Search Results for: Bangladesh

Published in the Dhaka-based newspaper, The Business Standard, Mr Billah’s story clinched the second prize in the “National Newspaper” category, at the eighth annual award ceremony of BRAC, one of the largest NGOs in the world. BRAC introduced the “BRAC Migration Media Award” in 2015 to formally recognise migration journalism.…

Fraud in the global halal food sector is emerging as a widespread problem. A series of scandals have rocked the industry worldwide, and shone a spotlight on the difficulty of eliminating non-halal practices from increasingly large and complicated food supply chains. …

The second-largest garment exporting country in the world, Bangladesh has grown its position as a key outsourcing hub since the 1980s.  

With a global market share of 6.26%, according to the World Trade Statistical Review 2021 (1), “The industry has come a long way,” said Md. …

Spain, which in the early Middle Ages was part of Islamic state called Al-Andalus – remembered as a golden age of Spanish tolerance and reason – has finally started to seriously play to win in the global halal market, through tourism and exports.…

Spain has been expanding its halal tourism and food sales, as it leverages its geographical proximity to Muslim countries in north Africa to provide travel and accommodation services.

In the CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2021, by CrescentRating & Mastercard, Spain climbed six positions to the 16th in the top non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations (https://www.crescentrating.com/reports/global-muslim-travel-index-2021.html).…

The Bangladesh food industry is increasing its efforts to export halal foods to Muslim majority population countries. A senior government delegation is planning to visit Turkey and Indonesia this year to gather facts and advice on improving Bangladesh sales in these countries of halal food.…

Nearly two-thirds of 86 countries assessed worldwide face a high to critical risk of corruption in their defence and security sectors, according to the 2020 Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI) (1) that the Transparency International defence and security programme published November 16.…

THE TURKISH apparel sector is capitalising on sourcing diversification and changes in retailers’ orders in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Exports are up on last year, and the industry is laying the foundations for strong future demand as the sector expands.…

A comprehensive study of 3,650 students from 55 counties worldwide has indicated that the expansion of online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has not reduced the attraction of moving countries to undertake in-person higher education in foreign universities and colleges.

Indeed, the study, by IDP Connect, part of Australia-based international student recruitment leader IDP Education, showed that 79% of students questioned were only considering overseas on-campus options.…

INTRODUCTION

Textile and clothing companies are well aware of two major trends driving sales in the industry – sustainability and digitisation. One is driven by the need to adopt sustainable manufacturing processes and materials, to boost sales amongst environmentally conscious consumers and reduce financial and regulatory costs associated with pollution and carbon emissions.…

The food halal market for Portugal, a largely Christian country that was in the early Middle Ages part of the Muslim world, has been expanding, serving a growing local Muslim community and Muslim tourists keen to taste Portuguese food.

Between 711 and 1249, most of Portugal was under Muslim rule, which influenced its language and culture.…

THE TURKISH apparel sector is capitalising on sourcing diversification and changes in retailers’ orders in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Exports are up on last year, and the industry is laying the foundations for strong future demand as the sector expands.…

The Bangladesh innerwear industry has been witnessing robust growth in the past decade and this outsourcing hub is now competing effectively with its major rival China. The production value of the country’s intimate wear jumped from US216 million in 2012 to US1.078 billion in 2021, according to a report from data service Statista (1).…

As the global clothing industry is reviving from Covid=19 slump, Bangladesh apparel manufacturers are at last reaping the benefits, industry is also bearing the fruit. In an exclusive interview with Just Style, the new president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Faruque Hasan noted that the Bangladesh clothing industry suffered a reduction in its exports of USD6 billion from USD34.13 billion in financial year (FY – July-June) 2018-19 to USD27.95 billion in FY 2019-20 and a year-on-year drop of clothing exports worth nearly USD1.5 billion in financial year (FY) 2020-21 (July 2020 to June 2021) (1).…

