Textile views

GST for Textiles Postponed till June 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 May 2017 14:44:00 +0000

With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council not able to land at an agreement on Friday on the Textile segment, the rate declaration has been conceded to June 3. The postponement is naturally because of complexities inside the whole value chain, and expectation for a fiber unbiased tax collection system over the chain.

Cotton 2040–New Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 May 2017 14:29:00 +0000

<< to read full article >>

The challenge

Climate change and drought, food security for a growing population, human rights, biotechnology, ‘fast fashion’, the circular economy - these and other factors and trends are combining to create many long-term risks and opportunities for the cotton industry.

There are excellent initiatives out there that aim to build better resilience for the sector, navigate it through an uncertain future and ensure that it continues to thrive within our planet’s limitations. Change is urgently needed for farmers, the environment and the textile industry to safeguard its long-term viability. However, given the sheer scale and complexity of the challenge, existing efforts aren’t making it happen at the speed and scale that we need.

Cotton 2040

The Cotton 2040 initiative is a unique cross-industry partnership, including leading brands and retailers, cotton standards, producers and industry initiatives. It aims to maximise and accelerate current sustainability initiatives in the global cotton industry and drive more sustainable cotton firmly into the mainstream. By bringing industry stakeholders together, and aligning efforts in priority areas for action, it seeks to ensure that their collective impact is more than the sum of their parts.

With the support of the C&A Foundation, Forum for the Future began to scope the key issues and crucial levers for change towards a more sustainable cotton industry in February 2015. Through 18 months of research, dialogue and development work with global stakeholders and experts, we developed proposals for four cross-industry areas for action (workstreams) with the potential to create a systemic shift in cotton.

These workstreams will be pre-competitive, action-driven collaborations: bringing together a number of organisations across multiple sectors for collective action.

The first of these, 'Building demand for sustainable cotton', was launched in November 2016 and we are also moving forward with the Traceability workstream.

The four proposed workstreams are:

Building demand for sustainable cotton

Shaping the nature of the demand for sustainable cotton is critical to transforming the system. This workstream is working on enabling an increased demand for sustainable cotton within the fashion and apparel industry, by highlighting the benefits of choosing sustainable cotton and providing resources and guidance on sourcing it.

Cotton recycling and circularity

The recapture and reuse of cotton fibres in textiles has the potential to transform the cotton industry and yield significant sustainability benefits for the sector. This workstream will focus on developing chemical textile-to-textile recycling as a key enabler in circularity.

Traceability

Difficulties with traceability of cotton across the supply chain create significant barriers to uptake. This workstream will initially focus on the establishment of a common traceability interface to make it easier for brands and retailers to purchase sustainable cotton across multiple standards, and simpler for producers to manage data entry. It will also focus on helping brands and suppliers to develop internal data systems to support greater use of sustainable cotton.

Upskilling for resilience

The long-term viability of the cotton industry relies on the ability of farmers and farming communities to be resilient in a changing world. This workstream will focus on creating a cross-industry forum to build resilience among smallholder cotton farmers.

Nano Tech to Cease the crease mark for ever

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 May 2017 14:20:00 +0000

The brand aims to fuse fashion with science to develop a crease-resistant wool fiber which will "prevent felting so that the fabric can be machine washable while retaining wool's natural hygroscopic features"

<< read full article with NEWS18>>

Decreasing trend in yarn production in India

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 May 2017 13:57:00 +0000

UBM Asia enters digital textile printing market with the acquisition of CSTPF

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 10:02:00 +0000

UBM Asia announces today that it has entered the digital textile printing market through the acquisition of “China (Shanghai) International Printing Industry Expo (CSTPF)” from SUNEXPO.

CSTPF was launched in 2009 by SUNEXPO. Over the last six years, it has evolved into an important gathering for the digital textile printing sector and related industry professionals. With the rapid growth in the scale of the exhibition and the growing transaction volume, CSTPF owns the leading market position in this niche in China.

The demand for revolutionary printing technology from the leather, glass, ceramic, carpet and other downstream sectors and the continuous innovation in digital printing technology have made the importation of advanced equipment and technology from abroad and the expansion of the overseas market for printed products the next development targets for the digital textile printing industry in China.

