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Bangladesh’s Dacca Dyeing Garments a concern of Palmal Group, has shut down for an indefinite period amidst workers’ demonstration. They had terminated 152 workers recently. A notification on closure was posted on the gates of the factories signed by a director of the factory. The notification said that the factories were shut with effect from November 7, 2015 under Section 13(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act.
In the event of an illegal strike by any section or department of any establishment, the section empowers an employer to shut down either wholly or partly such section or department. Also, the workers who participated in the illegal strike may not be paid any wages for such a shutdown.
Due to the provocation of some unruly workers, all workers of the factory started a strike in the factory to get a number of illegal demands met with, stated Mahatab Uddin, one of the directors of the company. He added that the workers did not allow resuming production despite repeated attempts and considering the situation, the authorities decided to close the factory until further announcement.
Workers had alleged that the authorities of Dacca Dyeing had terminated the said workers as they were attempting to form a trade union. The factory authorities though, denied the allegation and said that they terminated some extra work force as the factory’s export orders declined.
The workers staged a demonstration in the unit and demanded reinstatement of terminated workers and rights for forming trade union and even put forth a set of demands to the authorities and continued with the demonstration.
Dyeing units in Rajasthan which had to shut down following charges of effluent release have been allowed to reopen. However, they have to comply with certain norms. These include installation of a primary treatment plant, payment of a security deposit ranging from Rs 2 to Rs 5 lakh per unit, connecting all the dyeing units to a common effluent treatment plant, fixing of meters in the bore well and a flow meter for the water pipeline, and disposal of sledge in specified areas.
The decision to restart is expected to lead to an improvement in the yarn market. There is a sudden spurt in demand for yarn and prices have also started looking up, improving by Rs 4 to Rs 6 a kg. This will help improve capacity utilisation levels in the mill sector.
Export demand for cotton yarn has also picked up particularly from countries like China and Vietnam since July. Total cotton yarn exports between January and August this year increased by 11.89 per cent when compared to the same period of the earlier year.
The mood is upbeat. Prospects for the textile industry look good. One positive development is that the two per cent export benefit under Merchandise Export from India Scheme has been extended.
As per a Taiwan Textile Federation’s Textile Export Promotion Project (TEPP) statement major Taiwanese textile firms participating in the international textile machinery exhibition ITMA will showcase their latest developments and advantages of using their new materials at the show. Since most major Taiwanese companies are vertically integrated, this helps them achieve absolute control of the entire manufacturing process to ensure that production is sustainable across all links of the chain.
Developing green textiles by incorporating functional and aesthetic fashion innovations to eco-friendly production to improve consumers’ lives is a persistent quest for Taiwan. Besides, it contributes to safeguarding the environment. Thus, Taiwan’s textiles bank on functionality and sustainability today. This factor is firmly rooted in Taiwan’s textiles production chain, from raw materials, manufacturing, processes, technology, product or the work environment.
TEPP especially mentions innovation materials developed by seven firms, viz. Acelon, Far Eastern New Century, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre, Libolon, Yi Jinn, Zig Sheng, and Singtex. Moreover, TEPP promotes the Taiwan textile industry under the slogan 'Think Taiwan for Textiles', by attending international shows, organising trade missions and match-making meetings between brands and Taiwan producers, and bringing the advantages of Taiwanese textiles to the forefront.
According to the latest figures released by the International Labor Organization (ILO), Cambodia’s garment industry continued to perform brilliantly through the first half of 2015. The industry successfully dispelled fears that the recent minimum wage increase would cripple one of the country’s main economic engines.
Drawing on data from the Ministry of Commerce, garment exports over the first half of the year hit $3 billion, growing 12.7 percent over the same period in 2014, as per the latest industry bulletin. That’s even better than the 10.2 percent year-on-year growth the industry saw in the first half of last year. This was despite an unusually high 28 percent hike in the minimum wage for garment workers that took effect in January 2015.
