As clarified by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (Sind & Baluchistan Zone) has opposed increasing of the withholding tax from 1 per cent to 4 per cent saying that the decision is ‘not acceptable at any cost’, and the move would prove highly disastrous.

Collection of advance income tax on the total amount of every receipt would raise the cost manifold, as local manufacturers, spinning units and commercial importers of yarn worked at low margins due to large volume. Deduction of advance tax on value of receipt would worsen the liquidity crunch for the industry because refunds are issued after long delays.

The British Fashion Council says, the country’s fashion industry is likely to lose up to £900 million in one year in a no-deal Brexit scenario. This estimates are based on export figures from 2018, which show that abiding by World Trade Organization rules would drastically increase annual tariff costs for retailers and fashion designers.

As per latest figures from the UK Fashion & Textile Association, the industry could lose between £850 to 900 million. According to the BFC, the UK fashion industry is worth £32 billion and employs more than 890,000 people, almost as many as that of the financial sector. As a result, the organisation has released a statement urging the British government to protect the industry and its workers as the risk of a no-deal Brexit is increasing.

As per the Council for Leather Exports, the measures announced by the government to push economic growth will help attract investments and boost exports of India’s leather sector. Exports in the sector declined 4.90 per cent during April-June 2019, primarily due to reduction in exports to the major market Europe which accounted for about 53 per cent of exports. The announcement to amend definition of MSMEs will further increase their concentration in leather and footwear industry and will facilitate more companies to avail government support measures. The decision to clear pending goods and services tax refunds to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within 30 days, timely passing on rate-cuts by banks and additional credit expansion through Public Sector Banks, will help in overcoming the liquidity problems.

Considering the opportunities offered by the US-China trade conflict, the domestic leather industry is looking to register an overall export growth of 5 per cent this fiscal.

In Bangladesh, employment opportunities, climate change, natural disasters, and marriage are key triggers for migration movements from the rural to the urban sector. Dhaka and Chattogram are the destinations of 80 per cent of the country’s internal migrants. However, lack of awareness about labor standards and ethical recruitment practices are among the factors that exacerbate the vulnerabilities of migrant workers. These workers are at risk due to lack of awareness and limited capacity to implement appropriate corporate policies and management systems also contribute to vulnerabilities of workers.

Bangladesh is the world’s third largest exporter of clothing, Asia’s third in commercial services and recently an important player in the export of agricultural goods. Bangladesh has a significant market opportunity for businesses to secure their connection to a global market where the legalization of corporate responsibility, including ethical recruitment, is increasingly becoming mandatory. If Bangladesh ensures sustainable sourcing and ethical recruitment, it will increase the country’s competitiveness. There is a need to follow labor laws and promote a sustainable business model which has a good supply chain. Labor intensive business models inadvertently expose companies and workers to risks due to limited transparency in recruitment, employment and working conditions as well as migration processes.

Maroc will be held in Morocco from October 17 to 18, 2019. The show will be segmented into five categories: fast fashion, denim, jersey/knit/lingerie, sportswear/leisure wear/technical garments, and leather/shoes. The fair offers a comprehensive overview of the Moroccan textile and garment industry from fast fashion to high-quality production of trend peaks up to offers of sustainably produced collections. The sourcing show will host 200 suppliers and 1500 attendees. The fair program will be supplemented by special B2B meetings and conferences, which deal with current production topics.

Trade uncertainty is provoking brands and retailers to re-examine their supply chains, prompting the show’s organizers to center its conference programming around the benefits to be had with closer-to-home operations. Morocco will be highlighted as one such solution, with its specialties, including knits, denim and technical textiles. The region’s infrastructure has grown thanks to an influx of foreign investments. The country consists of more than 1600 companies and over 1,90,000 garment workers. Morocco is being promoted as an attractive sourcing destination because of its close proximity to Europe and shorter delivery routes, lower ecological impact, stable political and social environments, and duty-free EU agreements. The promise of nearshoring has piqued the interest of apparel and textile companies.

Amid the protracted and unpredictable trade war between the US and China, a Hong Kong -based garment maker is looking to spread out its supply chain risks rather than simply move its production base out of China.

