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Indonesia hopes to triple textile and textile product exports in the next five years.
If this happens, this sector will be Indonesia’s largest non-oil export contributor and create jobs for six million people.
Indonesia’s exports in 2017 went up six per cent compared to exports in 2016. Apparel exports rose from 7.21 billion dollars in 2016 to 7.93 billion dollars last year, while textile exports stagnated at 4.66 billion dollars.
In 2016, apparel exports from this southeast Asian nation decreased 3.2 per cent due to several challenges including high logistics costs and gas and power tariffs being higher than other competitor countries.
At present, the US is the largest clothing importer from Indonesia. If the country were to lobby with the US to expand its Generalised System of Preferences to include more Indonesian apparel and accessories, this would facilitate the entry of more Indonesian products into the US at lower tariffs.
A small 0.62 per cent year on year growth was detected in Indonesia’s textile exports in the first half of 2017. This modest growth was supported by a 20.4 per cent year on year rise in knitwear exports.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest textile manufacturers and exporters (although trailing far behind China).
Gifts and Premium Fair has just concluded on at Hong Kong, held between April 27 to 30.
More than 4300 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions are participating in the fair including group pavilions from China, Italy, Korea, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand and India displaying a wide range of corporate gifts, fashion accessories, green gifts, picture and photo frames, toys and sporting goods, beauty, health and wellness, watches and clocks, luxury gifts, premium gifts etc.
The fair is the largest fair of its kind in the world and an effective platform for designers, manufacturers and wholesalers to make new business opportunities.
Hong Kong is emerging as an important destination for aggressive marketing through the medium of trade fairs.
Indian exhibitors had showcased a wide range of products, which include handcrafted and decorated premium gifts, souvenirs, lifestyle accessories, cotton scarves, necklaces, picture frames, boxes, pen stands, note books, shawls and stoles, handmade paper products, jute, cotton, canvas bags, women’s hand bags, leather hand bags, Christmas decoratives, wooden decorative art ware, stationery, table tops, grocery bags, and decorative journals etc.
Handicrafts occupy an important place in the Indian economy and society. This product group is a large foreign exchange earner, an employment generator for economically and socially backward classes and a promoter of Indian ethnic, cultural heritage worldwide.
Demonetization and GST have hit hard textile businesses in Surat. Production of fabrics has dropped from about four crore meters a day before demonetization to about 2.5 crore meters a day. The number of working embroidery machines has fallen and the demand for new shops has also dropped.
Exports of garments have dropped drastically. Fabric traders are not getting payment on time. Traders are facing a shortage of working capital. Institutional loans are not available and private lending has also stopped after GST.
Sales of local textile traders have dropped by about 30 per cent to 40 per cent. Falling earnings have resulted in traders’ shifting to low rent shops and demand for new shops has dropped. Those who had availed of loans are finding it difficult to honor their EMIs.
The number of embroidery machines has dropped by 1.25 lakh, 89,000- odd power looms have been sold at the price of scrap, exports are on a continuous decline and women working in embroidery are becoming jobless.
The withdrawal of high-value banknotes put sudden brakes on the disposable income of consumers. Many power loom weavers shut down their units and more than a lakh conventional power loom machines were sold in scrap.
Where till recently Surat produced 40 million meters of polyester a day, the figure now stands at only 25 million meters.
With competition continuing to heat up in the denim trade show sector, Denim Première Vision is headed to Paris. It will offer a platform for fashion brands to display their fashionable denim collections. The event will take place at the Parc Floral in Paris on May 23-24. Designer Lutz Huelle has for the first time been elected for carte blanche at the Denim Première Vision.
An inspirational forum and a forward looking forum are the two broken parts of Denim Trends Area.
An inspirational seminar, a seminar dedicated to the autumn winter 2019-20 fits and a seminar translating spring/summer 2019 will also be held during the 2-day event.
Premiere Vision has proposed a range of studies and actions to identify and communicate its exhibitors’ initiatives in terms of responsible production and creation. Denim Première Vision has adapted its Smart Creation programme to the denim industry and will present a special area, the Denim Smart Square.
Denim Premiere Vision will also be hosting a socio-cultural master class presented by Pascal Monfort, founder of the Rec Trendsmarketing agency, on the theme The Future Is Bright.
China’s textile and apparel makers are going through a painful industrial restructuring. While the country is still the world’s largest clothing exporter with an enormous production capacity, oversupply at home, high labor costs, and rising global protectionism have all eroded its competitiveness.
China’s market share by value in the global textile and clothing industry fell from 38.6 per cent in 2015 to 35.8 per cent in 2016.
Since 2014, exports of Chinese textiles and clothing to major apparel importing regions such as the US, European Union and Japan have declined sharply.
Exports of clothes and accessories fell by 0.4 per cent last year from 2016 while textiles exports saw an annual growth of 4.5 per cent last year.
Fewer US brands are looking to China for products even though the country remains the top sourcing destination for the industry worldwide. For many US brands, a third of their products now come from China, a third from Vietnam, and the rest is from other countries.
However China is playing an increasingly important role as a textile supplier for apparel exporting countries in Asia. Bangladesh’s textile imports from China, measured by value, rose from 39 per cent in 2005 to 47 per cent in 2015. Similar trends can be seen in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and other developing countries in Asia.