Maurizio Bussi, Country Director, ILO said that there were fears in the past that minimum wage rises would cause the industry to falter. However, according to data, the sector continued to perform quite well—Cambodia’s market share of garment and footwear exports has continued to rise in recent years, he said. Although he mentioned that this positive experience from the past minimum wage increases does not ensure that future hikes will necessarily be as good for the industry.
One of the important elements of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the 'Yarn Forward' rule, a component of the textiles and apparel section, experts say this will have specific impact on countries such as China, Vietnam and Malaysia. Under this provision, only yarn made by TPP members can be sold to the TPP markets, such as the United States and Japan.
ITA expresses views on TPP benefits
US Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel (ITA) feels, this provision has numerous implications. One is Vietnam can provide low cost manufacturing at an equivalent current productivity ratio of about 70 per cent of that achievable in China. However, its textiles industry relies heavily on cheap Chinese yarn imports. To take advantage of the TPP agreement and sell onto the lucrative markets of Japan and the United States, it will need to change its sourcing habits across the entire textiles industry, points out ITA.
Secondly, suppliers could include the United States and Japan for high quality items, and Malaysia, Mexico and Peru for lower quality production. Obvious and significant trade routes have opened up in this area assuming Vietnamese manufacturing can be upgraded to ensure quality sustainability. This alone may drive US investors to Vietnam to assist with machinery upgrades via joint ventures and US owned factories.
ITA further says that countries like Malaysia, Mexico and Peru, may gain spin off benefits by seeing investment in their textiles industries to support trade with the US and to upgrade existing facilities. The TPP agreement also contains significant aspects concerning the upgrading of IP protection and the enforcement of this, which is a positive as far as the American fashion industry is concerned.
Affects on Chinese players
Bypassing Chinese production, the US has opened a window for trade in the form of raw yarn to be exported, finished elsewhere under more secure conditions than in China, and then re-exported back to the US. Accessing cheap, yet well organised labour is part of this opportunity; Vietnam and Mexico both offer solutions. In case of China, according to ITA, the TPP Yarn Forward provision is obviously bad news for textiles and apparel manufacturers. The Chinese yarn manufacturing industry is now effectively limited to China’s domestic market and those of the ASEAN agreement. China is also about to lose the entire Vietnamese market in addition to being effectively cut off from US trade.
On the other hand, ITA says, the Chinese industry has been in decline for a number of years, losing much of its base to Bangladesh and also to some extent, India. However, the message for foreign investors in China’s textiles and apparel markets is clear – it is now time to seriously look at investing in Vietnam as an alternative.
The readymade garment (RMG) sector will soon be regulated by the Directorate of Textiles, under a new law aimed at streamlining Bangladesh’s main export-earner. The Textile Industries Establishment Act 2015, which is the new law in the making, will take effect early next year according to officials. The Directorate of Textiles would be under the Ministry of Textiles and Jute as an effective ‘sponsoring authority’ for the apparel industry as per the draft law proposed, said the officials. This means that the control of all major activities, including registration, permission for import, utilisation declaration (UD), and even import of capital machinery would be under the authority of the directorate. None can establish and run textile and garment factories without registration from the Directorate of Textiles, according to legal provisions.
All new establishments, (textiles and garments) would have to register under the Act and all the existing factories would have to come under registration with the directorate within six months, after the enactment of the law. Besides, the directorate will enjoy the authority to suspend or cancel registration of any industry if it finds proper reason to do so after carrying out investigation, according to the proposed law.
However, the implementation of the law may take some more time said officials concerned as they are yet to sit with major stakeholders, including Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), though the draft of the law has already been sent to the stakeholders.
Revealing the details of a pact aimed at freeing up commerce in 40 per cent of the world's economy but criticised for its opacity, recently, the much awaited text of a landmark US-backed Pacific trade deal was released. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a legacy-defining achievement for US President Barack Obama and his administration’s pivot to Asia, if the pact is ratified, which aims at countering China’s rising economic and political influence.
A proposed 16-nation free-trade area including India that would be the world’s biggest such bloc, encompassing 3.4 billion people, which is China’s own Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), is the country’s response to the pact.
