Pakistan's readmission to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) benefits post-2023 has been called into question by Geo-Politik.

The GSP+ scheme, which granted duty-free access to most of Pakistan's goods in the European Union (EU) in return for compliance with international standards, has failed to achieve its objectives. Despite benefiting immensely from increased exports, the Pakistani government has been slow to implement necessary reforms, particularly in the areas of human and labour rights, women's working conditions, and environmental protection, according to the report,

While Pakistan's exports to the EU have increased substantially under the GSP+ scheme, the report argues that the quality of life for workers, particularly women, has not improved. Despite warnings from the international community, the Pakistani government has been slow to address these issues, and the situation remains dire for many workers in the country.

It is worth noting that Pakistan's textile and apparel exports have played a significant role in the country's increased exports to the EU under the GSP+ scheme. The textile and clothing industry accounts for approximately 60% of the country's exports, and the GSP+ scheme has been a major contributor to the growth of this industry. In 2020, Pakistan's textile and clothing exports to the EU increased by 13.5%, reaching a total of €7.48 billion, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. This was largely due to the GSP+ scheme, which provided duty-free access to EU markets for Pakistani textile and clothing products.

Geo-Politik report suggests that the GSP+ scheme has been a failed incentive for Pakistan, which has neither maintained EU values nor reciprocated in economic cooperation proportionately.

The EU must now consider whether to continue the scheme post-2023, or whether to seek alternative ways of promoting compliance with international standards in Pakistan.

Dubai, UAE is hostong the International Apparel & Textile Fair (IATF) once again in 2023.

The 15th edition of the fair promises to be a remarkable one, as it brings together over 200 exhibitors from 22 countries under one roof. IATF is recognized as a leading platform for sourcing apparels, fashion fabrics, prints, clothing accessories, home textiles, footwear, and more in the UAE.

The highlight of this year's event is the Spring Summer Collections & Autumn Winter Highlights of 2023-2024. Among the exhibitors, the India Pavilion jointly organized by Apparel Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, and Federation of Indian Export Organization is a major attraction. The Pavilion features a total of 67 stalls, showcasing a wide variety of Indian textiles for export. Additionally, around 23 companies have come on their own to showcase their apparel.

The event attracts a diverse range of textile mills, garment manufacturers, accessories/trim suppliers, print designers, and major footwear manufacturers. IATF offers an excellent opportunity for manufacturers and their agents to showcase their products to the most influential buyers and designers in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) fashion sphere.

As a primarily "trade-only" event and a B2B platform, IATF offers a professional and conducive atmosphere for business and networking.

The downfall of super specialty stores also termed as category killers has been a topic of discussion in recent years, and the recent bankruptcy of Bed Bath & Beyond and the closure of several of its stores have brought the issue to the forefront once again.

Category killers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Toys 'R' Us, and RadioShack, once considered the epitome of specialty retail, have fallen from grace due to the changing market dynamics and the emergence of online shopping.

These retailers' business models relied on offering a massive selection of products, every variation of what a shopper wanted in one location, and at lower prices than non-specialty stores. They nearly created monopolies in their respective product categories and typically had stores sized at 50,000 square feet, positioning them to be larger than independent store competitors but smaller than megastores like Walmart Supercenters.

According to experts, category killers' ultimate downfall was due to the rapid change in technology from the 1980s onward. The emergence of global supply chains, cheap container shipping overseas, falling telecommunications costs, and computers made it possible for companies to buy at high volume for less money and sell at lower prices. This led to specialized retail giants buying improved technology to place in their stores to set themselves apart from local shops.

However, with the rise of e-commerce, Amazon has effectively taken away the category killers' main advantage of offering more product choices and variability through its website. Walmart and Target can also survive by specifically focusing on products in high demand.

While other category killers like Dick's Sporting Goods, The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy are still hanging on, it is feared that shoppers will ultimately regret the downfall of category killers.

