FW
India will be more appealing to multinational firms once GST (Goods and Services Tax) becomes a reality.
GST could boost India’s appeal to multi-nationals as a myriad of existing federal, state and interstate levies in the country had previously increased their tax burdens and barred them from further exploring potential in the world’s major economy. This reform will make them see India as a much better destination for investment and as an opportunity.
The complicated and cumbersome tax system in India as well as bureaucracy related to tax-collection remains a hurdle for firms doing business in India.
Once GST comes into effect, all central- and state-level taxes and levies on all goods and services will be subsumed within an integrated tax having two components: a central GST and a state GST. This will ensure a complete, comprehensive and continuous mechanism of tax credits. Under it, there will be tax only on value addition at each stage, with the producer/seller at every stage able to set off his taxes against the central/state GST paid on his purchases. The end-consumer will bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.
Coimbatore based KG Denim is facing a six fold jump in net profit in the three months ended June 30, 2016, as against the same quarter of fiscal 2015-16.
The increase in net profit in the April to June 2016 quarter was partly helped by operating profit which soared 48.08 per cent over the prior fiscal’s first quarter.
However, net sales of the company dropped 1.80 per cent from a fiscal ago quarter.
KG Denim is a denim and apparel fabric manufacturer, which caters to fashion brands and retailers across the world. It went public in 1993. The company’s product divisions include denim, apparel fabric and home textiles. Its denim products include authentic ring denims, selvedge denim, organic/bio denims, tencel denim, printed denim and coated denim. The apparel fabric products include stretch twills, jean twills, and stretch, with or without lycra.
The home textiles range includes a blend of cotton and natural fibers, such as wool, linen and fiber blends.
The company currently manufactures 24 million meters of denim fabrics, 12 million meters of cotton fabrics, two million equivalent sheet sets of made–ups and three million jeans and trousers. KG Denim has a jeanswear brand called Trigger.
For June 2016 the total value of exports of goods from China fell by 11.5 per cent. Re-exports decreased by 14.9 per cent.
The value of domestic exports increased by 8.2 per cent. For the first half of 2016, total exports of goods fell by 6.5 per cent. Re-exports and domestic exports decreased by 5.7 per cent and 10.4 per cent.
Exports to mainland China rose by 4.1 per cent. Exports to Hong Kong decreased by 11.1 per cent. Exports to the European Union and the US decreased by 29.4 per cent and 22.7 per cent. Non-textile exports fell by 6.5 per cent. Exports of watches and equipment and parts decreased by 32.5 per cent and 21.7 per cent. Exports of electronic components increased by 46.2 per cent. Textile and garment exports were down 6.4 per cent.
Imports from mainland China and the EU dropped by 21.6 per cent and 17.8 per cent. Imports of consumer goods fell 16.9 per cent, of which watch imports and passenger car and motorcycle imports decreased by 41.6 per cent and 56.7 per cent.
The value of imports of mobile phones and construction materials fell 16.9 per cent and 47.6 per cent in the first half of 2016.
The decline in cotton production in Gombe State and the country in particular has been attributed to a lot of factors with the government taking the larger part of the blame.
Farmers, especially, yearn for the good old days when cotton farming and production was attractive and rewarding and plead with government to return them to those glorious days.
Gombe, usually referred to as Gombe State is located in the north eastern part of Nigeria. There, the history of cotton production dates back to the 1940s when the British Cotton Growers Association (BCGA) set up a collection centre about five kilometers from the then Gombe town from where they collect cotton from farmers after the harvest season.
The development led the colonial masters, who ruled the country at the time, to construct a railway line linking Gombe and Lagos for easy transportation of cotton to the seaports in Lagos and onward export to Liverpool in the United Kingdom and other developed countries.
The BCGA area, which was initially a collection centre, gradually metamorphosed into a residential area after labourers who usually spend the night there loading cotton into the trains for transportation to Lagos, started to build houses and settle with their families.
In the late 1970s and early 80s, the BCGA area gradually merged with the nearby villages to form the BCGA residential quarters in the present Gombe State.
Nevertheless, there are still some indigenous companies like Nasara Agro-Industrial Company Limited (NAICO), West African Cotton (WACOT) and OLAM that buy cotton from the farmers, process and sell to textile owners outside the state as there is no single textile factory there, according to All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN).
The withdrawal of government from cotton farming dealt the sector a huge blow from which it is yet to recover 20 years hence. Apart from lack of good seedlings, pesticides, fertilizers and stable price, insecurity is another problem that contributed in crippling cotton production in Gombe. It was gathered that herdsmen invaded the farms and destroyed crops, close to the time of harvest.
Encouraged by good rains and higher prices, farmers across India have sown a record area of different varieties of pulses, shows data released by the agriculture ministry.
So far, an area of 12.1 million hectares has been planted with pulses, over 11% more than the five-year average sowing of the crop.
While these numbers could rise as the data is gradually updated compared to year-ago figures, sowing of pulses is said to be nearly 35% more -12.1 million hectares as against 8.97 million hectares in 2015-16.
While areas under pulses touched a record high, sowing of cotton has shown a 12.6% downward trend compared to the normal on fears of pest infestation, the data adds. So far, an area of 9.65 million hectares has used for planting of cotton compared to 10.57 million hectares planted in the same period last year.
Interestingly, the data shows that while the area under the genetically modified Bt cotton fell from 9.7 million hectares in 2015-16 to 8 million hectares in 2016-17, area under non-Bt desi (indigenous) cotton rose from 0.88 million hectares to 1.66 million hectares during this period.
