FW
According to the Commerce Department data, apparel imports to the US grew by 1.8 percent in April compared to the same month last year, to $6.9 billion, a billion dollars less than in March. The increase greatly outpaced that of overall imports, which fell by 6 percent in the month to $190 billion.
The biggest driver of the overall decrease in imports was a steep decline in the value of consumer goods, by $4.9 billion, representing two-thirds of the total good imports decline. On a 12-month smoothed basis, which corrects for volatility of data in a particular month, apparel import growth was 3.1 percent in April, slightly less than March.
China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India are the top five providers of US imported apparel so far this year, though Indonesia has seen its apparel exports to the US drop in the first four months of the year compared to 2014. Apparel exports continued to outperform the total export market, however, increasing by 7 percent compared to last April, to $580 million. Overall exports of goods and services dropped by 4.5 percent in the month, hurt by the strength of the dollar. On a 12-month smoothed basis, however, apparel exports were flat.
Canada emerged the biggest importer of US apparel so far this year, comprising more than one-third of exports, followed by Mexico, the U.K., Japan and El Salvador.
www.commerce.gov
Bangladesh's garment makers want to build warehouses in India so that they can supply apparel items directly to retail shops across India. Bangladesh seeks to boost its annual garment exports to the Indian market to a billion dollars in three years from about $100 million now. India has already allowed almost all globally renowned clothing retailers to operate in its market. The annual retail market size of India is set to cross $40 billion with growing middle class consumers. The Indian government has started widening connectivity by liberalising trade policy.
Bangladesh wants both Benapole and Petrapole ports to remain open every day for smooth export and import activities. These ports are on the border of the two countries. On an average, the two ports remain closed for three days a week, as it is a holiday in Bangladesh on Friday, while Saturday and Sunday are holidays in India.
Bangladesh also wants India to scrap the 12.5 per cent countervailing duty so that Bangladeshi garment makers can export more. Bangladesh's overall exports to India were worth $456.63 million in 2013-14 compared to $563.97 million in the previous year. Its imports from India were recorded at $6.03 billion in fiscal 2013-14 and $4.78 billion in the previous year. India exports goods worth more than $6 billion to Bangladesh a year through informal channels.
Cotton inventory in India, estimated at around 70 lakh bales at the close of the 2014-15 season and is expected to be the highest ever cotton stock carried by the country after 2008-09. The huge volume of carry forward cotton stock would place the country in a comfortable position.
However, the predominantly cotton-based textile industry in the country is subject to a crisis due to volatility in the price of the white fiber. The Cotton Corporation of India could sell only 12 lakh bales against 25 lakh bales offered during the last couple of months as the corporation’s rates were high. By not offloading the fiber procured from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh till end-April, the corporation gave mills a tough time, resulting in flaring up of prices.
There was some respite during the current season as prices had remained comparatively stable due to reduced imports by China and over supply in the global market. The global area under cotton is expected to drop by seven per cent in 2015-16 and production by nine per cent. Yet, the supply position in 2015-16 is expected to be comfortable as China would continue to reduce imports and downsize its reserves.
The British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) has launched its new website. The newly designed fresh-looking site includes updated information on BWMB’s activities, such as shearing, training, marketing, the regional structure and useful advice for producers on fleece rolling and presentation. The new website is fully compatible and responsive to tablets and smart phones.
The website allows the board to showcase the work BWMB is doing to maximise the value of its wool. An important, easy to use feature of the new site will enable producers to register online or to amend their registration details. More detailed information is also available on fleece presentation and on the quality control scheme the BWMB operates across all depots.
Another important development in recent months is BWMB’s presence on social media with active accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. BWMB has been collecting, grading, promoting and selling great British fleece wool since 1950. BWMB is required to register all producers with four or more sheep. There are currently approximately 45,000 registered producers.
Receiving no financial support, although operating commercially, BWMB is a non-profit making organisation, returning to producers the market price for their wool, less its own costs.
www.britishwool.org.uk/
Just five years ago, Myanmar was isolated from the rest of the world. But that is changing. In 2011, the number of garment factories had grown to 200, from 120 the previous year. Today, it is estimated that the industry employs more than 2,00,000 workers, a tenfold increase since 2010 and double the number employed before US sanctions were toughened in 2003. An average of two new factories are opening every week.
One reason enticing garment producers back to Myanmar is cheap labor. The country has some of the lowest wages in Asia. At present, there is no minimum wage in Myanmar. Some of the world’s biggest fast fashion brands are already taking notice of Myanmar. Swedish apparel giant H&M placed test orders in 2013 and began sourcing from the country in earnest last year. Its garments are being manufactured in some 13 factories. Gap was the first major US apparel retailer to establish a presence in Myanmar.
Though manufacturing jobs will increasingly provide employment opportunities for young people in Myanmar, they will only be able to lift themselves out of poverty if these jobs provide fair wages and conditions. Due to Myanmar’s isolation and lack of exposure to international practices, it has limited experience in adopting new business methods or complying with international standards.
With banks insisting on credit ratings for extension of loans at lower interests, spinning mills in Tirupur and its hinterland have adopted a consultative approach for effective representation of company-related data to credit agencies for procuring the best possible rating. To help mills present the company’s financials and strengths in a scientific manner for optimising credit ratings, the Texpreneurs Forum, comprising different textile sector stakeholders, has engaged a group of experts for consultations.