Africa Fashion Week Brazil is scheduled to hold on May 26 and 27, 2023, at the Expo center in São Paulo. This edition of the event is expected to create a synergy between the fashion industry in Brazil and Africa, promote economic growth, deepen cultural ties, and provide a platform for future collaborations.

The announcement was made at the Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos, where the Consul General of Brazil, emphasized the importance of the fashion industry in promoting diversity of cultural expressions, values, creativity, and craftsmanship.

African textile and fashion industry is growing rapidly, with the sub-Saharan Africa Apparel sector estimated to be worth $31 billion as of November 2022. He noted that the fabrics and prints mostly derived from natural fibers, cottons, and various color dyes, featured African cultural symbols.

Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi, founder of Africa Fashion Week London, Nigeria, and Brazil, said the event would boost economic ties and deepen the presence of African fashion on a global map. She added that the Africa Fashion Week started in 2011 in London, with the aim of bridging the gap between African designers, black designers, and the general public. In 2014, the event was replicated in Nigeria to reach out to talented designers who could not afford the logistics of traveling during international shows.

With the addition of Africa Fashion Week Brazil, the event is set to further promote African fashion and culture on a global stage.

Textile mills in the state are facing a challenging time due to low demand for yarn in the market. Despite spinning mills running at nearly 90% capacity and cotton prices remaining stable, the demand for yarn is tepid. The situation is worse for small-scale spinning mills, where high power and cotton costs along with a dull market have hit operations hard.

According to K. Selvaraju, secretary general of the Southern India Mills’ Association, indicative data of yarn prices show considerable, but demand has fallen in the last one-and-a-half months.

According to Open end Spinning Mills’ Association, despite slight improvement in demand, prices remain a problem. With textile mills slowing down for the last few months, open end spinners are unable to get waste cotton, and as a result, comber noil prices are higher than last year.

Cotton prices are lower than the last year's price levels but higher than the present international prices. This has made Indian yarn uncompetitive in the international market, and buyers are gravitating towards countries like Vietnam.

The 133rd edition of China's Canton Fair has entered its final phase, with textiles, fabrics, and clothing taking centrestage in Guangzhou.

Despite coinciding with the ongoing Labor Day holiday, exhibitors remain keen to find new business opportunities. The previous phase generated over $4.5 billion worth of exports, featuring toys, home decorations, and various consumer products.

The trade expo's final stretch is showcasing a range of goods, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, and rural revitalization products. Many exhibitors are optimistic about the event's success, with some hoping to export their brand to new markets, including European customers.

As the Canton Fair concludes on May 5th, attendees are hailing the return of face-to-face business and the event's ability to facilitate trade amidst the ongoing pandemic.

Peru's petrochemicals-based textile industry is calling for a specific law, similar to that of the agricultural sector, to be implemented to protect local producers from unfair competition from cheaper products, particularly from China. According to the head of textiles at trade group Sociedad Nacional de Industrias (SNI), this regulation could help boost textile exports by $2 billion in the US market within a few years.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Peru's textile exports increased by 7.8% in 2020, with the sector employing around 400,000 workers in a country of 34 million residents. However, textile exports are still below their peak in 2014, when they reached $1.2 billion. China is the main competitor of Peru's textile industry, accounting for 53% of Peru's textile imports in 2020, followed by Vietnam (11%) and Bangladesh (6%), according to the Ministry of Production.

Although the Peruvian government created a national plan for the development of the textile and clothing industry (PLANTEX) in 2016, some industry experts argue that more targeted regulation is needed to protect local producers and boost exports. The proposed law for the textile industry would be similar to the Law for the Promotion of the Agricultural Sector, which provided tax incentives and other benefits to support agricultural production and exports.

Peru's textile industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often struggle to compete with larger, more established companies.

If implemented, the proposed regulation could level the playing field and support the growth of SMEs in the sector.

Vietnam's exports have been hit hard by weakening global demand, according to experts.