INTRODUCTION

The concept of bespoke tailoring and couture has long been regarded as the apex of clothing and textile making, given that it matches a garment closely to its wearer and intended use. Until now, such personal apparel has inevitably been expensive, given runs are individualised – indeed, bespoke has been the antithesis of mass-produced fast fashion.…

INTRODUCTION

Financial crime is a minefield for the international textile and clothing industry. With extended international supply chains extending into jurisdictions where the rule of law and a reliable independent judiciary may have a weak hold, if they exist at all, textile and clothing brands and manufacturers must take care.…

INTRODUCTION

Without doubt, the world’s clothing and textile sector is undertaking a technical upgrade that is unprecedented in decades, with new digital systems offering automation and efficient internal controls. As these are worked into the businesses of brands, manufacturers and their suppliers, a new potential emerges, and that is linking these digital systems in a way that could revolutionise efficiencies within the supply chain.…

The Bangladesh clothing manufacturing sector is continuing to strive to improve its sustainability profile, which has remained a key focus since the collapse of the Rana Plaza manufacturing complex killed 1,134 people in 2013.

While the response has been uneven, the industry and government has been and is continuing to adopt circular economy methods, chase UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), alignment, improve working conditions and pay, decarbonisation, energy efficiency, chemical management, water resource management, waste reduction, and more.…

The leader of Bangladesh’s clothing and textile industry has promised to keep encouraging this important outsourcing hub towards more innovative circular and sustainable operations, as major brands promise to deliver 100% sustainable and eco-friendly products. “In order to maintain our competitive position in the market, we must radically shift to more sustainable consumption and production, upcycling and recycling of pre- and post-consumer wastes,” said Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Faruque Hasan.…

A trade war over airplane manufacturing subsidies between the USA and UK, which has led to 25% additional duties being levied on British knitwear exports to America, appears to have been resolved. The EU and the USA have suspended for five years retaliatory duties that both sides have imposed on each other’s exports in the long-running ‘Airbus’ subsidy dispute.…

Mauritius’ textile and clothing manufacturing sector is expected to witness year-on-year growth of around 18.5% this year (2021) after suffering a severe Covid-19-related contraction of 28.6% in 2020. The National Accounts Estimates released by Statistics Mauritius in June (1) predict robust growth for country’s textile and apparel industry, which accounts for almost 50% of the country’s overall manufacturing.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) member state of Malta – along with Haiti, the Philippines, and South Sudan – have been added to FATF’s increased monitoring watch list, with all four countries promising to work with the global AML body to improve their dirty money controls.…

COVID-19 has been a challenge for many industries and the tobacco sector has been no exception, with the disease disrupting consumption and purchasing patterns that underpin profitability and turnover.

Countries where smoking is associated with socialising have been particularly vulnerable and a good example is Bangladesh, where the disease has depressed consumption, temporarily.…

India’s apparel and textile exporters are under huge pressure from their western buyers to meet contracts as the country’s devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic eases. As a result, manufacturers have been flying-in workers who had returned to their home while the virus ravaged India’s cities and towns, depressing production capacity.…

The Bangladesh clothing industry is looking forward to the completion of five state-of-the-art textile factories at the Korean Export Zone (KEPZ) with combined floor space of 2 million square feet as an important expansion of local backward linkages. The factories, three of which are under construction, and two (producing polyester yarn and fabrics) are already open, will produce manmade fibre (MMF) yarn and finished garments, at the KEPZ, located in the south-eastern port of Chattogram.…

Apparel and footwear brands, especially those in the United States, may come under increasing distribution strain as an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the Chinese clothing and textile manufacturing hub of Guangdong exacerbates already fraught global logistics.  The southern Chinese province recorded 135 total infections over the period June 10–23 and a seven-day average of nine new cases as of June 23, according to data from the USA’s Johns Hopkins University.…

MALTA’S only multiple casino operator has been fined over serious AML/CFT failings, with the country’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) ordering Tumas Gaming Ltd to undertake AML control reforms.

