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MCL Global and the European Outdoor Group have launched a website on textile regulations and standards. The content on the website is highly analytical and discusses subjects like the full range of third party voluntary textile standards, mandatory regulations, management standards, the key frameworks that impact sustainability and social compliance in the supply chain.
Written and designed by industry experts and leading textile journalists the website allows the textile supply chain to access key information on over 70 voluntary and mandatory global social, environmental textile standards and legal requirements. It combines the best elements of MCL Global’s well-known eco-textile labeling guide and EOG’s online SIGNS tool. This collaborative work is now accessible to the textile, sports and outdoor industry at large.
The original SIGNS online platform was created back in 2011 by EOG members with the intent of closing an information and knowledge gap that existed in the industry.
In addition, MCL Global will publish a snapshot of the on-line content, which will also be available to subscribers in the form of an 84 page printed booklet. The most impressive aspect of the online resource is that all information is available at one place and is completely searchable by different criteria. It keeps an eye on changes and updates them within 24 hours.
It’s doubtful if the proposed free trade agreement with Thailand will bring Pakistan much benefits. Historically, such agreements have failed to give favorable terms to Pakistani exporters. Several high potential export items received no concessions under FTAs with China, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Following the free trade agreement, Pakistan’s imports from Thailand will increase to $1.71 billion while Pakistan’s exports will increase to a paltry $160 million, pushing the trade deficit to $1.54 billion. Pakistan’s exports to Thailand without the FTA have hovered around $109 to $118 million in the last four years.
Pakistan’s top 50 high potential export items represent a total trade potential of $2.8 billion for the Thailand market. It is another matter that the potential was not exploited by Pakistan’s exporters as about 38 per cent of these high potential items are already tariff exempted by Thailand. So the FTA may not bring much benefit to Pakistan. Thailand’s high potential exports to Pakistan are not capital goods, but consumer goods, making the potential trade deficit that will come about after the FTA harder to justify. It may impact the domestic consumer industry more severely.
One problem is that Pakistan has failed to secure concessions, where other countries have either got zero or very low duties.
Industry sources say that the Chinese government is in talks with the textile and cotton industry players to get rid of rising cotton inventories in the domestic market to lower process and reduce imports.
Beijing is said to be sitting on around 11 million tons of cotton stocks, about half of the global total, after a three-year stockpiling programme aimed at supporting farmers. However, after it announced roll-back of its cotton stockpiling policy, the government is under pressure to get rid of the ageing stockpile, which loses its value over time. The government, last year sold less than 64,000 tons, through an auction, much less than a target of 1 million tons since the government-set prices could not attract bids.
International market is watching China’s moves and if decides to sell held-up stocks then it will further impact demand for cotton imports by the country, which happens to be the world's top textile manufacturer.
Greenshowroom and Ethical Fashion Show Berlin will be held from January 19 to 21, 2016. These two trade fairs serve as the central platform for eco fashion. There will be a comprehensive event program with fashion shows, discussion sessions, presentations, guided tours and an outdoor showcase.
Greenshowroom is in the high fashion segment. It has established premium manufacturers and some very interesting newcomers on board. Street and casual wear segments have new exhibitors in the form of well-known international labels. Around 50 per cent of the labels come from abroad, including bigger groups from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Labels from 19 countries will be represented.
The show will present 40 high fashion labels for the winter season. The high quality finishing of fine materials coupled with traditional craftsmanship and tailoring is on trend, from couture to tailoring and from fine natural fibers to handicraft.
Ethical Fashion Show Berlin has casual styles for men with 1970s and 1990s influences on the agenda for street and casual wear as are innovative recycling and up cycling concepts.
At the salon show, top guests from the world of fashion, business, politics, film and television are expected to attend the catwalk show. Selected designers will present their new collections and showcase more than 70 new looks – a cross-section of contemporary high fashion of the best quality.
A trade fair for micro, small and medium enterprises is being held in Orissa, January 8 to 14, 2016.It had a focus on agriculture, food processing, handicrafts, handloom and textiles, tourism, engineering, chemicals, metallurgy, plastic and polymer, marine processing and packaging.
The fair was organised to provide a platform to entrepreneurs of the state to showcase their products and services and directly interact with buyers.
Apart from proving a platform for micro, small and medium producers, the exhibition is inviting business delegations from foreign countries through their embassies in India for popularisation of Orissa’s products. Attempts are being made to attract overseas entrepreneurs to invest in Orissa in sectors like engineering, chemicals, metallurgical processing, marine processing, agriculture, tourism and textiles.
The popularity of the Orissa trade fair has increased over the years. In 2013 the total foot fall in the fair was around 1.40 lakhs which increased to 2.67 lakhs in 2014 and further to 2.50 lakhs in 2015.
Meanwhile Bangladesh’s readymade garment manufacturers have been invited to invest in Orissa’s textile sector.
Bangladesh sees a lot of scope for business with Orissa, especially in the light of the recently signed shipping agreement between Bangladesh and India.
The stock of Siyaram Silk Mills has jumped 23 per cent in the past three months, a rise that can be attributed to catching up of valuation.
Siyaram is a fabric-to-readymade garment manufacturer.
Even after the sharp run-up in the stock price, it is still trading at 13 times its earnings multiple, when it should trade in the price-to-earnings multiple range of 18 to 20, given its strong financials.
In the past five years, the company has demonstrated a steady 10 to 15 per cent sales growth, consistent operating margin of 12 to 13 per cent, and return on equity of around 20 per cent. Besides it has regularly paid dividends.
