FW
High cotton prices in the domestic market have pushed up cotton imports in the 2015-16 season. While Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) which comprises representatives of the textile industry, trade, ginners and government officials, had projected imports of around 15 lakh bales during 2015-16, trade and industry officials say imports have already crossed 20 lakh bales. This is in stark contrast to import of around 14.5 lakh bales in 2014-15. China, the largest buyer of cotton from India in the past, reduced imports significantly after it accumulated huge stocks as reserves.
The country imported around 80 lakh bales of cotton from India in 2013-14. But cotton exports to China plunged by over 50 per cent in 2014-15 as it shows India exported about 58 lakh bales of cotton in 2014-15.
Shaikh Mohammad Shafiq, Central Chairman, Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) laments the sorry state of the country’s textile and apparel industry. He says, in the last financial year, Pakistan’s textile export slid by $1 billion due to a substantial decline in cotton production. On the other hand, imports increased 6 per cent in July this year as a result the government could not achieve exports targets. Poor policies have brought Pakistan’s most valuable sector on the verge of collapse, he points out. Export of readymade garments, however, showed a positive sign as it climbed to $2.196 billion in July-June (FY 16) from $2.095 billion recorded in the same period last year thus showing an increase of 4.83 per cent.
Shafiq regretted that the value added industry is already suffering with low productivity due to shortage of cotton, high energy cost, and discriminating import duties on the industry's raw material. The PRGMEA chairman said regional comparison of cost of doing business shows that Pakistan’s wages, interest rates, electricity, gas and water tariff are much higher and that seems to have created hurdles for smooth business. In the Budget for 2016-17, the Finance Ministry gave some incentives and zero-rated sales tax to top five important textile sectors to enhance their exports in the next two years. He also committed that refunds cases having release payments orders (RPOs) up to April 30, 2016 will get payment by August 31, this year but did not mention about the fate of remaining cases.
Shafiq concluded that the textile industry would remain unviable in case the government failed to return local taxes and levies on exports.
China is well on its way to becoming a big cotton importer. Eight years ago, China was growing over 15.3 million acres of cotton. This year, it’s only going to plant 7.2 million acres. This has major implications for the market as China is the world’s largest cotton consumer. In two or three years, China could become an importer of 15 million bales a year.
China is expected to produce around 22 million bales this marketing year and consume around 35 million bales, creating a deficit of around 13 million bales. Most of this will be met with cotton from its reserves, although China will import about 4.5 million bales.
Since 2007, cotton demand has continued to languish mainly due to fashion trends favoring products made from manmade fibers. Polyester is at a strong price advantage to cotton in China. Polyester costs half as much as cotton to a Chinese mill. China has an advantage to making and selling these products and this is one of the reasons cotton’s share has continued to fall.
On a positive note, the cotton blend level in China’s spinning industry appears to have bottomed out about two years ago and is slowly coming back.
In another blow after remittance from expatriates plummeted, Bangladesh started the 2016-17 fiscal on a disappointing note when its exports took a hit. The country earned over $2.53 billion in July, the first month of the new financial year, down 3.5 per cent from the same month last fiscal year. Exports in the month missed target by 25 per cent. Economists and exporters, however, see no reason to press the panic button just yet.
Nasiruddin, a vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), hopes that export earnings will bounce back in the next months if terror attacks like those in Gulshan and Sholakia do not take place and political stability prevails. He, however, did not blame the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks for the fall in export earnings as July exports were actually of orders taken before hand while the attacks took place in early July. Bangladesh earned $34.25 billion in 2015-16 fiscal from exports, registering a growth of 10 per cent on the previous year. Exports grew 17 per cent in June last year.
Following last year’s growth, the target for this fiscal year’s export was set at $37 billion. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) which released the data last Thursday, the readymade garment sector accounted for around 82 per cent of the export earnings in July.
The trade value between Vietnam and the European Union in the first half of this year has gained year-on-year growth of 9.05 per cent. Export value from Vietnam to the EU increased by 8.68 per cent and import value to Vietnam from the EU surged by 10.28 per cent.
Vietnam mainly exports traditional products to the EU, including textiles, garments, footwear, and coffee, in addition to seafood and computers. Imports are of machines, equipments, tools and pharmaceutical products, in addition to milk and milk products.
Over the past years, the trade relationship between Vietnam and the EU has gained rapidly and developed efficiently. The bilateral trade value increased ten times from 2000 to 2015. Of this, the export value from Vietnam to the EU surged 11 times while import value from the EU to Vietnam rose eight times.
Some other products that grew between five per cent and ten per cent a year in export value were plastic products, wood and wooden products, handbags, suitcases and umbrellas, apart from pepper and cashew.
Vietnam started exporting telephones and components to the EU in 2011, but the export value of those products in 2015 accounted for 75 per cent of its total national export value to EU.
