FW
For the half year Indorama Ventures’ net profit rose 109 per cent higher year on year. Revenue rose 22 per cent higher year on year. The company delivered record performance, with improvements in production volumes and margins across all key segments and geographies.
IVL’s strategy to drive sustainable and profitable growth in both high-volume necessities and the stable but high margin and high value-added HVA business continues. The company further upgraded its portfolio through organic growth, operational excellence initiatives, value accretive acquisitions and strategic integrations.
Chemical producer IVL now operates on a global scale of an integrated polyester value chain and HVA platform, with a more resilient product and geographic mix. Investments continue to drive value-accretive growth with six acquisitions since March 2018, including PET plants in Brazil and Egypt, which have an added net PET capacity of 1.1 million tons.
Industry fundamentals continue to be positive, led by strong demand growth for 100 per cent recyclable PET, supply balance and on-going improvements seen in the PET industry. This creates opportunity for well-managed and committed producers to enable supply reliability to customers in tight market conditions.
For Q2 the company will continue to pursue value accretive opportunities in its key segments to further strengthen the foundations of sustainable performance.
India and Sri Lanka are widening the scope for free trade agreement they already have by including services and investments. Economic ties between the two countries will be boosted by liberalising trade norms.
The free trade agreement was arrived at in 2000. India has a healthy trade surplus in goods with Sri Lanka. India exported goods worth $4.5 billion in 2017-18 and its imports were $773 million. Sri Lanka is India’s major trading partner in South Asia.
Sri Lanka is a garment making hub. A scenario where Sri Lanka sources from India and manufactures apparel and garments for the rest of the world could lead to a win-win situation for both countries. Both countries share a rich textile tradition. Large Indian companies can encourage Sri Lankan companies to be part of their supply and value chains.
Sri Lanka has been urged to make use of fully-funded training opportunities in India under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation program, in which a number of slots is earmarked for textile related subjects.
Sri Lanka is one of India’s largest trading partners in SAARC. India in turn is one of Sri Lanka’s largest trade partners globally. Sri Lanka is among the top ten countries which import cotton fabrics from India.
Foreign direct investment in Bangladesh’s textile and apparel sector rose 15.70 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016. South Korea made the largest investment in the country’s textile sector, followed by Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
Since the garment sector is growing fast in Bangladesh, foreign investors choose the country as an investment for textiles. The availability of workforce at a reasonable wage, duty-free market access to major export destination, preferential location in the heart of the Asia-Pacific region and policy support have acted as a catalyst to attract FDI.
The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority provides a one-stop service. The digitized system has made the process very easy, pushing the foreign investment in the textile sector up. Bangladesh has to import a huge amount of woven fabrics to meet the local demand. Foreign investment in the textile sector will help Bangladesh build a strong backward linkage for the woven sector.
Bangladesh produces mostly basic clothing items. Foreign investment is especially valuable in high tech-fabric manufacturing and technology-based garment manufacturing to make value-added products. FDI in the textile and apparel industry will help in the production of high-quality fabrics as foreign investors have expertise in this area.
UK’s international trade secretary Liam Fox has put the chances of failure to reach a deal on Brexit at 60:40, blaming the EU’s stubborness for it. His comments come at a time when the deadline looms for Britain to exit the European Union on March 29, and amid growing fears that the deal will not be agreed in time.
The minister stated that he had previously thought the prospect of a no-deal were 50:50 but that has now increased -- largely due to European bureaucrats harboring a "theological obsession" with EU rules, rather than "economic wellbeing."
Meanwhile British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose blueprint for leaving Europe has come under fire from both Brexiteers and Remainers within her Conservative Party, was in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at his summer residence in the south of France over the weekend. The negotiations come at a delicate time for May, who in recent months has seen a string of resignations in her party over her Brexit plans -- most notably between Brexit secretary David Davis and foreign secretary Boris Johnson.
India has enhanced basic customs duty on 328 textile and apparel products. Import of yarn, fabric, made-ups and garments made out of manmade fibers and filaments have risen especially after GST. But these products are being manufactured in the country by a large number of factories in both small and medium and the organized mill sector.
The decision will help millions of people get employment in the manufacturing sector of the various segments of the entire value chain. But the hike in customs duty does not impact the issue of imports from Bangladesh. These imports are exempt from basic customs duty and hence Chinese fabric easily comes to India duty free through Bangladesh in the form of garments. This affects the fabric as well as other segments of the value chain.
In the last one year, apparel imports from Bangladesh increased 44 per cent. Measures such as Rules of Origin, Yarn Forwarding Rules and Fabric Forwarding Rules on countries that have FTAs with India will prevent cheaper fabrics produced from countries like China being routed through Bangladesh.