UBM Asia is already the region’s largest trade show organiser and the biggest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. The acquisition of CSTPF launches UBM Asia into yet another new sector of immense potential and will also accelerate CSTPF’s internationalisation.

The UBM Asia and CSTPF teams will work in close collaboration with each other and the industry to build the most influential and authoritative international exhibition in the field of digital textile printing.

Jimé Essink, President & CEO of UBM Asia, said: “We are entering a dynamic new sector through the acquisition of CSTPF. Textile and apparel is one of the largest and most important industries in China. The development of digital printing has accelerated with the drive for innovation and technological transformation in China to upgrade this industry. Today’s fast fashion characterised by small lot and customised printing adds further demand for digital printing. We are very pleased to welcome Gong Changming, General Manager of CSTPF and the CSTPF team to the UBM family and look forward to working closely with this experienced and professional team to grow the expo with UBM’s strong international network.”

Mr Gong will continue to lead the CSTPF staff and the team will move into the UBM China Shanghai office. The next CSTPF will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, China from 14 – 16 April, 2015.

Hosiery yarn price - January 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 13:22:00 +0000

COTTON YARN HOSIERY CONES :	current week	last week	last Month	Last year
20s (K)	174	174	184	196
30s (K)	195	195	205	217
40s (K)	216	216	226	238
40s (C)	233	233	243	255
Average	204.5	204.5	214.5	226.5

Prices of Raw Cotton for the week ending 10/05/2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 May 2014 17:00:00 +0000

Prices of Raw Cotton for the week ending 10/05/2014
Variety	Price (Rs. Per Kg.) during
	Current	Last	Last	Last
	Week	Week	Month	Year
	10/05/2014	03/05/2014	26/04/2014	25/05/2013
MEDIUM (20.5 - 24.5)
J-34 (Bikaneri Narma)	128.46	126.45	125.78	108.12
V-797	73.60	72.47	71.35	75.37
JAYADHAR	88.76	87.08	87.08	85.78
Average	96.94	95.33	94.74	89.76
LONG (27.5 TO 32 mm)
H-4/MECH.1	118.54	116.57	115.73	104.06
Shankar-6/shankar-4	122.47	121.63	120.79	106.87
Average	120.51	119.10	118.26	105.47
EXTRA LONG (32.5 & ABOVE)
MCU-5	123.03	121.35	120.79	108.56
DCH - 32 (SI)	176.97	175.56	174.72	138.37
Average	150.00	148.46	147.76	123.47
Wt. Avg Price of Raw Cotton	113.52	112.00	111.29	100.58

Source : Tecoya Trend, Bombay.

Prices of Cotton Yarn for the week ending 10/05/2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 May 2014 16:57:00 +0000

Prices of Cotton Yarn for the week ending 10/05/2014
Variety	Price (Rs. Per Kg.) during
	Current	Last	Last	Last
	Week	Week	Month	Year
	10/05/2014	03/05/2014	26/04/2014	25/05/2013
A: COTTON HANK YARN :
20s	212.00	210.00	210.00	189.00
30s	239.00	233.00	233.00	212.00
40s	256.00	254.00	254.00	230.00
60s Card	307.00	298.00	298.00	273.00
60s comb	336.00	333.00	333.00	322.00
80s comb	433.00	428.00	428.00	410.00
100s comb	489.00	486.00	486.00	472.00
Wt. Avrg	252.43	249.41	249.41	227.76
B: COTTON CONE YARN :
20s	171.50	168.50	164.50	177.50
30s	203.00	200.00	196.00	198.50
40s /42s	216.50	213.50	209.50	213.50
60s Card	260.00	257.00	253.00	259.00
60s / 62s comb	303.00	300.00	296.00	310.00
Wt. Avrg	214.27	211.27	207.27	214.99
C: COTTON YARN HOSIERY CONES :
20s (K)	201.00	201.00	201.00	193.00
30s (K)	222.00	222.00	222.00	212.00
40s (K)	243.00	243.00	243.00	234.00
40s (C)	260.00	260.00	260.00	246.00
Average	231.50	231.50	231.50	221.25
Source : RO Coimbatore, The prices mentioned above are inclusive of all duties/taxes. ( i.e. inclusive of 4% VAT for Cone yarn, no VAT for hank yarn as applicable in Tamilnadu.)

