FW
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
India's MMF exports to Turkey will clock in higher growth in 2014-15, predicts a SRTEPC market report based on the steadily growing exports in man-made fibre from India to Turkey. Export to Turkey has grown to touch 19 per cent in 2013-14 and this trend continues in the current year. Turkey produces raw materials and intermediaries like fibre, yarn and fabrics for its flourishing garmenting sector but these are inadequate. Hence, it imports substantial quantity of textile material. The country is a major supplier of ready-made garments to Europe, thereby offering big scope for sourcing yarns and fabrics from India. Turkey’s total import of textile and clothing from world was nearly $12 billion in 2013. Its global import of textiles was about $10 billion during 2013 in which around 56 per cent ($6 billion) was of 
man-made fibre textiles.
India’s share in Turkey’s total import of man-made fibre textiles during 2013 was around $557 million accounting for 9 per cent. Hence, there is further scope for increasing exports of Indian MMF textiles to Turkey. A significant amount of MMF yarn from India is exported to Turkey. The major varieties are yarns, polyester filament yarn, synthetic filament yarn, polyester viscose yarn, etc. Viscose staple fibre was one of the major MMF textile products imported by Turkey during 2013 followed by polyester staple fibre and yarn of polyester staple fibre, etc.
During 2013-14, exports of synthetic and rayon textiles to Turkey were valued at $556.87 million. This growth was 19 per cent as compared to the previous year. Yarns make up 71 per cent of the total exports and fabrics make up another 5 per cent, while made-ups are 6 per cent and fibre 18 per cent.
Chinese cotton imports slid 44.9 per cent year-on-year in January. Slack global market conditions have hit China’s labor-intensive industries, especially garment and textile production, as well as shoes, toys and furniture. Exports of garment and yarn products fell 12.4 and 7.6 per cent respectively. Shoe exports declined 10.8 per cent.
Orders for garment and yarn products from developed markets have been dwindling since mid 2011. Though many Chinese manufacturers are now less dependent on developed markets, exports are still the mainstay of their businesses, which are dominated by original equipment manufacturing.
Even though the US economy stabilized, it could not offset lethargic demand from the European Union, Japan and many emerging economies. Another factor behind falling cotton imports is the country’s huge inventories. Fast growing domestic cotton output and the policy of paying a floor price for certain agricultural products have forced the government to spend more on storing domestic cotton.
To reduce the burden, government has pushed domestic textile enterprises to use more homegrown cotton in recent years. Growing uncertainties in the world market will prompt garment and yarn producers in China to move up the value chain. They will have to offer high end products and devise new strategies to expand their markets, and small, obsolete factories will be weeded out through competition over the next five years.
Vallarpadam Terminal in Kochi is in the limelight with increasing number of international apparel brands using terminal facilities for their export needs. For example, apparel brand Diesel, which sources from vendors in Tirupur and Bengaluru, has already started utilising the international container transshipment terminal for importing goods into Europe.
Many other western brands having vendor base in south India, are now showing interest in utilizing the facility to fulfill their sourcing needs. Till now, these brands imported goods from Chennai and Tuticorin ports, often leading to delays in shipments. Also, importing from Kochi terminal is not only effective in terms of timely shipments but also turning out to be cheaper, as there is a saving of at least five-seven days to Europe over the normal transit time from other ports. The faster trade facility from Kochi became possible because of direct/mainline shipping services to Europe.
The presence of container freight stations is another additional advantage for apparel brands because of the features like labelling, bar coding and product inspection for garment businesses. The terminal is looking forward to achieving initial business of 250-300 TEUs in a month alone from garment business.