The company must pay EUR233,156 for breaching the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism Regulations.…

When the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the first half of 2020, China’s textile industry quickly increased its nonwoven-based supply capacity of protective masks, medical protective clothing, isolation clothing and other emergency prevention and control materials.

Data compiled by the China National Textile and Apparel Council show that the country’s output of nonwoven products recorded a robust year-on-year growth of 14.4% in in the first eleven months of 2020.…

THE INDIAN clothing and textile manufacturing sector is facing renewed disruption as India is hit by a brutal second wave of Covid-19.

“Labour has [partially] gone, production is down and demand is falling,” Sanjay Arora, business director at consultancy firm Wazir Advisors told just-style.…

THE WIDE diversity of AML laws worldwide can complicate the enforcement of AML/CFT extradition proceedings.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations 37 and 39 say that governments should be prepared to extradite money launderers (and terrorist financiers) to another country if they both criminalise the underlying predicate offence.…

Demand for knitting machines in China has been recovering remarkably fast from the Covid-19 crisis, with Chinese textile factory owners growing bolder in investment decisions, and exports to south Asia growing too.

Chinese knitting machine-makers Suzhou ReHow Machinery Manufacturing and Fujian Taifan Industrial, which supply mainly T-shirt fabrics single jersey circular knitting machines, saw their sales dip in 2020 but not to a dramatically low level.…

COVID-19 has unleashed a significant boom in demand for apparel and other wearables that are anti-viral, cleansing consumers’ bodies of viruses, as well as bacteria.

Companies making fibres and yarns have been quick to tout anti-viral technologies. Examples include HeiQ Materials AG – a Switzerland based textile innovation specialist, which has been selling a new anti-virus textile treatment HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03, added to textile products during final processing and utilising anti-microbial silver, whose charge attracts viruses to spherical liposomes which deplete the virus membrane of cholesterol, allowing the silver to kill them.…

Environmental regulation is becoming increasingly tight for textile companies and this of special concern for the higher-tech side of the industry where new fibres, chemicals and processes are delivering a cutting edge. This is especially the case for innovative segments such as performance and outdoor materials.…

The Lahore-based Sapphire Group has been blazing a good practice example to Pakistan’s fabric manufacturing sector by focusing on innovation when many local competitors have failed to update their production practice and technology.

With an annual turnover of USD800 million and an asset base exceeding USD500 million, the Sapphire Group has been optimising its productivity though careful attention process timing targets.…

INTRODUCTION

Accounting software is crucial for any company wanting to expand on a sustainable basis, adding diversity in supply and customer relationships as they grow. The clothing and textile industry is particularly complex regarding its inputs and outputs. Production is also complex when manufacturers handle spinning, weaving, cutting and finishing.…

Asian clothing manufacturing associations, including major knitwear outsourcing hubs, are jointly developing ‘red line’ standards for sales to buyers, covering payment and delivery practices, planning and information exchanges and third-party negotiations.

The STAR Network of nine Asian federations has established five working groups to make detailed proposals as early as March.…

COVID-19 has unleashed a significant boom in demand for apparel and other wearables that are anti-viral, cleansing consumers’ bodies of viruses, as well as bacteria.

Companies making fibres and yarns have been quick to tout anti-viral technologies. Examples include HeiQ Materials AG – a Switzerland based textile innovation specialist, which has been selling a new anti-virus textile treatment HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03, added to textile products during final processing and utilising anti-microbial silver, whose charge attracts viruses to spherical liposomes which deplete the virus membrane of cholesterol, allowing the silver to kill them.…

Tough American government sanctions levied against Myanmar may emerge soon because of the recent coup, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has predicted. Nate Herman, AAFA senior vice president, policy, told just-style: “Monday’s coup is deeply concerning. We urge the full and immediate restoration of democratic rights and institutions.…

The president of the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has warned that the military takeover in Myanmar could spark a significant shift in sourcing away from this south-east Asian country if democracy is not restored promptly. Julia Hughes told just-style: “If there is not a quick resolution, then yes we would expect a major shift to other Asian suppliers.”…

The director general of the European Textile and Apparel Confederation,

Euratex, has warned that the military takeover in Myanmar could halt what has been a boom in clothing export sales to Europe, which grew 40% in 2020, year-on-year.

