The absence of a strong fabric base is hampering exporters in Sri Lanka from manufacturing a large volume of apparels for export to the EU under GSP Plus due to their inability to meet the country of origin rules.

In 2018, Sri Lanka exported apparels to EU at a year-on-year growth of 3.9 per cent, whereas it was a much impressive 5.7 per cent to the US. Sri Lanka, together with Indonesia, has submitted a joint application to EU seeking permission to use fabrics from Indonesia to make apparels in Sri Lanka. Similarly, the country is talking to South Korea as well to buy fabrics from them.

The EU is Sri Lanka’s second largest trading partner, next to India. With GSP Plus, Sri Lanka’s exports to the EU have increased 18 per cent. Sri Lanka’s apparel exports account for 60 per cent of the country’s exports to the EU. In June 2017 the country regained GSP Plus from the EU. The facility was reinstated following Sri Lanka’s positive steps towards restoring human rights in the country. It took one-and-a-half months for the ratification of the agreement with the EU for the market expansion to commence in earnest. The expansion fructified in the month of July. From July 2017 Sri Lanka’s export figures grew 10.34 per cent year-on-year.

The global textile staples market is growing at 4.9 per cent. It is majorly driven by growing application of technical textiles in large sectors such as construction and automotives. In emerging countries, rising disposable income is significantly boosting market growth. China and India are making significant contributions to the market. North America is in the second spot and accounts for a sizeable share of the market.

Based on natural fiber textile staples, cotton is accounting for the largest share of the market. Retailers are labeling their products as being environmentally friendly to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Polyester is the most preferred type of synthetic fiber for textile staples.

In developed regions such as North America and Europe, manufacturers of textiles are shifting their focus from commodity goods to value-added products. Therefore manufacturing of generic textile products as compared to niche technical textile products is expected to slow down in the near future. Key players in the market are laying emphases on R&D activities to enhance wearability of e-textiles and fabrics that enable digital constituents and electronics to be embedded in them. Indorama, Reliance and Woolmark are some of the leading companies operating in the global textile staples market.

Prym Group, one of the major suppliers of fasteners and accessories to apparel and textile sector, unveiled two new eco-friendly snap fasteners, namely ecoWhite and ecoGreen, at the recently concluded Performance Days Exhibition in Munich. These snaps are the first eco-friendly alternatives available to different market segments of the apparel and textile industry including activewear, kidswear and babieswear.

Prym Fashion’s ecoWhite snaps are made from recycled plastic bottles without any use of crude oil or any associated processing. One recycled plastic bottle can produce 13 snaps. The ecoGreen snaps, on the other hand, are made from plant-based renewable resources, such as potato starch and help reducing fossil resources as well as greenhouse emissions.

Prym Group will also soon launch ecoBlue plastic snaps made from recycled ocean plastic.

Lenzing will use blockchain technology to support its Tencel branded fiber business. This will ensure complete transparency and traceability for brands and consumers of Lenzing’s fibers in the finished garment. The supply chain transparency from wood to garment and home textiles will enable all customers and partners to identify Tencel fibers and the respective wood source in each production and distribution step. Thanks to a QR code on the final garment, consumers will be able to detect the origin of the clothes they intend to buy. Lenzing has joined the platform of the Hong Kong based technology company Textile Genesis to accomplish this ambition.

Lenzing is the world market leader in specialty fibers made from wood. With Ecovero branded fibers Lenzing was the frontrunner in physical traceability and is now entering the age of digital traceability. This milestone in transparency is a further strong commitment to sustainability. Together with Textile Genesis, the company aims at creating an unmatched level of transparency for brands and consumers. With this step Lenzing will further help to green up the textile industry. Lenzing will carry out several pilot tests over the next few months involving partners along the entire value chain. Lenzing expects the platform to be fully operational as of 2020.

Indorama Ventures has formed a new business unit within the IVL Fibers division named the Indorama Mobility Group. The new unit will pursue a growth path that is intertwined with the exciting development of the mobility industry. Indorama Mobility Group will comprise three business segments, namely tire, automotive safety and functional materials. The group collectively owns decades of industry knowledge, experience and brand equity and this creates a unique portfolio of fiber, yarn, single-end cord and fabric based on polyester, polyamide, rayon, aramid hybrid and PEN, emerging as an integrated global business unit. Indorama Mobility’s target markets are tire reinforcement, airbags, seatbelts, mechanical rubber goods, sewing threads, fabrics, ropes and cordage, automotive interior, home textiles and composites where it has built strong positions over the years.

This intra-group businesses merger creates a truly global presence and accelerates business growth through cross proliferation of product lines, expanded customer partnership and a global manufacturing footprint. Its structure is aligned to provide functional leadership, driving market focus through the dedicated commercial organization of the three business segments, accelerating technology and product innovations through centralized R&D and benchmarking best practices across sites to deliver a new level of manufacturing excellence. Supporting these new initiatives is a geographically and culturally diversified workforce located worldwide.

