FW
Exports of readymade garments from Pakistan during July to May 2016-17 grew by 4.10 per cent as against the same period of last year. Readymade garments worth $2.073 billion were exported during the last 11 months of financial year 2016-17.
Bed wear exports from the country grew by 3.22 per cent. In the last eleven months of financial year 2016-17, about 3,18,070 metric tons of bed wear were exported as compared to exports of 3,03,054 metric tons of the same period last year.
However, textile group exports from the country during the last 11 months of financial year 2016-17 recorded a drop of minus 1.98 per cent growth. Pakistan is helping the entire chain of the textile sector to adopt and upgrade to new technology. Funds have been allotted to carry out research activities and bring about a qualitative improvement in industry-academia linkages.
A textile corner will be set up to provide guidance and awareness to exporters to adopt new technologies in order to improve the quality of their products. It will also help in sensitizing manufacturers to promote value addition and earn more profit from exportable surplus. The textile corner is meant to bridge the gap between industry and academia. Funds have been allotted to carry out research activities and bring about a qualitative improvement in industry-academia linkages.
Pakistan’s free trade agreement with Turkey may not happen any time soon. Despite Pakistan’s willingness to open up the auto sector, Turkey has shown reluctance to reduce duties on textile products, an important demand from Pakistan.
Rules of origin offered by the Turkish side for Pakistani products are more restrictive than those applied by the EU. Turkey is not letting the textile sector enter its market easily and has offered to reduce duty by 25 per cent on textile items in five years with the remaining 75 per cent duty to be revisited after this period.
Turkey wants a generous offer from Pakistan but is not ready to reciprocate or to meet Pakistan’s demand for inclusion of three or four textile products. The diaper industry in Pakistan wants a pragmatic approach to concessions on raw material import against import of finished goods to boost the local industry, generate employment and tap export markets.
Pakistan aims to have a targeted approach to seek tariff reduction from Turkey on high potential export items from Pakistan while also reducing its customs duties for raw material imports and machinery that is used for local manufacturing. In the FTA with China, many of Pakistan’s leading exportable items were given lower concessions than Pakistan’s competitors from Asean, which worsened its competitive position.
The sharing economy is on the rise in China where customers are now able to rent high-priced handbags on WeChat or via mobile apps. After sharing taxis, bikes and many other products, the world’s second-largest economy has started to share luxury goods.
As per Global Times, founders of many sharing platforms think “it is more economical and environmentally friendly to rent a luxury bag as fashion accessories are replaced frequently.” As per the National Information Center, China’s sharing economy is expected to grow rapidly in the next couple of years and is projected to contribute to over 10 per cent of the country’s GDP by 2020, many business professionals thus see great potential in the share economy.
Dou Bao Bao has a WeChat account, which currently serves as the main platform for borrowers. It will also soon be launching an official mobile app. The company requires consumers to place a deposit of about 10 times the monthly rental fee of the selected bag. It also pledges that the items are authentic, knowing that a major concern for Chinese consumers is that they might be loaned fake products. In June, the company received more than 10 million yuan (USD$1,470,560) in funding from Chinese domestic investors.
Another startup, Y-Closet, or “Yi Er San” in Mandarin, is copying the business model of the New York-based designer dress rental platform Rent the Runway but adapts it to consumption habits of Chinese clients. Another innovative approach taken by Y-Closet is that it works with Zhima Credit, the credit rating service under Alibaba’s Alipay, which assesses the credit quality of a potential customer. If their credit score on the platform meets the minimum requirements, the deposit is waived for them.
A Japanese designer has found a way of designing garments for exact fit. Yuima Nakazato has been working for six months on a new 3D clothes-making technique using traditional materials like cotton, nylon and wool but without needles and thread. He believes in future clothes will be infinitely adaptable and will adjust to a person’s waistline.
He visualizes a world where everyone can have tailor-made garments. Tailor-made clothes, particularly haute couture, are out of reach most except the richest. But Nakazato feels his technology can bring clothes that fit perfectly within the reach of all.
This system builds all silhouettes imaginable. It is like creating a garment from a dress pattern but with more flexibility. His designs, which included evening dresses and a version of Dior’s classic bar suit as well as jeans and a leather jacket, were built digitally-cut squares of fabric. Rather than a fitting, the wearer is first scanned before numbered squares of digitally cut fabrics are riveted together to form a perfectly fitting piece.
The major breakthrough is finding a way to use everyday fabrics like cotton, nylons and wool, which are difficult to control in digital fabrication.
Vietnam will step up efforts to boost exports to the EU. The country can enjoy benefits from GSP for the period 2017-2019. Many countries exporting to the EU do not enjoy this preference. For several years, Vietnam has enjoyed a trade surplus with the EU. In 2016, Vietnam exported goods worth 34 billion dollars to the EU, 12 times the value in 2000, and paid 11 billion dollars for imports from the bloc.
The EU is a market with 28 member countries and a total population of 500 million people. The Vietnam-EU import-export structure is mutually complementary and less confrontational than direct competition.
Vietnam and EU are working towards a free trade agreement. Commitments under the FTA on opening each other’s markets will be an important impetus for boosting Vietnam-EU trade relations. It is also an opportunity to further expand exports, especially of key items like textiles, footwear, agro-forestry and wooden products.
