Rejecting the government’s 10 per cent Super Tax, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMEA) claimed, it may slow down the economy

Kashif Zia, Chairman, PHMEA, said, the textile sector is already paying 29 per cent tax. Further taxes would damage the sector badly. The interest rate of 13.75 per cent would slow down the economy, he claimed.

Zia urged the government to bring more people into the tax net rather than imposing more taxes on existing taxpayers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently announced a super-tax of 10 per cent on large-scale manufacturers and industries in the country in order to address the economic woes of the country.

The government plans to reintroduce a reformed tax rebate scheme for exporters merely eight months after launch, after complaints from the industry that the scheme is eroding their margins.

Introduced in October, the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme, provides rebate against taxes and levies already paid by exporters on inputs. The rebate is given as tradeablescrips, which exporters can sell to importers. Importers can then use these scrips to pay customs duty, instead of paying in cash. However, exporters complain these scrips are trading at a steep 20 per cent discount, defeating the purpose of the scheme.

As of now, these scrips can be traded even before export realization, with the liability falling on importers. The government feels the scrips are trading at a discount because of this risk component, and plans to make them tradeable only after full export payments are received, which would eliminate the risk factor. It also plans to double the eligibility of these scrips to 24 months from 12 months now.

Hordes of new fabric events will be held at the upcoming New York Textile Week from July 19-21, 2022. As per a Carved in Blue report, six different shows based on textile and apparel sourcing will be held during the week. The highlight of the fashion week will be the Texworld New York City event from July 19-21at the Javits Centre. The first in-person event after a fully virtual show in January, it will provide an opportunity to buyers and designers to explore products and meet vendors live. The show will also include the Lenzing Seminar Series and Textile Talks. A hybrid Sourcing Showroom will allow virtual exhibitors to engage with attendees.

Apparel Sourcing New York City and Home Textiles Sourcing will be co-located with the Texworld that will also footwear as an added category, in partnership with Material Exchange and the Footwear Distributors & Retailers Association.

The two-day Première Vision New York will also open on July 19 and feature over 100 exhibitors across fabric, leather, manufacturing, etc. The show will present sustainability solutions to American buyers. It will include talks about the trends to expect in upcoming seasons.

The Functional Fabric Fair—powered by Performance Days—will be held from July 19-20, 2022 at the Javits Center. This show will focus on functional textiles for categories including sportswear, workwear and athleisure. In 2022, it will focus on the topic “The Journey to Carbon Neutrality.”

Kingpins Show will be held in New York on July 20 and 21. The denim-centric show will include Tencel™ as one of the the exhibitors, alongside denim mills and fiber brands. It will also host seminar talks to delve into denim and our series “FIT Denim Grads: Where Are they Now”?

From July 20-21, The Fabric Show will also be on at the New York Hotel. This show will focus on American, Canadian and European textile and trim suppliers offering low-priced fabrics. The last event will be organized by Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (ITKIB) to spotlight Turkish suppliers and mills.

In May 2022, Vietnam’s cotton imports declined by 23.8 per cent Y-o-Y but increased 24.1 per cent M-o-M to 120,400 tons from the previous month. As per a CCF Group report, Vietnam’s yarn imports increased 9.1 per cent Y-o-Y during the month and 22.4 per cent M-o-M while exports declined 18.3 per cent Y-o-Y and 6.7 per cent M-o-M, respectively. Vietnam’s fabrics imports increased by 5.9 per cent Y-o-Y and 9.9 per cent M-o-M.

Vietnam’s textiles and apparel exports surged 23.2 per cent Y-o-Y and 0.6 per cent M-o-M. From April, Vietnam’s textile and garment exports declined 3.6 percentage points Y-o-Y while they declined by 2.7 percentage points on a M-o-M basis

The CCF Group report concludes, Vietnam’s textile and apparel exports growth remained positive in May. However, Year-on-Year and Month-on-Month declined compared to April. Profits of Vietnamese cotton yarn mills also reduced on account of high cotton prices and burden from weak downstream consumption.

At the end of April 2022, Italian fashion brand C&S, international acquired Texo Srl, a Pesaro and Urbino-based manufacturer of luxury denim collections for prestigious international brands for the last 10 years. Based in Central Italy, C&S has been, for the last over 40 years, producing high-quality jeans and streetwear apparel, while it also owns, produces and distributes its own premium denim brand Haikure.

The agreement enables the company to broaden and consolidate its market presence, says Federico Corneli, main shareholder of C&S. It will also help the company restructure operations according to three main branches involving its own brand, the premium denim and luxury denim segments, he adds.

The value addition by Texo will allow C&S to grow further and accelerate its establishment as special partners for the most important luxury brands, he adds further. C&S is embracing the premium denim segment and establishing itself as a special partner for the creation of jackets, shirts, outerwear, and denim – that still remains the strong point of the company.

The company has recently started a process to achieve the GOTS certification for both C&S and Texo in order to enrich the sustainability of its products, an acknowledgement that it aims to complete by October 2022.

India’s exports of basic textiles declined 25 per cent Y-o-Y and 6 per cent M-o-M in May 2022 to $573 million or Rs 4,448 crore. As per a Textile Beacon report, they accounted for just over 1.5 per cent of total merchandise exported from India during the month. Exports of India’s spun yarn declined 30 per cent Y-o-Y to 71 million kg worth $320 million or Rs 2,480 crore. Bangladesh emerged the largest market for spun yarns during the month, followed by Turkey and Egypt.