Dirk Vantyghem told just-style this has been achieved through a major increase in Chinese investment into the country’s clothing industry – its upstream textile segment remains small.…

Eric Dorchies was appointed Mauritius’ Ciel Textile Ltd’s CEO last July (2020) at a moment when his country’s important clothing and textile sector was struggling hard against the impact of the Covid-19. It has not been an easy start to his job (he was previously the company’s COO) given the risk of the third wave of the virus hitting Europe, the company’s main market.…

Egypt’s plans to attract significant foreign investment in its garment and textile manufacturing sectors have been delayed due to the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, with exports down 20% last year. The government’s Vision 2025 strategy had targeted attracting some USD17.5 billion in foreign investment to quadruple textile and garment exports.…

WHILE Covid-19 dealt body blows to Bangladesh’s apparel industry last year, one fast-expanding segment fared surprisingly well: denim. While the south Asian country has been the largest exporter of jeans clothing to the European Union (including the UK) for the past few years, as per Eurostat data, last year (2020) it was the largest overseas source of denim to the USA, elbowing out Mexico, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).…

A new Transparency International (TI) survey has reported significant concern in 17 Asian countries (1) that corruption continues to be a problem or is getting worse, undermining equitable access to public services and trust in government. TI’s ‘Global Corruption Barometer – Asia’ (2) found 74% of the 20,000 people surveyed believe that government corruption is a major problem in their country, with 19% of citizens surveyed admitting to paying a bribe and 22% using personal connections when accessing public services in the previous year.…

INDIAN garment exporters with manufacturing units based in the war-ravaged Tigray region of Ethiopia are hoping for an early revival of operations and in the interim say they are finding alternate production centres to honour their supply commitments.

“We are making the products [that were to be supplied from Ethiopian] in our Indian factories,” Arul Saravanan, chief marketing officer of SCM Garments Pvt Ltd, in Tirupur, south India, told just-style.…

China’s recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials market is heading for another distortion with repercussions for apparel and footwear brands. While the likes of Adidas, Nike and Decathlon continue shifting from virgin fibre to recycled fibre to improve their environmental impact standings, China’s PET market is heading for another distortion, raising the spectre for supply bottlenecks and price increases.  …

Jordanian garment manufacturers are hoping a newly formed government will help the country’s clothing sector rebound from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling for exemption from income tax and delaying requirements to increase the number of Jordanian employees.

The new government of Prime Minister Bisher al-Khaswaneh, appointed in October ahead of parliamentary elections this month, has put economic recovery from the pandemic at the centre of its programme, with GDP forecast to drop by some 5% this year, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures.…

Data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia on September 11 shows that while the country’s industrial production growth returned to positive territory in July for the first time since February by booking 1.2%, the textiles, apparel, leather and footwear sectors were still suffering.…

THE Bangladesh leather and footwear sector says it can afford to pay new minimum wages for the leather sector, with the industry association being upbeat about implementing the new system and remaining “compliant”.

The ministry of labour and employment on September 8 issued a gazette fixing a minimum monthly pay of USD84 for the leather and footwear sector workers, just short of USD95 rate for garment industry employees.…

TRADE-based money laundering (TBML) is often hard to spot – that is why criminal networks use this typology. But a careful analysis of detailed trade data can reveal anomalous pricing flagging the possible presence of TBML. This is the key goal of a trade database created by a business professor at the USA’s Florida International University.…

VIETNAM clothing industry insiders have told just-style that they are optimistic that the Vietnamese apparel supply chain will emerge strengthened from the Covid-19 crisis in 2021. This is despite an ongoing shortage of orders during 2020, only partly mitigated by switching production to make masks.…

