Six textile dyeing industrial units in UP have been sealed.
They were found to be operating without any license or pollution clearance certificate. The dyeing units were releasing polluted water without treating it first. All dyeing units need permission for operation from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, which is granted only after an effluent treatment plant is installed at the site. The units were engaged in dyeing jeans and the waste water was being dumped in drains nearby without being treated.

Additionally, these industries were set up in a residential area which does not conform to the prescribed norms.

Following complaints by residents, the units were inspected. Electricity supply to these units has been disconnected.

Noida and Greater Noida have several dyeing industrial units. However, all of them have obtained permission from the department and have installed an effluent treatment plant. An effluent treatment plant treats acidic chemicals released by color and other raw materials used in dyeing.

The team which inspected the site, headed by the city magistrate, was formed based on instructions by the National Green Tribunal.

Meanwhile, the food safety department also inspected and sealed a spice manufacturing unit. The inspection was carried out following a complaint, and it was found that the artificial color used to manufacture the spices was not food grade.

Turkish exports rose 3.4 per cent in February.
Sales of goods to target markets like India and Mexico also recorded substantial growth.

On a sectoral basis, the automotive industry came first in February exports. Turkey’s export champion industry was followed by chemicals, and the textile and garment sector. The highest sectoral increase was seen in the shipping and yacht sector, whose exports rose by 35.4 per cent.

Exports of manufacturing goods accounted for 81.3 per cent of Turkey’s total exports last year.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio based on the general trade system advanced to 88.6 per cent in February, up from 69.4 per cent in the same month last year. The ratio formed on the special trade system also increased from 69.4 per cent to 86.1 per cent last month.

Germany, the UK and Italy were the top three destinations for Turkish exports in February. The sale of goods to the European Union recorded a 2.3 per cent rise. The share of the EU in Turkish exports totaled 51.7 per cent. Spain and the US ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the top export markets list of February. Strikingly, exports to Malta rose by 18 times and exports to Niger and Gabon tripled.

Fashion is one of the largest industries in the world, producing 100 billion garments a year.
The fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors towards the global economy. It aids millions of jobs around the world. Overall fashion consumption is predicted to rise 63 per cent between 2017 and 2030, with increasing demand from developing countries.

This growth comes at a huge environmental cost. If growth in fashion continues along its current trajectory, by 2050 the textile industry would account for around a quarter of the world’s total allowable carbon emissions.

In order to circumvent the eco impact, leading companies are coming up with sustainable solutions to chart green growth. Nonetheless, progress from the wider fashion sector has remained slow. Brands are proving particularly slow to act in regards to their recruitment processes, worker voice policies and supply chain traceability. Although millennials vouch for sustainable fashion and social change, the eco-friendly factor of a fashion product are often dominated by factors such as price and value. Even though the generation favors sustainable apparel and accessories, the industry is not providing them with sufficient choices that also meet their most important criteria for making a purchase. Fast fashion in particular has been associated with unsustainable practices -– miserable working conditions, unlivable wages, environmental degradation and pollution.

In 2017, Pakistan’s share in world exports of garments was a meager 1.10 per cent.
The primary reason for this poor performance is the narrow export base, which is tilted towards low value-added unsophisticated items. The top six products exported by Pakistan account for 52 per cent of Pakistan’s exports, but only 20 per cent of total world garment exports.

World demand has been shifting to manmade fiber, which Pakistan has been unable to exploit. In addition, Pakistan’s garment exports are not well diversified in terms of destinations. Almost 88 per cent of the country’s garment exports are destined for the European Union and the United States.

Pakistan faces higher production costs and lower productivity compared to its peers. High production costs are in the form of import duty on cotton and manmade fibers, high energy tariffs and minimum wage. This has led to fierce competition with other low-wage competitors leading to small export orders for Pakistan.

Unfavorable tariffs restrict market access. Its currency in the recent past was overvalued with respect to the dollar, making exports less competitive against China, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Other impediments include poor access to credit, delay in the payment of tax refunds, low technological adoption, and time-consuming export procedures.

Mexico has refused to approve the labor-reform bill as a necessary step to ratifying the new North American free-trade pact ill the Trump administration lifts the punishing tariffs it has imposed on Mexican steel and aluminum imports.

The push to improve workers' rights in Mexico was a key priority for Canada and the United States during the NAFTA renegotiation as they wanted to level the playing field between their workers and lower-paid Mexican workers, especially in the auto sector.

The new Mexican government wants to rafity its ackage of labor reforms in Mexico's Congress before its April 30 adjournment to reflect the commitments that it made under the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement in domestic legislation. But that won't happen unless the United States lifts its section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum exports.

US President Donald Trump had imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum from Mexico and Canada, using the controversial national-security clause in US trade law -- "Section 232," that both countries say was illegal.