The US has renewed GSP for Cambodia.This allows Cambodian exporters access to duty-free privileges.
The renewal is retroactive, allowing exporters from beneficiary nations to claim refunds for transactions made after the GSP scheme expired last year. Eligible GSP merchandise entering the US between December 31, 2017, and the effective date of the extension, April 22, will be eligible for refunds of duty.
However, refunds will not be automatic. The law stipulates that importers need to file a refund request.
Cambodia is one of 120 nations included in the US’s GSP program, which was established in 1974 with the aim of promoting economic growth in the developing world.
Cambodia feels the program needs to be extended to products like garments and footwear following improvements in working conditions and the protection of labor rights made in recent years.
In July last year, the US granted duty-free benefits to Cambodian travel goods, including suitcases, backpacks, handbags and wallets.
Cambodia’s exports of travel goods increased from 53 million dollars in 2015 to 100 million dollars in 2016.
The country expects purchasing orders in the garment sector in 2018 to be higher than in 2017.
Foreign purchasers appear to be satisfied with what Cambodia has achieved when it comes to worker welfare. There is now a stable environment, a good relation between players in the industry.
A two-day international exhibition on denim products Bangladesh Denim Expo will take place at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka on May 9-10.
The theme of the exhibit this year is “Equality,” aimed at mobilizing global brands and retailers, manufacturers, governments and development partners to establish a more equitable global apparel supply chain.Over 14,000 visitors have preregistered for the eighth edition of the mega event.61 exhibitors from 14 countries including Bangladesh have already confirmed their participation at the event.
The event will also focus on equal responsibilities for all stakeholders in the apparel supply chain to ensure safety in the workplace, sustainable work practices, environmental considerations and transparency.
The expo is going to highlight issues concerning equality and the progress that has been made within Bangladesh in this regard.
Mostafiz Uddin, founder and CEO of the expo, Bangladesh Denim Expo has already become an internationally acclaimed one-stop sourcing platform for all aspects of denim wear from fabrics to the finished products, which would instigate healthy debate on the topic and increase awareness of any issues and the situation regarding equality in Bangladesh itself.
The show will offer a unique experience for exhibitors and visitors who will be able to gain a comprehensive insight into the denim industry of Bangladesh and discover the latest trends.
The seminars in the expo will serve as a platform for knowledge and sharing ideas, featuring some of the top experts and leaders from the best companies and organizations of the global denim supply chain.
Brands are generally paying less for garments from Bangladesh today than they did before the Rana Plaza disaster.
The price of cotton boys’ and men’s trousers going from Bangladesh to the US has fallen 13 per cent in the years since the disaster. In the same period, the price paid for T-shirts exported to the European Union has fallen about five per cent.
The US accounts for about 18 per cent of Bangladesh’s clothing exports, while nearly two-thirds go to Europe. That happened even as cotton prices went up more than 20 per cent between 2015 and 2017.
The price drop over the last five years underscores the dynamics at play in the global garment supply chain. As clothing sales have become increasingly concentrated in the hands of massive multinational retailers who place gigantic orders, the buyer’s power—and ability to get cents shaved off the cost of an item of clothing—has become increasingly concentrated too.
This fact underscores the power amassed by one end of the supply chain—an imbalance that is inherently dangerous to workers. Previously, manufacturers saved costs by working out of spaces that weren’t purpose-built for that. After Rana Plaza, that may not happen as much. Instead, as price pressures continue, they’ll look to save from more negotiable costs, like wages, or how often maintenance crucial to safety is carried out.
Arunachal Pradesh Textiles Minister Tamiyo Taga has advised the centre to make efforts to encourage textile industries in Arunachal.
During a textile ministers’ meeting in the national capital to boost the handloom-handicrafts sector, Taga requested Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani to set up hosiery and apparel manufacturing units in every district of Arunachal Pradesh.
She also emphasized on establishment of power looms, yarn dyeing processing units, raw material banks, silk spinning mills, and crafts villages with modern wayside amenities in each district, besides a one-time grant of infrastructure development fund and a one-time fund for installment of improved technology inputs.
Taga explained Irani of the pending schemes in the textile ministry which are assured but not yet approved.
The Union Minister informed that some schemes are drafted slowly “due to new guidelines and rules” but assured that all the schemes would be sanctioned soon.
Products from Mozambique will have access to the European Union market without the imposition of quotas or payment of customs duties. The Mozambican government and the European Union (EU) delegation in the country launched on Friday the implementation plan of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between six countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the EU.
Mozambique exports to the European Union mainly aluminium, agricultural products such as sugar, tobacco, nuts and vegetables, as well as fish products, notably shrimp and imports manufactured goods, machinery, means of transport and chemicals. The APE guarantees access to the European market without customs duties or quotas, for all goods coming from Mozambique, except for weapons and armaments.
Under the new agreement, a textile product can enter EU tax-free if at least one phase of its production, such as weaving or knitting, has occurred in one of the countries.
Over a period of 10 years, Mozambique will gradually remove customs duties on about 74 per cent of its imports from the European Union.
