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Anglo-Irish chain owned by Associated British Foods, Primark’s sales are up 11 per cent compared to last year on a currency-neutral basis and 21 per cent ahead on a reported basis. Much of the rise was due to new selling space as Primark continued to open new stores in its domestic markets and abroad. The company’s average retail selling space was up about 12 per cent in the first half.
UK comparable sales rose two per cent and the market share increased. This is a relatively strong result given the challenging market conditions in Britain over the past six months. Looking beyond the UK, overall comparable sales for Primark were flat, dragged down by the Netherlands where a rapid rise in selling space appears to have led to some cannibalisation of sales from existing stores. With the Netherlands taken out, group comparative sales rose one per cent.
Primark’s six-store business in the US is continuing to develop. Markdowns were in line with the first half last year. Yet it expects operating profit margin in the first half to decline. Primark will continue to drive sales growth through new stores. It added 16 new stores in the period, including several UK locations plus Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the US.
SPG Prints, based in Holland, caters to the textile, label and industrial printing markets with a portfolio including screens, lacquers, inks, digital engravers, and a broad range of rotary screen and digital printing systems.
Its Javelin digital printer meets the demand for shorter runs, rapid turnarounds and on-demand sample production.
The printer uses Archer technology which enables the firing of variable drops to the substrate. The four mm distance from print head to substrate eliminates head damage and is ideal for printing knitted fabrics.
The precision of the ink delivery system provides repeatable and consistent quality that meets the demand for frequently changing designs with lead times often measured in weeks. The six colour system can reliably and repeatedly reproduce a wider gamut than any currently available eight-colour system and achieve fine tonal gradations, thanks to the variable dot sizes.
This digital textile printer is known for outstanding quality and productivity. It is the fastest printer ever seen to achieve a resolution of 1200 x 1200dpi, and it produces challenging designs such as geometrics and blotches at relatively high speeds.
SPG Prints develops and manufactures its own inks, including those especially for the Javelin. The two-and-a-half-year warranty on the print heads reduces risk and accelerates the return on investment.
BSTIM (Best Solutions in Textile Manufacturing) was held in Spain, February 24 to 25, 2017. This edition saw 1,400 visitors from around the world, from Russia, England, Sweden, Norway, Holland and Italy. Purchasing managers, designers and distributors from European fashion brands came to Spain to find local suppliers. The show hosted sixty exhibitors, including knitwear manufacturers and garment producers, who made a number of contacts and potential future business connections.
BSTIM fair is the only exhibition for textile production in Spain. It aims to show the country’s textile production potential and encourage big brands to manufacture in Spain instead of in Asia. This year BSTIM focused on encouraging sustainable fashion, textile companies that take into consideration the social and environmental impacts of their manufacturing processes.
The fair has introduced a system of working called Fresh Fashion that will enable producers to deliver orders quickly because the space will bring raw materials, producers and buyers together at the same moment.
BSTIM will now be held every two years. It’s felt that it’s not possible to generate interest every year and manufacturers may not have enough capacities or services to present to brands and distributors.
Pakistan wants to push up exports to $35 billion by 2018. The top five textile sectors were given a zero-rated sales tax regime. Sales tax and customs duty on imports of textile machinery and cotton have been abolished. A number of projects of power generation through hydel, coal, solar, wind, and other resources have been initiated.
About 10,000 MW electricity will be added to the system by 2018 and 30,000 MW within the next few years. A network of roads, highways and motorways is being laid to integrate different regions of the country. Engineers and managers at industrial units will be trained to adopt new technologies to manage complex production processes in developing products demanded internationally. Emphasis will be placed on skill development.
New export destinations including Mexico, Central Asia, Africa and Doha are being looked at. About 60 per cent of Pakistan’s exports go to ten countries, namely, USA, China, UAE, Afghanistan, UK, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Italy and Spain. Right now Pakistan’s exports to South America, Africa, Central Asian Republics and Russia are less than ten per cent of the total exports of Pakistan. Pakistan will showcase the country’s exportable products in collaboration with the chambers of commerce in different countries. The country has given its exporters a Rs180 billion incentive package.
The cellulose fiber market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of nine per cent over the period 2016-24. Abundance of raw materials, environmental benefits of cellulose fibers, and cost effectiveness will boost global cellulose fiber market demand in clothing and apparels over other alternatives such as polyester and nylon. Major shift in fashion trends, a growing demand for improved textile quality, and elevated consumerism are pushing the cellulose fiber market.
Improvement in living standards of emerging nations such as China, India, Brazil is influencing manufacturers to widen the cellulose fiber industry base in these regions. Cellulose fiber is mainly extracted from rich plants such as cotton, bamboo, jute and hemp by dissolving pulp. Asia Pacific, led by India and China, is the production hub of these plants and this region will reinforce market demand.
