FW
Myanmar garment industry is looking forward to exponential growth in exports. The growing garment industry will increase direct employment by over one million workers. This will bring not only wages to workers and profits to factories, but also increased foreign exchange, higher GDP and more tax revenue.
The first and most important step forward must be free trade agreements with the US and the EU, Myanmar’s most important potential garment customers. There are some political problems. However, by far the greatest obstacle is compliance. Not only does the country lack a statutory minimum wage, child labor in garment factories is a common feature.
On April 26, Asean and the European Union agreed to take steps to resume stalled talks on a free trade agreement between the two regions. This may be the most important step forward for the nations in Asean in the past decade.
Previous negotiations between Asean and the EU broke down in 2009 over the EU’s concerns about Myanmar’s human rights record. In the interim it entered into an FTA with Singapore and is currently involved in serious negotiations with Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Recently the EU has been very complimentary toward Myanmar, praising widespread political and economic reforms since the country emerged from outright military rule in 2011.
A textile and garment industry exhibition will take place in Myanmar from June 26 to 29. The event will showcase products and technologies from 98 exhibitors and 16 countries and promote information exchange between manufacturers, buyers, traders and distributors in the country’s garment sector.
Among the exhibits are machinery and accessories, spinning machines, processing machines, weaving machines, embroidery equipment, knitting machinery, cutting and laying machines, ironing and steaming equipment, sewing machines and parts, and accessories like zippers, buttons, labels, belts and buckles, needles and thread.
As one of the world’s fastest growing markets, while situated between the world’s most populous states—China and India—Myanmar has tremendous potential for investors. The country tripled its foreign direct investment between 2010 and 2014, and has lower workforce costs than neighboring manufacturing powerhouse Thailand, indicating Myanmar is an attractive business spot for regional and global manufacturers.
Hong Kong-based Yorkers Trade & Marketing Services will organise the international fair with the support of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The Myanmar Investment Commission this month granted five foreign companies permits to establish clothing manufacturing businesses in the country.
Silver Star Fashions makes use of simple but effective techniques to monitor inventory levels and control the non-conforming materials in the trims store and fabric store. Silver Star Fashions was founded in 1967. It makes dresses for women and children.
Trims are stored style-wise and issued on the basis of the trim card. Inventory levels of each trim are indicated on a board installed at the beginning of each row of racks for each trim stacked in that particular row of racks. The fabric store on the other hand is segregated in two parts – the fabric store and the bonded fabric store. While the fabric store is used to stock inventory that is either under inspection or to be inspected, the bonded fabric store stocks only the inspected fabric.
The bonded fabric store uses color coded racks to segregate ready to issue goods (green) and approval pending goods (yellow). These racks are kept covered using poly bags. The inventory level for ready reference is again monitored using the system of boards by each row of racks.
The factory has invested in Optitex CAD systems for pattern making and cutting floor management. Tracking an order’s introduction in the factory’s ecosystem, the first exercise is the feasibility analysis of the style. Technical feasibility is taken care of by the industrial engineering team. For execution of the orders, the production planning department calculates the productivity of the style based on its SAM, number of operations involved, fabric and order quantity.
Prices of spun polyester yarns in China remained range bound in the week ended June 12, while transaction volume remained low. Mainstream offers rolled over previous week’s numbers for 32s while 45s saw moderate transaction. Some yarn makers reduced run rate during the wheat harvesting season. Further, yarn demand was difficult to improve due to high fabric inventory. In India, polyester prices have fallen in early June after surging in May and this is now reflected in the fall in polyester yarn prices across markets. In Pakistan, spinners are seeing sharp drop in their margins for producing 100 per cent polyester yarn since their prices have almost remain static for a long period.
In India, polyester yarn 30 knitting yarns were down Rs 2 at Rs 136 a kg ($2.12 a kg, down US cents 3), in Ludhiana market while they fell Rs 3 in Indore market to Rs 149 a kg. In Pakistan, 30s spun polyester was pegged at $2.16 a kg and 60s at $3.49 a kg.
Pakistan has recorded a 14 per cent decline in exports of textile products during the current year. This despite the GSP Plus facility granted to Pakistan. Poor supply of gas has impacted Pakistan’s economy. While India provides subsidy on textile and wheat production, Pakistan does not. India increased its textile production three times during the last 13 years. However, in the increase in cotton production has been nominal. There is no full-time minister for the textile sector.
Pakistan is the eighth largest exporter of textile products in Asia. This sector contributes 9.5 per cent to the GDP and provides employment to about 15 million people. Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton with the third largest spinning capacity in Asia after China and India, and contributes five per cent to the global spinning capacity.
Pakistan has about 1,221 ginning units, 442 spinning units, 124 large spinning units and 425 small units which produce textile products. Machinery in textile universities may be upgraded so that engineers get trained. The government may provide more incentives to Karachi, Faisalabad and Lahore textile cities and encourage small capitalists to invest there. Efforts are being made to increase collection under the textile cess.
