Myanmar would like the EU to continue with the trade preferences. Myanmar garment manufacturers say the loss of duty-free export trade preferences could put more than 4,00,000 jobs at risk and badly damage the country’s economy by depriving it of its largest source of foreign exchange income.

The country says it is progressing with the reforms and needs the EU’s support for further reforms. The EU says before taking a decision to withdraw the preferences it would investigate human rights violations, and whether Myanmar had committed labor rights violations and followed international law and regulations.

The value of Myanmar’s garment exports to the EU has significantly increased from 2013 to 2017. The EU has become Myanmar’s largest trade partner for garments, purchasing more than 47 per cent of the products. Since 2013, the EU has lifted duties on goods from Myanmar under the EBA’s zero-tariff import regime. Nearly 70 per cent of Myanmar’s exports go to EU countries, and more than half of these are garments.

As a result of the opening of the EU market, the number of factory workers in Myanmar has grown from 2,40,000 in 2012 to 4,50,000, and the garment sector is the most labor intensive of the country’s major industries.

The free trade agreement with the EU is expected to benefit Vietnam by expanding export markets and engaging deeper into the global value chain. Negotiations for the deal have ended after six years. With a commitment to cutting down import taxes by over 99 per cent, the deal will bring about great chances for Vietnamese firms to strengthen exports, especially in products Vietnam holds strengths in, such as garments and textiles, footwear, agro-fishery, and timber.

In particular, products that have never been sold in the EU due to tariff barriers will be able to access the market with a competitive price. The FTA will help increase Vietnam’s export revenue by four per cent to six per cent a year in the ten years after it takes effect. This is true especially for the garment and textile sector.

As Vietnam’s and the EU’s export products and economic structures are supplementary without direct competition, the benefit from the deal is huge. However, along with the opportunities, Vietnam will also face some challenges from the FTA from 2019 onwards. Enterprises who wish to export goods to the EU will have to show certificates of origin for their products in order to enjoy the Generalised System of Preferences.

Garment exports slumped by 26 per cent in September. The country’s exporters are facing stiff competition from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia and Ethiopia. Many of these have a duty advantage in major European markets compared to Indian manufacturers because India does not have a free trade agreement with the European Union. Indian products, therefore, get outpriced and lose out on the market.

Overall, India’s readymade garment exports in April-September 2018 fell 10.66 per cent as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Exports from Bangladesh have grown by 15 per cent. Compared to India, products manufactured in Bangladesh are ten per cent cheaper. Also, Bangladesh has a free trade agreement with the EU. But there is a duty of ten per cent on readymade garments manufactured in India.

Apparel exporters, particularly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, face high input costs like labor, transportation and processing. In fact manufacturers based in the northern states are not even able to compete with the Tirupur cluster in Tamil Nadu because of costs. Textile clusters in the three northern states employ over two million workers. Around 200 textile exporters are based out of Punjab and Haryana alone.

Jeanologia has introduced two new collections, 5.Zero indigo & vintage and 5.Zero all blacks. The five zero finishes are: zero discharge, zero manual scrapping, zero potassium permanganate spray, zero stone washing and zero bleach.

The collection 5.Zero indigo & vintage is inspired by the vintage of the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s and shows how, through the use of Jeanologia’s laser, it is possible to create wear and other effects from the era, saving water and considerably reducing the use of chemicals and energy. The collection 5.Zero all blacks shows the benefits of the eco-technology for developing finishes on black denim. Combining the use of laser and G2 ozone technology the white effect in the used area is enhanced, avoiding the use of potassium permanganate spray.

These technological solutions aim at making the industry fully sustainable, maintaining quality, product look and the rationalization of production methods. The company, based in Spain, feels it’s possible to achieve this with the combined use of its technologies like laser, ozone and e-Flow, along with the right fabric selection, and the light sensitive fabric tool.

Since 1993, Jeanologi’s mission has been to improve garment finishing through its technological knowhow.

Garmon Chemicals has launched OVO, a new line of textile dyes. These offer significant advantages both in terms of sustainability and saving of resources when compared to reactive dyes.

The line includes 22 direct dyes that inhibit extraordinary color effects. These dyes have excellent dischargeability, with the ability to achieve superior results without any aesthetic compromises. Furthermore, these dyes are used in the cationised dyeing processes on garments, where surface deposition of the color on fabric is required.

The new project uses only five process steps instead of eight. This leads to lower quantity and higher performance of both dyes and auxiliaries, and also allows for much easier corrections of final shades.

Garmon Chemicals, founded in 1982, is a customer-centric R&D powerhouse that is geared towards innovation with the goal of guiding change in the garment industry. The effort that the company dedicates to product innovation and constant research for eco-centric solutions is supported by the unmatched Garmon expertise in anticipating its customers’ needs.

Along with the new line of dyes, Garmon has also launched its enhanced Stretch Care Collection that includes Elam Sense and Fortres Flex. Elam Sense is the softener for high-quality finishes on super and hyper stretch fabrics, completely aminoethyl-ethanolamine free. Fortres Flex is a dispersing agent that performs at its best even at low temperatures.

