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"The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) celebrated the achievement of its member exporters at theirannual awards presentationrecently. The Minister of Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smriti Irani, in a video message to the industry, complimented the award winners to keep up the good work in the sector. Thee Textiles Commissioner, Dr.Kavita Gupta was the Chief Guest at the function."
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) celebrated the achievement of its member exporters at theirannual awards presentationrecently. The Minister of Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smriti Irani, in a video message to the industry, complimented the award winners to keep up the good work in the sector. Thee Textiles Commissioner, Dr.Kavita Gupta was the Chief Guest at the function.
Ujwal Lahoti, Chairman, Texprocil congratulated all the award winners for facing the challenges of a slow global demand and intense price pressures to emerge leaders in their respective line of businesses during 2016-17.
The Chairman complimented Smriti Irani for her untiring efforts in conducting extensive consultations with all the stakeholders from time to time to understand the issues faced by the textiles industry.
He said that she was instrumental in the inclusion of made ups under the ROSL scheme which was originally introduced to cover only readymade garments and also thanked her for keeping the entire cotton textiles sector at the GST rate of 5 per cent and for reducing the GST rate on job work in the textile sector to 5per cent.
Lahoti mentioned that the Government recently increased the ROSL rate for cotton made ups from 1.55per cent to 2.20per cent and also the entitlement of the duty credit scrips on export of made ups from 2per cent to 4per cent under the MEIS. These measures will enable made ups exporters to partially overcome the disadvantage which they are facing in leading markets like the EU and the US versus products from some of the competing nations which enjoy zero duty access,
However he added that delays in GST refunds are leading to serious working capital and financial problems for many of the textiles units in addition to the procedural and compliance issues.
Lahoti stated that cotton yarn was one single product for which there were no benefits under the FTP 2015-20. He urged the government to include cotton yarn under the MEIS and 3per cent Interest Equalization Scheme.
Dr Kavita Gupta, amongst other points, stressed the fact that the industry should focus on technical textiles as it still remained a vastly unexplored segment in the textile sector. She added that the government’s support through various schemes like the recent increase in MEIS should spur the industry to spiral towards healthy growth.
The coveted highest global exports platinum trophy was presented to Welspun Global Brands Ltd. Other recipients of the Awards included Vardhman Textiles, Trident Ltd., Alok Industries, Arvind Ltd, Loyal Textiles, Premier Mills, Lahoti Overseas among others.
Mozambique has a goal of becoming the first country in the world to produce 100 per cent Better Cotton.
The country is working with the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) to take its domestic cotton sector to the next level with additional economic and environmental efforts. BCI’s presence provides a host of benefits for Mozambique’s cotton sector—including providing cotton producers access to new markets, collaborating with local cotton organizations for optimal production and upgrading concession holders’ extension services for farmers.
Mozambique is a cotton production hub. Cotton remains a crucial industry to Mozambique—contributing to roughly one-fifth of the nation’s agricultural exports.
With BCI, Mozambique’s cotton producers can establish new market relationships that reduce price volatility risk. Additionally, BCI will enable cotton producers, local cotton organizations and international bodies to work together on minimizing the cotton sector’s carbon footprint.
BCI also has a capacity building program in Mozambique that monitors the nation’s cotton supply chain. Rather than check cotton compliance standards through licensing, BCI invests in capacity building by upgrading concession holders’ extension services and providing farmers with training to meet the Better Cotton standard. National associations, government bodies and cotton companies will also receive training on BCI’s Better Cotton system, so they may apply more sustainable cotton practices on a national scale.
Major fashion brands are moving away from using animal fur and creating fashionable clothing with other materials.
Fashion brand Michael Kors will phase out the use of fur by the end of 2018.
Due to technological advances in fabrications, it now has the ability to create a luxe aesthetic using non-animal fur. It will showcase these new techniques in its upcoming runway show in February.
Michael Kors owns Jimmy Choo.
Gucci too plans to stop using fur from 2018, following the same decision by Armani. Gucci’s move to go fur-free is part of its commitment to sustainability. Being socially responsible is one of Gucci’s core values, and it will continue to strive to do better for the environment and animals.
Today's consumers want fashionable, luxurious clothing and accessories that also align with their social values.
There is an increasing amount of real fur being sold either mislabeled or not labeled at all as real fur in the last couple of years in the UK.