The aim of engaging the experts and having an interaction with them is to make units understand what parameters credit rating agencies look for when computing the ratings for respective companies. Unless a company knows such details, it might miss giving key data which otherwise could boost the credit rating to higher levels than the eventual figures assigned to them.
Optimisation of credit ratings would bring immense benefits to spinning mills which are highly capital intensive in operations. A higher rating would improve the bargaining power of the units to get loans at much lower interest rates and also will come in handy when asking for enhancement of credit limits. Units in Tirupur need to concentrate on reducing the working capital intensity so that their fund requirements come down. They also need to infuse fresh equity from their own resources, opt for term loans of longer maturity profile and modernise the existing machinery, all of which will help increase the credit rating.
Bangladesh wants to have duty free access to Thailand's jute products. Bangladesh is giving priority to the promotion of environment- friendly jute and jute products. Thousands of workers are employed in Bangladesh’s jute mills. The country is urging Thailand to use jute sacks instead of poly bags for storage of rice and other crops. Bangladesh also wants Thai investors to buy off the public sector jute and textile industry in Bangladesh and invest in modernising the jute mills for the production of 100 per cent export-oriented consumer- friendly modern jute products of international standards.
Jute, a vegetable fiber can be spun into sackcloth, used to be the golden fiber of Bangladesh. It brought much-needed foreign income to the impoverished nation. But it lost its luster in the 1980s after synthetic materials like polythene and plastics were introduced.
Now the natural fiber has made a spectacular comeback. With growing environmental awareness, jute, which is bio-degradable, has become the preferred alternative to polluting synthetic bags. Jute is considered the second most important natural fiber after cotton in terms of cultivation and use. It is mainly grown in eastern India, Bangladesh, China and Burma.
Until recently the fiber was used mostly as a packaging material. With a diversification of jute products, the demand for jute has increased.
Pakistan cotton mills have expressed great concern over the intention of the government to impose sales tax on raw cotton in the federal budget 2015-16.
They say such a tax will discourage production and inhibit the smooth flow of exports and run counter to the laid down government policy of encouraging cotton trade in the country. Any hindrance in the smooth export of cotton would prevent growers from getting a fair price for their produce.
Another point mill owners make is that 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. The sales tax, if levied on raw cotton, would be refundable at the export stage. Taking into consideration the substantial expenses involved in tax collection, administration and in the refund process, the balance available amount to the government would be comparatively insignificant.
In addition, since exporters of raw cotton usually operate on narrow margins, they cannot afford to keep substantial borrowed amounts stuck-up for six or seven months. Due to a delay in refund of sales tax, serious liquidity problems would be created for cotton exporters. Exports of cotton would adversely suffer and compromise the interests of cotton growers and ginners.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) published its ‘2015 Plan A Report', the first since it launched the third stage of its Plan A sustainability strategy - Plan A 2020. The report has outlined a number of achievements made by the company over the last 12 months, including around 652,000 workers in M&S's clothing supply chain having received training on subjects such as financial literacy and health information and services.
M&S said that it has been working with its suppliers to help them become more efficient, reduce their environmental footprints, and provide better working conditions for their employees. As a result, 102 of its largest clothing factories have adopted energy efficiency measures, making estimated savings of 10 per cent. Now it aims to consult with customers and stakeholders on what they consider to be important about how and where M&S sources and produces its products. The retailer is hoping to respond by improving the information available by 2020.
M&S said it last year collated results from a small-scale online survey of sustainability specialists, a review of best practice by Forum for the Future, and a summary of findings from existing customers and public market research. This year, it has commissioned further research with GlobeScan, gathering the views of 172 sustainability specialists globally. In a further move to increase transparency in its supply chain, M&S plans to publish a list of its clothing suppliers - a goal the retailer said it has not yet started, but is aiming to publish by 2016.
M&S also outlined a number of new sustainable innovations, including its Footglove Earth shoes made from recycled and sustainably sourced materials. It has also started using mixed recycled fibres collected through its Shwopping clothes recycling scheme to make Topaz filling for use in mattresses. The company has also started a two-year project – Redress - with the University of Cambridge, Institute for Manufacturing, to investigate opportunities to increase the volume and value of garment recovery.
More than 25 brands and retailers, including H&M, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co and Marks & Spencer, have pledged to phase out endangered forest fiber in their product lines. Denim brand G-Star Raw will eliminate the use of rayon and viscose fabrics derived from ancient and endangered forests. The brand will give preference to recycled and FSC-certified wood products. The brand is working with environmental organisation Canopy, which last year produced research suggesting threatened forests are routinely making their way into rayon, viscose, modal and other trademarked fabrics.
Aditya Birla, the world’s largest producer of viscose, will stop sourcing raw material from ancient and endangered forests. The Indian conglomerate said it applies to wood and pulp sourcing for all its mills, including those in Canada, Indonesia and China.
Canopy's Fashion Loved by Fashion campaign seeks to shift suppliers away from endangered forest sourcing as well as advancing long-term conservation solutions and more sustainable fabric solutions, such as recycled fabrics or non-wood fibers like straw.
This, in addition to Lenzing’s augmented sourcing policy, translates to 40 per cent of the global supply of viscose fibers being on track to avoid being sourced from endangered forests, forward conservation solutions and explore alternative inputs like recycled clothing.