5 THINGS ABOUT UK TEXTILES 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 May 2014 04:24:00 +0000

Ahead of the Natwest UK Fashion And Textile
Awards 2014 on May 22nd, we've been taking stock
of the amazing things that have happened in the UK
textile industry since the start of the year. And
there's no bad news here...

1. Chanel announced plans to create 100 new
knitwear jobs in Scotland. Think all that Lagerfeld-
dreamed-up magic happens in Paris? Not so much.
The fashion house works with Barrie Knitwear in
Hawick to create its cashmere products. In April,
president of Chanel Bruce Palovsky revealed the
company has plans to expand its business there
over the next three years.

2. Textile manufacturing in the UK is seriously back
in vogue. Businesses who resisted the trend to
produce abroad have reported incredible profits –
prime example? Savile Row's Drake's Of London
made £7m last year - and new labels are following
suit. Hipster brand Bitching And Junkfood quit China
to manufacture from Edmonton, east London, while
the first "made in Britain" stiletto company Yull
Shoes, opened in 2011.

3. Smart textiles AKA the wearable tech business is
booming in the UK. British-made interactive textiles
are now being used by huge brands such as Nike,
Quicksilver, Tommy Hilfiger, Levis and North Face.

4. Companies want textiles made in the UK. Talking
to fashion industry bible Drapers earlier this year
from London's Textile Forum, business manager of
Hainsworth Wool Michael Booth said: More and
more people want the UK made product," he said.
"People have got tired of everything made in
sweatshops, it's about quality now."

5. The UK's first ever fashion and textiles show is
happening. "Meet The Manufacturer" is being
launched by ex-Burberry accessories designer and
Debenhams buyer Kate Hills and set to take place on
June 11th and 12th at the Old Truman Brewery. It's
aim? To "support a revival in UK fashion and textile
manufacturing".
MyDaily is the official media partner of the UK
Fashion And Textile Awards 2014.

The London Textile Fair is set to launch an extra edition for Asian suppliers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 May 2014 08:12:00 +0000

The London Textile Fair is set to launch an extra edition for Asian suppliers this October, after KellyKO, the fairs organizers were “completely inundated” with requests from Asian textile manufacturers and mills.

“The London Asia Textile Fair will now be the first fair catering exclusively for manufacturers from the Asian market. With the support of many of the biggest UK textile agents, the fair will undoubtedly be a great success,” commented the fairs' organizers.

Known as the London Asia Textile Fair, the event is set to showcase a number of textile suppliers from China, the Philippines, Korea and Thailand. The fair will be hosted in Shoreditch's town hall in London, from 27 October to 28, 2014.

John Kelley, the fair organizer, revealed that already 35 exhibitors have signed to show and 100 manufacturers are predicted to attend the upcoming edition.

“We kept on getting requests from Asian manufacturers to join the London Textile event but as time scales are different we wanted to keep the Asian and European manufacturers separate,” he commented to Drapers.

'”We have a lot of the big boys in the clothing industry coming, all of the mills that deal with top UK retailers.” The fair will not be as large as its counterpart, the London Textile Fair, and is more selective with its exhibitors.

The Asian Fair is set to occur after the London Textile Fair, which is has over 250 exhibitors and will be held at the Business Design Center, in London on July 16 and 17.

Japanese reduces it’s Textile Imports from China

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 May 2014 08:10:00 +0000

The Japanese are shifting their business from China to other textile producing countries because of [political] tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. Last year, Japan’s textile imports from China dropped to 74pc of its total purchases of $40b, from 86pc a year earlier. China’s loss was the gain of Vietnam and Cambodia

Africa’s First textile city in Kenya

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 May 2014 08:05:00 +0000

Kenya will soon be the first country in sub-Sahara Africa, hosting a fully serviced textile city to meet the manufacturing investment needs for a number of leading global garment marketing firms.The Textile City model to be championed by the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development will besides foreign investments attraction be one of the key pillars earmarked as the national job creation platforms.

Speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday at the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) Complex in Athi River, when he hosted a delegation of 40 international garment manufacturing firms, with combined annual revenue of more than $25 billion who are on a country visit, Cabinet Secretary, Adan Mohamed, confirmed that plans for the establishment of a textile city are now at an advanced stage.

The delegation is led by high ranking executives from PVH and VF Corporation, who are some of the world’s largest apparel manufacturing companies which own and market iconic brands worldwide.