Four types of animal fur are being sold on the British high street despite being marketed as fake fur. Items most consistent with rabbit, raccoon, dog, mink and cat are being mis-sold to consumers as faux fur.
In the first six months of this financial year, cotton yarn exports from India declined ten per cent. Withdrawal of export incentives for cotton yarn has reduced India’s competitive edge by increasing prices to the tune of five or six per cent.
The country exports almost 20 per cent of its cotton produced. In 2013-14, spinning mills took advantage of the two per cent incremental export incentive, two per cent interest subvention, and three per cent focus market incentive. In 2014, these incentives were withdrawn and cotton yarn exports in 2016-17 registered a 26 per cent decline in value terms.
During the current cotton season, prices might touch minimum support price levels as production is expected to be high.
The textile industry has one of the highest levels of non-performing assets. When exports benefits such as Merchandise Exports from India Scheme and Interest Equalisation Scheme were introduced, all segments of the textile value chain were covered except cotton yarn. Thus cotton yarn exports to China dropped.
The three per cent IES benefit is essential to maintain six to nine months’ cotton inventory and to ensure consistency in quality of yarn supplied. The industry has asked for restoration of MEIS and IES benefits for cotton yarn.
Basic customs duty on manmade fabrics has been increased from ten per cent to 25 per cent.
Import of fabrics, especially from China, has seen a sharp increase post-GST at almost 30 per cent. But the manmade fabric and yarn industry in India is affected by cheaper imports from China, Indonesia, Thailand and North Korea, where the fabric industry is subsidized substantially to increase their share of fabric in the world textile trade. Moreover, Indian fabric manufacturers have no protection from FTA countries that have been importing fabrics from China, Indonesia and Pakistan and selling garments made from such fabrics to India.
Over Rs 5,000 crores worth of undervalued fabrics are imported from China and other countries to India per annum. The import of cheap and undervalued fabrics has resulted in the closure of 40 per cent of power looms in the textile hubs of Surat, Itchalkaranji, Malegaon, Bhiwandi, Burhanpur, Varanasi, Salem and Erode. The situation of Banarasi weavers is very pitiable as imported silk fabric is quite cheap than what is manufactured by Banarasi weavers.
Surat’s power loom weavers manufacture four crore meters of fabrics per day, which has been reduced to 1.5 crore meters a day post-GST. Around 95,000 power loom machines have been sold in scrap and more than 50,000 textile workers rendered jobless.
The Japanese brand Evisu for spring/summer 2018 launches the Evisukuro line, a trendy collection combining fashion and athleisure David Pun, founder and CEO, Evisu Group discloses that their spring/summer 2018 season will see Evisu incorporating more streetwear-inspired elements, blurring the line between grown-ups and young people.
Pun enumerates, high-end tops will complement high-street jeans for a fun style that’s easy and carefree and fashion will become sportier. Denim will move into a more contemporary mood with items such as sweatshirts and T-shirts. “Denim items will lean towards 1990s nostalgia, while bomber jackets will be infused with East-Asian intricacy.”
The brand’s founder is of the view that athleisure isn’t going anywhere any time soon. This season, the Evisukuro collection features a mix of dressing styles where premium meets casual and sports meets fashion to sport a contemporary urban look. “It’s all about labelling, repetitive bold logos and symbolic signs,” he adds.
Over the past 16 years, Evisu has expanded from denim products to other fashion and lifestyle categories, including eyewear and crossover items with brands such as Zippo, KTZ and Champion.
Pun attributes Evisu’s success to its strong brand equity. “The brand DNA is all about ‘irreverent coolness, craftsmanship and tongue-in-cheek twist’. We focus on these three elements and embody them into the design of our products and marketing campaigns.” The brand’s founder shares insights, “irreverent coolness” refers to the true Evisu spirit – daring to move away from traditional ideas and to be bold with its own style, without compromising on quality and design.
Discussing “craftsmanship” he notes that, Evisu jeans are made of selvedge denim using original methods and authentic details in every part of the production process. “The key of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ is how we collaborate with iconic brands or [adopt] trends to create some fun, just like the jokes about McDonald’sand Ikea on social media lately. We apply our own touch of humour,” he adds.
“What we offer our customers is individuality, identity and lifestyle. This also helps differentiate us because not every brand is this bold and colourful. We are unique and we will continue to stay,” he adds.
H&M has reported the biggest drop in quarterly sales in at least a decade.
