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In spite of a big decline in acreage due to the whitefly attack last season, the yield of cotton in Punjab is expected to stay normal during the current season. According to reports, the fear of one more whitefly attack, cotton acreage in this season in the state slid to 2.56 lakh hectares compared to 3.39 lakh hectares in the previous season. However, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) vice chancellor B S Dhillon expressed optimism by noting that seeing the present growth of the cotton crop, they expect a normal yield.
Dhillon, who also heads the inter-state monitoring committee on whitefly, said PAU scientists and the state agriculture department were putting in full efforts to control the pest. He also said the Punjab government has provided Rs 70 lakh for research on the pest and recruited 500 scouts and 50 field supervisors to prevent damage to the crop. In the last cotton season, the whitefly attack had impacted 1.36 lakh hectares, of the overall cotton acreage in Punjab, leading to an output drop by 40 per cent.
A breakthrough made by scientists at Delhi University has made it possible to increase Bt cotton’s resistance to pests.
They did this by combining two genes which improve production of Bt toxins. When the two genes are combined in a cotton plant, the amount of Bt toxins produced by it goes four to five times higher than the current variety -- a development that can prove crucial in dealing with insect attacks that may increase because of global warming.
Insects are notorious for developing resistance to chemical pesticides and Bt toxins expressed in the plants. Already pink bollworm has broken the protection provided by the current Bt cotton. So with global warming, insect attacks on crops are going to increase.
One Bt toxin protein is targeted at the cytoplasm while the other is targeted at the plastids that are the site of photosynthesis and many other biochemical pathways in the plant.
There is a general consensus among population genetics experts that development of resistance to Bt toxin can be slowed down by growing high dosage toxin plants and by keeping a refuge -- that is, growing some non-Bt plants surrounding Bt crops.
High dosage transgenic has been shown to prolong the life of transgenic cotton in managing American bollworm and other pests.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (ABWS), the platform of North American fashion brands and retailers, has removed the names of four more Bangladeshi readymade garment factories from its supplier list on charge of non-compliance with the safety standard. The factories are: Global Trousers and Uponti Apparels in Chittagong, V & R Fashions in Gazipur and The Dacca Dyeing Garments in Dhaka.
Out of the suspended four, two failed to submit design documents of the factory buildings and provide evidence of re-mediation while the other two were suspended due to closure. On the other hand, the Alliance withdrew its suspension of a factory as it started required re-mediation works. The platform, however, did not publish the name of the factory the name of which has been included in the supplier list after being suspended on March 8 this year.
With this of action the number of suspended factories by the Alliance currently stands at 91. It may be recalled that after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse which killed more than 1,100 people mostly garment workers, North American retailers including top brands Walmart and Gap formed the Alliance undertaking a five-year plan which set timelines and accountability for inspections and training and workers’ empowerment programmes.
The textiles sector in Ethiopia, the fifth fastest-growing garment producing country in the world, employs women in abundance.
The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the only development agency that is fully dedicated to support the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In tandem with its local partner, the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment, the ITC works to provide women with capacity building, training and support, enabling them to better meet international buyers’ requirements.
Interestingly, the textile sector makes up for the third largest manufacturing industry in the country after food and leather processing.
Uster case study focused on an Indian yarn manufacturer which originally invested in early-stage fiber cleaning in 2009, and has since upgraded to Total Contamination Control, combining the Uster Jossi Vision Shield and Uster Quantum 3. An experienced member of the Uster sales team in India, J. C. Kumaar has a strong relationship with his customers in the south of the country. His knowledge gained over 20 years has enabled him to assist an important client to implement step-by-step improvements in contamination control, in line with the company’s goal of continual enhancement of yarn quality.
This customer made its initial move into fiber cleaning in the blow room, with its purchase seven years ago of the Vision Shield MPIX by Jossi. Since then, the customer has stepped up its requirements, especially with regard to polypropylene contaminant removal, opting for the Uster Jossi Magic Eye in 2015. The company spins yarn for the high-quality segment, typically mixing Guntur and Giza cottons to produce yarn counts of Nec 50s, 40s and 26s. A medium-sized mill, its priorities were better contamination control without increasing waste or causing more yarn clearer cuts at the winding stage.
The first stage in the upgrading of the mill’s contamination control came in 2015. Kumaar explains that the decision was made to tackle the challenge at fiber cleaning stage. For better fiber cleaning results, the existing Jossi fiber cleaner was upgraded with the Uster Jossi Magic Eye.
Despite an excellent performance of the textile sector, sizing and weaving sectors are least developed and are unable to contribute their due role in the up gradation of the textile sectors, according to Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) president Ch Muhammad Nawaz.
The FCCI president said that textile sector, despite its inherent pros and cons, was earning $13 billion foreign exchange per annum for the country.