By establishing a textile city, for onward leasing to potential investors, Kenya, Mohamed assured will be seeking to address existing industrialization bottlenecks at the Athi River EPZA zone as well as other locations.

The ministry, he said, targets to attract at least 100 textile investment firms at the textile city and create more than 200,000 sustainable textile jobs by December 2016.

Eco Textiles news Article on Indian Textiles

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 May 2014 07:59:00 +0000

Eco Textiles has published a news Article on Indian Textiles as below stating that Indian textiles are not adhering to Environmental law .

“ Hundreds of polluting textile units in India are wantonly flouting closure notices issued by local government agencies, making a mockery of government efforts to crack down on untreated chemical effluents being released into local rivers.”

Pakistan has miserably failed to take advantage of generalised scheme of preferences (GSP)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 May 2014 07:55:00 +0000

The GSP Plus facility is effective from January 1, 2014 and in the first three months the overall textile growth in the export to EU remained nominal against the estimated growth of 15 percent because of non-availability of gas, electricity and devaluation of dollar. The GSP plus granted to Pakistan is conditional on the ratification and implementation of 27 international conventions in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environment and good governance.

Adoption of these conventions will assist Pakistan in integrating into the cross-border supply chain, which will strengthen manufacturing activity and further promote its exports. Pakistan has ratified almost all the conventions. The most critical aspect of these conventions is that the EU through the unnamed third parties from civil society or non-government organisations will strictly monitor the compliance.

The overall exports growth in the first quarter remained at two to three percent as compared to estimated seven to eight percent, but in the case of textile sector, the overall growth in the first quarter remained in negative zone, Aneesul Haq, secretary of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), said that Punjab-based textile industry was on the verge of collapse because of non-availability of gas, electricity. He said that the Punjab textile sector was exposed to the eight hours of electricity and five days of gas outages owing to which the industry in Punjab was encountering the mammoth loss of Rs80 billion per annum. The industry has to generate electricity on its own, which is too much costly, he added.

This has increased the cost of doing business manifold owing to which their products have become uncompetitive in the EU market despite the fact that Pakistan is enjoying GSP Plus status in the bloc of 27 countries of Europe.

Haq further said that the cost of doing business jacked up by 20 percent in the wake of energy crisis and depreciation of dollar in the country if compared with the cost of doing business of their competitions in the global market.

Textile sector needs availability of gas at least for five days a week and zero load shedding in electricity supply from independent feeders.

In quantity terms, there is some growth of 20 percent in value added textile products that mainly include knit wear, bed wears and readymade garments.

However, overall growth in textile sector is negative.

Pakistan’s textile exports are currently at $13 billion, 35 percent of which are for EU countries.

After the GSP plus facility, “we estimated to increase the textile exports to $14 billion, but it seems now a mission impossible,” said secretary Aptma.

To a question, he said that textile sector had projected to increase the textile exports to EU countries by two billion dollars till the limit of the GSP plus and one billion dollar in the first year of the facility.

“If the situation does not improve then there will be no increase in the capacity of textile sector to generate surplus export and at the end of the day, Pakistan will not be able to exploit the advantage of GSP+ status.”

TIRUPUR exporters demanding ban on cotton and cotton yarn exports

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:42:00 +0000

Unprecedented increase in cotton prices has forced
garment industry stakeholders in Tirupur, the knitwear hub of
the country, to adopt resolutions demanding suspension of
cotton and cotton yarn exports for three months among other
things.
According to associations of stakeholders of Tirupur garment
sector, the high increase in the cotton yarn prices has
significantly affected the knitwear garment sector of Tirupur and
sustenance of stakeholders has become increasingly difficult as
a result.
A meeting of the stakeholders of the garment sector held on
Tuesday in Tirupur presided over by Dr A Sakthivel, president of
Tirupur Exporters Association, adopted several resolutions to
seek protection for the textile industry.
The meeting said as the cotton exports have already crossed
90 lakh bales. The cotton yarn exports touched 590 million kg
in the first five months. The cotton yarn advisory board has
estimated only 1000 million kg of cotton yarn exports for the
whole year. Moreover, 60% of cotton yarn exports are destined
for competing countries like China and Bangladesh ultimately
giving stiff competition to country's garment exports. The
meeting wanted both exports to be suspended for three months.
The other resolutions are that Cotton Corporation of India
should sell cotton only to actual users and not to the traders, a
request to the associations of mills to advice their members to
slash the cotton yarn prices by Rs 8 per kg to Rs 10 per kg and
roll back to the price level in last month and that the
associations do not have any objection to the farmers getting
right price for the cotton produced by them.
The meeting decided to send the resolutions to the Prime
Minister, and the union ministers handling finance, commerce,
textiles and agriculture. If the government does not concede to
their demands, the associations will meet and decide on the
next course of action. The conference also appealed to the
Central government to implement free trade agreement with EU
nations to increase exports from Tirupur.