Transparency advocates concerned over its broad implications were angered as TPP was largely kept away from public scrutiny. The pact will set common standards on issues ranging from workers' rights to intellectual property protection in 12 Pacific nations. Many of Obama's fellow Democrats including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who backed the developing trade pact when she was Secretary of State during Obama’s first term, and labour unions have opposed the TPP. Some US lawmakers demanded measures to punish currency manipulation with trade sanctions or set monopoly periods for next-generation biologic drugs at 12 years, which is not included in the pact.
In factory and export economies in Malaysia and Vietnam, the TPP would be a boon. In the Vietnamese manufacturing, anticipated tariff perks are already luring record foreign investment. An increase in demand for their key exports, from palm oil and rubber to electronics, seafood and textiles, foreseen by both the countries. Asia’s major developing economies, including the Philippines and Indonesia that have recently expressed interest in signing to the pact could be pressurised because of this.
Cotton imports in Bangladesh are likely to rise by 4 per cent in the current fiscal year. Bangladesh has become the largest buyer of cotton from India, the world’s largest cotton producer. Cotton imports by Asian countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia are expected to go up in 2015-16. Imports by Asian countries represent 60 per cent of world imports.
But imports by China are expected to go down further. Chinese imports are projected to fall by 24 per cent from 2014-15. Although China will likely remain the world's largest importer in 2015-16, its share of world imports has fallen from 55 per cent in 2011-12 to 22 per cent in 2014-15 and may only reach 17 per cent in 2015-16.
China, the biggest consumer of cotton in the world, has gradually decreased its cotton imports from India. Although production in the United States is projected to dip 11 per cent and exports to decline 9 per cent it will likely remain the world’s largest exporter.
India, the world’s second largest exporter, could see a small recovery in 2015-16, with exports forecast to increase 15 per cent. After declining in 2013-14, imports by Indonesia increased 13 per cent. World production is forecast to drop nine per cent.
ITEMA weaving machines have a mechanically heavy structure, which makes them sturdy and ideally suited for a variety of textiles. The Italian weaving machinery major, with its tradition of almost 200 years and an installed base of over three lakh weaving machines in operation, has made significant inroads into the Indian market in recent times.
The technology in the motor is such that it draws only the energy that is required. There is absolutely no waste of energy. These machines help in quicker production cycles and require less manpower. It is not only about an increase in productivity but an increase in value addition. With other machines the production of a thread count of 400 will cost around Rs 150, but with an ITEMA machine a thread count of 1000 costs only around Rs 400. These machines work with ease with higher thread counts, CVC fabrics or technical textiles. Indian-made yarn is compatible with ITEMA machines.
ITEMA offers the entire package including all the necessary accessories, such as beams, drop wires, frames etc, along with the weaving machines. This single point contact enables quicker resolution of technical issues. The machines are user-friendly and after only a few hours of training an operator can get well versed with their running. There are no pollution issues involved.
https://www.itemagroup.com/
Kingpins New York was held on November 3 and 4. Performance fabrics and retro-looking á la 1970s and ’80s dominated this edition of denim showcase. Over 60 exhibitors, mostly fabric mills from all over the world showed their offerings for the Spring 2017 season. Traffic was lighter than in previous editions.
Kingpins also featured seminars, which discussed new opportunities in knit denim, spring/summer 2016 catwalk trends, a look at spring/summer 2017 surface designs and a discussion about what the phrase premium denim actually means today. US-based Cone Denim hawked its new natural indigo fabrics, which are made from indigo plants but do not incorporate locally grown or organic cotton.
Blue Farm from China exhibited outerwear-appropriate denims that included coated nylon blends meant for bomber jackets as well as indigo in non-traditional forms such as shirting fabrics that were rich in texture or downright sheer. Blends and stretch fabrics were on offer by Spanish mill Royo, which has produced a bi stretch denim and a linen cotton women’s blend.
Cotton Inc, the organization devoted to the promotion of cotton fibers, showcased fabrics with interesting tonal textures produced by lasers. Its onsite trend expert also predicted an upswing of ’70s blue-tone denim, chalky and matte coatings and either pristine or imperfect foil-coated fabrics for spring 2017.
www.kingpinsshow.com/