The reason for the reduction in area of cotton seed sowing in the current year is the fear of whitefly infestation in Punjab and Haryana and pink boll worm in central and southern India, said a note from the agriculture ministry.
With a few days before there could be an increase in cotton prices, farmers can expect prices to range between 65 cents and 78 cents over the next few months, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service cotton economist at College Station.
Overall, there is a weak demand, said Dr. John Robinson, cotton economist Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, who spoke during the Ag Market Network’s roundtable at the New York Stock Exchange recently.
Over the last 30 days, the Texas cotton crop has been hit hard with excessive hot, dry weather. Harvest projections for Texas are 7 million bales on the higher side, Robinson claimed. The low side would be the five-year average for Texas excluding the 2011 result of about 5.5 million bales, Robinson said.
Robinson said the Blacklands region has a few areas that could surprise a lot of folks once harvest activities begin in another month.
Harvest activity in South Central Texas will begin in another 30 days or so. Robinson said timely rains will help boost yields leading to harvest.
Cordura has launched a range of denim fabrics in collaboration with Artistic Milliners.
Cordura is a brand belonging to Invista. Artistic Milliners is a denim fabric and apparel manufacturer from Pakistan. It has produced the collection by using Cordura fiber technologies combined with tencel fibers. Artistic Milliners is known for denim innovations and goes beyond traditional heavy denims, to denims that can sit effortlessly with the wearer throughout the day - wherever they may go. By blending these fibers the company has been able to take performance denim to another level.
Cordura Denim Infinity fabrics were developed in order to integrate the best of both worlds – softness with strength, fashion and function, durability with definition. Tencel fiber brings additional comfort, strength and sustainability benefits to the collection. The denim range is part of Cordura’s Authentic Alchemie collection.
With leading brands including Lycra, Coolmax, Cordura, Stainmaster and Antron, Invista is one of the largest integrated producers of chemical intermediates, polymers and fibers. The company’s Cordura fabric, known for its resistance to abrasions, tears and scuffs, is a primary ingredient in many high-performance gear and apparel products ranging from luggage, upholstery and backpacks to footwear, military equipment, tactical wear, work wear and performance apparel.
In the coming years, many industries in Vietnam, especially those pertaining to engineering, information technology, health care, textiles and footwear, will have a great demand for employees.
In the Vietnam Industry Development Strategy to 2025 with a vision to 2035, the Government has decided to give priority to develop three industries including the processing and manufacturing industry, electronics and telecommunications and new and renewable energy.
The strategy will target key sectors, including electricity, mineral exploitation and processing, construction material production, agro-forestry-aquaculture processing, food, beverage, chemicals, garment and textiles, footwear, electronics, IT, mechanics, metallurgy and petroleum.
The situation shows that the labour force is likely to have more opportunities to seek jobs. Totally, demand for professionalised human resources, the engineering and technology sectors account for the highest proportion with 35 per cent followed by the group of economics, finance, banking, legal and administrative works with 33 per cent; the natural science industry, 7 per cent; and others 3-5 per cent.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the number of jobs in Vietnam is likely to increase by 14.5 per cent by 2025, thanks to the country’s participation in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
Vietnam is predicted to receive a strong increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) flow especially in manufacturing and IT sectors and food production and processing industries, when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is officially signed.
Meanwhile, sectors such as textiles, footwear, handicrafts, electronics, wood and furniture, and aquatic product processing are expected to expand, which will be creating more jobs.
In the international cotton market, prices remain firm though China is likely to extend the cotton auction, which is mainly supported by the tight supply.
Pakistani cotton has begun to arrive on the market, but the quantity is small. Australian cotton output is less than 0.50 million tons. US, Indian, Uzbekistani, West African and Turkish cotton will arrive in November. So international cotton supply will remain tight till November.
For China, state cotton auction can refill the demand, so imported cotton yarn prices continue to be higher than Chinese cotton yarn prices. With the tight cotton supply till November, imported cotton yarn inventory at major Chinese ports don’t amount to much. With lower import volumes and higher prices, Chinese cotton yarn prices are not likely to fall.
With the fall in spot cotton prices, traders show lower interest in auctioning reserve cotton. Cotton supply for textile mills is expected to increase later. Cotton yarn prices are also ticking down.
The weaker sentiment has also passed on the downstream fabric market.
Chinese auction of state cotton may be extended from August 31 to September 30.
Looking at cotton yarn costs calculated by cotton futures, Chinese cotton yarn costs are lower than Vietnamese cotton yarn costs.
After declining in the first fortnight of July, the prices of Brazilian cotton started regaining lost ground and started its upward march in the second fortnight of July.
Although harvesting of the 2015/16 crop was steady and firm, the availability of cotton in the spot market fell in mid-July. This factor pushed the cotton prices upwards.
‘Keeping an eye on international price rises, Brazilian cotton sellers pushed for quicker deliveries in the domestic market, leading to a quickening of pace in cotton trades,’ the Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (CEPEA) said in a report.
Although textile mills were slower in purchasing cotton in late July, Brazilian traders ensured higher liquidity and stability to prices.
In the second fortnight of July, traders searched for batches to accomplish contracts for prompt-delivery, while processors were cautious about buying new batches, concerned with the prices.
Brazilian cotton growers continued harvesting and processing cotton from the new crop but a lack of rains in some producing regions, resulted in a production break, a scenario that concerned growers.
Between June 30 and July 29, the CEPEA/ Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ) Index cotton type 41-4 delivered in São Paulo with payment in 8 days dropped 1 per cent, closing at BRL 2.63 or $0.8123 per pound on July 29.