Micro spinning Machine video

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 07:00:00 +0000

click to watch

India to relax garment import quota from Sri Lanka

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:41:00 +0000

India will increase a garment import quota by three million pieces a year to eight million without a sourcing requirement being imposed on Sri Lanka, the island's industry ministry said citing a statement by a visiting Indian official.

Sri Lanka's ministry of industry quoted India's textile ministry secretary Kiran Dhingra as saying in Colombo when she led a textile industry delegation to the island on September 19.

Dhingra had said that from September 06, India has removed duty for HS code 61 and 62 apparels, the industries ministry statement said.

In 2011, Sri Lanka had exported 50 million dollars of garments, woven fabrics and other textiles to India, making it the 14 largest buyer.

Sri Lanka's industry minister Rishad Bathiudeen had invited Indian textile factories to invest in the island.

"We also look for support to strengthen textile supply chain such as raw material, yarn, for example," the minister was told the visiting Indian secretary.

"Though our apparel sector technology is strong, our textile sector is weak in this regard and we believe that India know-how can support technology transfer in this regard.

"More importantly we invite Indian investors to Sri Lanka for joint ventures and strategic alliances."

The statement quoted Dhingra as saying that a 500 acre industrial zone called 'India-Sri Lanka Concept Integrated Textile Cluster' with 350 million initial investment, could be started to supply Sri Lankan manufacturers.

India and Sri Lanka has a free trade agreement through which nationalist Sri Lankan producers have blocked 1,198 items being freely bought by citizens of the island through a so-called 'negative list'.

India has a negative list of only 196 items but there are some quota and non-tariff barriers that have prevented Indian citizens from freely accessing Sri Lankan products including apparel.

Especially after independence from British rule India and Sri Lanka descended into mutual poverty by blocking free trade among its citizens.

How textile SMEs are mismanaged

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:38:00 +0000

The business line has published a nice article on textile SME’s in tamilnadu

(It’s business line article <click to read it>)

It is reported that 79 micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) fall sick in a day, probably three units an hour. Out of 1.33 crore sick units in the country, more than two lakh are currently sick and 29,000 units are being added to the list every year. In financial terms, these units account for more than Rs 7,000 crore of outstanding loans.

A unit is deemed to be sick in the following circumstance: when, after borrowing from financial institutions, it has not paid its instalments on due dates; the situation continues for more than six months in this way; and there is an erosion in net worth due to reported losses to the extent of half of its net worth in the previous accounting year.

In Tamil Nadu, for example, out of the 14 lakh SME units, 25,433 units are sick with 566 of them eligible for rehabilitation according to the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India. Recently, there was a strong representation from textile units on the need to rehabilitate sick textile units, involving about Rs 50,000 crore.

After a lot of deliberations, the reference by the Ministry of Finance to the RBI did not elicit a positive response. It was thought that since only 22 per cent of the textile units had suffered, a mass-crisis approach to the problem was not warranted.

Thanks to some initiative by financial institutions, a relief package is likely to come of these discussions. But to ensure that efforts to help MSMEs in the sector do not lead to nought, the problems of these units should be understood. Or else, it might become a case of throwing good money after bad.

A study of each case will reveal some common factors, which can act as an insight for both financial institutions and new MSME players.

The textiles story involves unscrupulous speculative trading in cotton, pushing prices high and bringing it down in a short span, resulting in losses at lower prices of yarn. While this is the macro-reality, the nitty-gritty of management need to be accorded some attention.

How can a turnaround of textile MSMEs be brought about?

