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The Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB) is working on increasing value chains in the sector and empowering farmers to process cotton themselves in a bid to increase their revenues. Under the new system, cotton growers will reap the fruits of value addition. Currently ginners are the ones who enjoy the lion’s share of cotton profits making double income, because more than fiber they also earn from oil extracted from cotton seeds.
Ginners buy cotton seeds from farmers and they extract oil from cotton seeds and oilcake which they sell and obtain a lot of money compared to farmers. TCB is now working towards empowering farmers so that they can process their cotton and benefit from selling both cotton and its seeds.
The major markets for cotton from Tanzania are Indonesia, Thailand, India, China and Madagascar. The TCB has formed various associations in regions where the system is being implemented to simplify the process of obtaining loans and farm implements such as pesticides. It has launched a registration book for all farmers.
Cotton production levels are dwindling so much that several textile factories have stopped operations due to insufficient supplies. Farmers who are under the contract farming system have received financial support from Cotton Development Trust Fund.
www.cotton.or.tz/
Readymade garment factory owners in Bangladesh have alleged that the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a consortium of North American retailers, is incorporating additional corrective action plan to factories during its follow-up inspection. They feel this may hamper the smooth progress of the remediation process. Factory owners say Alliance is making never-ending inspection visits.
Alliance has assured garment factory owners that the final inspection Alliance declared factories compliant or noncompliant is based on the implementation of corrective action plans on initial findings. It says it is giving follow-up findings to some factories to help owners to ensure safer working conditions in their establishments but the progress of follow-up corrective actions will not be considered during the final inspection.
After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, North American retailers formed the Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety. The initiative launched in Bangladesh readymade garment factories from where their members procure products and completed their primary safety assessments in their listed 600 factories. The retailers’ group targets completing final inspection by July 2017.
A. Sakthivel, Chairman of Apparel Made-ups and Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC), functioning under National Skill Development Council (NSDC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bruce Wilson, President, Fanshawe College, Ontario, Canada yesterday on April 15, 2015. The MoU was signed during the meeting held in Parliamentary Hill, Ottawa in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.
The MoUs are expected to bring expert trainers in the skill sector, which will ensure the quality of training, leaving a positive impact on the number and quality of manpower being skilled and provided to the AMHSSC, Sakthivel said in a release. The MoU with Fanshawe College is aimed at greater cooperation between the Canadian partner and AMHSSC in the field of training of trainers and also enriching the Indian expertise in the apparel sector.
Sakthivel is also the President of Tirupur Exporters Association and is a part of Indian skills mission, a high-level trade delegation comprising Chairmen and CEOs from 15 skill sector councils, who are accompanying Modi on the current three- country tour. www.sscamh.com
Korea Textile Centre (KTC) is gearing up to create a stronghold in BRICs countries of Russia, China, India, and Brazil by establishing permanent exhibition rooms and support companies to export goods to these countries. The KTC has been striving continuously for progress and change. Talking about Korea’s outlook towards fashion retail business Kim Hong Ki, Managing Director, KTC says “The Korea Textile Centre was formed 10 years back. We have branches all over the world including Shanghai and Los Angeles. We help Korean companies in export of fabric and reduce their cost by helping in marketing. The factories can use our overseas branch, laced with showrooms, with no costs. Customers can contact our branches for more information on Korean products or fabrics,” said Hong Ki.
Elaborating on KTC’s role he said, “The KTC is not a government body. It comprises some 65 contributing member companies from all across Korea. But the government also contributes its share. These factories export fabrics worth US$ 50 million. These factories are in export only. They don’t sell within Korea.”
Hong Ki points out Korean companies are in competition with China and their products are almost similar. “We have to develop different products, so we use different fabrics, yarns, and dyeing processes etc. We keep developing new products and that’s how we compete with China. Our products are more expensive than Chinese products. Our fabrics are $5 a yard. These are polyester and fabrics mixed with cotton, nylon to be used for men’s wear and women’s wear.”
For Korean exporters the main markets are the United States, Europe and China but they also lay stress on expanding to India. Hong Ki explains, “We can take part in exhibitions like Texworld to boost Korean exports to India.”
On the growth trajectory of Korean textile exports he says, “Our exports are growing 10 to 15 per cent a year. The KTC was founded to streamline the growth of Korean textile export and promoting fashion. We have to execute ‘Daegu Textile Industry Overseas Marketing Project’ that is one of the four local industry promotion projects in Korea.”
The turnover of the textile sector in Germany slowed down in January 2015. On the other hand, turnover of retailers increased in January 2015 as compared to December 2014. Turnover in technical textiles, including nonwovens, is tending upwards. This is in contrast to the classic textile segments.
Domestic production has fallen in clothing by 9.4 per cent and in textiles by 2.5 per cent. The order situation also shows lower values in January 2015. It dropped in textiles by 3.3 per cent and in clothing by 23.6 per cent. Exports fell in comparison to January 2014 by 3.7 per cent. Textile imports increased 0.2 per cent. Clothing exports were 8.4 per cent lower in January 2015 whereas imports increased by 3.9 per cent. Trade surplus of both segments increased 16.6 per cent against January 2014.
Raw material import decreased in January against the same month of 2014 by 6.2 per cent. Working hours are decreasing in both sectors. Textile working hours dropped by 3.1 per cent and clothing working hours by 4.8 per cent. Thus the total working hours in both sectors were 3.7 per cent lower than in January 2014. Producer prices increased further slightly in January 2015, in clothing by 1.3 per cent and in textiles by 0.3 per cent.
Bangladesh sees China as the next major export destination due to its rising middle class and the duty free benefits it enjoys under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA). Because of the low cost of production and the duty free allowance, Chinese buyers can save up to 15 per cent on garment imports from Bangladesh. Almost 90 per cent of the garments Bangladesh exports to China without duty include T-shirts, jeans, sweaters and casual trousers.
