FW
The third Morocco Hometex Morocco International Home Textile Fair will open to the public in the month of February where sector leader companies would take part. This platform would allow national and international companies of different industry sectors to show and promote their skills, meet partners and find international brands from several countries.
Thousands of professional buyers will come together along with their buyer delegation programme from their target countries such as Italy, Spain, Quatar, Gambia, Ghana, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Kuwait, Guinea, Jordan, Algeria, France and Tunisia to exhibit in the said fair. In the second edition, exhibitor countries from Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, USA, Portugal, Greece, Italy, China, Pakistan and India along with 12,308 local and international visitors from West Africa, North Africa, Middle East and Gulf Countries, European countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, England and America made Morocco Style Fair the biggest remarkable event of the Morocco. Morocco Hometex Fair organized by Pyramids Group Fair and Expotim between 24 and 27 February 2017 would take place in Trade center of North Africa, Casablanca.
Local garment makers and exporters in Bangladesh have opposed the proposal of a top global apparel retailer representing the Accord to extend the tenure of the EU-based retailers' platform by three more years. Instead, leaders of the country's apparel sector have proposed formation of a common platform with representatives from all the stakeholders to oversee the workplace safety issues after ending the tenure of Accord and Alliance in 2018. This came to light at a recent meeting with the top Executive of the global retailer, H&M.
After the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1100 workers and injured many, the two Western platforms namely Accord and Alliance were formed so as to ensure workplace safety in Bangladesh's apparel industry especially in the wake of the tragic accident. The meeting was attended by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Siddiqur Rahman and senior advisor of H&M Karl Gunnar Fagerlin, among others.
Quoting H&M officials, a meeting source disclosed that H&M has expressed that the company was in favour of extending the tenure of Accord for additional three years apprehending that the ongoing remediation might not be completed by 2018. But the BGMEA viewed that the remediation is a continuous process, he said, adding that new factories would be included in the list of Accord and Alliance. Moreover, there are some interior changes in factories for expansion and other reasons, another BGMEA leader said.
The interior ministry of Vietnam has claimed that more than 90 per cent of the drivers transporting workers to garment and textile factories do not have licenses. The revelation came yesterday at the end of the annual meeting of the Public Works and Transport Ministry.
The country’s interior minister Sar Kheng listed a slew of figures related to the kingdom’s traffic situation at the closing ceremony at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall in Phnom Penh. He went on to add that more than 40 per cent of traffic accidents involving garment workers were caused by speeding. Many of the trucks are also seen carrying too many passengers that makes the vehicles harder to control at high speeds, he added.
According to the interior ministry, most drivers of tourist buses did have licenses but often broke road laws by driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The minister informed that in 2017 his ministry would review and solve this particular issue and the overloaded truck problem will also be eliminated.
The minister urged the Public Works and Transport Ministry to continue checking vehicles for technical problems, reduce traffic congestion and traffic accidents, check the technical construction of roads and bridges and make sure everything was up to standard. The revelations come after a series of amendments to the Traffic Law were passed this week. Many of the amendments reduced penalties and softened punishment for a variety of traffic crimes while scrapping the requirement for a license to operate certain kinds of motorbikes.
However, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) disputed Kheng’s statistics saying that there are 4,000 drivers transporting garment workers throughout the country every day and so far 78 per cent of the drivers have a driver’s license. For the remaining 22 per cent, the ministry would continue to provide examinations to issue driving licenses for them to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.
Indian independent and professional investment information and credit rating agency, ICRA expects that the weak export demand and high cotton prices would hurt the profitability of domestic cotton spinners. The commencement of the cotton harvest season has been accompanied by a softening of the domestic cotton price, however, it remains 17 per cent higher Year-on-Year.
The firmness in cotton prices is driven by a hangover of cotton shortage in India earlier in the year, slower cotton arrivals amid the demonetisation drive and uncertainty related to the extent of improvement in domestic crop-size against a backdrop of superior yields but lower sown area. Besides, weakness in export demand poses challenges for the domestic spinning industry. Cotton yarn exports have been under pressure due to lower demand from China amid improved local mill usage.
Senior vice-president and group head, ICRA Jayanta Roy said that as the domestic spinning industry remains highly dependent on exports, the fall in export demand is a major challenge for the industry. The cotton yarn export quantity was 23 per cent lower YoY during 7M FY2017. The improved domestic mill consumption in China has reduced its dependence upon imports, adversely impacting yarn exports from India. China’s yarn import quantity declined by 20 per cent (YoY basis) during 7M FY2017 with a steeper decline in imports from India, which have fallen by 54 per cent YoY.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has allowed Cotton Association of India (CAI) to come out of the bourse business by withdrawing its recognition. In February this year, Sebi had informed CAI that since there was no trading operation on its platform for more than 12 months, it could exit.