PAKISTAN’S paint and coatings sector is understandably suffering from Covid-19, which has hit the country hard with 276,288 cases and 5,892 deaths as of July 28. But the industry has been expanding and its executives hope for a sustained recovery once the pandemic has abated, ending the current series of rolling smart lockdowns targeting infection hotspots.…

The executive director of International Sugar Organisation (ISO) wants his body “to work more with the confectionery sector”, as it strives to debunk junk science that derides the nutritional value of sugar. José Orive told Confectionery Production that ISO wanted to succeed in presenting “scientific evidence-based information” about sugar’s health impact so the reputation of confectionery products is not “blackened with funky fake data”. …

BANGLADESH’S apparel exporters are contemplating diversifying their past tight focus on western markets to include buyers serving southeast Asia as they emerge from the Covid-19 crisis. The move has been prompted by frosty relations with international retailers in Europe and the USA who scrapped or suspended shipments worth USD3 billion following the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.  …

THE INTERNATIONAL trade in tobacco products and inputs contains significant variations in prices that might indicate the presence of trade-based money laundering – of TBML – a specialist database indicates. Certain trade flows are exploited by money launderers seeking to move criminal proceeds from one country to another through artificial pricing – deliberate over- and under- invoicing.…

THE ASIA nonwovens sector has been reaping the benefits of booming demand for protective medical materials during the Covid-19 crisis. But like the pandemic, this roaring demand will end, and nonwovens producers need to ready to a post-Covid-19 market.

This will mean reining in growth, but as David Price, founding partner of US-based management consultancy specialising in nonwovens Price Hanna Consultants, said, with regional nonwovens sales per person still low in global terms, the “market penetration for disposable and durable nonwovens in southeast Asia and China” is likely to grow regardless.…

With spring/summer now a write-off for most retailers, creating excess inventory levels, Richard Hyman, an independent UK-based retail analyst, said that the excess stock flooding the market, and the subsequent discounting and margin erosion, will lead to widespread administrations for clothing brands in the UK, Europe and the US, to varying degrees.…

THE COVID-19 pandemic will not just threaten business failure for many clothing brands and manufacturers, it may herald the end of the current high production, fast fashion model and result in fewer, smaller collections from more sustainable supply chains, experts have told just-style.…

With many brands and manufacturers unable to visit factories due to travel bans and lockdowns during the Covid-19 crisis, experts have told just-style that there are numerous ways they can still proceed with responsible sourcing, using trusted local representatives. Hervé Ostrowski, chief operating officer at Hong Kong-based supply chain compliance solutions provider QIMA, advised that “brands must have reliable boots on the ground…who can still carry out onsite audits when possible.”…

THE BANGLADESH government has taken the unusual step of asking the European Parliament to use its influence to persuade European clothing brands to be more sensitive about the impact of cancelling orders with Bangladesh-based suppliers during the Covid-19 crisis.

In a formal letter to Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee, Bangladesh’s commerce secretary Dr Jafar Uddin complained of the cancellation of billions of dollars of textiles and clothing orders by European high-street retailers and asked lawmaker to help restore readymade garment orders, suspended or cancelled by various European brands and retailers after the coronavirus pandemic.  …

GIVEN the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by banks on fighting money laundering, fears that trade-based money laundering (TBML) remains widespread, as stressed by FATF, the APG (http://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/methodsandtrends/documents/trade-basedmoneylaunderingtypologies.html), and most recently, the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/supranational_risk_assessment_of_the_money_laundering_and_terrorist_financing_risks_affecting_the_union_-_annex.pdf), are of serous concern. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) said that in 2018, global merchandise exports were worth USD19.48 trillion, so there is plenty of place for laundered money to hide.…

Bangladesh has ordered thousands of clothing factories to continue production throughout a 10-day countrywide lockdown in force since Thursday (March 26) aimed at slowing the spread of new coronavirus that causes Covid-19. In a letter to the president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) issued on March 27, the state-run Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) – part of the ministry of labour and employment -.…

