FW
US cotton output this year is forecast at nearly 12 per cent above the final 2016 estimate.Area for both upland and extra-long staple cotton is forecast to expand in 2017. For the upcoming season, upland acreage is projected higher in each of the cotton belt regions.
The southwest upland area is estimated at 7.4 million acres, above last year’s six million acres. The southwest is forecast to account for 62 per cent of the upland area in 2017. Cotton acreage in the southeast is expected to approach 2.5 million acres in 2017, nearly 14 per cent above last season.
In the delta, 2017 cotton area is forecast to increase for the second consecutive season to 1.8 million acres. The delta is expected to account for 15 per cent of the US upland acreage in 2017. In the west, improved irrigation supplies for the 2017 spring-planted crops—in addition to favorable prices—are expected to boost cotton area there.
US cotton harvested area for 2017 is projected at nearly 11.4 million acres, 20 per cent above the 2016 estimate of 9.5 million acres. The national yield is projected at 810 pounds per harvested acre and is based on the 2012-16 crop average yields, weighted by region.
At least 7, 50,000 jobs were created in the Indian textile and garment sector in the last fiscal. This was made possible by a Rs 6,000 crores package in June 2016 along with some radical changes to labor laws.
As many as 3, 26,471 direct and 4, 24,412 indirect jobs were created in the sector in the last fiscal. Investments to the tune of Rs 8,544 crores flowed into the sector into various segments such as weaving, garmenting, processing technical textiles and composites.
It’s estimated that every Rs1 crore of investment creates as many as 70 direct jobs in the labor-intensive garment segment and 30 direct jobs in the spinning segment. Similarly, every 10 direct jobs created in the textile and garment sector leads to the generation of 13 indirect jobs such as in hand embroidery, lacework, handwork, specialised dyeing and washing and logistics.
Between July 2016 and March 2017 garment exports went up almost nine per cent. By contrast, overall textile and garment exports dropped 3.5 per cent in the last fiscal, mainly due to a decline in outbound shipments of textiles.
To boost the competitiveness of the garment sector, a raft of measures was announced, including the introduction of fixed-term employment, optional contribution to the EPF by workers earning less than Rs15,000 a month, refund of employers’ contribution of the EPF, additional incentives under the A-TUFS, enhanced duty drawback and some income tax relief for the garment sector.
It’s almost a year since the Central government had announced a special package for the textile industry. But the impact doesn’t seem to be showing, not just yet. Despite the government announcing to would bear the entire 12 per cent employer’s contribution to the employees’ provident fund (EPF) for the first three years, just 20 units have availed of the benefit so far and only 4,300 people have got jobs. Under the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY), the government bears 8.33 per cent of the employer’s contribution to EPF in other sectors.
It’s almost a year since the Central government had announced a special package for the textile industry. But the impact doesn’t seem to be showing, not just yet. Despite the government announcing to would bear the entire 12 per cent employer’s contribution to the employees’ provident fund (EPF) for the first three years, just 20 units have availed of the benefit so far and only 4,300 people have got jobs. Under the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY), the government bears 8.33 per cent of the employer’s contribution to EPF in other sectors.
If Labour Ministry sources are to be believed, it’s all because of the slow implementation of the scheme. The scheme, approved by the Cabinet in June 2016, got other necessary clearances only in August. EPFO had to ready the software and so the enrollment started only from October onwards. Finally, in December, fund disbursements started. The PMPRPY scheme for the apparel sector was later extended to the made-ups sector too. Earmarking a budget of Rs 6,006 crores, the objective of the scheme was to create one crore new jobs, additional exports of $30 billion and Rs 74,000 crores more investments over three years. According to government’s estimate, for every Rs1 crore investment in the garment sector, a minimum of 70 new jobs are created as compared with 10 in steel and 25 in automotive sectors.
Success or Failure, the jury is out there
Analysts believe that the package did not yield the desired results as sectoral players were perhaps more comfortable with the informal nature of the jobs in the sector since it reduces their burden of complying with labour rules. However, official sources say, the number of PMPRPY beneficiaries would go up in coming months as the government has now decided to bear employers’ contribution of 8.33 per cent of basic pay to the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for new employees under the PMRPY even if new posts are not created by the firm. The benefit was earlier available only for new posts created.