Following this, CAI decided to voluntarily surrender the recognition granted to it as a deemed recognised by the stock exchange. In an order passed on Thursday, Sebi informed the CAI has complied with the regulator's conditions for exit and is therefore a fit case to allow exit from capital markets.
While allowing the exit, Sebi has asked the exchange to comply with tax obligations and not to use the expression exchange in its name, among others. The CAI, formerly known as the East India Cotton Association Ltd, was granted recognition in June 1955 for organising and regulating forward contracts in cotton throughout India.
The Indian Silk Export Promotion Council (ISEPC) has appointed Satish Gupta of Moda Cocktail, Noida as its new Chairman. Earlier, he served as vice chairman of ISEPC. Besides, Bimal Mawandia of Vineetaz Exports, Gurgaon has been elected as the vice chairman of the Council. Both were elected at a meeting of the administration committee of the Council held recently in Hyderabad.
Gupta is optimistic about the growth of silk export industry as he says that his top priority would be to enhance the silk export from India. He hopes despite ups and downs, the Council will be able to achieve annual export of $500 million of silk products in next two years. And for this, he expected full cooperation of Indian silk industry and the Ministry of Textiles.
The ISEPC is a 33-year-old not-for-profit organisation under the Companies Act duly sponsored by the Ministry of Textiles. It has a membership of 853 regular exporters of Silk products, while more than 1,800 exporters are registered with the Council.
Textiles minister Smriti Irani laid the foundation stone of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) centre. She announced that the Union government would assist Haryana in developing silk weaving units in Panipat, Ambala, Sirsa and Panchkula.
The minister said both Central and state governments would make efforts in these four districts in the next year. Describing textile as the second largest employment-giving sector after agriculture, she said that since the Haryana government had received investment proposals worth Rs 7 lakh crore from prospective investors, the Union government would give all kinds of support for execution of the agreements Haryana had entered into for development of textile industries.
The NIFT centre would be completed in two years and students enrolled there would get guidance from international experts as the centre has an agreement with 32 global institutes. It would come up in an area of more than 10 acre in Panchkula at a cost of Rs 100 crores. As many as six regular degree courses would be offered by the institute. The upcoming centre would cater to the needs of 230 students every year out of which 20 per cent seats would be reserved for the domiciles of Haryana.
Thanks to the safety improvement and increased production capacity, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the global market rose by over 9 per cent to over $26 billion in the 11 months of the soon-lapsing year. However, growth is less than required to attain the $50 billion export target by 2021 as the sector needs over 12 per cent growth to realise the vision.
Remediation process adopted by RMG units helped improve safety standards to the increased production capacity. Upon completion of remediation, some RMG units received more orders. As per Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, Bangladesh earned $26.09 billion during the January-November period, exporting clothings. This was 9.03 per cent higher compared to $23.93 billion a year ago.
Knitwear earned $12.56 billion with an 8.22 per cent rise compared to $11.60 billion in the previous year while woven products earned $13.53 billion, which is 9.78 per cent higher compared to $12.32 billion a year ago. Last year production in many RMG outfits was hampered due to the ongoing remediation to improve safety standard in workplaces for ensuring workers’ safety. After the full-fledged completion of Corrective Action Plans (CAPs), the work order flow would increase and it would be possible to attain a double-digit growth, added the business leader.
"The government has released a report on achievements made in textiles sector under ‘Make in India’ initiative. Some of the major achievements and contribution of textiles sector include growth in FDI inflow and exports. Between March, 2014 and March, 2016, the FDI equity inflow in the textiles sector added up to $427.55 million. FDI equity inflow grew by 16 per cent in financial year 2015-16. In 2015-16 the share of textiles and apparel in total exports increased to 15 per cent from 13 per cent in 2013-14."
The government has released a report on achievements made in textiles sector under ‘Make in India’ initiative. Some of the major achievements and contribution of textiles sector include growth in FDI inflow and exports. Between March, 2014 and March, 2016, the FDI equity inflow in the textiles sector added up to $427.55 million. FDI equity inflow grew by 16 per cent in financial year 2015-16. In 2015-16 the share of textiles and apparel in total exports increased to 15 per cent from 13 per cent in 2013-14.