INFORMATION DEFICIT

Review and Documentation: Lured by the promise of some promoters of industrial/textile parks in Tamil Nadu, we find some first-generation entrepreneurs, who have traditionally been farmers, selling their land and starting micro-units in textile weaving, with little technical know-how. They find it difficult to break even, due to the unfulfilled promises of such industrial park promoters on issues such as power, export potential, water and roads.

As a result, the capital outlay and bank finance become non-performing assets, resulting in wastage of resources. Hence, any first-generation entrepreneur must take professional advice on documentation and technical details of the project, by earmarking a small portion of his capital outlays to this end.

Bankers, instead of rushing to give loans to such MSMEs, must also study the viability of industrial parks, as they have the wherewithal to evaluate such industrial parks.

Emu farming in the Tamil Nadu belt is one instance where promoters lured innocent farmers into a financial crisis. The Tamil Nadu Government, in its recent Budget, outlined the New Entrepreneur-cum-Enterprise Development Scheme for first-generation entrepreneurs. But it is yet to be effective.

Quantity versus Quality of Turnover: In their rush to record higher turnover, MSMEs tend to undercut prices, which affect their profitability. They resort to giving long-duration credit, impacting their break-even levels and triggering a liquidity crisis. MSMEs must strive for quality of turnover with lesser delays in realisation, enabling more turnaround of their working capital.

Export Risks: We find many MSMEs weak on the quality control side. Emboldened by the success they see in small exports, they resort to high volume exports without adequate safeguards, such as quality approval by their overseas customers. Not being exposed to export formalities, many MSMEs face rejection of their goods.

Products, involving a two to three months’ production cycle, are stuck up at destination points on account of quality problems raised by overseas buyers. This causes a liquidity crisis. Trade associations can play an effective role and arrange for effective advisory services.

DEBT TRAP

Lack of Qualified Accounting Personnel: We find that even Rs 300-crore units in Tirupur do not have qualified professionals to handle their finance, leaving the function to lesser qualified yes-men. As a result we find the absence of good MIS reporting standards and periodical review of operations on a broader scale.

The first golden rule of effective monitoring of operations monthly is sacrificed for preference for semi-qualified non-professionals. In the case of small units which cannot afford qualified professionals, the relevant trade associations can pave the way for advisory services.

Working-Capital Management: MSMEs must realise that working-capital funding is need-based and is not a permanent item to appear in their books. MSMEs must strive to reduce their exposure on this account when they show growth in sales and profitability, instead of constantly upgrading their exposure in times of plenty and struggling to service the debt in times of crisis.

In the absence of good financial reporting and planning, many MSMEs tend to ignore the need to trim or optimise their working capital.

They fall into a debt trap, thanks to the overenthusiastic financial consultants that they employ to secure renewals. To ensure more transparency in the financials, banks must reinforce independent audit of current assets of MSMEs to ensure that all is well with their portfolios.

A close look at the ailing units reveals that statutory payments such as PF, income tax and TDS slowly fall into arrears, indicating cash-flow problems. Any attempts to gloss them over and look for avenues of enhanced credit will lead to a debt trap. Perhaps this is vital factor leading to the liquidity crisis. Credit rating agencies must include this as one of the parameters while assessing the effectiveness of financial management.

Constant monitoring and guidance can prevent resource wastage of the partners of the enterprise, that is, the bankers, the lender, the supplier, the client, the staff and the Government.

Maharashtra claims Rs 2400 cr investment in textile sector – reports times of India

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:54:00 +0000

Textiles minister Naseem Khan claimed the Maharashtra government's new textile policy had helped in attracting investments to the tune of Rs 2400 crore in this sector.
The state and Centre had approved 263 textile projects which will provide employment to nearly 18,000 people in the state, he said. Khan said the government now plans to hold road shows in Gujarat to attract the state's textile magnets to set up plants in Maharashtra.
Gujarat has a highly flourishing textile industry. Though Maharashtra is the largest cotton producer in the country, an absence of an effective textile policy meant that over 80% of the cotton is exported to neighbouring states for processing. <<this is a Times of India article, click to view it>>

Increasing yarn price..

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Expressing concern over volatility in yarn prices, the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has sought early Government intervention to overcome the situation.

In a letter to Commerce and Industry, Textile Minister Anand Sharma, the AEPC said cotton yarn prices should be carefully monitored, as small manufacturers and handloom weavers were considerably impacted due to the steep price hike.

