are mainly exported to European countries and the United States. The sector comprises 960 factories with some 6,20,000 workers. It earned 5.5 billion dollars from exports last year, accounting for about 80 per cent of the country’s total exports.
Last week, trade union activists launched a campaign to demand a monthly minimum wage of 177 dollars in the garment and footwear sector from the current 100 dollars. Manufacturers favor the country for its low-wage costs, but strikes are frequent because of what union leaders say is widespread discontent with meager salaries, poor working conditions and lax enforcement of labor laws.
The campaign to seek a higher minimum wage is being supported by foreign trade unions. The campaign is targeting retail stores, offices, and workplaces of multinational apparel sellers. Unions say that for too long, international brands have reaped the benefits of poverty wages while claiming a commitment to living wages in their supply chains.
Over one-third of Bangladesh’s mills and factories are running below their production capacity. Production is hampered by political unrest and a crisis of gas, electricity and fuel. These units are having to temporarily layoff labor or keep them idle.
The total number of industrial units those are fully privately owned in the country is 44,231 at present, and this is 98.68 per cent of the entire number of industrial establishments.103 factories out of these are completely government-owned, other than that there are 263 foreign, 263 foreign-local joint ventures and 35 government-private joint investment factories.
The textile and food sectors are the main driving forces of the economy. About two-thirds of the country’s industries are in these sectors. Forty-two per cent of the production is in the textile sector. There are 17,967 factories in this sector. This includes 6,984 readymade garment factories. And there are a total of 8,441 food production factories.
The highest number of workers is employed in the garment industry. A total of two million 762 thousand workers are employed in 6,984 garment factories. Of these, 9.5 million are women. The textile industry employs the second largest number of workers. There are 8,00,000 workers employed in this sector. The food industry comes up third, employing 2,80,000 workers.
The textile and clothing industry from Botswana has formed a new industry group. It’s called the Botswana Textile and Clothing Association (BTCA). The aim is to fully utilise the duty-free incentives under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
BTCA anticipates AGOA will be renewed by the US Congress before it expires in 2015. The association, which was officially launched last month, is ready to help members with solutions to day-to-day challenges. It wants to promote growth and sustainability within the sector while increasing Botswana's regional and international textile and clothing market share.
The group will promote entrepreneurship in the industry as well as assist clothing businesses access finance from financial institutions. It will also work to enhance the capacity of the Botswana industry.
Botswana’s clothing and textile sector has failed to take full advantage of AGOA, struggling to make export sales to the competitive and demanding US market. While Botswana’s textile and garment industry has previously benefitted from trade preferences (also including the European Union), it has performed weakly during and after the global recession.
AGOA gives duty and quota free market access to the US for certain lines of goods from Botswana and 39 other African states.
Origin Africa will be held in Kenya from November 10 to 12, 2014. The concept around Origin Africa is to capture the spirit, style and innovation of modern Africa. This is an event dedicated to improving African cotton, textile and apparel trade. It aims to make Africa a source of cotton, textile and apparel products for domestic, regional and international buyers. Regional and international buyers of textile and apparel, mainly from US and EU brands, will also be attending.
The event is organized by Africa Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF), a regional trade body formed in June 2005 by the cotton, textile and apparel sectors from across sub-Saharan Africa to create a unified and recognized voice in both regional and global trade affairs. Major textile and apparel producers from ACTIF member countries will exhibit at Origin Africa 2014.
Countries participating include: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Germany, US. Designers will exhibit their wares. A special section has been set up that will include home textiles, home décor, accessories, leather products and gifts.
For the first time, Origin Africa will have a cotton fiber section, where leading cotton fiber suppliers from at least 10 African countries have committed to participate. The objective is to develop linkages with spinners, technology suppliers, service providers and among cotton suppliers.
Fibers made of polyester (PES) are of increasing importance. The advantages are a higher fiber strength that enables yarns from PES to achieve the same strength as viscose (CV) yarns, but with a lower twist. Less twisting means higher delivery speeds without increasing rotor speeds. Thus it leads to a more energy efficient production.
In comparison to 100 per cent viscose and 100 per cent cotton, PES blends can save on raw material costs. The fabric is soft and feels similar to 100 per cent viscose. End products from PES blends are characterised by good abrasion performance, easy care and good wrinkle resistance. The same blends are also used on ring and air-jet spinning machines.
When spinning PES-CV blends, Rieter’s R 60 automatic rotor spinning machine offers particular and special benefits. The better spinning stability of the S 60 spin box allows spinning on the R 60 with a lower yarn twist. Consequently, the delivery speed increases based on the lower yarn twist, but without increasing the rotor speed. This leads to productivity gains. At the same time, energy consumption per kg of yarn is decreasing. The cool-nozzle technology of the S 60 spin box creates a lower surface temperature of the nozzle of around 10 ° C, thus reducing the risk of PES fiber damage due to high temperatures at high performance operation.
Shanghai is hosting Cinte Techtextil China from September 24 to 26, 2014. This is Asia's leading technical textile and nonwoven trade fair, held every two years. Around 460 exhibitors from 22 countries are taking part.
This year’s highlights include pavilions from Belgium, Germany, Italy and Taiwan along with a European pavilion. Cinte Techtextil China covers 12 application areas which comprehensively spans the full range of potential uses of modern textile technologies. It is an attractive marketing platform for European manufacturers. Some of the key exhibitors this year include technology and machinery suppliers, woven fabrics, laid webs, knitted fabrics and braidings producers, nonwoven specialists, coated textile exhibitors, composite suppliers, bonding techniques and chemicals specialists and fiber and yarn suppliers.
This is an industry level congregation established for leading textile and apparel manufacturers, retailers and apparel brands. Besides the wide range of products and technology on display, the fair’s fringe program offers a chance to learn the latest trends and product developments to those in the industry. Over 30 seminars and product presentations are taking place, with topics ranging from regional and global market overviews to new product innovations. One further source of knowledge for buyers is a section which displays the newest technology and fabrics from exhibitors from around the world.
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