Lever Style will continue to hedge its bets and is looking at a lot more countries to spread its geopolitical risks and also cost inflation. It is constantly evaluating and seeing what’s the best combination that gives it cost effectiveness as well as agility.

Lever Style used to manufacture all its products in China a decade ago but has since moved much of its production out of the country due to rising costs. Now, the company produces in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. Lever Style is also trying to change the way it’s managed as a factory, such as by working with production partners around the region instead of going it alone. The company’s clients include fashion labels such as Coach and Paul Smith. However, garment manufacturing is labor intensive — one factor that could limit the business’ flexibility. The more labor intensive things are, the harder it is to just spread things around too much.

The US and China have imposed new tariffs on each other’s goods, intensifying a long-drawn trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) says, Egyptian cotton exports increased by 218.8 per cent to 510,200 metric quintals during the third quarter of the agricultural season 2018-2019 from the corresponding period of the previous season.

In the quarterly bulletin of cotton for the third quarter of the agricultural season 2018/19, the consumption of local cotton reached 38,000 metric quintals compared to 39,200 metric quintals during the same period of the preceding year registering a decrease of 3 percent, because some spinning mills ceased production.

The total quantity of cotton ginned equaled 382,600 metric quintals during the above-mentioned period, compared to 47,700 metric quintals during the previous period, an increase of 701.8 percent thanks to the cotton production increase.

Egyptian cotton production is on course to rebound with help from a devalued currency and bigger cultivation area, recovering from a slide in exports of the world-famous crop since 2011 that was caused by a drop in quality.

The Minister of MSME, Nitin Gadkari has announced that the share of MSME exports in the country will be raised to 50 per cent and sector’s gross domestic product (GDP) also to 50 per cent in the next five years. The ministry will also create 5 crore jobs in the next five years.

The minister was addressing a business summit titled ‘Globalising the Brand Khadi: The Pride of India’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai.

Calling upon enterprising people in the private sector to come forward to promote khadi, the ministry stated that the khadi sector needs to be strengthened and its turnover needs to be raised further. He also launched Tech Saksham, a CII Tech Project, aimed at accelerating MSME growth through technology enablement. CII Tech-Saksham for MSMEs, a MSME ministry-CII project, brings together technology majors Dell Technologies India, HP India, Intel India, Vodafone Idea, WhatsApp India and Yes Bank to address technological gaps faced by MSMEs in their growth.

India’s exports of cotton textiles fell 24 per cent during April to July, 2019. This has led to a crisis-like situation in spinning industry. In fact, monthly exports of cotton yarn are at a five-year-low. Exports to major markets such as China have halved, and exports to Bangladesh and Korea have fallen 38 per cent and 45 per cent.

Competing countries are gaining access to various markets such as China, South Korea and Turkey, mainly on account of the preferential access given to them by the importing countries, leading to a further erosion of India’s market share. While Vietnam has increased cotton yarn exports to China by 17 per cent during the last four months, India’s share declined 16 per cent in the same period. In view of the sharp decline, many production units are shutting down and need urgent policy support. The industry wants the three per cent interest equalisation to be extended to cotton yarn since this is expected to help the cotton yarn sector and the spinning industry to minimise their losses and regain their competitiveness.

However, made-ups and garment exports are recording a positive growth mainly on account of the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies scheme.

Thousands of Indian cotton spinning mills have shut shop in the past three months. The average realization from cotton yarn has fallen six per cent in the quarter between April 2019 and June 2019. The decline in average realisation has put a question mark on the survival of cotton spinning mills, with increasing fixed costs such as labor, interest on working capital, land, plant and machinery adding to their woes. Recovery in overall sentiment is not in sight resulting in closure of many small and medium size mills and rendering thousands of workers jobless.

One reason is the decline in exports following a weak global demand. A sharp and precipitous decline, especially in cotton yarn during the last four months, by about 35 per cent, has led to a crisis situation in the spinning industry. Cotton yarn exports to China declined by 50 per cent and Bangladesh by 38 per cent and Korea by 45 per cent.

In view of the sharp decline in exports, the spinning sector is in a very critical situation. Exports of cotton textiles continued their downward spiral, declining by 24.5 per cent during April to July. During the first three weeks of August, overall cotton textile exports declined by a staggering 25 per cent.