FW
French investors are interested in Cambodia’s garment, textile, tourism and agriculture sectors. Such investment is expected to help Cambodia’s exports to the EU grow more and more, especially in the purchase of garments, textiles and agricultural products. The European Union’s ‘Everything but Arms’ policy allows Cambodia to export all kinds of goods to the EU without paying any tariffs or taxes. Cambodia is having a rapid economic growth rate. The country has a substantial labor force, abundant natural resources and a favorable location for ensuring long-term investment.
The country has over the years maintained an average GDP growth rate of about seven per cent and is constantly striving to create a better business environment for investors. France has helped Cambodia in a number of sectors, including education, health, and clean water. While the bulk of France’s imports from Cambodia are those of garments, France is the biggest market in Europe for Cambodian rice.
Whenever a French artist, a painter or a photographer, shows their work in Cambodia, they also hold master class to train young promising artists. France holds street art festivals in Cambodia too. These events allow for French and Cambodian artists to exchange and create things.
India is changing its export mix and is realigning exports to China.
While its northern neighbor is its largest trading partner, only 3.68 per cent of India’s exports find their way to China.
Apart from finding it difficult to bridge the whopping trade deficit, India is also looking to upgrade its current basket of exports to China.
Raw materials like cotton, iron ore and copper were long a hallmark of Indian exports to China.
But now there is a move to shift exports towards value added products in a bid to cap the growing trade deficit. Raw materials like iron and iron ores, which constitute more than 70 per cent of India’s exports to China, are subject to volatile global commodity prices. So there is a need to shift toward products higher in the value chain.
So India has shifted focus from raw materials to key sectors such as hardware, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and auto components in a bid to realign and boost exports.
A changing consumer pattern has led to a greater demand for consumer goods in China, where overall demand in the first half of 2017 was driven by solid growth in industry and even stronger growth in services.
So India is looking to harness its strengths in labor intensive sectors where India enjoys a significant advantage over other developing nations.
German textile machinery helps textile manufacturers interested in digitization, developing and manufacturing new products, enhancing competitiveness by increasing efficiency and quality, and saving energy and material resources.
China is the leading purchaser of German textile technology.
Traditionally the United States has been one of the top five destinations for German textile machinery. Strong sectors in the United States include technical textiles and nonwovens, and also home textiles like carpets.
In the first half of 2017, German exports of textile machinery and accessories to the United States reached more than 130 million dollars.
Germany is a leading supplier of textile machinery. German textile machinery is characterized by its high quality and customer-specific production. Among Germany’s textile machinery exports, spinning machinery takes top place. This is followed by knitting and hosiery machinery, finishing machinery and weaving machinery.
The initial price for a German machine pays off after a few years due to low maintenance costs and reliability in production. German textile machinery is meant for high quality garments or technical textiles. High product quality requires high quality machinery, so textile producers aiming for sophisticated products usually choose German machines.
India is rated among the top four major markets worldwide for German textile machinery manufacturers.
After a long time there has been some real movement in cotton futures.
After trading sideways, with a slightly upward bias, for more than a week, New York’s December contract found more definite direction, downwards, in the last session, closing 1.4 per cent lower.
Last session’s price fall was certainly a jolt for the market. This might be the market returning to normality, which could mean harvest pressure on prices.
The market will seasonally feel the weight of US supply as a still-large crop comes to market.
One hope for bulls is that at least the downside could be minimal. December cotton futures seemed to find support just below 67 cents a pound.
But it is by no means certain that this floor will hold again, given the large net long, of more than 70,000 contracts, that hedge funds have built in cotton futures and options – which looks precarious if an upswing in values is not forthcoming.
Speculators who added longs above the 72-cents-a-pound level may start to get concerned as the market drops away and doesn’t look to be returning to those levels without a catastrophic event happening.
China has seemed focused on getting a shot of its huge state inventories, built up thanks to a now-scrapped guaranteed pricing scheme.
The procedure for labeling clothing, fur and textile labels in the US will be streamlined.
There are some outdated, excessive, or unnecessary regulations that create significant burdens on the US economy, with little benefit to consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission is updating the rules to apply web-based electronic filings of requests to cancel, obtain or update registered identification numbers (RN) used on fur, textile and wool product labels.