Industry estimates indicate that garment exports to China, which is Bangladesh’s second largest apparel market after Japan, increased 73.5 per cent year-on-year in the fiscal year 2013-14 to $241.37 million. Besides apparel, jute, jute goods, leather and leather goods from Bangladesh are also gaining popularity in China.
Bangladesh currently enjoys duty free trade with China on more than 4,000 items and at the moment, the country is working on ways to gain duty-free access under more product categories. From July 2014 to February 2015, Bangladesh exported 513 million worth of goods to China, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.
High demand for biodegradable, environment-friendly, versatile, and cost-effective materials from end-use industries is a key factor that stimulates demand from the global cellulose fibers market. With rise in awareness about the rise in carbon footprint, excessive oil dependence, and fuel sustainability, the demand for cellulose fibers is expected to surge substantially. Industry research and trends signal at growth of global market for textiles focused on biodegradable, eco-friendly, and skin-friendly fabrics.
The rise in demand for sustainable fabrics would in turn lead to the growth of the global cellulose fibers market in the years to come. The global cellulose fibers market is segmented on the basis of applications and geography. On the basis of application, the cellulose fibers market is segmented into clothing, spun yarn, fabrics, and others including tapes, sealants, and adhesives. The other end-use industries for this market are carpet production and the paper industry. With demand exceeding 50 per cent of the total, clothing is the largest end-use segment of the global cellulose fibers market. This segment is anticipated to expand rapidly at a 7.3 per cent CAGR between 2012 and 2018. Viscose, corn fibers, tencel, lyocell, modal, and rayon are the different forms in which cellulose fibers are applied in industries.
The apparel industry uses rayon, since it is a highly absorbent material. Rayon and its variants are also used for producing home furnishings such as carpets and curtains. The global cellulose fibers market is segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific dominated the global cellulose fibers market in 2011 with a market share of 45.3 per cent. It is anticipated that the Asia Pacific cellulose fibers market will grow rapidly from 2012 to 2018, at an 8.1 per cent CAGR. The expanding textile markets in India and China drive the Asia Pacific cellulose fibers market.
Indo-Bharat Rayon, Aoyang, Shandong Helon Textile Sci. & Tech, KelheimFibres, Fulida, TangShanSanyou, Lenzing AG, and Sateri are a few prominent companies operating in the global cellulose fibers market.
www.indobharatrayon.com
Amin Hashwani, Chairman of Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), has expressing concern over reports regarding a proposal to impose standard sales tax on cotton in Budget of 2015-16. This is expected to generate Rs 50 billion revenues. Hashwani said the KCA has traditionally opposed such proposals. In a statement, Hashwani stated that the proposal discourages production and inhibits the smooth flow of exports and runs counter to the policy of encouraging cotton trade in the country. The Pakistan government has set a target for cotton production 2015-16 season at 15.49 million bales. With this, there is a strong possibility for Pakistan to potentially export a million bales of raw cotton. Nearly 80 to 85 per cent of the cotton crop is exported in the form of raw cotton, cotton yarn, cotton fabrics, garments and cotton made-ups, and sales tax, if levied on raw cotton, would be refundable thereon at the export stage.
Cotton, being a highly priced commodity, is usually operated upon by exporters on narrow margins. They cannot afford to keep substantial borrowed amounts struck-up by way of payment and refund of sales tax for 6-7 months as was the case in the past. This would create serious liquidity problems for cotton exporters, and eventually cotton exports would adversely suffer. Keeping in view the importance of export of cotton and cotton products to the country’s economy, the Association strongly urged the authorities not to impose sales tax on raw cotton in the next budget.
Taiwan has an international reputation for technical textiles. The composites industry is one of the key industries in Taiwan. Taiwan stands fourth in the world in carbon fiber capacity and 30 per cent of electronic grade glass fibers are manufactured in Taiwan. Taiwanese composite and technical textile companies are keen to bring their products to India with growing demand for and consumption of technical textiles.
Taiwan’s functional textile market has invested a lot of resources in textile technology innovation. The industry produces fabrics which are anti-bacteria, water-repellent, and moisture transferring. Many of the largest sportswear and outerwear manufacturers and retailers source active wear fabrics from Taiwan.
Taiwan’s 20 companies exhibited products at the recent Technotex 2015 held in They showcased high-end composites, innovative technical textiles, raw materials, accessories and nonwoven machinery. These products have a wide range of application fields like protective, performance functional, eco-friendly, mobile, non-woven and new materials for architectural and geotechnical construction.
India is a dynamic market with a lot of potential and scope for Taiwanese companies to expand their exports. The Indian composite industry is pegged at Rs 15,000 crores with an expected growth of 15 per cent per annum over the next four years.
www.technotexindia.in/
US apparel imports edged down by 0.5 per cent in February compared to the same month last year. Apparel imports from Vietnam increased 0.5 per cent in the month, making it the number two source of US apparel imports and giving the country a 0.4 percentage point share gain so far this year to 12 per cent of total dollar imports.
Apparel imports from India were grew second fastest among all major trading partners in the first two months of the year, growing by 7.8 per cent, giving the country a half point share gain of US apparel imports. Apparel imports from India grew by almost 6 per cent in 2014.
Imports from Bangladesh gained 2.8 per cent, a nice swing from the 2.3 per cent decline in 2014. Indonesia’s apparel shipments to the US declined by more than 8 per cent in the first two months of 2015, resulting in a 0.4 per cent share loss, as the country tries to grapple with infrastructure deficiencies and labor issues.
Other countries among the top 10 to enjoy share gains include El Salvador, whose apparel shipments to the US grew by 13 per cent, and Honduras, up seven per cent compared to the same period last year.