Such consistent financial performance can be attributed to a shift in Siyaram’s model over the past few years, which has helped the company move up the textile value chain. From being a pure fabric manufacturer, the company stepped into manufacturing of readymade garments with brands such as Oxemberg and J Hampstead.
At present, its readymade garment segment contributes 16 per cent to the company’s total revenues from 10 per cent in financial year ’11. In the same period, the company’s revenues share from the fabric segment fell to 75 per cent in financial year ’15.
The supply chain of the garment industry in Bangladesh, the country's biggest export earner, is plagued by irregularities and corruption for which global apparel buyers are also responsible, according to a report of Transparency International Bangladesh.
The anti-corruption watchdog detected anomalies at 16 stages -- from order placement to shipment -- in the apparel supply chain. According to the TIB, irregularities and corruption at different stages of the chain have become almost a custom in some cases. And various stakeholders, including factory owners, buyers, auditors and inspectors, are involved in it.
The TIB prepared the report based on information gathered from November 2014 to April last year through interviews of stakeholders, including buyers and global brands or their agents, garment factory owners and exporters, workers, compliance auditors, factory inspectors, merchandisers, shipping agents and bankers. The TIB conducted the study jointly with Transparency International, Germany. The TIB said this is a qualitative study through which it could detect the stages of corruption in the supply chain of garment industry. It didn't quantify the amounts of illegal transactions that take place in the supply chain.
The study found that buyers occasionally take various strategies to cancel orders. Those include imposing new compliance conditions on suppliers, manipulating compliance reports, raising false allegations and cancelling orders at will. Though buyers' representatives or agents monitor the entire production process to ensure product quality, a section of buyers, at times, raises false allegations about product quality after shipments reach the destinations, said the TIB. Sometimes, buyers threaten exporters with cancelling the order and sending back the shipment. In these cases, buyers basically blackmail the production units to get discounts on goods, the TIB added.
The TIB found that a section of buyers manipulates compliance reports on supplier factories when they are not interested in taking delivery of goods. They contact auditors or inspection firms, seeking to manipulate reports to show the suppliers haven't met all conditions. This makes it easier for buyers to cancel orders. According to the TIB, there is prevalence of bribes for influencing purchase decisions of buyers or agents.
To address the issue of irregularities in the supply chain of the garment sector, the TIB has suggested a set of recommendations that include sudden inspection of factories, formulation of a "Moral Code of Conduct” for themselves, the government issuing a specific identification number for each factory to check anomalies.
www.ti-bangladesh.org
Monsanto Company is developing a new, state-of-the-art cotton seed processing facility in Lubbock, Texas. In cooperation with the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA), construction of the new facility is expected to begin in March 2016 and be completed in the second half of calendar year 2017.
The new Lubbock site represents a $140 million capital investment and is expected to employ 40 full-time personnel. The site will be established as Monsanto’s primary US hub for all commercial cotton seed processing operations – to include cleaning, treating and bagging of cotton seed – while existing processing facilities will transition to support storage and warehousing, pre-commercial operations and research in various parts of the Cotton Belt.
In October 2015, Monsanto announced a number of strategic actions to help drive greater scale in its business and further enhance its overall operations. Location of the new hub facility, Monsanto’s established relationship with LEDA and the opportunity to leverage new production technology factored into the decision to consolidate and optimize its US commercial cotton seed processing operations.
www.mosanto.com
The Union Agriculture Ministry recently issued the Cotton Seeds Price Control Order for 'uniform regulation' of sale price of cotton seeds with existing and future genetically modified technologies. Though the aim of this order is to control the licence fee, royalty trait fee and licensing terms on which the technology providers make available innovative technologies, the companies feel that the order will make a direct impact on their profit margin.
The seed companies are already in a tussle with their multinational technology partner Monsanto over the royalty issue. Monsanto has taken nine seeds companies to court over non-payment of around Rs 400 crores. In the event of the prices being reduced, the companies want royalty also to be similarly cut. For now, each state fixes its own royalty. Maharashtra last year had reduced the BT cotton seed selling price by Rs 100 to Rs 830 for a packet of 450 gm, in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it sells at Rs 930. The seed companies pay royalty in the range of Rs 100-150 to the technology provider.
Seed companies have alleged that the technology they use for BG-I and BG-II has not been upgraded by Monsanto for years now, and this order could further deny any new upgrades in seed technology to the farmers.
At Heimtextil 2016 in Frankfurt, Lenzing is presenting its new marketing approach for its specialty fibres, Tencel and Lenzing Modal. Tencel and Lenzing Modal are already used in a variety of home textile and interior applications. To pave the way for additional applications for the Tencel fibre in the home, Lenzing has developed special fibre types which can be used in carpets and upholstery fabrics.
The fiber's extremely high strength profile stands Tencel in good stead since it allows its use in these hard-wearing applications. Above all, a luxurious sheen, intensive colours, and silky, elegant surfaces can be attained with these fibres. The moisture-regulating fibre property of Tencel benefits the indoor climate and contributes towards well-being.
Optimum sleeping comfort is also of prime importance to business travelers. The concept of 'botanic living' becomes a reality with Lenzing fibres. They allow for a natural indoor climate which is completely in keeping with the current trend in the hotel industry. Lenzing is stepping up market activities to further expand the hotel segment for Lenzing fibres.
www.lenzing.com