The European Union’s apparel imports rose 10.70 per cent in July this year. From January to July ’18, the EU’s imports of apparels upped marginally by 0.06 per cent. In this period the value of China’s apparel exports to the EU fell by 6.78 per cent. Unit prices this year too plunged by 1.60 per cent. The continued fall indicates China is no longer a favorite place for European buyers to place orders. But China remains the EU’s largest apparel sourcing destination, with Bangladesh taking second place.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the EU grew 3.92 per cent year on year. Turkey somehow remained stable despite the worst ever economic crisis it is facing and managed to tap a 2.90 per cent growth in its apparel shipments to the EU. Turkey’s unit prices remained the highest among all top apparel exporters to the EU.

India’s value of apparel exports to the EU fell 3.02 per cent. India's readymade garment sector will continue to enjoy 20 per cent duty preference on exports for the next three years to EU markets. Vietnam saw a 2.44 per cent growth till July ’18.

The EU itself has a vibrant textile and clothing industry, covering a wide range of activities like transferring raw fiber into yarns and then yarns into fabric and then finally using the fabric to produce a wide range of finished products such as wool, bed-linen, geo-textiles, clothing, and synthetic yarns.

For the second quarter Century Textiles & Industries’ net profit jumped nearly threefold. Net sales were up 8.83 per cent during the quarter under review as against the corresponding period last fiscal.

Profit before interest, depreciation and tax jumped 40 per cent. Total expenses rose 8.35 per cent. Revenue from the textile segment surged 37.83 per cent. Revenue from cement was up 16.84 per cent. Revenue from pulp and paper was up 28.04 per cent.

The company’s debt stood at around Rs 4,200 crores as at September 30, 2018, and after the demerger of the cement division, it will be reduced by Rs 3000 crores, putting it in a strong position to deliver robust growth going forward.

Mumbai-based Century Textiles and Industries is active in textiles, viscose filament yarns, cement, and pulp and paper. In the textile business, Century has two revenue streams: cotton fabric and denim units. The company has a vertically integrated plant at Bharuch for manufacturing cotton fabrics.

Century’s cotton division is one of the oldest players in India and manufactures a wide range of premium textiles and supplies to many international players, including Royale Linen, Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Belk and US Polo. Minority shareholders gave a thumping support to the company’s decision to sell its cement assets.

GHCL has launched Cirkularity, a new brand of bedding. The brand platform is inspired by Rekoop, the first bedding solution to use Applied DNA’s Certain T platform and Reliance’s Recron GreenGold fiber for source verification and traceability of recycled polyester across the supply chain.

Rekoop uses Certain T platform to trace and authenticate post-consumer recycled polyester plastic in its bed sheets and pillow cases throughout the entire supply chain. This technology provides forensic proof that goes beyond a paper document. It guarantees brand authenticity, a growing concern for manufacturers as counterfeiting continues to escalate.

As a part of the integrated supply chain for Rekoop, Reliance is also partnering with Applied DNA Sciences in the use of the molecular-based solution for recycled PET to produce certified fiber for home textiles, apparel, footwear and other applications.

GHCL, operating its home textiles facility in Gujarat, incorporated the Certain T verified rPET fiber into its production process, from spinning to weaving to finished processed fabric.

Textile manufacturing is changing from linear to circular paradigms to ensure transparency, authenticity and sustainability. Reliance plans to work closely with Applied DNA Sciences and GHCL to forge new paths to bring the required changes to drive the circular concept in the industry.

Bangladesh’s exporters do not get fair and reasonable prices for their products. Reasons include lack of negotiation skills. Negotiation skills at both the entrepreneur level and government level and relationships with buyers are seen as important for reaping fair prices for export products. Exporters get lower prices for readymade garment products compared to Cambodian and Vietnamese exporters from global buyers. Buyers do not want to pay higher prices, although the cost of production will go up further with wage hike, port congestion and higher transportation cost.

Domestic competitiveness, cost of doing business, workplace safety, diversification of products and markets, skilled labor force, attracting foreign direct investment and technological advancement and automation in the production process are key to maintaining momentum in export growth.

Readymade garment workers in Bangladesh log in 60 hours a week. In Cambodia they work 47 hours a week. Also 54 per cent of workers in Bangladesh are paid below the minimum wage. The country’s entrepreneurs are being urged to provide a living wage to enhance productivity and meet the nutritional needs of workers. Another issue is that of lead time. This would be a matter of concern for RMG exports in future as the country might lose the cost advantage in coming days.

Labor and human rights and environmental practices are being violated in Bangladesh’s leather sector. Workers labor in tanneries in hazardous environments and many of them are underage despite the fact that Bangladesh prohibits work by anyone under 18 at a tannery. They are exposed to heavy metals like chromium, cadmium, lead and arsenic, as well as biocides, acids, bases and dyes, and usually have little protective gear to safeguard themselves from exposure to these hazardous chemicals. Workers are often soaked in chemicals and frequently breathe in hazardous fumes.

Tannery workers often suffer fever, eye inflammation, skin diseases and cancer as they work with toxic chemicals and rarely have any safety training or protection. They work long hours with toxic chemicals for poverty wages, making shoes and clothes for western brands. Accidents regularly occur. Machine operators get trapped. Workers cleaning underground waste tanks suffocate from toxic fumes or drown in toxic sludge at the tannery premises. Deaths often occur due to hydrogen sulphide inhalation.

Due to the absence of a fully functional waste management infrastructure, the tanneries dump thousands of cubic meters of untreated waste into rivers and fill the water with toxic chemicals. The central effluent treatment plant is yet to be fully functional and there is no effective system yet in existence to remove salt from effluent.