FW
Overcoming impediments
Yet, there are many hurdles that need to be overcome as African manufacturing is at present a blip on the radar compared to China. It will be a long time before a major upheaval takes place. After all catch-up growth takes a while to take off. There are many hurdles on its growth path, such as lack of basic infrastructure. Then, there is armed conflict and corruption, to overcome. Many Asian countries though, have grown rapidly without strict measures of corruption control. Economically, what’s more important is that destinations provide reliable electric power and a convenient location for the container ship to dock.
Finally, the million-dollar question is whether manufacturing jobs should be taken to Africa by profit-seeking companies, where such low wages are offered. An unequivocal answer would be a ‘yes’ as the perception is that moving jobs to anywhere in Africa is beneficial for their impoverished population.
A $21-a-month manufacturing job is certainly an improvement, but there are alternatives too, such as raising the garments factory workers’ initial wages. However, such measures mean adding cost to employing workers there. Manufacturers would look at Africa as an option, only if the wage difference was high compared to other countries.
An improvement for African workers may act as a step towards bigger improvements. As the economy strengthens, garment factories would move from country to country, until every country has become industrialised to the point where nobody anywhere is working for $21 a month. Such jobs provide an above-average standard of living. The more Africa’s economy grows, the more the rise in people’s wages. This would be possible if Africa achieves the same level of growth as Asia has done in the past 70 years.
The duty on Pakistani products, mainly textiles will be slashed by 50 per cent (from 10 to 5 per cent), by Australia. This is in response to rigorous efforts of the current government, especially the Commerce Ministry. Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, Commerce Minister disclosed this recently after a meeting with the Australian High Commissioner. Khan said the textile, clothing and footwear industry of Pakistan will be a beneficiary of reduced duty by the Australian Government. Duty has been slashed on 226 tariff lines out of which only eight are non-textile products and the remaining 218 are related to the textile sector, and 63 are home textiles.
The minister also stated that the Commerce Ministry would be chalking out a plan that is aimed at facilitating the Pakistani textile sector entrepreneurs with Australian buyers. Besides, reviewing the current state of bilateral trade relationship, an Australian trade mission would be visiting the country in October 2015. The Commerce Ministry gets a lot of support from Australia, especially through the World Bank on regional connectively issues. Khan added that they have requested Australia to also include Iran in the regional connectivity agenda and Australia was positive about it.
Invista and Aurizon Ultrasonics are cooperating on a new joint development project. Invista is a producer of polymers and fibers, and owner of the Lycra brand. Aurizon is a supplier of ultrasonic processing equipment to the hygiene industry. The project will focus on the collective development of novel ultrasonic bonding equipment and novel stretch fibers for the construction of stretch laminates without the use of hot melt elastic attachment adhesives. It’s hoped this will allow hygiene producers to improve product fit and comfort without the cost and complexity of glue.
Invista is the market leader in stretch fibers and the collaboration hopes to bring to the hygiene market the next generation stretch materials, leverage the strengths of both companies and accelerate the development of new materials and processes for customers. Aurizon’s current technology to ultrasonically secure elastics in nonwovens without the need for adhesives can enable lower material costs, increased operational efficiency, and improved product comfort and performance.
The collaboration hopes to discover the potential synergy between Invista’s new fiber innovations and Aurizon’s high speed rotary ultrasonic bonding technology. The two partners hope innovations in diaper design and cost reduction will result from this joint effort.
www.invista.com/, www.aurizon.com.au/
Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) is scaling up its fair living wage efforts with plans to add all of its strategic suppliers by 2018. The Swedish apparel giant is updating its purchasing practices to support those suppliers. H&M launched its fair wage method in 2013, with pilots in a few role model factories. The initiative is aimed at driving wage improvements through a sustainable pay structure, wage levels and wage adjustments, and through enhanced communication and social dialogue with suppliers. The strategy is showing progress and will now be scaled up to more markets and suppliers.
As a part of this strategy, H&M is updating its purchasing practices to support its suppliers in implementing fair living wages. The overall goal is to make it easier for suppliers to plan their capacity and thereby reduce production peaks and overtime. The company feels its purchasing practices should always provide reasonable lead times, fair pricing, timely payments and transparent communication. H&M is finalising tailor-made projects for industrial relations projects in Myanmar and Ethiopia.
In Bangladesh, H&M is hoping to get all of its supplier factories covered by its social dialogue program by the close of 2018. At present 88 factories are participating, 43 have elected participation committees, and the 580 committee worker representatives who have received training are now representing 108,303 workers.
www.hm.com/
Les Miller is to be promoted as the CEO of American & Efird (A&E), while the current CEO, Fred Jackson is to retire and would be elevated as non-executive chairman of A&E's Board of Directors. A&E made the announcement recently and both would step into their new roles from September 28, 2015.
Since almost two decades, Fred Jackson has acted as the CEO of A&E and achieved tremendous growth. A&E turned into a global supplier of premium thread under Jackson’s vision and leadership, achieving record revenues, and strengthening the company's culture of continuous improvement and focus on safety and sustainability. Besides, three transformative acquisitions reached completion successfully in China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Also, Gütermann, which is the fourth largest company in the global thread industry, was an extremely accretive acquisition under Jackson’s leadership. A&E thus, was able to expand its footprint, diversify its end-markets, and enhance its ability to serve customers globally.
Since February 2008, Les Miller has served as Chief Operating Officer and led A&E Global Sales as Senior Vice President. A&E believes that Miller embodies the company’s core values and possesses the skills and experience to successfully lead the company into the future.
