The Lenzing Group had a clearly positive revenue and earnings development in the first quarter of 2021. Growing optimism in the textile and apparel industry as a result of vaccination progress and continuing recovery in retail led to a significant increase in demand and higher prices in the global fiber market.

The group’s revenue rose by 4.9 percent to €489.3 million in the first quarter of 2021. This was mainly due to a strong increase in demand from China and the resulting higher viscose prices. The focus on wood-based specialty fibers such as Tencel™ and Lenzing Ecovero™ branded fibers had a positive impact on revenue development; the share of specialty fibers in fiber revenue rose from 72.2 percent to 72.6 percent.

The EBITDA margin rose from 14.8 percent to 19.3 percent. Net profit for the period amounted to€29.9 million and earnings per share to €1.06. The group expects its operating results in 2021 to reach pre-COVID levels.

Bangladesh’s earnings from readymade garments (RMG) exports increased to $2.51 billion in April 2021 from $375 million in April last year. As per Textile Today, apparel exports rose 6.24 per cent to $26 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal, compared to the same period of last fiscal. Knitwear exports grew 15.34 per cent to $13.99 billion, while woven garment exports declined 2.71 per cent to $12 billion, compared to the same period in FY20.

Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA, expects exports to grow by September this year as apparel exports to the US have increased while imports have declined. Decline in global apparel consumption has resulted in sharp fall in prices though production costs have increased, he adds. Apparel makers are continuing production even at lower production cost with the hope that the business will bounce back in the coming days, says Hassan.

Asif Ibrahim, Director, BGMEA, says, although the increase in April seems higher, the growth in apparel exports is only 2.76 per cent as many orders have been diverted to Vietnam, Cambodia and Pakistan due to their competitive currency advantage.

The vaccination drive launched by many countries and reopening of the US and UK economies has helped spur women’s interest in dressier clothing. As per Economic Times, more women are buying formal dresses against their earlier preferences for leisurewear. Brands are also adapting themselves to these changing trends with new launches. One of the first brands to tap this changing demand was Urban Outfitters whose Anthropologie brand launched a new collection comprising mostly dresses in February.

Demand for workwear increases as offices reopen

Currently, flowy, mid-length dresses are in demand. Mom jeans and other looser-cut pants are taking over skinny jeans, boosting denim sales. As more consumers return to office, their spending on fashion is also likely to increase. Already, women’s workwear brand Winser London is seeing an uptick in demand for more fitted dresses increase.

While the clothing sector is on recovery path, other consumer sectors are seeing mixed response. For instance, the food sector is seeing more demand for takeways while dining in is yet to resume.

There is also a growing demand for products used in restaurants; especially in China. Food delivery orders on technology platform Rekki are increasing while Starbucks Corp is witnessing a sales recovery in its urban US markets. Growth in its home market is still mostly driven by orders from suburban locations and drive-thru windows.

Flexible strategies to meet uncertain demand

The home renovation category is yet to recover. Products launched during the lockdown are yet to commence as contractors are largely unavailable. Though, currently international travel is banned in most countries, travel to and around Europe is likely to resume this summer. Brands expect this to spur consumer spending on FMCG goods like the ice-cream business of Unilever Plc which is likely to get a boost as more people visit beaches and tourist towns.

FMCG brands and retailers need to plan for this uncertain demand and adopt flexible strategies. Clothing brands and retailers need to increase their supply while Indian brands also need to concentrate on the needs of people infected by the virus. This will help the cement their position in the market.

In budget 2021-22, proposals, Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) urged the government to set up five mega textile parks to make the industry globally competitive.

Sahibzada Usman Zulfiqar, President, PBF said, in the last year finance bill, textile industry had been completely ignored and deprived of relief. Pakistan has a continuing balance of payments crisis and is being financed by local and international borrowing. More debt piling or borrowing is not a feasible solution; therefore, this challenge can be overcome only by increasing exports, he stressed.

The government through Finance Act 2013 had raised the general rate of minimum turnover tax under Section 113 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 to 1 per cent from 0.5 per cent, which was further increased to 1.5 per cent through Finance Act, 2019. PBF proposed for the abolition of the minimum turnover tax for the coming year. It also urged for the extension of taxation regime to indirect exporters.

Zulfiqar also urged the government to make it compulsory for the large spinning units having more than 30,000 spindles to grow their own cotton to manufacture cotton yarn and extend full support to them because country textile exports could not be enhanced without increasing the area under cotton cultivation and yield.

He also requested the government to announce the availability of credit and soft loaning facilities at the rate not more than 4 to 5 percent of policy rate in finance bill. In this regard, SBP should direct the commercial banks to disburse 20 per centloans to export oriented industries and approval of the loan amount could be directly credited to vendor or opening for any letter of credit (L/C) to purchase machinery etc; so that loaning facility may utilize correctly, he added.

ICAC’s current price projection for the year-end 2019/20 average of the A Index has been revised to 80 cents per pound this month. The price projection for the year-end 2020/21 average of the A Index is 89.7 cents per pound this month.