Within five years Maharashtra will have enough spinning mills to process the raw cotton grown by its farmers.
At present the state can process only 30 per cent of its cotton.

In the past, spinning mills were set up in parts of Maharashtra that were not cotton producing. The new policy ensures this mismatch is done away with and the foundation of a properly planned cotton-to-cloth chain development is laid.

Some 115 tehsils have been declared as cotton growing areas in Maharashtra.

Out of these, as many as 55 tehsils are in Vidarbha region alone. A tehsil is defined as one with cotton production of 9,600 tons per annum. This is the amount of cotton production needed to sustain a co-operative spinning mill.

The objective of the decision is to identify tehsils where co-operative spinning mills can be set up under the new textile policy. The decision of declaring 115 tehsils as cotton growing will have a long-term impact on the growth of the textile sector in a planned manner.

The state has made provisions to infuse higher seed capital and incentives for textile entrepreneurs. The market will be strengthened through the farm to fashion policy.

The decision to keep electricity tariff rates low for textile traders has made the sector, especially the handloom industry, more competitive.

Indonesia and Australia recently signed an FTA that eliminates many tariffs, allows Australian-owned hospitals to operate in the giant Southeast Asian country and increases work visas for young Indonesians.

The agreement is subject to ratification in both countries. Indonesia would complete ratification by the end of this year. It will allow Australian companies to have majority ownership of investments in various industries in Indonesia, including health care, telecommunications, energy, mining and aged care.

Nearly 99 per cent of Australia’s exports to Indonesia by value will be tariff-free or have improved preferential access by 2020, up from 85 percent under an existing trade agreement between Australia, New Zealand and 10 Southeast Asian countries. Indonesian exports to Australia will face no tariffs, but it already enjoys substantially tariff-free access to the Australian market under the Southeast Asia agreement.

Separately, Indonesia is planning to allow foreign companies to invest in higher education, where the country is lagging far behind international standards.

The agreement will increase Australia's live cattle exports. Its exports to Indonesia will increase to 4 per cent a year till reaching 700,000.

Australian working holiday visas for young Indonesians will be increased to 6,000 a year from the current 1,000 over six years.

Bangladesh knit sector saw great growth in 2018. According to economists and business leaders, calmness in the country’s political arena, the US-China trade war, and improvement in safety conditions in the ready-made garment factories were main reasons behind the increase of knit export.

Bangladesh knit sector produces top quality knit garments at lowest costs. There are a total of 4,560 garments factories in Bangladesh exporting apparel products in the global market, of them about 2500 are knit garment factories.

With almost all major retailers, Bangladesh has a significant market share in cotton & cotton-rich knit products for the last 16 years. World’s leading brands are sourcing knit garments from Bangladesh like H&M, Walmart, C&A, Zara etc.

Bangladesh exports numerous popular knit items to the global market. Recently Bangladeshi knit manufacturers have concentrated on making value-added items to sustain strongly in the global arena.

India’s e-commerce marketplace is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 32 per cent.
Factors responsible for this growth include changing purchase patterns, high-intensity online shopping and heightened use of smart phones.

Mobile commerce is growing at an exponential pace. The millennial population has mostly championed this trend across Tier I, II and Tier III markets.

Social media-related commerce in India has been on the rise, with 28 per cent millennials purchasing products due to social media recommendations and 63 per cent millennials staying updated on brands through social media.

Experiential retail offerings have picked up with the use of advanced data analytics, bots and drones, beacons, cloud platforms and virtual reality to understand consumer needs.

Despite the stress faced by the Indian rupee and the rising crude oil bill, the Indian retail market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.8 per cent between 2021 and 2026. Given the strong retail and consumer outlook, India is expected to witness redefining trends in the consumer market which will shape the future of the retail industry. The share of the organised retail market is expected to increase from 12 per cent in 2017 to about 25 per cent by 2021.

India’s children’s wear exports to the US grew 6.52 per cent from January to October ’18.
India is the only country which increased its value-wise share, while all other countries declined their share on a year on year basis. All the top Asian exporting nations saw a fall in their respective value-wise exports in the children’s wear segment to the US.

The share of China, Bangladesh and Vietnam dwindled by 3.23 per cent, 2.50 per cent and 2.52 per cent respectively and the declining trend of these countries helped India capture the shift especially from China which caters to 47 per cent of the children’s wear demand in the US.

Some Indian manufacturers who had previously been focusing solely on the export market have started reorienting themselves to meet the growing demand within the country.

Within India, by 2023, children’s wear retail is projected to constitute almost 22 per cent of the total apparel business in India. The 0 to 14 years group amounts to around 29 per cent of the total population.

This market in India is mostly dominated by private labels -- big retailers, international brands and just a handful of home-grown mono brands. Organised brands comprise only a miniscule of the overall children’s wear market.