AEPC Chairman A. Sakthivel said, “Unfortunately in the last few months, we have experienced volatility in the price of cotton yarn. While cotton has gone up by about 3-5 per cent in the last two months, yarn prices have increased over 15 per cent in the same period. Also, Indian cotton yarn prices are higher than in other countries such as Pakistan”.

He said at the recently concluded Cotton Yarn Advisory Board meet on August 23, a rather grim scenario had emerged as the total production estimate of cotton yarn stood at 3.5 billion kg. While exports of cotton yarn were projected at 920 million kg, based on current estimates it may exceed one billion kg.

AEPC said that to tide over the situation, the Government needed to put a cap on exports of cotton yarn or free imports of cotton yarn.

“At this stage, we are not advocating any cap on exports, but at the same time, we request that the custom duty of 10 per cent on cotton yarn be completely removed and yarn imports made duty-free. Also, drawback may be allowed on export of garments manufactured from such imported cotton yarn,” he added

Tamil Nadu to invest Rs 104 crore in 5 textile mills

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:47:00 +0000

<< The times of India article>> The state government will modernise five co-operative textile mills at the cost of Rs 104 crore, said principal secretary, textiles, Tamil Nadu, G Santhanam. The government also plans to re-open the closed co-operative textile mill in Ramanathapuram district at an outlay of Rs 18 crore.

Speaking at the sidelines of a conference organised by Indian Cotton Federation here on Saturday, Santhanam claimed that the five mills located in Kanyakumari, Theni, Ettayapuram, Pudukottai, and Krishnagiri, have started to make profits. The total capacity of the five mills up for modernisation would be around 1 lakh spindles. Another 12 sick mills would either be revived or the excess land in these places allotted to other government departments, Santhanam added.

Joint secretary, union textiles ministry, V Srinivas, who was in town to attend the conference said several projects floated under the 'National Fibre Policy' (NFP) have been incorporated into the 12{+t}{+h} Five Year Plan that begins this year after their financial requirements turned out to be higher than what was projected.

"We have been working on the policy for 30 months but difficulties were there in (getting) the financial outlay," said Srinivas. Since the policy would require financing for the next 10 years, projects under NFP had come under review.

The Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) has been extended to the 12th plan period and an outlay of Rs 15,886 crore has been made for the scheme during this period, Srinivas said. The working group on textiles has recommended an outlay of around Rs 34,000 crore for the plan period, he said.

Processing parks would be set up in seven states under the integrated processing development scheme, Srinivas said. The parks would be set up on a public-private partnership model. "Considerable emphasis has to be laid on strengthening the weaving and processing sectors," he said, while speaking at a conference on challenges facing the cotton trade and industry 2013 organized by the Indian Cotton Federation.

India's inherent strengths in cotton yarn need to be augmented by fabric manufacturing and processing, Srinivas noted. Emphasizing the need for timely data on the cotton crop, he said that the Cotton Distribution (Collection of Statistics) Bill 2012 has been framed to put in place a system for improved data transparency and make available real time data for considered policy making.

"We hope to put in place legislation in the coming months to provide India with a system of data collection that will strengthen our databases significantly," Srinivas said. Though the south-west monsoon has been lower in some places and consumption is expected to increase in the current cotton season (October-September), there has been no demand on restricting exports, he said.

"It would be a good year for cotton," Srinivas said. Since adequate stocks are available in the domestic market, conditions appear favourable for the cotton trade in the 2012-13 season, he said.

Meanwhile, the cotton industry has appealed to the state government to slash the 5% sales tax on yarn. They argue that it is just 2% in states like the Andhra Pradesh, a major competitor for TN. Similarly, the industry has demanded that the state government do away with a 1% market committee cess on waste cotton, which is collected by the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee.

Cotton advisory board expects 12 lakh bales to be imported

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:21:00 +0000

The Cotton Advisory Board has estimated that Indian textile mills may import 12 lakh bales of natural fibre in the current season (October-September).

“The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) has estimated cotton imports in 2011-12 season (ending September 30, 2012) at 12 lakh bales, including short staple cotton,” Textile Minister Anand Sharma said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

In July 2012, prices of Indian cotton crossed world cotton prices, making imports of other varieties of the natural fibre more economical, he said.