The web-based RN system will foster a more seamless application process for participating companies and boost the agency’s label compliance services to consumers.
FTC’s site now features real-time data validation for users and alerts them about potential errors in labeling to avoid delays. The system currently has more than 1,40,000 entries and the FTC urges industry members with RN numbers to visit the website to verify that their information is correct.
FTC rules dictate that most apparel, fur and textile products must contain a label that identifies the manufacturer responsible for handling and marketing the item. With the updated RN system, companies may easily obtain an RN without having to put extended company names on labels.
Marketers are also allowed to disclose a trademark used as a housemark— a distinctive mark used to identify a marketer or manufacturer’s products—on the tag instead of their business name.
Canadian, Mexican, and US negotiators should update NAFTA in a way that will continue the current trade and opportunities for businesses, workers and consumers in all three countries.
Today, the NAFTA supply chain is a success story—with significant production and sales in all three countries that create jobs and offer consumers better products at better prices.
The trade agreement remains one of the most important—and most used—free trade agreements for textile and apparel companies as well as retailers and brands. The western hemisphere supply chain is an essential element in global sourcing today. Successful partnerships have been forged over the past 20-plus years that bring together top performers in all three countries.
Industry associations representing apparel brands, retailers, and manufacturers in Canada, Mexico, and the United States came together with a joint statement to the negotiators who are meeting in Ottawa for the third round of talks to update NAFTA.
NAFTA should remain permanent to give companies the predictability to continue to make long-term investments in sourcing and in manufacturing. It also means NAFTA needs to maintain the balance of innovative flexibilities that exist today to support the fashion industry.
By definition, the fashion industry needs flexibility–today’s fashion trends develop with lightning speed and NAFTA allows companies to respond immediately. Proposals to make NAFTA more restrictive would disrupt the supply chain.
According to The International Labour Organization (ILO) 168 million children worldwide are considered child laborers. This means that 11 percent of the world’s children are working, which interferes with their ability to get an education, and risks their safety and their ability to experience childhood. The largest number of laborers in the 5 to 17-year-old age group is still found in the Asia-Pacific region.
India’s 2011 census reports there are 8.2 million child laborers in the 5-14-year-old age group. Civil society organizations have reported that figure to be much higher.
India’s garment sector employs about 40 million workers directly and 60 million indirectly, and is the second largest provider of employment, after agriculture. India’s overall textile exports are currently estimated at around $108 billion and are expected to reach $223 billion by 2021.
India’s 2011 census reports there are 8.2 million child laborers in the 5-14-year-old age group. Civil society organizations have reported that figure to be much higher, and have reiterated the presence of trafficked children and children in forced labor in India’s garment sector, working across all supply chains in cotton fields, mills, factories, and home-based operations.
Despite these high figures, a number of national legal frameworks surrounding human trafficking and forced child labor have been put in place in India since independence.
However, the 1986 Act deals only with the organized sector, which accounts for only 10 percent of the child labor force, leaving the other 90 percent in the unorganized urban and rural sectors and family units outside of the Act’s regulations. In response to ongoing criticism, India’s government strengthened the Act last year, establishing that “no child (under the age of 14) shall be employed or permitted to work in any occupation or process, with the exception if that child helps his family or family enterprise in non-hazardous occupations or processes, after school hours, or during school holidays.
Due to the lack of strict enforcement of the existing laws there has been exploit young women, girls, and children through trafficking and exploitative work conditions.
"Vietnam is fast becoming a hub for fast fashion companies such as Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, etc. Higher disposable incomes and increased awareness towards brands is driving sales in Vietnam. While price remains a major factor for purchasing decision, consumers are not shying away from new fashion even at the cost of paying a bit higher. The millennials, accounting for a third of the population, are now the country's driving force, and have higher standards of fashion and higher exposure to global trends via internet/social media and travel experiences."
Vietnam is fast becoming a hub for fast fashion companies such as Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, etc. Higher disposable incomes and increased awareness towards brands is driving sales in Vietnam. While price remains a major factor for purchasing decision, consumers are not shying away from new fashion even at the cost of paying a bit higher. The millennials, accounting for a third of the population, are now the country's driving force, and have higher standards of fashion and higher exposure to global trends via internet/social media and travel experiences.
