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Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – the primary Japanese governmental agency responsible for technical cooperation component of Japan’s bilateral ODA (Japan’s Official Development Assistance) programme has signed Japanese ODA loan agreements with Bangladesh to provide up to 133 billion Yen for six major projects, with the readymade garment sector of the country coming under the first project.
The readymade garment sector is a main driver of the growth and comprises 80 per cent of the country’s exports. However, against a backdrop of fierce global competition and a lack of competitiveness in the industrial sectors, it will be more and more difficult for Bangladesh to achieve economic growth in a sustainable manner despite a stable 6 per cent growth for more than 10 years, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said.
The six projects to be funded by the Japanese agency include urban building safety and improving public services, encouraging industrial diversification and promoting economic growth by improving investment climate in Bangladesh, safer and efficient transportation, improving health service to a higher level and stable power supply, a press release issued by the Japan International Cooperation Agency noted.
www.jica.go.jp
A Bangladesh court has accepted the murder charge and has agreed to put several defendants in the case on trial over the collapse of the Rana Plaza which killed 1,135 workers, many of them making garments for Western retailers.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Al-Amin took the decision as he accepted the charges, which were filed in June by the criminal investigation department of the police. Forty-one defendants in total face charges over the April 2013 disaster at the complex, which housed five garment factories supplying to global brands. Plaza owner Sohel Rana is the principal accused. The court has issued an arrest warrant against those absconding and others, who are out on bail.
The incident, one of the worst industrial calamities put a question mark on safety conditions in Bangladesh. Duty free access to the west and low wages made Bangladesh one of the leading garment exporters with $25 billion a year industry. Estimates indicate that 60 per cent of the product are supplied to Europe, with 23 per cent heading to the United States and 5 per cent to Canada.
A recent study report of USA-based New York University's Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights has said that millions of people working in the readymade garment industry of Bangladesh still face unsafe conditions. The report also said that Bangladesh has more factories engaged in the global RMG business than stated by its industry.
The Supreme Court order banning the entry of goods vehicles into New Delhi has dealt a major blow to Surat’s textile traders. New Delhi is a major market for manmade fabrics including saris and dress materials made in Surat. Textile goods from Delhi, the country's biggest market for low cost saris ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 300, are further supplied to Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
No vehicle registered in 2005 or earlier will be allowed to enter Delhi even after payment of the enhanced green cess. For commercial vehicles registered after 2005, the cess has now been doubled from Rs 700 to Rs 1,400 for light commercial vehicles and Rs 1,300 to Rs 2,600 for heavy commercial vehicles.
Around 400 trucks leave for Delhi from Surat with textile goods daily. Most of these transport trucks are registered prior to 2005. Hence, these will not be allowed entry. These vehicles will have to dump the goods on the national highway outside Delhi.
It is believed the court order will increase the prices of textile goods supplied from Surat and other textile manufacturing centers. Wholesalers in Delhi will have to bear the extra expense of Rs 200 per parcel, one parcel contains roughly 150 saris and dress materials.
The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab Chairman Aamir Fayyaz has held the government responsible for continuous decline in exports from the country. He said that the government’s indifferent attitude towards the Punjab-based textile industry is disgusting. He added that the export data for November 2015 reveals that exports of cotton yarn and cotton fabric have dropped by 45 per cent and 22 per cent respectively against the corresponding period in quantitative terms consequently an overall decline by 15 per cent in value terms.
There is a nominal increase in clothing exports during the same period, he said and added that the textile exports constitute $8 billion of total exports against $4 billion of clothing exports. He said the government's apathy towards the textile industry has resulted into closure of 100 mills out of 270 mills across the Punjab.
Earlier, during a press conference, he said that government has imposed anti-dumping duty on cotton yarn while leaving the import of MMF yarns unattended, as the relevant notification does not cover them. The government has allowed long-term financing facility (LTFF), which would have no immediate impact because of the hostile environment for new investments. Finally, there is only one per cent reduction in the export refinance facility, which has not even been extended to spinning and weaving. He said that SNGPL has shutdown gas supply to the Punjab-based textile mills altogether, increasing the number of closed down mills to 70.
He also discussed in detail the prevailing adverse circumstances, including 40 per cent drop in cotton arrival in Punjab, unaffordable electricity tariff and burdening of industry with domestic taxes, and urged the government to do away with them without any further delay. While speaking on the occasion, former chairmen APTMA Gohar Ejaz urged the government to restore gas supply immediately besides tariff rationalisation of electricity to improve country’s exports.
www.aptma.org.pk
Intertek has launched chemical smart screening, a service designed to detect the presence of restricted substances in chemicals and auxiliaries used in the textile, apparel and footwear manufacturing processes. Intertek is a leading provider of quality solutions. The company provides a wide range of services, from auditing and inspection, to testing, training, advisory, quality assurance and certification.