THE PERUVIAN government has created a textile and clothing industry roundtable group that has been charged with forging backward linkages delivering a comprehensive domestic supply chain from fibre to fabric, that will reduce costs for the country’s apparel sector. Currently imports significant volumes of yarn and cotton, increasing expenses for the clothing sector.…

DIGITAL textile printers continue to seek for technological ways by which they can leverage the innate advantages their equipment has over conventional printing, and one is exploring the use of nanoparticles in finishing chemicals – delivering innovation that can sharpen the existing competitive advantage in design and sustainability enjoyed by digital printers.…

PAKISTAN’S textile sector is in dire need of additional investment for modernisation and innovation in order to keep pace with its main regional competitors, industry insiders have warned.

They claim investment has been slashed in the past five years and the industry has been hit with high import tariffs on raw materials meaning programmes to upgrade machinery and other innovation projects have only continued at a sluggish rate.…

THE PERUVIAN government has created a textile and clothing industry roundtable group that has been charged with forging backward linkages delivering a comprehensive domestic supply chain from fibre to fabric, that will reduce costs for the country’s apparel sector. Currently imports significant volumes of yarn and cotton, increasing expenses for the clothing sector.…

IN a bid to modernise Cambodia’s textile and garment sectors through digitalisation, the industry is introducing innovative new software next month (February) that will help improve efficiency by improving fabric handling and cutting down repeat clothing defects by almost half – in addition to making overall gains on factory productivity.…

Indian clothing and textile manufacturers have welcomed a series of policy changes announced in the central government’s national budget that was released on Saturday (February 1). Reforms highlighted by industry representatives include abolition of anti-dumping duty on key polyester raw material PTA (purified terephthalic acid), cheaper loans to small manufacturing units and exporters, a USD200 million investment into developing India’s technical textile industry and a review of principles underpinning future negotiations on free trade agreements (FTA), responding mainly to concerns about cheap imports from Bangladesh.…

PAKISTAN’s clothing and textile sector hopes that 2020 will be a big year for Chinese investment – as Chinese companies look to move production to outsourcing centres, such as Pakistan, that have lower labour costs than China, but nonetheless a skilled workforce, and government incentives through reduced taxes and duties.…

Indian apparel exporters fear losing business, maybe forcing some to close units, over the Failure of the government to pay promised tax benefits since March (2019), which according to the Apparel Export Promotion Council of India (AEPC), now amount to more than USD 710 million.…

Clothing and textile executives attending a New York conference have been told they need to take special care on assessing their supply chains, to ensure they are not tainted with human rights abuses, because not only may the reputational risks be severe – criminal liability may follow.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) knitwear sector will be pushed to improve its sustainability within 100 days of a new European Commission taking office, expected to happen on December 1. That is the deadline that a new Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans must meet to propose a ‘green deal’ package of reforms, that will include new commitments for EU industries to reduce waste and pollution.…

African garment and textile manufacturers are trying to create more synergy to better integrate the supply chain within the continent, but North African producers still dominate, and are expanding capacity, particularly in Egypt, say participants at a major regional industry meeting.…

With an improving law and order situation, business-friendly policies from its elected government, and incoming Chinese investment under the Beijing-backed CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) programme, Pakistan is becoming an increasingly attractive location for foreign direct investment, especially in the textile and clothing sector, an international conference has been told.…

AN INCREASING reliance on using nanotechnology is giving Malaysian textile manufacturers a competitive edge over rival producers in south east Asia, experts claim.

According to Seow Hon Cheong, president of the Malaysian Textile Manufacturers Association, since the US–China trade war began, opportunities for exports by and investments in the Malaysian textile sector have opened.…

THE GERMAN government has signalled that it could encourage its luxury carmakers to establish plants in Bangladesh, especially if the south Asian country invests in its energy, power and transport infrastructure.