Brands wooing customers
Vietnam is moving towards global trend of standardization and brands want to offer the same customer experience everywhere in the world, so they have strict guidelines to meet demands and roll-out concepts that are proven to work in multiple countries. This potential roll-out in Vietnam is a real opportunity for Vietnamese people to gain access to these products, some of which they are already aware of.
Vietnam is a country where local brands and local makers can offer more unique and individualised products but what Vietnamese want today, especially the younger generation, is to have international brands that offer modernity and a feeling of being part of the wider world. These brands may be offering mass market products, but that's what young shoppers are aspiring to, and new store openings will likely drive increased traffic to the numerous shopping malls that have seen an increased emergence in key cities in recent times.
These brands are attempting to raise the shopping experience in Vietnam by offering a comfortable, spacious and premium shopping area with a clean store lay-out and iconic shopping bags to make the shopping experience easier and more interesting. Technology augmentation would also impact the shopping experience substantially. With these companies strong financial support, iPads at pop-up kiosks would aid customers in locating shelves of their desired stuff may soon be introduced for enhancing shopping experience. These are slated to reshape the Vietnamese tilt for fashion.
What consumers want
With Vietnamese fashion fragmented, it would take time for these brands to bring in the desired change. Having said that there is greater potential to be explored. Currently most people buy either unbranded products made by local tailors, products from local fashion brands, or imported products from Thailand or even China. When international brands enter Vietnam, it is unlikely that they will be adopted by the major part of the population. Even if disposable incomes are increasing, the low and middle classes are not ready to change their purchasing behaviour to buy much more expensive products all the time.
While these international fashion brands can be considered mainstream by global standards, they will probably be typecast as ‘affordable premium’ or even ‘premium’ by most Vietnamese shoppers. The key lies in making products affordable and accessible for the masses.
Price points would be a key factor in introducing new trends and one surely can’t charge more with the advent of social media. Vietnamese consumers are connected/informed and will buy from overseas if the price in Vietnam is higher. The second key aspect is to bring in newer trends rather than selling their previous unsold collections. Vietnamese are quite in tune with the latest trends and do not want old stock-outs from other countries. These international brands will provide a new alternative to young consumers and will probably have great success in the short term if the price is not too disconnected from what they currently pay for local brands.
Italy will help small, medium and large scale textile enterprises of Ethiopia. Italy will support Ethiopia’s efforts in realizing goals related to the textile industry through various initiatives. The assistance will help to improve capability through training and technology.
Bilateral relations between the two countries will also be backed by economic cooperation to further strengthen existing ties.
Ethiopia has given high priority to the development of the textile industry. The country is one of the fastest growing economies and stable countries in Africa. It is one of the ten fastest growing economies in the world with inclusive development which has resulted in a lower Gini co-efficient ratio. Ethiopia offers political and institutional stability, which are precious assets for investors.
Ethio-Italy relations are not only historic, long standing and cordial but also have been gradually expanding, covering economic cooperation, regional peace and security and global issues of common interests.
Ethiopia is a nation with a very high growth rate and potential, with a population of 90 million, a low average age, and good access to lucrative markets. It has a focus on the manufacturing sector, modernization of agriculture and expanding infrastructure while simultaneously aiming to reach zero-net carbon emissions and also becoming the energy hub of East Africa.
ATE has tied up with Austria’s Zimmer and China’s Union International to market Colaris-Infiniti digital printers in India. These models are based on the latest version print heads Seiko SPT1024GS. Today there are more than 20 units already installed worldwide.
ATE is a Mumbai-based company that provides world class engineering solutions for the textile industry.
With this collaboration, ATE has the option of offering high speed digital printers from Zimmer as well as medium speed printers from Union International.
Colaris-Infiniti printers inherit the tradition of Colaris technology, which is well-proven, solid and stable. Union International has a long history in digital printing.
The seeds for the product marketed by ATE were sown way back in 2014 when Zimmer and Union International joined hands to introduce a flexible digital textile printer with an excellent price-performance ratio. The target was to meet the demand for a printer that can manage different run lengths efficiently, covering small lots for sampling as well as longer batches for regular print production.
The Colaris-Infiniti series of next generation digital printers combine the technical and technological know-how of Zimmer with the efficient manufacturing of Union International.
All digital printers sold by ATE will be backed by complete after-sales-support by their well-trained service team.