Other reasons for India’s rising natural fibre imports include availability of international credit finance at lower interest rates, savings in the carrying cost for textiles mills, higher yarn realisation and better quality cotton, the minister added.

Till date in the current season, 4.8 lakh bales of natural fibre have been imported, Sharma said. In the 2010-11 year, the natural fibre imports stood at 5 lakh bales.

Asked if there is acute shortage of cotton in the country, Sharma said: “There is no acute shortage of cotton in the country. As per the estimates of the CAB closing stock is expected to be at 28.46 lakh bales (for 2011-12) which account for more than 30 days of inventory for textiles mills.”

Also, he said, the government does not envisage any import curbs on cotton. Textiles mills are free to import cotton depending on commercial viability.

The CAB has pegged India’s cotton production at 353 lakh bales this season against 339 lakh bales last year and its exports at around 127 lakh bales this year as compared to over 76 lakh bales in 2010-11.

Thai textile exports to shrink by 15%

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 06:15:00 +0000

The Thai Industries Federation is predicting that the country’s textile and garment exports will shrink considerably this year, due to the fallout from the global economic problems.

Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) Vice President Vallop Vitanakorn commented on Wednesday that the Eurozone debt crisis and the problem in Chinese economy could pose considerable impact on Thailand’s exports of textile products and garment in 2012.

Mr. Vallop expected the fallout to shrink Thai textile and garment exports by as much as 15 percent this year because of a drop in purchase orders from Europe, brought on by higher Thai produce prices and the new 300-baht daily minimum wage.

He said that the higher cost in Thailand has driven a number of business operators to relocate their production bases to neighboring countries.

The FTI Vice President is also worried that the new daily minimum wage may force some local entrepreneurs, particularly those located in the upcountry, to shut down, due to rising logistics costs and inferior quality of labor when compared with Bangkok.

Pakistan Likely to seeking duty free exports of textiles

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:09:00 +0000

DK Nair, Secretary General Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), said, “Pakistan is the only country in South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) that does not enjoy duty-free access to Indian market for its textile and garments. There is a proposal by the Department of Commerce to provide zero-duty access for all textile products of Pakistan in the Indian market. The proposal is based on geo-political considerations, and not economic factors.”

Elaborating on the present status of textile exports permitted by respective countries, he said, “As of now, Pakistan has a negative list of over 1,200 products which India is not permitted to export to them. This includes 78 textile products. On the other hand, India has a sensitive list of 878 products for import from Pakistan, which includes 288 textile products.”

“But, the fundamental difference between the two lists is that India only avoids tariff concessions for products in sensitive list, whereas Pakistan prohibits imports of products that are in their negative list. Pakistan has stipulated such a negative list only for India and not for any other country,” he said.

Analysing the competitiveness of Pakistani textile items with Indian products, Nair said, “Pakistan is a competitive producer of textiles, perhaps more competitive than India in products like wide width fabrics, pv/pc fabrics, made-ups and garments. Further, since textiles are largest export item of Pakistan, the government gives certain incentives to this sector that enhance its competitiveness.”

“However, there is still scope for improving textiles trade between India and Pakistan. But measures towards this should be mutual and fully reciprocated by Pakistan, so that both the countries can benefit from competitiveness of each other in various segments of textile value chain,” he opines.

“We have made a request to the Indian Government that no unilateral concessions may be extended to Pakistan in textiles trade, as it would have serious negative implications for our industry, especially the decentralised and SME sectors,” he said.

Cotton exports good for farmers says Pawar

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:07:00 +0000

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the restriction on cotton exports would have an adverse impact on farmers. Targeting the ministries of food and textiles, Pawar wrote to the prime minister Tuesday saying that the policies of the two departments were going against the interests of the farmer. The letter came a day after a group of ministers Monday restricted cotton export to 13 million bales for the current year. “Cotton farmers should not be asked to bear the burden of subsidising textile mills,” Pawar said in his letter, indicating that the decision would benefit textile companies. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has also opposed the restriction on cotton exports. Experts said farmers are suffering due to high input cost and low return from the cotton produce. Pawar also expressed his concern on sugar exports and said: “The negativity prevalent in the department can be gauged from the fact that though the decision to allow sugar exports of 10 lakh tonnes was taken on 26 March no orders have been issued till date.” Sources said Pawar’s move was aimed at building pressure on the government.