Apparel and footwear brands and retailers need solutions to monitor and improve environmental performance across their entire supply chain. The chemical smart screening offers customers the opportunity to perform chemical analysis at the initial stages of production, while supplementing Intertek’s other chemical management solutions. It is a proactive approach to identify and prevent the use of harmful chemicals at the beginning of the textile, apparel and footwear manufacturing processes.
This preventive measure aims to benefit retailers and manufacturers by decreasing production costs, turnaround time and the need for re-handling. Only a single sample is needed to screen raw materials for around 400 common harmful substances carefully selected from major chemical regulations.
Chemical smart screening was developed to provide a solution, in the form of an extra layer of protection, to the challenges customers face as they balance the need for timely production with chemical management strategies.
www.intertek.com/
"As Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer for Ikea, cotton was contributing most negatively to the company’s overall carbon footprint. However, years of efforts to implement grassroots advocacy and educating its primary cotton farmers to embrace the Better Cotton Standard are now showing results with some witnessing reductions in water and fertilizer usage of up to 50 per cent, while yields for many have increased by 5 per cent to 15 per cent."
The motive behind Better Cotton Initiative’s (BCI) is to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, for the environment it grows in and for the sector’s future. Many leading brands such as Ikea, Adidas, Gap and H&M joined the initiative to support sustainable growing practices that rely on less water, fertilisers and pesticides, among other things. However, Ikea was the only brand that succeeded in its commitment to sourcing 100 per cent of its cotton from BCI sources by 2015.
Ikea implements its promise to source ‘Better Cotton’
Ikea requires 0.7 per cent of the world’s cotton supply for its sofa, upholstery and towels and all the cotton sourced by this Scandinavian company now comes from famers working in collaboration with the Better Cotton Initiative.
As Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer for Ikea, cotton was contributing most negatively to the company’s overall carbon footprint. However, years of efforts to implement grassroots advocacy and educating its primary cotton farmers to embrace the Better Cotton Standard are now showing results with some witnessing reductions in water and fertilizer usage of up to 50 per cent, while yields for many have increased by 5 per cent to 15 per cent.
Ikea, in its efforts to reduce carbon footprint, started working closely with its supply-chain partners to reach individual farmers and switched cotton procurement to sustainable cotton sources, which created a market for sustainable growers. Howard said that the response was most positive in South Asia. The world’s largest home furnishing company sources most of its cotton from India, Pakistan, Turkey, China, Brazil and the United States. About 5 per cent of the supply comes from US sources, according to Ikea.
Efforts continue to further the Better Cotton cause
While the company has succeeded in achieving its initial goal, it will continue to take initiatives to increase the sustainable cotton production. In its aim to save water, the company supports drip irrigation techniques since they help in bringing down the amount of water sprayed onto soil where no crops are planted. According to Howard, Ikea is also long at diversifying the fibers it uses for textiles, both through recycling of previously used material and by increasing the ways in which it uses hemp and flax.
According to BCI, more than 25 million tons of cotton is produced annually. As of last year, about 7.6 per cent of that amount was produced using farming methods that met the Better Cotton Standard. As of 2014, more than 1.2 million small farming operations have embraced the initiative in 20 countries, which was ahead of schedule. By 2020, the target is 30 per cent of global production and five million farmers.
Among the leading apparel players committed to Better Cotton Initiative, Adidas Group aims to achieve its 100 per cent Better Cotton goal by 2018. In 2014, the company sourced about 30 per cent of its cotton fibre through BCI sources. H&M expects to reach its 100 per cent commitment by 2020 and as of 2014, 21.2 per cent of the cotton in products sold by the Swedish clothing retailer were organic, recycled or grown via BCI production methods.
Levi Strauss & Co is looking forward to achieving 75 per cent by 2020; as of April, the denim giant had reached 6 per cent. Whereas Marks & Spencer with a goal to reach 70 per cent Better Cotton by 2020; has said that one-third of its cotton comes from BCI, organic, recycle or Fair Trade sources. While Nike’s target was to source 100 per cent Better Cotton by 2020; as of a 2014 update, the company said it may take longer than expected to transition its cotton sources.
Bettercotton.org www.ikea.com
The Government of India has decided to set up an Integrated Textile Office Complex (ITOC) at Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT), Varanasi. The proposed office complex will house all offices in Varanasi under the Ministry of Textiles, which work for the welfare of weavers. The Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar recently laid the foundation stone for the integrated complex at IIHT.
Co-location of offices of various allied agencies under Ministry of Textiles in the proposed building will provide a common platform to all stakeholders, including weavers, exporters and marketing agencies. This will enable them to better reap the benefits of Government schemes and with less effort, resulting in saving of time and money. This will thereby contribute to higher productivity, income and better livelihoods for weavers.