Achievements Galore…
Besides, more than 5.3 lakh persons trained in last two years under Integrated Skill Development Scheme, out of which 81 per cent have been placed including 79 per cent of the trained women. 19 new Textile Parks have been sanctioned over last two years with potential to facilitate investment up to Rs 300 crores and employment to 60,000 people.
Around 200 new production units have been set up in existing textile parks in the last two years with the fresh investment worth Rs 1,500 crores and additional employment generation of 11,000 persons. Textile Ministry has set up the sanctioned seven new Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) with Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technology in last two years covering 3,000 SME units.
Eight Apparel and Garment making Centers have been set up in all NER States and Sikkim for promoting garment manufacturing in NER. The government has successfully launched Indian Handloom Brand for providing brand value to handloom products. It also launched Indian Handloom Website as a one stop platform for all services to consumers, bulk buyers and handloom producers.
In order to increase production of raw materials in the country, various policy initiatives and schemes are being implemented. The Cotton Development Programme focuses on cropping system approach under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in 15 major cotton growing states with an aim to increase production & productivity. Government announces Minimum Support Price (MSP) to protect the interest of cotton and jute farmers to avoid distress sales.
Special Package for sector a booster
Nearly one crore new jobs, $30 billion in exports and investment worth Rs 74,000 crores within a period of three years was achieved on account of a special package of measures announced by the Ministry of Textiles to support the apparel sector and enable it to improve its global competitiveness.
A Special Package of Rs 6,000 crores was announced for garmenting sector with the aim of creating one crore jobs in next three years and to attract investment worth US $ 11 billion. As per the new package, overtime hours for workers shouldn’t exceed 8 hours per week in line with ILO norms. Considering the seasonal nature of the industry, fixed term employment needs to be introduced for the garment sector. The subsidy provided to garmenting units, under Amended-TUFS, has been increased from 15 per cent to 25 per cent.
Providing production incentive through enhanced Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) subsidy of additional 10 per cent for Made-ups, similar to what is provided to garments, based on additional production and employment after a period of 3 years and extension of Pradhan Mantri Paridhan Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY) Scheme (for apparel) to made-ups sector for providing additional 3.67 per cent share of Employer's contribution in addition to 8.33 per cent already covered under Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY).
To meet the needs of the industry for a skilled workforce and thereby support its competitiveness, the Integrated Skill Development Scheme has so far imparted training to a total of 8.49 lakh people, out of which 7.50 lakh have been assessed and 5.79 lakh placed.
Tirupur in Focus
Tirupur is a hub of the textile processing and knitting industry providing employment to over five lakh people, contributing 22 per cent of India’s total garment exports. Owing to its crucial importance, the Centre has sanctioned 200 crores for Tirupur’s dyeing industry that was on the verge of closure due to severe financial crisis after making huge investments in the country’s first Zero Liquid Discharge projects for effluents.
On Textiles Ministry’s recommendation, the Finance Ministry sanctioned funds for Tamil Nadu for 18 common effluent treatment plants set up at a cost of Rs 1,013 crores. The Rs 200 crores assistance is in the form of an interest free loan to be converted into grant, based on the performance of these plants. “This will help ailing CETPs and 450 dyeing units to recover from the financial crisis and help them to a complete the project to achieve 100 per cent capacity utilization,” the Textile Ministry said in a statement.
Textiles are often regarded one of Vietnam’s key exports with an average annual growth rate of 15 per cent during 2010-2015. However, it is also facing with a slew of challenges of which the most recent stems from labour which is no longer cheap now. On the other hand, it is also difficult to raise the textile industry to a higher level due to competitive factors in labour skills, modern technologies and equipment and diversified products. Due to limited resources, most home-based companies choose to gradually invest each year. This situation is in contrast compared to FDI as they represent less than 25 per cent of the nearly 7,000 textile enterprises nationwide but account for 70 per cent of the total export capacity. This shows that the overwhelming advantages of foreign companies over domestic enterprises will only continue to grow if reasonable policies and development direction are not formed soon.
Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association says, 2016 was extremely difficult year for the textile industry, with the lowest growth rate since 2008 (the year that Vietnam's garment recorded no export turnover growth due to the global economic crisis) so far. By 2018, Vietnam's garment industry has been forecast to face many challenges, especially with regards small and medium-sized enterprises facing the risk of closing down due to poor competitiveness and extremely difficult production conditions.