Exports of cotton yarn declined 58 per cent in volume and 40 per cent in revenues to $237 million or Rs 1,840 crore. Bangladesh remained the top importer of cotton yarn, followed by Egypt, Portugal, Vietnam, and Italy. China reduced import from India by 97 per cent in May 2022. Shipment to Bangladesh also declined 30 per cent and Egypt too saw a dip of 15 per cent.

Exports of 100 per cent man-made fibre yarn totaled 10.19 million kg, comprising over 5.72 million kg of polyester yarn, 2.72 million kg of acrylic yarn and 1.41 million kg of viscose yarn. Major markets included: Italy, followed by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Polyester spun yarns s worth $15 million was exported at average unit price of $2.68 a kg. Turkey was the largest importer of polyester yarn, followed by USA and Morocco.

Blended spun yarns worth $50 million were exported in May, including 8.55 million kg of PC yarns and 3.76 million kg of PV yarns. Honduras was the top importers of PC yarn from India followed by Egypt and Bangladesh while Turkey was the single largest importer of PV yarns from India followed distantly by Vietnam. Filament yarns exports totaled 49 million kg, worth $97 million or Rs 755 crore.

China’s polyester yarn exports grew 56.9 per cent Y-o-Y and 29.6 per cent M-o-M to 56,000 tons. Amongst the total, exports of polyester single yarn surged to 27,000 tons, registering up 135 per cent Y-o-Y increase while the exports of polyester ply yarn rose 21.5 Y-o-Y to 15,000 tons and exports of polyester sewing thread went up 9 per cent Y-o-Y to 11,000 tons.

As per a CCF Group report, the share of polyester single yarn exports increased to 52 per cent Y-o-Y and 8 per cent M-o-M in total polyester yarn exports from that in Apr, while the shares of polyester ply yarn decreased by 4-5 per cent Exports of polyester single yarn were mainly directed to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The export volume to Jordan climbed up to 8 per cent. Among major exporters, Fujian accounted for nearly a half, followed by Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Polyester ply yarn was mainly exported to South Asia and Southeast Asia.

In May 2022, China polyester/cotton yarn exports increased 61.9 per cent Y-o-Y and 30.9 per cent M-o-M.to 3,991million tons. Imports totaled 546 million tons, declining 7.3 per cent Y-o-Y and 10.6 per cent M-o-M,

The European Union has finalized a deal with large companies ensuring their compliance to corporate sustainability from 2024. As per reports, the agreement aims to end greenwashing and lay the groundwork for sustainability reporting standards at the global level.

It urges listed or unlisted companies with over 250 staff and turnover of €40 million ($42.13 million) to disclose environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities, and the impact of their activities on the environment and people.

Some smaller listed companies will be subject to a lighter set of reporting standards, which they can opt out of until 2028. Having a clean human rights record will become just as important as having a clean balance sheet, says Pascal Durand, who led negotiations for parliament. Disclosures will have to be externally audited, Durand added further stating the rules make room for new players offer this service.

Scheduled from July 01-02, 2022 at Sheraton Grand in Bengaluru, the Apparel Sourcing Week (ASW) will be attended by over 10,000 brands, retailers, manufacturers, D2C brands, and think tanks from over 15 countries.

To be organized by Apparel Resources, the two-day platform will include 10 seminars, 12 open house discussions, vendor sessions and workshops; accelerator program for start-ups, etc.

It will be attended by popular and established brands from the apparel retail industry such as Shopper’s Stop, Being Human, Tata Cliq, Fab India, ACE Turtle, Amazon (Private Brands), Myntra, Zivame, Clovia, Nykaa Beauty Vardhmann textile, etc.

MayankMohindra, Director, Apparel Resources says, the event will be introduced in a fresh and completely upgraded format to cater to the needs of industry 4.0. The transformation of apparel retail has further accelerated due to the pandemic, he adds.

The event will help industry and businesses to decode the post-pandemic business ecosystem and markets. It will generate productive and effective business opportunities, he adds.

Insightful sessions on pivotal topics such as ‘Reinventing physical retail’, ‘Fashion innovation using AI’, ‘Upcycling – the new frontier for sustainability, ‘Sourcing in times of Industry 4.0’, will be the hgihlights of the event.

ASW 2022 will also take India-Bangladesh collaboration to next level and make South Asia, the global hub for apparel and textile innovations.

Bangladesh apparel industry may face huge losses despite incorporating some initiatives to support businesses if the source tax on export proceeds is doubled as proposed in the fiscal budget for 2022-23, warned RMG exporters in webinar organized by The Business Standard. Exporters argued, a two-fold hike in source tax amidst rising production costs, may add more stress on already ailing businesses. It may compel garment factories to shut down, the exporters added.

The webinar was attended by Mohammad Hatem, Executive President, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), and Fazlul Hoque, Managing Director, Plummy Fashion. It was moderated by Sharier Khan, Executive Editor. The Business Standard

Hoque said, rising product costs may lead to buyers from America and Europe buying fewer products from Bangladesh exporters. It may also lead to future recession, affecting the exporters’ production costs. He urged the government to consider the issues judiciously. Terming the move as a big blow to export trade, Hatem said, the proposal has overshadowed many other good aspects of the budget.

He alleged, Bangladesh taxation system is not conducive to investment and business. That is why exporters are unable to attract foreign investments despite efforts. The two entrepreneurs, however, hailed the continuation of export cash assistance.

They said, although orders for garments products from the main export destinations of the country are declining due to inflation and recession, there is a possibility of orders being diverted from China to Bangladesh in future. Hatem urged the authorities, including the NBR, to be business friendly in capturing these possibilities.