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Asia Pacific exporters are deeply concerned about a fall in business largely due to an increase in US protectionist measures and their potential for triggering a trade war with Asian countries.
The turnover will decline ten to 20 per cent due to uncertainty over any changes in trade agreements.
The worries come up at a year, 2018, when global GDP growth has been forecast to accelerate to 3.2 per cent – the strongest annual expansion since 2011.
More than half of the suppliers in China are pessimistic about potential export turnover losses due to the introduction of trade barriers such as tariffs or targeted restrictions.
The opinions of Chinese suppliers are shared by those in Indonesia (65 per cent), Taiwan (48 per cent) and Hong Kong (47 per cent). These are all economies with deeply intertwined trade relationships with China.
Suppliers focusing on domestic trade, however, consider the introduction of international trade barriers to be an opportunity for growth.
Despite concerns over the impact of protectionist trends on the Asia Pacific trade outlook, countries in the region are striving to reinforce trade ties with the rest of the world, increasingly turning to Australia for economic and trade cooperation.
This may explain why most Australian suppliers do not expect a negative impact on their businesses’ turnover in the coming months. Japanese suppliers share the same optimistic view.
Demand for textile colorants is anticipated to remain steady on account of growing applications in apparel and automotive industries.
Demand is anticipated to remain higher in developing countries, owing to low labor costs and infrastructure development.
By fiber type, cotton remains the largest segment, followed by nylon and polyester. Among other fiber types, acrylic is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR. Among these, reactive dye accounts for the highest volume share of the market. Demand for acid dye, the second largest dye type, is expected to reach 586,000 tons.
On the basis of product form, the global textile colorant market has been segmented into powder, granules, paste, and liquid. Among these, demand for textile colorants in powder form is the highest. By application, the market has been segmented into apparels, household, technical textiles, automotive, and accessories.
Asia Pacific excluding Japan remains the largest market for textile colorants globally. China remains the largest consumer of textile colorants in APEJ. China’s textile colorants market is anticipated to grow at 5.2 per cent in terms of value during the forecast period.
Asia Pacific accounted for a 53 per cent revenue share of the global textile market in 2014.
Leading companies are Huntsman, Archroma, DyStar and Dye Systems.
"To tap the burgeoning logistics industry, Apparel Connect 2018, a conference on Apparel logistics, was held on May 17, 2018 in New Delhi. The one –day conference provided an excellent knowledge sharing and networking platform to over 150 plus logistics and apparel industry professionals. Speaking on the growing importance of logistics industry in India, Sanjay Jain, President, CITI said, “Logistics has, over these years, been changing trade dynamics both back home and globally. Especially the advent of GST has been a catalyst in putting spotlight on logistics and this forum will only underscore this underlying fundamental."
To tap the burgeoning logistics industry, Apparel Connect 2018, a conference on Apparel logistics, was held on May 17, 2018 in New Delhi. The one –day conference provided an excellent knowledge sharing and networking platform to over 150 plus logistics and apparel industry professionals. Speaking on the growing importance of logistics industry in India, Sanjay Jain, President, CITI said, “Logistics has, over these years, been changing trade dynamics both back home and globally. Especially the advent of GST has been a catalyst in putting spotlight on logistics and this forum will only underscore this underlying fundamental.”
The conference was broadly divided into four sessions to discuss every aspect of the apparel supply chain.
Delineating the supply chain
The first session pondered over international logistics. The discussions centered around the impact and channels
of distribution, the economic impact of logistics and SCM on channels of distribution, fashion retail logistics and SCM, global risk, disruption and supply chain security, custom clearance and fluctuation in freight rates.
The second session focused on the importance of sticking to on time delivery through logistics besides developing an efficient supply chain to reduce production time. As Vijay Mathur, Chairman, Global Skill Management pointed out, “Zara (Inditex) in its recent annual report mentioned as many as 173 times the word 'logistics’ and some good 218 times about the 'supply chain'. Not only that, its chairman who is a global icon uttered four times the magic world logistics in his personal address. This underscores the prominence today logistics function takes in any given global apparel organisation.”