The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has received a poor response in the fourth cotton tender as only two bids were submitted for procurement of 4,600 bales against the offered quantity of 88,600 bales. The state-run grain trader is facing difficulties in offloading cotton, procured on federal government directives during the last season to support farmers and stabilise prices in the domestic market. So far, cumulatively, TCP has conducted four tenders for the sale of 95,400 cotton bales of which two tenders were scrapped by the state-run grain trader as bids were lower than the reserve price.
Some 10,800 cotton bales have been sold through the remaining two tenders. In response to the fourth tender, opened on August 31, 2015, only two parties participated and submitted five offers for procurement of 4,600 cotton bales against the offered quantity of 88,600 bales.
TCP is likely to issue a fresh tender for the sale of the remaining 84,600 cotton bales as any delay in the sale of the commodity will increase losses. In November last year, TCP procured some 95,400 bales from ginners. However, presently it is compelled to offload these stocks at lower prices due to the lower price trend in domestic and international markets. The Federal government has pledged to pay the price difference in procurement and sale of the commodity.
For nearly two months China has been having daily auctions of its huge cotton reserves. But only a fraction of the stocks have been sold. The reason: high pricing and a slowing of economy. With sufficient inventory still available in the market and state auction prices relatively high, mills largely stayed away. Discounts would have risked pushing down market prices and led to increased costs for the government under a new subsidy scheme that has replaced stockpiling.
The poor auction results raise questions about how the government will get rid of the rest of its stock. Both yields and quality of China’s new crop, expected to start harvesting soon, are better than last year and prices are likely to be lower than the sales price set in the latest auctions. If prices remain relatively low, reserves would be under pressure to reduce their selling price in any future sales, increasing already substantial losses on the fiber that was bought at prices well above the market.
Beijing had been under pressure to release stocks to recover part of the cost accrued while building a stockpile of around 11 million tons of cotton under a now-abandoned state buying scheme to support farmers.
The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), for the year 2015-16 is set to get a new chairman, Shehzad Ali Khan from Muzaffargarh district, who, it’s anticipated would be elected unopposed as no other candidate has filed their candidature for this slot. Haji Muhammad Akram, Chairman of Ginners Group thanked the ginners' community for reposing confidence into the Group and unopposed election of 15 members of the central executive of PCGA against the 15 vacant seats.
Sarfra Nazim Awan, Sheikh Muhammad Saeed, Aasim Saeed Sheikh, along with group member Khan and others, addressed a press conference recently. Khan said that PCGA Ginner Group have swept all vacant seats, 15 in all of Central Executive Committee (CEC consecutively for eight times in a row.
The other names are: Khawaja Muhammad Arshad Muzaffargarh, Chaudhry Qaiser Mehmood (Rahim Yar Khan), Qadar Bakhsh (Shujabad)Suhail Mehmood Haral(Lodhran), Malik Muhammad Naeem (Mianwali), Chaudhry Abdul Sattar (Bahawalpur), Malik Nazim Awan (Bahawalpur), Muhammad Arshad (Hasilpur), Girdari Lal (Sangarh) Fazal Elahi (Multan), Lado Mal (Sukkur) Bhagwan Das (Hyderabad), Sheikh Ashfaq Ahmed (Burewala), Chaudhry Muhammad Akbar (Chichawatni), and Ali Chauhan(Sahiwal).
Pakistan's investors, who set up textile manufacturing units in free trade zones of Tajikistan, can hire 40 per cent of the workforce from their home country. There are five free trade zones in Tajikistan with lucrative incentives, Pakistani investors can import textile machinery without any taxes or duties. Tajikistan, where 93 per cent of the land constitutes hilly areas with a population equal to that of Faisalabad, is a gateway to other Central Asian states. Tajikistan is rich in gas and electricity and will provide electricity to Pakistan.
Until 2007, trade between Pakistan and Tajikistan was restricted but now it is growing satisfactorily with room for a quantum jump in future. Tajikistan imports 60 to 70 per cent of its medicines from Pakistan. During the Soviet era, a big textile unit was set up in Tajikistan to cater to the huge demand from the Soviet Union. This unit has now become redundant, but new and small units are being established to meet the needs of the domestic market. Businessmen and industrialists from Pakistan have been invited to set up textile units in Tajikistan. Pakistan and Tajikistan aim to establish direct contacts in order to encourage trade and tap the potential between the two countries.
The Woolmark Company's stand at SpinExpo Shanghai will be showcasing ‘The Wool Lab Autumn/Winter 2016-17’ and latest innovations in Merino wool from September 1 to 3, 2015.
The company is focusing on three key pillars of innovation: touch, technique and texture. Examples of the three directions include warp-knit fabrics which extend the range of options for using Merino wool in sports, casualwear and business casuals and knitted denim with a choice of circular knit, seamless or flat-bed knitting, Merino Retract knitwear that looks like boiled wool but has the resilience and pilling performance of normal wool and Mottled Merino is a special yarn which has been created by randomly mixing untreated and anti-felt treated regions within the yarn to create a highly textured and mottled aspect after milling.
On September 2, The Woolmark Company is hosting two seminars in at the event venue. At 11am, The Wool Lab AW16/17 will be presented to attendees, showcasing a collection of inspirational themes to inspire and influence trends dedicated to the upcoming AW16/17 season. The Wool Lab is an innovative seasonal guide to the best wool fabrics and yarns in the world. It connects designers with manufacturers through technical skills, know-how and passion. At 2pm, the company will present a seminar on Merino innovations.
www.woolmark.com