In addition, situating ITOC in the IIHT campus will facilitate obtaining of necessary approval for starting the Degree course B. Tech in Handloom & Textile Technology at IIHT Varanasi campus on the lines of the course in IIHT Salem. This in itself will fulfill the long-felt need for such a course in this part of the country. Furthermore, bringing a NIFT extension counter in the IIHT campus will not only catalyze the students learning process, but will also bring in better synergy between their academic projects and the design related activities of Weavers Service Centre, resulting in value-addition to the weavers products.
The proposed Integrated Textile Office Complex (ITOC) is expected to be ready within two years. The construction will be undertaken by CPWD, at an estimated cost of Rs 64 crores.
Global ministers during the recent annual World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting agreed a deal calling for cotton from least developed countries to be given duty-free and quota-free access to the markets of developed countries from January 2016 onward.
The meeting held in Nairobi stresses the vital importance of the cotton sector to least developed countries (LDCs). The decision includes three agriculture elements: market access; domestic support; and export competition. On market access, the decision has appealed for cotton from LDCs to be given duty-free and quota-free access to the markets of developed countries – and to those of developing countries declaring that they are able to do so – from January 1, 2016.
The agreement provides 2016 as the first date from which the poor countries, which include 35 LDCs and the cotton four countries in Africa – Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad and Mali – and other developing countries, can begin to export cotton duty-free. The Nairobi package also contains decisions of specific benefit to LDCs, including enhanced preferential rules of origin for LDCs and preferential treatment for LDC services providers. This builds on the 2013 Bali ministerial decision on preferential rules of origin for LDCs, which set out, for the first time, a set of multilaterally agreed guidelines to help make it easier for the country's exports to qualify for preferential market access.
Key beneficiaries of the agreement will be sub-Saharan African countries, which make up the majority of the LDC group, the proponent for the agreement on preferential rules of origin for LDCs.
www.wto.org
Total exports of textiles and garments from Vietnam to the US increased 11.7 per cent to $9.88 billion from January to November 2015. According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), during the 11 months, the export value to other major export markets of Vietnam's textile and garment was also optimistic with $3.09 billion to the EU, $2.53 billion to Japan and $1.98 billion to South Korea.
Once the TPP agreement comes into effect, Vietnam's textile and garment exports to the US are expected to further gain considerably. According to Luong Hoang Thai, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Multilateral Trade Policy Department and the Deputy Head of Vietnam's negotiator delegation at the TPP deal, the tax value that Vietnamese textile, garment, leather and footwear exporters currently have to pay for the US, is higher than that of other TPP member countries. The local enterprises must pay a total tax value of $1.17 billion for exporting textile and garment products to the US market and of $300 million for exporting footwear products.
Therefore, Vietnam was successful in negotiating with the US to reduce the tariff for Vietnamese textile, garment and footwear products from an average rate at 17 per cent to zero under commitments of the TPP, Thai said. To join the zero tariffs, the local exporters will have to meet origin regulations from material for production under TPP agreement to prevent neighbouring countries from exporting their products to Vietnam and then shipping to other countries.
The Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), Vietnam's largest textile and garment producer, was estimated to achieve a year-on-year export value of 10 per cent to $3.4 billion for this whole year. However, the group's pre-tax profit was predicted to reach VND1.35 trillion ($60 million) for this year, similar to the rate in 2014, because depreciation of currencies in some other textile and garment exporting countries such as China, India and Indonesia.
This year, the group's exports to major markets was expected to gain, including a growth rate at 12.95 per cent to the US, 5.96 per cent to the EU, 7.95 per cent to Japan and 8.77 per cent to South Korea against 2014.
www.vinatex.com
The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) is organising participation of its member companies in Colombo International Yarn & Fabric Show (CIFS) to be held from March 10 to 12, 2016.
Sri Lanka is currently sourcing over $1.60 billion of MMF of synthetic and blended textiles from the global markets. India exported $201.82 million of synthetic and blended textiles to this market during 2014 with a market share of 12.30 per cent only. Considering this, the council feels that there is substantial scope for Indian players to further enhance their trade of MMF textiles with Sri Lanka. Keeping the prospects of this market in sight, SRTEPC has urged its members to participate in the fair to improve their trade relations.
The main products of MMF textiles that are exported to Sri Lanka includes suiting, shirting, PV woven fabrics, woven fabrics of polyester staple fibre, knitted fabrics of elastomeric yarn and synthetic fibres dyed, narrow woven fabrics, among many other varieties. In Yarn category, India exports nylon tyre cord yarn, polyester textured yarn (PTY), nylon textured yarn, and in fibre category viscose staple fibre (VSF) to Sri Lanka.
www.yarnandfabric.org
www.srtepc.in
