FW
After wielding intense pressure against a Bangladesh apparel maker over assaults on union leaders outside its factories, Western companies have agreed to resume business with the manufacturer, on the condition that it stays committed to halting further violence and make peace with its labor unions. VF Corp, which makes North Face and Nautica, and PVH, the parent of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as Gap, El Corte Ingles, and other companies had cut off or threatened to cut off orders from the company, Azim Group, last year over incidents at two of its factories in Chittagong.
But after weeks of negotiations, these companies have agreed to resume business with Azim because it has promised to recognize and bargain with the unions at the two factories where the violence occurred. The Azim Group has also agreed to stop efforts to oust a labor union, to pay the medical bills of a badly beaten union leader, and to allow several union officials to return to work with full back pay.
This is the first time brands have taken such a concerted action in response to the use of violence against trade unions in Bangladesh. In another incident a woman who was an union president was beaten on the head with an iron rod outside a factory that is also owned by the Azim Group.
Information Technology (IT) has created at least 40,000 jobs in the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh. This indicates the extent to which digitalization has given a boost to the biggest export earning sector of the country.
During the last one year Bangladesh has produced IT engineers and developed an IT network to provide jobs in the readymade garment sector. The old system is no more capable of handling the huge volume of activities involved in this sector.
The plan is to cover the entire sector within the IT network. As international markets are run by IT technologies, digitalization of the readymade garment trade would enable the country to further enhance apparel exports. The necessary legal frameworks have been created to introduce e-commerce and e-payment in limited areas to deliver the services in an easier, transparent and accountable manner. Measures have also been taken to introduce electronic money order and mobile cash card. With the beginning of mobile banking service, more than 1.5 crore clients have been receiving the service.
IT enables faster processes. It has been found in the automobile industry that a car that can be made in three months can with the help of IT be made in an amazing 17 minutes.
Per unit export price of spun yarn was arrested in the month of January as the month witnessed around 115 million kg of all kinds of spun yarns worth Rs 2,470 crore exported from the country implying per unit realization of $2.98 per kg, US cents 3 higher than December 2014 and 38 US cents lower than January 2014 figures. Last year, shipments were down 13 per cent while earnings in dollar term fell 23 per cent implying a 11 per cent fall in unit price realisation, as the Rupee depreciated 0.6 per cent against the dollar in the concerned months. Total 89 countries imported spun yarns from India during the month. China continued to top the list with 29 per cent lower than the value of export last year. Bangladesh was the second largest importer of Indian yarn but with reduced imports from India by 11 per cent in value and 3 per cent in terms of volumes. Egypt, the third largest importer of spun yarns in January, pushed down Turkey and South Korea which have reduced imports from India.
The fastest growing markets in January for Indian spun yarn exports were Chile, Yemen, Uganda, Australia and Venezuela with only 1.2 per cent of total exports. Oman, Botswana, Denmark, Slovakia and Serbia and Montenegro did not import any yarns from India while Hungary, France, Russia, Djibouti and Ukraine have reduced their imports from India considerably in January this year. The major new destinations for Indian spun yarns were Honduras, Cuba, El Salvador, Panama and Paraguay with US$1.13 million worth of spun yarns in January.
The man-made fibre spun yarn exports in January was up both in terms of volume and value. A total of 6.87 million kg of man-made spun yarn were exported during the month.
Textile and tanner industries in East Africa are set for a revival as East African Community member states have agreed to set up a mechanism that will promote growth and protection of the two industries. The region is committed to utilizing effectively the potential in textiles and skins and hides to reduce dependence on imports of second hand clothes and shoes.
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional inter-governmental organisation consisting of the republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda with its headquarters in Tanzania.
The EAC’s vision is a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa and its mission is to widen and deepen economic, political, social and cultural integration in order to improve the quality of life of the people of east Africa through increased competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments.
The EAC aims at widening and deepening co-operation among partner states, among others, political, economic and social fields for their mutual benefit. To this extent the EAC countries established a customs union in 2005 and a common market in 2010.
The next phase of the integration will see the block enter into a monetary union and ultimately become a political federation of the east African states.
The Ptak Expo held in Poland from February 18 to 20, 2015 is a fashion fair held twice a year. The event showcased fashion, apparel, ready-to-wear clothing, footwear, bags, garments, accessories, textiles, fabrics, leather, machinery and equipment.
It also had conferences and trainings, creative workshops, panel discussions, fashion shows, new technology shows. Visitor included exhibitors, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, professional buyers, importers and distributors of clothes, footwear and accessories from all over the world.
Poland has a long history of garment production. However, for the past few years, the industry has been systematically shrinking. The majority of Polish garment factories cater to export orders. However, the cost of production is high in Poland compared to other countries, especially in Asia.
Negligible investment in the Polish textile industry over a decade had reduced its competitiveness in the international market. The textile and fashion industries will receive state help to promote exports. Subsidies will be paid to coalitions of two or three firms engaged in exports.
There are 17,000 firms in the textile and clothing industries employing some 1,50,000 people, making Poland the EU’s eighth largest market in terms of sales. Poland plans to showcase its fashion and textiles at this year’s Milan expo.
www.ptakexpo.com/en/
Cotton prices in the US have gained 13 per cent since touching a five and a half year low as the US had been selling more of the fiber overseas. Growers would likely plant more acres with cotton this spring than an industry group had previously projected. US growers are expected to plant 9.7 million acres of cotton this year, down 12 per cent from last year. They will devote more area to soyabean and sorghum.