The rescue mechanism
The package for the sector included making EPF optional for employees earning less than Rs 15,000 per month. The government wanted to ensure more cash in hand for such employees. For the proposal to strike though, the EPFO needs approval of its highest decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), to be followed by the Cabinet’s approval and vetting by the law department before it could be tabled in Parliament. Many trade unions don’t seem to be happy with the proposal as they think that it would deprive the workers of even an ounce of social security.
The policymakers were planning to extend benefits such as the introduction of fixed-term employment (in line with the seasonal nature of the industry), additional interest subsidy incentives under the technology upgradation fund scheme and enhanced duty drawback coverage for exports to other employment-intensive sectors like leather and footwear as well.
The Cotton Development Trust (CDT) recently stated that there is a need for Government to expand irrigation facility to cotton growing areas to improve quality and increase crop productivity.
On this CDT director Lwisya Silwimba commented that the CDT irrigation facility covers 80 hectares and has 40 hectares, which are not covered by supplementary irrigation.
He further added that they would like an expansion to facilitate supplementary irrigation during dry spells and in times when there are late rains and this will improve the quality of cotton seed produced, thereby also increasing yields for smallholder farmers.
Silwimba said the estimated cost of the proposed irrigation extension component is US$520,000 and works will include procurement of main and lateral pipes and installation of other equipment. He also proposed that Government should upgrade and rehabilitate the existing old irrigation infrastructures including those for small-scale farmers in the country so that they become fully operational.
Silwimba says that research findings at CDT have revealed that irrigation significantly contributes to improvement of seed cotton yields by over double as compared to rain-fed cotton. The CDT stated that without irrigation, seed cotton yields of small-scale farmers range from 0.3 tonne to 0.6 tonne per hectare of seed cotton.
Major Chinese wool buyers will attend for the first time in Australia at the Ballarat district property of leading Chinese importer and processor Tianuy wool. The conference’s theme is ‘From Farm to Fashion’ and it is a major step in building a wool bridge between Australia and China.
The Chinese buyers, who have been estimated to purchase $2 bn of Australian wool each year, are among 130 delegates attending the internal wool conference.It is the first time the China Wool Industrial Association will be meeting outside China since it was formed more than 20 years ago.
Conference organizers stated that the delegates representing China’s 80 major wool processors will highlight their increasing demand for Australian fine Merino wool and the ability of Australian growers to supply.
Victoria’s Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford will attend the conference and shall discuss the potential of the Victorian wool industry with buyers before the conference begins.The 30th annual Wool Salon of the China Wool Industrial Association will be hosted by Tianyu Wool president Qingnan Wen at his 2000 hectare property LalLal Estate, 20 km south east of Ballarat.
The country's premier bourse has sought to extend the regular trading period by 30 minutes. The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has adopted the proposal in its board meeting and sent it to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) for its approval.
Shakil Rizvi, a DSE director says that most of the stock exchanges conduct daily share trading for more than four fours. In some exchanges the trading remains open until afternoon and the premier bourse sought to extend the trading period considering the increased number of companies and investors.
Presently, the DSE conducts share trading for four hours from 10:30am to 2:30pm.DSE managing director KAM Mazedur Rahman commented that the DSE would extend the trading period taking into account the practices in other countries. He further added that the extension of trading period will give flexibility to the investors.
According to the DSE managing director, the proposed 30 minutes will include two separate sessions, a pre-opening session and a post-closure session. The pre-opening and post-closure sessions will last 15 minutes each.
Investors would be allowed to place purchase and sales orders only during the pre-opening session and the orders would neither be executed nor be visible to the public, according to the DSE proposal.
During the post-closure session of 15 minutes, orders which would be placed only at close-price would be settled and the orders which were unsettled during the trading session could be settled adjusting prices, says the DSE managing director. Meanwhile, the premier bourse rescheduled the trading period for the holy month of Ramadan without cutting any time. During the Ramadan, the share trading will start at 10 am instead of 10.30am. The trading will end at 2pm instead of 2:30pm.
India’s Finance Ministry has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty on 'Elastomeric Filament Yarn' (popularly known as Spandex or other brand names) imports from China, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) under the commerce ministry was investigating an alleged anti-dumping case against cheaper imports of spandex from the above countries after a complaint by Indorama Industries Ltd – the only manufacturer of the product in India.