If, as expected, global cotton production in 2020/21 (estimated at 24.6 million tonne) is unable to keep pace with global consumption (estimated at 25 million tonne) and worldwide trade remains healthy (estimated at 9.8 million tonne), that combination of factors normally would be expected to drive an increase in price.

However, ongoing trade tensions between the US and China will continue to have an impact on prices, and the recently announced US restriction on cotton from Xinjiang — which produces about 9 per cent of China’s cotton lint each year — complicates the outlook as well. If fully enforced, the restriction would place a very difficult burden of proof on companies throughout the long and complex cotton supply chain.

Kornit Digital, worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, has partnered with global online fashion retailer Asos and its supplier Fashion Enter to explore the future opportunities presented by on-demand manufacturing.

Both these companies have installed Kornit Presto, the most advanced single-step solution for direct-to-fabric printing, enabling Fashion-Enter to rapidly deliver test-and-repeat small product runs on behalf of ASOS. These production capabilities will enable ASOS and Fashion-Enter to imprint designs on multiple fabrics at the push of a button, through a lower-impact production process that has zero water waste and accelerates production speeds by cutting out typical dyeing processes.

Kornit Digital develops, manufactures and markets industrial digital printing technologies for the garment, apparel and textile industries. Kornit delivers complete solutions, including digital printing systems, inks, consumables, software and after-sales support. Leading the digital direct-to-garment printing market with its exclusive eco-friendly NeoPigment printing process, Kornit caters directly to the changing needs of the textile printing value chain. Kornit’s technology enables innovative business models based on web-to-print, on-demand and mass customization concepts.

Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA, demanded a 10 per cent cash incentive on export of MMF-based garments from the government. He said this will bring in new export orders to the country which will create new employment.

He also urged the government to allow deferred payment of existing loans as many factories would have to shut down without the facility.

In order to protect employment in the industry, the government should provide support to the factories as the world has never experienced such a pandemic before, Faruqueadded.

He also demanded a stimulus package like that given in the previous year to pay workers’ wages for the months of April, May and June along with festival allowances.

Hasan said to encourage new orders, BGMEA aims to develop new products and tap new markets. He pointed out that cotton-based garments made up for 75 per cent of the global consumption while man-made fibre accounted for the remaining 25 per cent 30 to 35 years ago but now the consumption of MMF had increased to 75 per cent while that of cotton-based garments had declined to 25 per cent.

BGMEA is interested in working on MMFbased garments as the country’s exporters had already invested in technology and process modernization in the last 10 to 12 years, he added.

The total value of T-shirts imported by the US declined 10.70 per cent Y-o-Y to $2.92 billion during the January-February ’21 period. As per Textile Value Chain, volume-wise, the imports declined by 8.04 per cent on Y-o-Y basis to 83.68 million dozen and plunged by 8.04 per cent on Y-o-Y basis in January- February ’21 period.

According to an analysis done by Apparel Resources, imports from China increased by 5.37 per cent to $403.87 million. As far as quantity of shipment is concerned, China exported 13.51 million dozen T-shirts to its largest trade partner, growing by 17.58 per cent on yearly note.

Shipments by Bangladesh increased by 2.87 per cent to 5.35 million dozen, which valued $129.10 million in the January-February ’21 period. India shipments declined by 19.62 per cent to $140.42 million while volume wise shipments dropped by 0.06 per cent to 4.21 million dozen of T-shirts.

US textile and apparel (T&A) imports decreased 6.98 percent to $15.580 billion in the first two months of 2021, compared to $16.749 billion in January-February 2020. As per China Textile, with 28.54 percent share, China was the largest supplier of textiles and apparel to the US during the two-month period, followed by Vietnam with 14.83 percent share.

During these two months, US’ apparel imports valued at $10.914 billion, while non-apparel imports accounted for the remaining $4.666 billion, according to the latest Major Shippers Report, released by the US Department of Commerce.

The country’s imports from Pakistan grew by 13.45 percent year-on-year while imports Indonesia, Jordan and India registered a sharp decline of 29.64 percent, 23.39 percent and 21.89 percent respectively.

In the non-apparel category, imports from Turkey, India and Pakistan increased by 48 percent, 20.48 percent and 19.98 percent, respectively. On the other hand, imports from South Korea declined by 0.89 percent to $118.362 million. Of the total US textile and apparel imports, cotton imports amounted to $6.951 billion, while manmade fiber products accounted for $7.994 billion, followed by $326.278 million of wool products and $308.562 million of products from silk and vegetable fibers.

US senators plan to set up Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions and have introduced the Pakistan-Afghanistan Economic Development Act for this. ROZs will allow certain products from these areas to enter US duty-free. They will generate a great economic opportunity for the people in the war-torn areas and lay the groundwork for a more stable region, said the Senators —Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat; Todd Young, an Indiana Republican; and Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat.

Prabhu Dhamodharan, Convenor, Indian Texpreneurs Federation believes, ROZ will give Pakistan an edge over other competing Asian countries. It will boost Pakistan’s import of US apparels from the current 2.5 per cent. To increase its market share, the Indian government needs to derive an action plan to get some duty advantage for products like apparel, adds Dhamodharan.