Fewer customers are visiting its flagship locations, leading the company to pare expansion plans and consider closures. The stock fell as much as 16 per cent, the steepest intraday decline since March 2001.
Sales excluding value-added tax fell four per cent in the three months through November. Sales have declined in only three quarters in the past ten years.
Almost 15 per cent of H&M’s free float -- the shares that are readily available to trade -- has been shorted. In a short sale, investors borrow shares and sell them in the hope that they decline, allowing them to repurchase them more cheaply and pocket the price difference as profit.
H&M’s supply chain lacks reactivity, which is one of the group’s structural issues in front of abrupt changes in fashion. The company aims to accelerate a transformation plan to better integrate physical and digital stores.
H&M had planned a net addition of 385 stores this year, which includes 90 closures. The company had also aimed at having online sales in 43 markets by year-end.
A crisis that’s shuttered shopping malls in the US is spreading to other parts of the world, hitting H&M’s earnings and forcing the retailer to cut prices to clear out inventory.
Over the last three months Ethiopia’s earnings from textile and garment exports have been growing.
The growth of the textile industries has triggered the expansion of cotton farming by public, private sector and small scale farmers. Currently, cotton is being farmed on a total of 42,000 hectares of land.
Foreign investment is flowing in thanks to the prevalence of peace and stability, availability of abundant cheap labor, plenty of cheap energy from hydro power and flourishing industrial parks all over the country.
Thanks to the enabling investment environment foreign companies are injecting their money, technology, experience as well as skills into the sector. In addition, foreign investors are encouraged through the provision of various incentives including tax holidays, tax free capital goods imports, custom services provision on the spot and easy access to financial credit.
The world number one US textile industry known as HDM has installed its factory in Hawassa Industrial Park creating 10,000 jobs and expected to create many more jobs in the coming years. Most graduates from technical colleges would benefit from these job opportunities.
Cotton traders at Enumamula Market yard in Warangal on Friday protested against the reverse charge mechanism (RCM) on cotton under the GST regime. They pressurised officials to discuss the issue at the next GST Council meeting on December 21 or they would intensified protests.
To this effect, they called for a ‘bandh’ at the market following a directive given by cotton associations across the country. Traders questioned why cotton was chosen despite it being a non-edible commodity that can be traced till its last form of existence for realisation of taxes, unlike edible commodities.
The traders said the instant notification has been issued without proper assessment of its working results and its effects on the cotton trade. They urged the government to consider the reactions to the introduction of GST act over the past two months and various issues, sweeping changes brought about that never seen in history over the implementation of any other fiscal system or policy in the country.
B Ravinder Reddy, President of the Telangana cotton millers and traders welfare association averred,“A move to introduce a fresh point of levy does not go well, as can be seen from the protests going on in different parts of the county. The displeasure is exhibited with ‘bandh’ calls. In this case, it will hit the farmers as the price of cotton will be affected. The government and the trading community must work together to keep the farmers’ interests at the forefront and keep them on a happy pedestal, but with limitations.
“The move to levy tax on purchase will block working capital of trader, in the first instance and later even if he is eligible for possible refund, when export is made, it does not help him as it is a time-tested factor that refunds do not come at a proper time stated or mentioned but has to cross various unsavory hurdles,” he added.
The traders sent a letter to the Finance Minister, Etela Rajender asking him to intervene in the present situation and resolve issues amicably.
Official forecasts of US and world cotton ending stocks have got tighter. A 3,40,000 month-over-month increase in foreign consumption, most of which was in India, reinforced the tightening of the world balance sheet. The bottom line was a large 2.88 million bale reduction in 2017-18 world ending stocks. Such an adjustment would be price supportive.
The December revisions to 2017-18 US cotton continued a trend of modest adjustments to US production and ending stocks. On the supply side, the all-cotton national average yield was raised slightly to a record 902 pounds per acre. This resulted in a 63,000 bale net increase in US production.
US exports were raised 3,00,000 bales month-over-month, presumably to jibe with the historically fast pace of total export commitments of US cotton. The upward revision of US exports made up for the downward adjustments in foreign production. After slightly adjusting the unaccounted fudge factor, projected US ending stocks declined from 6.1 to 5.8 million bales, month over month.
The reduction in supply on the Indian subcontinent is in keeping with recent news reports and speculation about lower production there, so this outcome was probably expected by many traders and analysts.
The holidays are generally not known for tightening. Wallets get lighter. Beltlines get wider.