Cancellations for existing orders outnumbered new sales. It was a turnaround for the US, the world’s largest cotton exporter. A major factor in the slide in net export sales was order cancellations by Turkey totaling nearly 95,000 bales. The world is already struggling with a glut in cotton. Global stockpiles are expected to reach a record 109.84 million bales at the end of the current season.
Since the world is awash in cotton the fundamental direction of the market should be down. At the same time, the demand picture continues to weaken, as China looks set to reduce imports. So the picture is one of plenty of production but limited demand potential. World stocks are equivalent to nearly a year’s worth of consumption.
The Telangana government is planning to provide timely help and financial assistance to weavers and workers in the handloom sector. The aim is to empower the weavers’ community and help them attain self-sufficiency in a couple of years.
Telangana has decided to waive loans of power loom weavers to the tune of Rs 5 crores. Due to insufficient earnings and fluctuations in the market, power loom weavers have become defaulters to banks. The government is planning to offer requisite training to handloom workers and weavers to polish their professional skills. A plan to offer them training is on the cards to ensure that the products are sold online.
Telangana has some of the famous handloom centers in the country. Efforts are on to modernise power loom and handloom centers in the state. The state is working on the idea of helping weavers export their handloom products. The Centre has been requested to establish mega power loom clusters.
In Sircilla there are 36,000 power looms and over 50,000 weavers. Sircilla in Karimnagar district once competed with top textile centers in the country such as Solapur and Surat. A few months back power loom weavers of Sircilla went on a strike demanding an increase in wages.
Colorjet India, a leading manufacturer of digital inkjet textile printers will have live demonstrations of its latest direct to fabric printer for customised home furnishing textiles called Fabjet Grand at GTE 2015 which starts from February 28, 2015 in New Delhi.
The launch of the Fabjet Grand which in four models in different heads and colour options, signals the company’s move towards capturing the market for customised digital textile printers across the globe. This machine is a perfect solution to print directly on various types of fabrics for short run and customised design printing for the home furnishing business. It is also an excellent industrial solution for mass production of home furnishing textiles.
Fabjet Grand is targeted at customised home furnishing textile segment, particularly for producers of home décor products like curtains, bed covers and sofa covers which are directly printed on cotton and polyester based fabrics and uses environmental friendly aqueous based pigment inks. The printer delivers high productivity, since it has two heads per colour in staggered position, which increases production and also has an extremely high practical printing speed enabling high daily printing volumes and outstanding run-ability for overnight printing without banding and colour deflection.
The Fabjet Grand features a proprietary AIVC technology for consistent print performance by maintaining constant jetting conditions even in varying environmental conditions and offers excellent print life with eye-catching colours for uniquely finished fabric. It has an automated feed and a take up system, synchronised with tension bars for long unattended print runs on various types of fabric. It operates via a pneumatics control-based tension-bar on media feed and take up, to ensure consistent tension on fabric and adjusts automatically based on the type of fabrics being used.
It also has an automatic wiping system which wipes excess ink and dust from the print head surface. The capping station prevents inks from drying inside the print head when printer is not in use for long time and also protects the head from accumulating dust, which might cause damage to the print head. There are advanced dither patterns for photo-realistic output, fully customised printer settings for enhanced print results, smoother gradations and vibrant colours for superior print quality and inbuilt ICC profiles for various media and print modes.
Founded in 2004, Colorjet India is the fastest growing wide format digital inkjet print technology company. The company operates through two manufacturing facilities located in India and China and sales offices spread across seven countries, which include China, Sri Lanka, UAE and India. To-date, Colorjet has installed and implemented 3,750 of its printing solutions and products across 315 cities around the world. www.colorjetindia.com
Italian fashion brand United Colors of Benetton has agreed to provide compensation through the Rana Plaza Trust Fund, established in 2014, to support the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy and their families. Benetton is working with an independent, globally recognized third party to define the amount of compensation, which will be announced around April 24.
The company’s first step was launching its own support group in partnership with a Bangladesh-based global nongovernmental organization, BRAC, one month after the tragedy. This move has helped support 280 victims and family members in rebuilding a sustainable future. Benetton noted that this step in support of Rana Plaza victims is part of a larger social commitment program by the group. The Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh collapsed in April 2013 killing 1,132 garment workers and injuring more than 2,500. The incident highlighted the plight of millions of low-paid workers making clothes around the world and kicked off a string of efforts to improve conditions in Bangladesh.
Benetton is the last of the major retailers who sourced from the eight-floor building to back the fund. So far 5,000 people – injured workers and families of the deceased – have received 40 per cent of the money due to them.
Cotton farmers in Telengana are caught between the devil and the deep sea. First, they had to confront prolonged dry spell which not only escalated the input expenditure of cotton cultivation, but also halved their produce compared to last year. Now they are having problems with the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), which was ostensibly established to protect their interests by ensuring remunerative prices.
With no remunerative price in sight, unlike last year, where the price went up to as high as Rs 6,000 a quintal, farmers have had to resort to the CCI’s minimum support price offer of Rs 4,050 a quintal this season. CCI procurement centers are rejecting farmers’ produce on the grounds of high moisture content. As per CCI norms, the moisture content in kapas should be between eight and 12 per cent.
So many farmers approach commission agents or middlemen. They rely on these agents for finance to carry out their farming. All the hardwork of farmers who incur an expenditure of Rs 25,000 per acre, ends up in the hands of middlemen. So far the market has received 14.63 lakh quintals of kapas this season. The average quantity received is around 20 lakh quintals.