The Oeko-Tex system focuses on safety at the workplace and compliance with UN conventions on human rights and ILO core labor standards. A transparent assessment system is used to demonstrate to companies where there is need for optimisation on the path towards best practice in terms of sustainability.
The criteria applied for testing textiles for harmful substances to Oeko-Tex standard 100 are tightened up on a yearly basis. The Oeko-Tex concept offers a range of solutions in terms of product stewardship. This includes chemicals or environmental management systems conforming with ZDHC and DETOX, which ensure transparent monitoring of the objectives defined in each case.
The Oeko-Tex system delivers practical answers to inform all stakeholder groups about advances and new developments in the textile sector. In this context the MySTeP database allows companies to map the sustainability of their supply chain at a b2b level using key performance indicators so monitoring, improving and driving forward this aspect with targeted measures.
In conjunction with the consumer label Made in Green by Oeko-Tex this permits branded and retail companies to directly advertise on the product itself that it has been manufactured under environmentally friendly and socially responsible conditions.
https://www.oeko-tex.com/
US apparel companies are increasingly looking away from China and sourcing from countries such as Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Vietnam is the biggest beneficiary of changed sourcing. Bangladesh remains the most popular sourcing destination, but continues to face major challenges. It has to compete with other leading suppliers in the region, particularly Vietnam, India and Indonesia.
For the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the US apparel industry is seen as a critical stakeholder. Many US apparel companies source from Vietnam, Peru, Mexico and Malaysia and expect TPP’s implementation to impact business practices. They are likely to source more textiles and apparel from TPP partners following the implementation of the agreement, or strategically adjust or redesign their supply chain based on TPP.
The one sticking point, however, is the restrictive rules in the agreement, which companies believe could limit its potential. They want the short-supply list to be expanded. The proposed yarn-forward rule of origin is also cited as a major hurdle to the industry realising real benefits from TPP.
US fashion companies are continuing to express interest in expanding sourcing in the US over the next two years as they diversify their sourcing. However, there is no evidence companies are actually shifting their business models back to manufacturing.
The garment industry, which is reeling under a severe cash crunch, has recovered Rs 400 crores in the last three months from retailers who had defaulted on payment due to weak demand. The Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of India (CMAI) has formed a separate committee to negotiate with retailers and recover dues. The association has also formed a system to alert members on the credit profile of buyers so that they do not fall prey to wilful defaulters.
CMAI’s recovery committee has taken up long-pending cases and is negotiating recovery of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 crores. The domestic organised garment sector registered a growth of 12 per cent to Rs 44,800 crores last fiscal against a growth of seven per cent in fiscal 2013-14.
CMAI was entrusted with setting up 50 skill centers across India by March 2017 and train 35,000 workers. It has already opened 35 apparel training centers in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telengana and Maharashtra in the last four months. Centers are coming up at Vasai, Umargaon and Vapi-Daman. Skill centers are planned near the apparel industry so that trained people can be employed immediately.
Maharashtra is set to accept some of the major recommendations proposed by the Suresh Halwankar Committee in its report on the new Textile Policy of Maharashtra. The textile sector is the second largest employer, after agriculture, in Maharashtra. At present, over 30 lakh people are directly employed and two crore are indirectly employed in the industry.
The committee has recommended sick cooperative cotton mills be handed over to the private sector for good. Five mega textile hubs are to be developed and foreign direct investment be attracted to the textile industry. It specifies Amravati be developed as a spinning hub, Nagpur as a knitting hub, Solapur as a terry towel hub and Ichalkaranji as a suiting-shirting-denim mega composite textile hub. These hubs are to have all facilities, along with a common effluent treatment plant and water recycling plants in the vicinity, thus cutting down on cost and the time of making garments from cotton drastically.
The committee hailed China's textile policy and suggested a fiber to fashion approach to turn around the sector, which was once blooming in the state. It also seeks to reduce the power tariff for the sector, while encouraging setting up of more spinning and processing plants in the state.
WTO, the World Trade Organisation, has launched a new website which will serve as a focal point for members, donors, and others seeking information on the new Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF)
TFAF was created at the request of developing country and least-developed country (LDC) members to help ensure that they receive the assistance needed to reap the full benefits of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and to support the ultimate goal of full implementation of the new agreement by all members.
The TFAF will support these countries in assessing their specific needs and identifying possible development partners to help them meet those needs through a diverse number of activities.
The website can be accessed in English, French and Spanish.
Developing and LDC members must notify the WTO which provisions they will implement when the agreement enters into force or, in the case of LDCs, within one year after entry into force (Category A commitments); which provisions they will implement after a transitional period following the entry into force of the agreement (Category B); and which provisions they will implement on a date after a transitional period following the entry into force of the agreement and that require the acquisition of assistance and support for capacity building (Category C).