China and India are predicted to have a defining impact on the cellulose fiber industry, driven by the large apparel and textile industry base across these regions. Cellulose fiber market applications include clothing, spun yarn, and fabrics. Spun yarn is a prominent application, having accounted for a revenue of two billion dollars in 2015, and is projected to show substantial growth owing to its growing demand in embroidery and weaving applications. Artificially extracted cellulose fibers are widely used in the apparel and textile industry.
"With over 14 textile parks, big-ticket projects of some textile majors, relaxed norms for backward regions and ‘Farm-to-Fashion’ initiative, Maharashtra is set to craft its textile dream into reality. With IT services companies moving away from the financial capital, Maharashtra government is on the look-out for new avenues of growth and has identified textile industry as a new ‘sunrise’ industry. Ichalkaranji, Solapur, Nagpur are the newly emerging big textile cities in Maharashtra."
With over 14 textile parks, big-ticket projects of some textile majors, relaxed norms for backward regions and ‘Farm-to-Fashion’ initiative, Maharashtra is set to craft its textile dream into reality. With IT services companies moving away from the financial capital, Maharashtra government is on the look-out for new avenues of growth and has identified textile industry as a new ‘sunrise’ industry. Ichalkaranji, Solapur, Nagpur are the newly emerging big textile cities in Maharashtra.
Ichalkaranji: 9,000 shuttleless weaving machines have been installed in here. In all, technology selected for shuttleless weaving machines running in and around Ichalkaranji is having 50 per cent, 45 per cent, 5 per cent contribution of rapier, airjet and projectile technology respectively. There are about 160 sizing units, consisting of 250 sizing machines, which include conventional to modern machines and 1.2 lakh powerlooms in this decentralised sector. At present spinning, weaving preparatory and weaving sectors are well grown in this region.
Vidarbha : Vidarbha is one of the largest cotton-growing regions of India and contributes for nearly one-thirds of the state’s cotton production. Vidarbha is expected to be a next emerging hub for textiles. Advantages of Vidarbha region are: central location and a strategic place on international aviation routes. A textile hub started at Amravati and the proposal is to similar textile hubs in eight more districts of cotton-growing areas like: Jalgaon, Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Buldhana, and Beed.
Nagpur: Owing to its strategic location, Nagpur is an upcoming textile hub in the state. Nagpur lies at the dead centre of the country with the zero-mile marker indicating the geographical centre of India.
Growing investments in textile sector
Just over a year back, textile major Raymond announced an ambitious Rs 1,500-crore greenfield project in the Vidarbha region. The cotton growing belt of Nagpur, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim and Wardha is getting a shot in the arm with the state government revealing its scheme to integrate six distressed districts of Vidarbha through 80 per cent cotton industry, as a part of Narendra Modi’s vision of transforming textile industry through the visionary ‘Farm-to-Fashion’ concept. Amravati district is in the process of transforming itself as the international textile hub of country. In Vidarbha and Marathwada alone, the state government plans to spend Rs 2,000 crores to develop the region.
Work is in progress on the pilot project under the ‘farm to fashion’ in Amravati, the second biggest city after Nagpur in Vidarbha region. At Nandgaon, 500 hectares of land has been approved for the textile hub which has received proposal from eight players. The main aim is to provide basic infrastructure to make industries more conducive, and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is playing facilitator for providing land for the textile sector in Amravati, spread across 500 hectares at Nandgaon. The companies include Shyam Indofab Ltd, MVHM Industries, Suryalaxmi Mills, and Siyaram Silk for textile and processing units at Nandgaon. The new textile hubs sanctioned in MIDC include Nandgaon (Amravati), Yavatmal,Chikali (Buldhana), Jamner (Jalgaon), Kannad (Aurangabad), Selu (Parbhani),Bhaler (Nandurbar), Malegaon (Nashik), Kunnor (Nanded) and Mazalgaon (Beed).
Maharashtra, so far has 1,108 units, investment of Rs 10,725.87 crores has been achieved and job to about 62,000 peoples has been provided. In order to create basic infrastructure, 14 textile parks under are being established. These parks will accommodate 1,280 units and provide jobs to 64,000 people. Maharashtra government has decided to set up Rs 300 crore garment park in Solapur to promote the city as a ‘major garment hub’.
Vietnam’s denim exports to the US has risen 16.1 per cent so far this year. Women’s jean exports from Vietnam to the US rose by almost 17 per cent. Although China held its share of total denim imports into the US, Mexico lost 200 basis points of share, while Bangladesh and Vietnam gained 150 and 80 basis points. Pakistan and Nicaragua also gained share, while Egypt lost.