India’s apparel exports to the UAE declined by 33 per cent from April 2018 to February 2019.

Indian exporters were using the UAE as a gateway for apparel shipment to the Middle Eastern countries, Africa and Europe. However, the UAE levied an import tax a few months ago on all merchandised products, including apparels, to restrict trading activity and encourage local manufacturing. This led to the decline in exports. As a matter of practice, exporters were shipping their consignments to the UAE for repackaging and distributing to neighboring countries. The changing consumer shopping pattern and the recession are impacting the retail business in the UAE, pushing buyers to cut their import orders. The UAE contributes 20.14 per cent in overall Indian apparel export value. The UAE’s overall textile and apparel imports have been declining for three years. The five per cent VAT as well as an increase in fuel and electricity prices following the crash of oil prices in the international market has hit the country negatively.

Meanwhile India’s direct apparel exports to African countries have improved. Since individual countries in Africa have developed their own strong banking systems, importers in African countries have started approaching Indian apparel exporters directly.

Indian exporters feel the trade war between the US and China will increase their share in the US market. The segments that have increased opportunities for Indian exporters include silk, wool, cotton, other vegetable fibers, manmade filaments, manmade stable fibers, floor coverings, non-woven cordage, special woven fabrics, knitted fabrics and coated and industrial fabrics.

The US has imposed an additional tariff of 25 per cent on China. Of the 200 billion dollars of imports from China into the US, textile items comprise just 3.9 billion dollars of the value, but it still provides enough scope to exporters from India. Of these textile products, cotton textiles account for the largest number of tariff lines. In terms of value, the most imported products belong to floor coverings, non-woven cordage and manmade filaments. However, the additional tariff hike does not include garments and made-ups which won’t have an advantage like the other segments.

However, while some countries will see a surge in their exports, negative global effects are likely to dominate because of the unavoidable impact that trade disputes will have on the still fragile global economy. The economic downturn will have an important effect on developing countries. US-China bilateral trade will decline and be replaced by trade originating in other countries.

Datacolor has launched its new color lifecycle management solutions. These are intended to deliver greater transparency and confidence for both textile and apparel brands, as well as suppliers, mills and dye houses. The series will address several pain points for the textile and apparel supply chain, allowing brands to make better sourcing decisions based on mill performance and sophistication while allowing suppliers to improve operational efficiency by providing real-time data into the quality and consistency of their products. The new offerings include Assessment Services, which encompass a suite of comprehensive color assessment and lab audit services that will significantly reduce the time and cost of product development by ensuring the supply chain is qualified and capable to meet all expectations to assure color quality.

Datacolor, a leader in color management technology, understands how color impacts business and continually seeks to develop new color management solutions that meet customers’ needs within today’s complex global supply chain. The company has also introduced ColorHub, a web-based software solution, which provides an unprecedented real-time view of mills’ color performance. This cloud-based depository of lab dip and production color data will help ensure shade consistency and quality by identifying and taking corrective action to color issues in real time.

Asia Pacific Rayon has teamed up with Perlin willto launch a blockchain-based solution for the textile supply chain. The app will ensure that every action in the entire viscose rayon production chain is transparent and traceable. The app is based on the enterprise-grade solution created by Perlin. It will enable Asia Pacific Rayon customers to easily trace the origin of the company’s production to the farm using data recorded on an immutable blockchain ledger. The integration of blockchain technology is expected to greatly improve the efficiency of the company’s operations.

Asia Pacific Rayon, which specializes in the production of viscose rayon, intends to implement cutting-edge technologies to ensure sustainable sourcing and production. Perlin is a directed-acyclic-graph (DAG)-based distributed ledger built on top of the Avalanche consensus protocol.

The data will have both timestamps and geo-locational markers at crucial points of the production chain. It will then be recorded and uploaded onto a blockchain ledger that is unalterable and accessible to every member of the Asia Pacific Rayon ecosystem. To access this data, users will have to scan the product’s barcode using the aforementioned mobile app. Soon, APR and Perlin plan to improve this service to capture environmental footprint and performance.

The textile industry continues to see high growth in Vietnam but the growth rate is slower compared to 2017 and 2018. In April, textile and garment export value was up 1.5 per cent year on year, but down 15.3 per cent month on month. In January to April, the export value increased 8.5 per cent year on year.

Vietnam’s cotton imports in April 2019 were up 14.6 per cent year on year, but down six per cent month on month. In January to April, cotton imports were down 2.3 per cent year on year, the first fall in four years. Vietnam’s major sources of cotton are the US, Brazil and India. In April, Vietnam’s imports of US and Australian cotton climbed while those of Brazilian cotton and Indian cotton declined. From January to April 2019, imports of US cotton were up 18.79 per cent year on year.

In April, Chinese cotton yarn market sales turned thin quickly and buying from China reduced, so Vietnamese spinners had to lower the yarn offers after inventory was accumulated. In May, cotton futures dived quickly with the escalation of Sino-US trade. Vietnamese spinners purchased some cotton, but they would not purchase too much feedstock.