The third session revolved around how to make the current supply chain structure future ready along with managing offshoring and outsourcing. As Anil Verma, President, Delhi Exporters Association explained, “Ease of doing business factor will surely go a long way in making us more competitive. But critically speaking, still there is a lot of elbow room available to make it more industry friendly and efficient.”
The last session of the conference dwelt on the need for maximising warehousing capacity and locating distribution facilities near major metropolitan areas to meet the demand for tighter deliveries.
Effective solutions
Vandana Agarwal, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, who was the chief guest at the event, sought industry feedback on where policy/regulatory environment is falling short of expectations. The participants emphasized on the need for a single window clearance system “To augment in some sense more competitiveness to textile and apparel industry fiercely vying within the competitive space,” said Satya Prasad Sahu, Commissioner Excise & Customs (Single Window).
A panel addressed the pressing issues of apparel exports and apparel supply chain. Professionals from logistics service provider (LSP) companies, apparel exporters, freight forwarders, textile associations brain stormed on ways to make efficient and cost-effective apparel supply chain a reality for the segment to be a high-margin profit business. As HKL Magu, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council, special guest at the event, emphatically remarked “the logistic cost has to attain uniformity and stability, which is the unsaid duty of logistic players who in turn inevitably need to get in dialogue with aviation players”
Among the prominent attendees were: Om Logistics (Logistics Partner), Triway Container Freight Station (Registration Partner), Gati-Kintetsu Express (Associate Partner), Spoton Logistics (Souvenir Partner), Safexpress (Networking Partner) and Skyways Group (Lanyard Partner) while KerryIndev Logistics, Gati-Kintetsu Express, Namaste India Aviation and Perfect Express Movers.
The Woolmark Company will celebrate Wool Week from May 24 at 39 centres across Australia and New Zealand celebrating the growers who produce the fibre and the designers who use it.
Westfield will join the campaign as a major partner, releasing its wool-focused winter campaign. Nine centres of the company across Australia and New Zealand will host events and activations including extreme knitting workshops, visual merchandise displays showcasing retailer wool product, interior design workshops, and fashion exhibitions.
Westfield Sydney will host artist, Natalie Miller, who’ll create a live knitting installation, whilst Westfield Doncaster will showcase a collection of International Woolmark Prize garments, in a celebration of the world’s best emerging fashion designers. The event aims to reconnect consumers with the versatility and natural benefits of Australian wool and encourages conscious purchasing decisions.
Canton Fair was held in China, April 15 to May 5. Chinese textile and garment products recorded a 4.1 per cent year-on-year sales increase and accounted for 4.7 per cent of the total volume of transactions at the event.
Many textile and garment companies that attended this session of the Canton Fair had developed new environmental-friendly and high-quality textile fabrics, demonstrated technical prowess, and improved their support services to meet the demands of the international market.
The fair helped companies communicate with global suppliers. It helped them understand industry trend and differentiations among products, get to associate with valuable partners, and convert competing relationships to partnerships through service segmentation.
Vendors in attendance demonstrated advanced manufacturing and customization capabilities, an ability to supply boutique and premium products, robust R&D programs and quick response to inquiries and comprehensive customer service support.
Chinese textile and garment exports are recovering at a very healthy pace. Exports of Chinese textile and garment products grew at a rate of 4.23 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of 2018. The textile sector achieved year-on-year growth of 11.37 per cent.
Innovate Textile & Apparel Americas, to be organised by World Textile Information Network (WTiN), will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina from May 1-3, 2019.
The event, organised in partnership with the North Carolina State University College of Textiles, will offer an in-depth exploration of digital technology, materials and business strategy, each in a self-contained one-day program.
It will include the Textile 4.0 Conference that will explore emerging digital business models and introduce the latest application opportunities in smart factory development, including robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and virtual or augmented reality.
An event titled Re:Think Materials that will provide expert technical insights for product developers, including market opportunities in connected textiles; conductive fiber and yarn; textiles for energy harvesting and storage; printed textile electronics; and the application possibilities of graphene and other ‘2D’ materials.