The EU is a market with strict quality and safety standards. Vietnamese enterprises need to actively adjust their supply chain and input materials to adhere to the rules of origin and enjoy preferential tax regimes under the FTA. They have to actively reform and improve their ability in all fields and enhance product quality to face future challenges.
In 2015-16, world cotton production declined by 19 per cent. This was a result of both a nine per cent contraction in area due to low cotton prices and a ten per cent fall in world average yield.
India will likely be the world’s largest producer for the third consecutive season with production growing by six per cent. An early and adequate monsoon, a higher minimum support price, and the prospect of better returns from cotton compared to competing crops have encouraged farmers in India to expand area by eight per cent.
Cotton area in China is expected to expand by three per cent due to high cotton prices and the new subsidy announced during the planting season. Production in the United States is forecast to increase by 12 per cent. After two seasons of decline, cotton area in Pakistan is projected to grow by eight per cent.
World cotton consumption is expected to increase by two per cent. China leads as the world’s largest consumer of cotton. High domestic and international cotton prices and constrained supply are likely to limit any growth. After a three per cent decline last season, India’s consumption is forecast to recover by three per cent. Pakistan’s consumption is expected to increase by three per cent.
ISPO Shanghai is on in China, upto July 8, 2017. This is a multi-segment sports trade fair. It aims to promote innovative brands, present technological progress, and create new opportunities to establish better communication between the industry and consumers.
The concept for 2017 has three themes: Nature and Elements, Speed and Strength, Urban and Lifestyle, focusing on running and fitness, outdoor, water sports, textile trends and action sports. The theme worlds offer better orientation for visitors and easier communication within theme worlds for exhibitors.
More than 70 per cent of the 572 exhibiting companies come from China. The other 28 per cent of exhibitors come from Europe, the US, and the Asian and Pacific region. Visitors who want to get active at the fair also won’t be disappointed. The Open Demo Day and the Morning Run offer visitors the opportunity to prove how fit they are and test the newest sports products and innovations.
In order to present the entire value chain of the sporting goods industry, the fair will work together with other partners to give trade fair visitors the possibility to learn about recent developments in the production of sporting goods. The partner event focuses on the most recent and innovative production technology in the sporting goods industry.
International fashion giants are under fire again for Rayon fabric. An investigation from the Changing Markets Foundation linked major producers of the fabric fiber viscose to air and water pollution, dangerous working conditions and public health concerns.
Viscose is more commonly known in the U.S. as rayon, and the semi-synthetic fabric is mostly used as a cheaper alternative to silk. Producing the fabric isn't necessarily bad for the environment, but activists say unethical practices at viscose plants have led to disastrous consequences. The factories that produce viscose are mainly located in Indonesia, China and India but the fashion brands and companies buying from those factories have global reach.
Fast-fashion companies ASOS, Zara and H&M were just three of many companies contacted by the Changing Markets Foundation in regards to the viscose issue. Though an online petition specifically called out H&M and Zara, it's worth noting they at least responded to concerns. It is said that the company would follow up with its suppliers about the allegations. Inditex, Zara's parent company says it would do the same.
H&M is already in the process of finding more sustainable alternatives to viscose, and the fashion company says it takes its environmental ethics seriously. It's part of H&M's mission to be 100 per cent transparent, fair and renewable.
The retail market in the UAE is attracting many foreign investments from leading brands such as Dolce and Gabbana and high profile fashion leaders such as Vogue Arabia. And it’s not just international trends that are making their mark in the UAE, a rise in modest clothing, which caters to the demand of women in the Middle East who like to dress modestly with style is also seeing a surge. Clothing such as the abaya and jilbab are featured on catwalks from around the world.
Modest fashion was specifically designed to help Muslim women in dressing in accordance to their faith whilst still expressing their preferences in style. However, the market has now diversified as more and more fashion labels are catering to the niche sector and by doing so, are further propelling the UAE as a major player in innovative fashion.
Increasing number of Emirati designers are creating innovative designs to keep up with growing demand for more variety. For too long, consumers who want to buy fashion online in the Middle East have suffered from a lack of variety. Online shopping platform Noon hopes to provide a real sense of varied fashion for customers shopping online.
The European Union has devised a new way of calculating anti-dumping duties. This method is expected to avoid any significant market distortions. It may also overcome the dichotomy between market economy and non-market economy. Its rationale is to avoid unfair competition for workers and European firms.
The method will specify in detail the significant distortions to competition under which exceptional duties can be levied, the role of the government, the economy, lack of bankruptcy legislation, copyright’s protection and intellectual property. In addition, the burden of proof is not borne by European companies, but by those exporting to the EU area.
China asked to be considered as a market economy: If this status were recognised, lighter duties would be applied to its goods.
EU overall imports reached 468.2 billion euro in the first quarter of 2017.
The EU applies trade defense measures such as anti-dumping measures, anti-subsidy measures or safeguards when EU industry is harmed by dumped or subsided imports. Some time back the European Union set provisional import duties on steel coming from China to counter what it says are unfairly low prices. China is the source of 50 per cent of the world’s steel.
The EU is a customs union with a common tariff on imports from non-EU countries.