China has maintained its 26.5 per cent share of US denim imports. Unit imports from China dropped by eight per cent, but the average cost per garment rose by four per cent. There was a seven percent increase in men’s jean imports from China but a nine per cent drop in women’s jeans imports.
Imports from Bangladesh, the US’s third largest source of denim apparel, increased by eight per cent, with units up 11.7 per cent and average cost down by more than three per cent, with women’s seeing most of the gains. More than 98 per cent of total denim apparel imports by the US are jeans. Men’s and boys’ are the largest segment, at 52 per cent of the total on a dollar basis, down 100 basis points from the prior year, while women’s and girls’ rose to more than 46 per cent of the total. Denim jackets, skirts, dresses and other garments represent less than two per cent of the total.
The United States is Vietnam’s biggest export market. About 50 per cent of Vietnam’s total textile and garment exports goes to the US. Total exports of textiles and garments from Vietnam to the US gained a 11 per cent year-on-year from January to November 2015. From January to November 2016, Vietnam’s textile and garment shipments to the US edged up 4.7 per cent from the previous year.
The TPP would have eliminated the 17 per cent tariff on US imports of garments from Vietnam and the deal would have given Vietnam-based textile industrialists a great advantage in exporting their products to the US. Even in the absence of TPP, Vietnam’s economy is well positioned to continue growing, with various other trade deals giving it good access to international markets, including the recently negotiated EU free trade deal and other agreements.
Vietnam’s textile, seafood and footwear sectors would remain competitive even without TPP. The country feels its textile and garment exports to the US will increase, with or without TPP. The reason is that while Vietnam’s export turnover has been growing by 12 to 13 per cent each year, revenue from US imports has been growing by just three per cent. Vietnam’s products account for just nine per cent of US’ total textile and garment imports.
Textile dyeing and printing mills in Surat have turned to processing high-end mercerized cotton fabrics. These fabrics are in high demand in the southern and northern parts of the country and have a strong export potential. Surat has a good potential for manufacturing and processing cotton fabrics. It wants to shed its image of being a traditional center for polyester fabrics. Textile processors feel mercerized cotton fabric processing helps them stay relevant and become tuned to market demands and trends and tide over tough days, like a recession. Also, while polyester fabrics see many ups and downs, the demand for cotton fabrics remains steady.
Power loom units in Surat use traditional or water jet looms, which are not compatible with manufacturing of cotton fabrics. So some power loom units, which use high-end rapier looms, have started manufacturing cotton fabrics. Surat has traditionally been a hub of manmade fabrics. Right now cotton fabric processing is at a nascent stage in Surat but it is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. Surat’s textile mills offer competitive rates for job work and have a range of color choices as well.
More than 20 lakh meters of unfinished cotton fabrics from Bhiwandi and Ahmedabad wind up daily in the textile processing mills of Surat’s industrial areas for mercerization.
Bangladesh will have to address three important factors -- higher productivity, workers' wage hike and profitability -- for sustainability of the apparel sector, say experts. This was the predominant thought in a discussion “Business Policy and Environment: Towards a Better Bangladesh” at Dhaka Apparel Summit 2017 on Saturday. “Frequent changes in policies hurt the viability of business. We need a long-term policy with a period of 10-12 years for making investment plan,” said BGMEA vice-president Mohammed Nasir. In his keynote address Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) said RMG sector is the driving force for growth of Bangladesh’s economy. It contributes 13 per cent to GDP. To achieve $50 billion export target Bangladesh will have to earn $22 billion in the next five year with a 12 per cent growth. He emphasized, Bangladesh RMG sector needs policy support, technological upgradation, skilled labour, market and product diversification. Retailers, suppliers and stakeholders could share the remediation cost of factories to reduce the burden on manufacturers. Apparel makers want to brand Bangladesh as the most compliant supplier. Investment in social dialogue is crucial at this moment.
Manufacturers have been spending millions of dollars on remediation and relocation of factories. Unavailability of workers is a major challenge in the case of relocation of factories. Most factories face multiple challenges in implementing remediation recommendations. Bangladesh will face challenges in becoming a middle income country if workers' wages are not increased. The voice of workers needs to be heard in terms of health and safety.
While more than 90 per cent of the factories in Vietnam and Cambodia are owned by foreign investors, in Bangladesh more than 90 per cent of the factories are owned by local entrepreneurs. For some reason buyers do not pay higher prices for garment products from Bangladesh, although they offer higher rates in China, India, Vietnam and Pakistan. The garment sector in Bangladesh has had to face major challenges, including the shock of a quota-free era, child labor, fallouts from the global financial meltdown, and finally, the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013.