A presentation on textile Business Futures in conjunction with top textile and apparel industry consultants Gherzi will provide an intensive one-day introduction for C-level executives to learn about digital business strategy, risk management, return on investment, leadership and culture change.
Lenzing has invested in new capacities for Tencel Luxe filament yarn which was first launched on the market just a few months ago.
Basic engineering for construction of the new facility has already been initiated.
Thanks to Tencel Luxe, Lenzing is currently positioning itself in the premium luxury market and is embedding the issue of sustainability there in combination with superior aesthetics.
The fine filament yarn is comparable to natural silk due to its airy feeling on the skin and the matte finish. It is perfectly suited for very fine fabrics made exclusively from this yarn and as a blending partner with silk, cashmere and wool.
With Tencel Luxe filaments, luxury brands realized what opportunities they would have by using this yarn made of the renewable raw material wood.
For this reason, demand was already so high that Lenzing decided to take an intermediate step to expand capacities before building a large commercial production plant.
The decision to construct a new line will serve as the basis for generating a three-fold increase in capacity compared to the previous volume. The additional capacity will be available to customers at the end of next year.
As Lenzing's flagship brand in the textile sector, Tencel will grow beyond fiber types and functional characteristics. It will become a true consumer-focused brand with a promise of something more functional and emotional.
Turkish mill Isko is a member of the ZDHC Foundation. Isko joins forces with other 94 ZDHC contributors, a list including brands, value chain affiliates and associates, to protect consumers, workers and the environment.
This decision highlights the company’s commitment not to use harmful substances as a core part of its holistic Responsible Innovation vision.
Joining ZDHC, companies commit to leading the adoption and implementation of ZDHC tools, which include among others the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines, the ZDHC Gateway and the ZDHC MRSL.
The ZDHC roadmap to Zero Program aims to advance towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals in the textile, leather and footwear value chains.
Isko’s denim fabric collection is made with lower impact and alternative raw material options such as organic cotton, recycled cotton and recycled polyester from PET bottles. Isko is the only denim mill in the world to have been awarded both the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel.
The company has a production capacity of 250 million meters of fabric per year with 1,500 high-tech automated looms. Isko has a global presence, with offices in 35 countries. It’s part of the Sanko Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Turkey, active in a wide range of sectors from construction and energy, to packaging, financial services, health care and education.
According to the Readymade Garments Export Council, Europe has been allocated 30 percent of the Egyptian readymade garments’ exports.
The council plans to increase its ability to access the European market in cooperation with all export councils in Egypt, accelerating the completion of the Trade Ministry’s plan to increase Egyptian exports in accordance with the 2020 strategy.
The 2020 strategy was launched in November 2016 by Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil.
It includes five main components: industrial development, small and medium enterprise (SME) development and entrepreneurship, export development, training and technical education development, and corporate governance and development.
The strategy aims at increasing exports after strengthening the local industry. Exports recorded $22.4 billion in 2017, with an increase of $2 billion, while imports decreased $10 billion to $56 billion, compared to $66 billion in 2016.
Project Effective is a multi-company collaboration to produce more sustainable fibers and plastics for commercial use by using renewable feedstocks and biobased technologies.
With participation from 12 companies, including brands like H&M, Carvico, Vaude and Balsan, Project Effective is one of the broadest industrial-driven efforts to reshape entire product value chains and drive economic growth.
Project Effective includes 12 organizations from eight countries and extends across entire product value chains. Participants include renewable feedstock providers, conversion technologies, makers of intermediate and finished products, major consumer brands and recycling/reuse technologies.
One of the key objectives of Project Effective is to develop a more sustainable nylon, made from bio-based caprolactam produced using renewable feedstocks. The nylon will be validated by brands to make apparel and carpet textiles.
An advantage of Project Effective is the early involvement of major consumer brands, allowing them to contribute valuable customer- and industry-driven perspectives. This brand participation is expected to facilitate broader and faster adoption of sustainable technologies and products. Brands will better understand what monomers, polymers and sustainability initiatives are commercially available, enabling them to develop more effective plans with suppliers regarding bio-based ingredients and materials.
This consortium is an important step toward a more circular economy.