Based on the recommendations of the DGAD, the revenue department has imposed anti-dumping duty that ranged from 'Nil' rate to USD 3.34 per kilogram depending on the producer and the country of origin of the product.
Spandex or Elastane have found wide application in apparels as it imparts comfort and perfect fit to the wearer. Hosiery, Denims, Swimsuits, Aerobic or exercise wear, Golf jackets, disposable diaper and waist bands among other garments uses spandex extensively. The imposition of anti-dumping duty might increase the cost of inputs to fabric and apparel manufacturers in Tirupur and other parts of the country.
Tizayuca Textil Vuva has installed a Monforts Montex 6500 stenter equipped with a heat recovery system.
Tizayuca Textil is a vertically integrated producer of textiles in Mexico. The company has been running a direct energy usage comparison with the Montex 5000 stenter installed a decade earlier, but which has no heat recovery system.
The heat recovery system is saving the company up to 20 per cent on gas consumption. Both of the machines are equipped with the Monforts Exxotherm indirect gas heating system, a heating technology that avoids any yellowing of the fabric.
The Monforts 6500 unit is also equipped with a Compactomat 6000 system for the control of over-feeding and cloth weight integrated within the machine. The Exxotherm indirect gas heating system incorporates a gas-fired heat exchanger that eliminates the negative effects of combustion gases on fabrics, and thereby, removes combustion related problems such as yellowing or color changes.
This is particularly the case in the treatment of polyamide and elastane based fabrics, which form a large part of Tizayuca Textil’s output.
The company is now giving serious consideration to the possibility of installing a heat recovery system on the first Monforts stenter.
Tizayuca Textil produces everything including knitting, nylon, cotton and poly cotton.
BGMEA's first vice-president Moinuddin Ahmed Mintu recently stated in a seminar held in the conference room of BGMEA regional office that there is no substitute for compliance in the garment industry if the current world market competition prevails. According to himalready 1,250 factories have been closed due to various reasons including inspection of the Accord, Alliance and ILO Rana Plaza. Maybe more factories will be closed in front. But the company wishes to turn around from this situation. Importance of compliance. He adds that they realize and it is impossible to survive this art without implementing it.
BGMEA and WRAP jointly organized 'Best Practice in the RMG Industry: Organized by the seminar on 'Social Compliance SN International Competitive Advantage'. Presenting the keynote paper at the seminar, WRAP President and CEO Avedes Sefariyan and Operation Manager of WRAP Bangladesh Kamrun Nahar Avdes Saferian said, WRAP has been working to improve the quality of Bangladesh's garment industry for a long time. In the current context, WRAP will continue to cooperate. BGMEA director Syed Mohammad Tanvir, Kazi Mahbub Uddin Jewel, Amjad Hossain Chowdhury, owners of garment factories, HR and compliance officials were present on the occasion.
Turkish investment in Serbia is expected to grow in the short term as the country offers the best conditions for foreign direct investments (FDI) in the Western Balkans. The Balkan country is offering financial incentives, such as government subsidies, as well as a prime strategic position as a link between southern and central Europe and the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, says Aleksandar Medjedovic the chairman of Turkey.
Currently, 12 or 13 Turkish companies operate factories in Serbia and their number is expected to double by the end of the year, as Turkish knitted fabric and knitwear manufacturers are being urged to set up manufacturing plants in Serbia.
Nis and the surrounding region has attracted a growing level of investment from foreign textile firms in recent years with manufacturers attracted by financial incentives, such as government subsidies, as well as its strategic position as a link between southern and central Europe and the emerging markets of Eastern Europe.
Turkish investors began looking at the Serbian market five years ago, when some companies opened factories in southern Serbia, mainly in the textile sector, and interest has been constantly growing, Medjedovic stated during the Vienna Economic Talks forum in Belgrade.
Most recently, Aster Textile, one of the largest and fast growing knitted jersey and woven womenswear, menswear and childrenswear producers in Turkey, invested €7.2 million on a new plant in the southern Serbian city of Nis. Of the total €7.2 million investment, €2 million was funded by State Aid. The site employs 250 people although this number is expected to rise to more than 2,000 over the next three years.
Aster stated that that within three yearsit would be producing garments worth around €60 million of women’s and menswear per year for some of the world's leading brands.