A majority of business houses in the US consider Vietnam as a priority market in the ASEAN region for their business and investment expansion in 2017, according to the 2017 ASEAN Business Outlook Survey. According to the survey, US companies maintain a steady sense of optimism about growth and commercial opportunities in ASEAN. More than half or 53 per cent of respondents reported that ASEAN markets have become more important for their companies’ worldwide revenue over the last two years while 78 per cent executives projected profit increase in 2017. Meanwhile, close to half of the surveyed companies (49 per cent) expected to increase their ASEAN workforce by the end of 2016.
According to US businesses, Vietnam leads among ASEAN member states in attracting investment from American firms that intend to diversify their investments or businesses over the next two years from China into ASEAN.
Suryalakshmi Cotton’s net revenue has risen by 1.6 per cent. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax was at 15.3 per cent of net revenue, an increase of 9.8 per cent. Profit after tax and earnings per share rose by 11.8 per cent. The company’s exports in the first quarter of the current year were almost 20 per cent of net sales. It estimates revenue of Rs 850 crores to Rs 900 crores during the financial year 2016-17.
Suryalakshmi has a denim fabric manufacturing capacity of 40 million meters a year. The company has launched new variants from the Amravati spinning unit to be used in manufacturing high-end denim fabrics. It has a capacity of 25,000 spindles for the manufacture of high quality value added and fancy yarns like stretch, slub and Elitwist yarns.
Suryalakshmi Cotton is one of India’s leading integrated premium yarn-to-denim-to-garment manufacturing companies. It has become the Original Denim Manufacturer to leading global and domestic brands with a dominant market share in the premium denim sector.
With cutting-edge designs, the latest spinning technology and end-to-end manufacturing plants, Suryalakshmi creates the finest yarns, premium denims and garments for leading private labels, fashion brands and retail chains in 31 countries across the globe.
Singapore-based brand Kydra has crafted the perfect pair of multi-functional shorts for the urban athlete. Kydra Flex Shorts is a product that brings together the practical benefits of running tights and a casual pair of shorts. Every pair is engineered to provide the utmost comfort during high impact activities, be it running, ball sports, water sports or a heavy-lifting day at the gym. The shorts come with a tailored fit and a stylish look.
The shorts are made of a cutting-edge 160GSM polyester and elastane blend that is both anti-bacterial and sweat-wicking. Each pair is also fitted with an anti-bounce, zippered side pocket made from durable, ballistic mesh -- keeping one's phone or media player in place during a workout. Additional hidden back pockets ensure that smaller valuables are kept equally secure. In all there are five pockets.
Kydra was founded in 2015. The Kydra Flex Shorts is the brand’s first product line. The Flex Shorts are available in S, M, L and XL sizes and fit waistlines from 28 to 40 inches.
The shorts are supposed to be worn without underwear. They have inner tights shaped like boxer briefs, made of a nylon-lycra blend that has anti-bacterial properties.
With market analysts predicting cotton prices unlikely to fall until next season that starts in October, textile mills in Coimbatore are desperately taking measures to reduce production and raise prices of hosiery yarn. Though the Tamil Nadu government does not have a role to play in cotton pricing, officials of textile mills say reducing taxes as per their earlier demand will go a long way. Domestic cotton prices, especially the preferred Shankar-6 variety, have risen from Rs. 34,000 per candy (355 kgs of cotton) in April to Rs. 49,000 per candy by July-end.
As per India Ratings and Research, prices of cotton are unlikely to come down till October when the new season begins. As a result, textile mills in the state which account for 46 per cent of the spinning capacity in the country, preferred to bring down their production by 15 to 20 per cent, to curtail losses. The textile industry accepts that the state government cannot play a role in stabilising or bringing down cotton prices but feel they can take long- and short-term measures to help the industry tide over current crisis and prevent it in the future.
In his observation, Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) chairman M Senthilkumar said that though the GST bill has been passed, at least till it is implemented, the state government can reduce its VAT (value added tax) on cotton cone yarn from 5 to 2 per cent to bring it on a par with the central sales tax.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics are providing business bonanzas for Taiwanese footwear and apparel manufacturers. Feng Tay is a footwear contract manufacturer from Taiwan. It supplies basketball sneakers to Nike. For the quarter ended June, Feng Tay’s revenue grew 11.6 per cent while net profit surged nearly 44 per cent.
For the first half of 2016, Pou Chen’s revenue was up six per cent on the year. The company’s net profit rose 8.2 per cent. Pou Chen, which turns out shoes for such renowned brands as Nike, Adidas and New Balance, has logged year-on-year growth by more than 10 per cent.
Taiwan's biggest apparel maker, Eclat Textile, has seen demand pick up during the Olympics. Sales were otherwise tepid since the second half of last year due to the global economic slowdown. The clothing maker counts Nike and JC Penny among its customers. Eclat's revenue fell more than 10 per cent for the three months ended June. But its improving gross margin -- at 28 per cent last quarter -- may indicate a strong recovery in the second half.
However there are doubts whether the demand bump brought about by the Olympics will be long-lived. The question is whether these footwear or textile makers can supply higher-end and innovative products to stay competitive in the longer term.