He said that it was the only sector which had the potential to immediately double. He said that in addition to the Ministry of Science and Technology, many universities and R&D institutions were working for the development of science in Pakistan, but its practical benefits to the industrial sector were non-existent.
He told that the government had launched Industry-Academia Linkage Programme to bridge the gap between industry and academia and in this connection serious efforts had been made but still it could not give the required results.
Dr Mirza Habib Ali, Director Research Support, Ministry of Science and Technology, indicated that they must promote knowledge-based economy to get a due share from the international markets.
Muhammad Hasnain, Deputy Director Science Centre, gave a detailed presentation about the centre and informed that 16 different institutions were working for the promotion of science in Pakistan. He stressed the need for industry-academia linkages and said that industrialists should contact R&D related institutions for the practical solutions of their industry related problems.
The Science Centre was established in 2000 and so for 500,000 students, scientists and researchers had visited it. He also said that science foundation had added a unique model of dinosaur while a dome of planetarium was also under completion.
For the first quarter Sutlej Textiles’ net profit increased 42.9 per cent year on year and revenue grew 19.5 per cent year on year.
Presently its EBITDA margin is about 15 per cent. Sutlej feels that the margin should further improve going ahead given the rains and the Seventh Pay Commission. The company’s total income is at around Rs 550 crores.
The company is focusing more on exports and the home textile segment and has seen exports increase by 30 per cent sequentially.
Sutlej is into the manufacture of value added dyed yarns and mélange yarns and is also focusing on fancy yarns and value added products.
Sutlej Textiles is one of the largest integrated textile manufacturing companies in India. It has the capacity to manufacture single ply, double ply and multi ply grindle, roving grindle, core spun, slub and other fancy yarns.
The daily production is up to 385 tons of dyed synthetic and blended yarns, cotton mélange and cotton blended mélange and dyed yarns, yarns from specialty fibers like modal, tencel, bamboo, cool max, fancy yarns like siro spun, siro compact, lycra twisted, core spun, double core yarn etc. in single ply, double ply and multifold.
Despite a huge drop in acreage in the wake of a whitefly attack last year, the cotton yield is expected to remain normal during the current season in Punjab. Due to the fear of another whitefly attack, the area of cotton cultivation in the state shrunk to 2.56 lakh hectares as against 3.39 lakh hectares last season.
This year there has been a focus on clean cultivation, good quality seeds, timely sowing, proper monitoring and timely remedial action, quality control of pesticides and creating awareness about identification of severity of the incidence and management methods. Training camps for farmers were organized. They were provided a crop calendar and literature on cotton. Pesticide dealers were imparted training and radio and TV talk shows dealt with pest management in cotton. Field supervisors monitored the ground situation.
The pest attack had caused widespread damage to the Bt cotton variety in Punjab and Haryana last year. In Punjab, 1.36 lakh hectares, out of 4.50 lakh hectares of cotton acreage, were ravaged by the attack and the output had dropped by 40 per cent.
The whitefly attack was less severe in 2016 than in 2015. Last year's pest attack made some farmers plough up their cotton fields in anticipation of a similar attack this year.
Polyester fiber is in abundance in China and prices of direct-spun polyester staple fiber (PSF) rose in mid July.The price rise is driven by cotton and polyester yarn instead of polyester feed stocks, taking the industry unprepared.
Boosted by cotton and viscose staple fiber prices, direct-spun PSF prices have surged up, partly because of massive scale demand from yarn mills, which have shifted to polyester staple fiber products under pressure from surging cotton and VSF prices. And partly because of polyester yarn mills who have revised offers boosted by excellent demand.
Direct-spun PSF plants were mostly free of inventories and some even could not completely cover orders. Downstream showed limited follow-up trends, so the market now enters a consumption period and the focus can be returned to polyester feed stocks.
In June viscose staple fiber prices moved parallel with auctioned cotton prices. Direct-spun PSF also followed up during end of the June and early July, completely dragged by polyester feed stocks.
Moreover accession in the massively stable polyester feed stocks, progress flow of direct-spun PSF widened to 400 yarn per meters, close to the high level year-to date.
Also blended yarn in north China was weak.
India will be more appealing to multinational firms once GST (Goods and Services Tax) becomes a reality.
GST could boost India’s appeal to multi-nationals as a myriad of existing federal, state and interstate levies in the country had previously increased their tax burdens and barred them from further exploring potential in the world’s major economy. This reform will make them see India as a much better destination for investment and as an opportunity.
The complicated and cumbersome tax system in India as well as bureaucracy related to tax-collection remains a hurdle for firms doing business in India.
Once GST comes into effect, all central- and state-level taxes and levies on all goods and services will be subsumed within an integrated tax having two components: a central GST and a state GST. This will ensure a complete, comprehensive and continuous mechanism of tax credits. Under it, there will be tax only on value addition at each stage, with the producer/seller at every stage able to set off his taxes against the central/state GST paid on his purchases. The end-consumer will bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.