Exports have decreased across most industries, including garments, agriculture, forestry, fishery and wood processing. Local exporters are struggling to meet their growth targets, as exports fell 11.9% year-on-year in the first quarter. Total exports and imports were estimated at $154.3 billion in the same period, down 13.3% year-on-year.

The hardest-hit sectors include textiles, garments, leather and footwear, timber and seafood, with the United States and the European Union being the main export markets. The decline has been attributed to high inflation and the slowing global economy, particularly the risk of an economic crisis in some of the country’s major markets.

Exporters are also facing higher raw material costs while export prices remain unchanged, reducing the competitiveness of their products. The cost of labour, packaging, and transportation has also been on the rise

Industry bodies are recommending that the government provide a low-interest credit package of 10 trillion dong ($438 million) to support farmers and fishermen to buy raw materials to maintain production.

Kenya and the United States have agreed on six new co-investments totaling $55 million in the clothing industry, as part of an ongoing effort to enhance economic ties between the two countries. The program is supported by Prosper Africa and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The recent agreements show how committed the US is to enhancing its economic ties with Kenya.

The co-investments with American and Kenyan clothing firms are set to generate more employment in both Kenya and the US by making it easier to conduct business together. The US government, through the federal program called Prosper Africa, is linking US and African companies with fresh customers, suppliers, and investment prospects.

As part of the new agreements, the clothing company MAS Intimates will educate Kenyan workers and generate jobs in the formal sector to enhance the production of high-quality clothing created in Kenya. United Garment Liquidators (UAL), a discount clothing company, will boost garment exports to the US market by constructing a one-stop shop in Kenya that synchronizes all phases of the production process from "Farm to Fashion." Mega Sports Apparel will increase its production capacity by incorporating new production lines.

The purchase of machinery by Kenya's Coast Apparel will help improve production and export capability, resulting in additional jobs for women and young people. Best Lifestyle, situated in Athi River, will increase its production in Kenya and hire and train additional workers. The US-based packaging company Nexgen Packaging will build a facility in Kenya to produce tags and labels for clothing and footwear that will be sold both inside and outside of Africa.

A trade mission to America, which includes a roadshow in New York, aims to attract more US investment in Kenya.

Ongoing conflict in Sudan will not significantly impact Bangladesh's import of cotton from the country, as it only accounts for a small part of the total import, and local importers, spinners, and millers have alternative sources in other African countries, according to industry experts.

African countries, particularly those in the west, including Benin, Lesotho, Chad, and Sudan, are critical sources of cotton for traders in Bangladesh. Western clothing retailers and brands have long banned the use of cotton from these countries under the excuse of using child labour in the cotton industry.

As a result, local spinners, traders, importers, and millers have started sourcing cotton from African countries. According to the Bangladesh Cotton Mills Association (BTMA), African countries provided 37.3% of the total cotton required in the fiscal year 2019-20. That percentage has since risen to over 40%, with Sudan accounting for only 5-6% of the total cotton imported from African countries.

The local cotton traders, spinners, millers, and importers started diversifying from India in sourcing their cotton since 2008 when India stopped shipments of cotton several times without prior notice. As a result, they have reduced their overdependence on Indian cotton and started sourcing from other African countries, the US, Brazil, Australia, and Argentina.

In fiscal year 2019-20, the share of cotton imported from African countries stood at 37.06%, India 26%, CIS 11.35%, Australia 4.65%, US 11.14%, and others 9.65%, according to the BTMA.

Bangladesh imports nearly nine million bales of cotton annually, at a cost of nearly $3 billion for use in nearly 500 spinning mills. The local production of cotton can meet less than 1% of the annual demand.

Industry believes the Sudanese crisis would not have any impact on the local cotton sourcing, textile, and garment sectors. While Sudan is still a small source nation for Bangladesh, other African nations, such as Benin and Mali, are major sources for cotton for Bangladesh as local traders import bulk quantities from those countries.