The major part of employment creation happens in the downstream industry like knitting, weaving, apparel making and made-up manufactured goods. The import duty is expected to motivate the industry to achieve ambitious targets set for the textile and clothing sector.
Latest figures from the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) show, water availability and related environmental challenges are affecting the cotton sector negatively. The ICAC figures indicate demand for cotton is strong, with consumption projected to increase by 4 per cent to reach an all-time high of 27.5 million tonnes in 2018/19. But the area under cotton cultivation in 2018/19 is projected to decrease in major producing countries including India (11.9 million hectares, down 3 per cent) and the USA (4.25 million hectares, down 5 per cent) although it is likely to remain stable in China at 3.3 million hectares.
Less-than-ideal environmental conditions and a lack of available water are projected to cause a reduction in planted area for many of the world’s top producers in 2018/19.
Global production of cotton has increased 16 per cent to 26.87 million tonnes in 2017/18, with increases expected from all major producers: India, China, USA, Brazil, Pakistan, West Africa, Turkey, Australia and Uzbekistan. Those increases, however, are the result of expanded plantings and favorable weather conditions, as global yields posted a marginal increase of 1 per cent.
Global production for the 2018/19 season, according to is currently projected at 25.9 million tonnes, which would represent a 4 per cent decrease. Global consumption, on the other hand, is currently projected to increase 4 per cent to 27.5 million tonnes.
In the midst of the US-China trade dispute, hundreds of Chinese companies will be making their way to Toronto later this month to participate in Canada’s largest apparel and textile trade show, Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC), from August 20-22, at the Toronto International Centre.
The show will include a first-of-its-kind showcase of top brands from China, called Avenue ATS. This will feature leading apparel brands in China, looking for partners to help grow their fashions globally.
ATSC will feature over 500 international exhibits, three days of seminars and panels, an on-site business matchmaking service and a spectacular fashion show spotlighting established and up-and-coming Canadian designers. More than 5,000 visitors are expected to attend the three-day event including apparel and fashion executives, influencers, designers, retailers, importers, wholesalers, merchandisers, buyers and suppliers.
This year’s event will include the addition of the China Brand Show, coming to Canada for the first time as a part of ATSC and adding categories such as accessories, giftware, home electronics, footwear, luggage and housewares and general merchandise.
ATSC is supported by many international governments and associations, headed by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile and Apparel (CCCT) and the Bangladesh High Commission on behalf of the Export Promotion Bureau and the Bangladesh Garment and Manufacturers Export Association. The event is also supported by the Taiwan Textile Association, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India’s Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) and TFO Canada, experts in trade for developing countries.
India’s decision to double tax on textile imports from China will benefit the Bangladesh apparel industry as it will enable the country to export more products to India. Bangladesh’s RMG exports rose 10 per cent year-on-year in 2017-18 fiscal year. India’s decision will help Bangladesh further augment its growth in apparel exports this fiscal.
India's imports of textile products from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia also jumped in the last few years as they are not subject to any duty under free trade agreements (FTA) signed by India with these countries. The 20 per cent duty India imposed on textile products will not be applicable to products sourced from those countries due to the FTA.
Nanollose has come up with an innovative method to produce rayon. Instead of cutting down trees or harvesting plants and dousing it with harsh chemicals, just let microbes chow down on biomass that would have otherwise been wasted. It takes just a few weeks for the microbes to turn biomass into usable cellulose.
Initially, the company fed coconut leftovers shipped in from Indonesia to its hungry microbes, it is now looking at other options as it prepares to enhance the production of rayon. Another advantage of Nanollose’s is that it can be processed by existing industrial equipment. Manufacturers who want to switch from wood- or plant-derived cellulose to the microbe-produced alternative won’t have to do any re-tooling at their mills.
Another advantage of this method is that it can be processed by existing industrial equipment. Manufacturers who want to switch from wood- or plant-derived cellulose to the microbe-produced alternative won’t have to do any re-tooling at their mills.
In retaliation to President Trump’s protectionist trade policies, the European Union has levied 25 per cent tariff on US-made denim. This may affect smaller US-based denim companies, many of whom focus on higher-end apparel. Larger businesses such as Levi Strauss may largely escape the impact since most of their products are made overseas and wouldn't be subject to the tariffs, which came into effect in June.
Trade data shows, blue jeans form a tiny part of the US exports. The nation exported jeans worth over $40 million to Canada, its largest market, in 2017. Before trade tensions rose, some US denim companies had been hoping to boost their presence overseas.
The industry had been struggling even before the trade war began. Two major denim mills closed down including Cone Denim's plant in Greensboro, N.C., which was the last American factory to make high-end denim fabric on a large scale. Several factories in Los Angeles had shut down and moved to Mexico after California raised its minimum wage.