“We agreed it would be great if a German carmaker would invest in Bangladesh,” Peter Fahrenholtz, German ambassador to Bangladesh tweeted, after a meeting with Bangladeshi finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the capital Dhaka on September 9 (2019).…

SALES of Indian apparel exports continue to be sluggish even after registering a 11% growth in July compared to June this year, after three months of continuous decline. According to a monthly newsletter issued by the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India on October 5, India exported USD1.36 billion’s worth of apparel in July, which was also 7% more than July 2018.…

OUTSOURCING centres in Asia for the international textile sector are increasingly adopting digital technologies to improve the efficiency of their weaving, as they compete for business from clothing manufacturers and brands.

Bangladesh weavers are becoming increasingly tech-savvy to improve efficiency while driving down costs.…

THE TRADE in knitwear between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur bloc of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay is likely to intensify under a new trade deal between the two regional groupings.

The agreement, which now needs ratification, will phase out all EU duties charged on industrial goods (including knitted clothing and inputs) over 10 years.…

Jordanian garment manufacturers and supporting institutions like the International Labour Organization’s Better Work Jordan, plan to introduce garment design training to add value to a sector that is primarily ‘cut and sew’.

Jordan exported USD1.8 billion’s worth of garments last year, just over half to the USA, at USD1.02 billion, but designs are primarily provided by buyers and retailers, with minimal design in-country.…

COSMETICS companies serving the south Asia market may grumble that they are facing challenges, but the reality is the region’s emerging markets offer growth rates that can only be dreamt of in richer countries.

India’s beauty and personal care product market is a case in point.…

PAKISTAN textile mill owners have decided to import cotton from alternative destinations to India following the government’s announcement of the suspension of trade ties with their neighbour because of the dispute over Kashmir.

On August 5, the Indian government said it was revoking the special status of Jammu & Kashmir state, turning it into a union territory, under control of the central government – Pakistan claims sovereignty over Kashmir and it has been a bone of contention between India, Pakistan and China since 1947.…

CONTINUOUS dyeing technology is being refined and improved and offering finishers worldwide the chance to improve their output efficiency, while reducing chemical, water and energy usage. However, emerging markets finishers can struggle to find the investment costs required to install this top-line cutting edge dyeing machinery.…

Months after taking the reins as president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Dr Rubana Huq is determined to fulfill her key goal of ensuring the industry effectively monitors its own environmental and health standards.

It is an important job given how the country’s clothing and textile sector has worked to improve a safety reputation battered by the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster.…

INDONESIAN clothing and textile industry experts and the government say there is continued need to boost investment in creating efficient upstream supplies to enable the country to profit sustainably from growing demand for clothing export sales.

Textile and garment production grew 19% in the first quarter of this year (year-on-year) – but that was largely thanks to a strong performance from the clothing sector.…

EVERY manufacturing and agricultural industry has an impact on climate change – and the tobacco sector is no different. Faced with long-standing criticism of the health impact of its products, the tobacco industry is now facing attacks that its work generates carbon emissions and hence climate change.…

Tunisia is underpinned its sustained growth as a denim supplier through promoting its quality specialist production that employs sustainable environmental and social practices.

Since its 2011 revolution that launched the ‘Arab Spring’, exports of denim jeans from Tunisia have doubled. According to the Tunisian exports and promotions agency CEPEX the value of jeans exported from Tunisia have risen from Tunisian dinars TND586.40 million (USD202 million) in 2010 to TND1.32 billion (USD455 million) in 2018.…

JAPAN clothing brands have protected themselves in advance against exposure from the US-China trade war by decreasing their reliance on China-based manufacturing outposts in recent years. This sourcing diversification has occurred initially because of rising costs in China.

According to the Japan Apparel Fashion Industry Council (JAFIC), this movement away from Japan means the impact on Japanese textile and apparel companies from US tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China-made exports would be “slight”.…

India’s new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government, that took office on May 30 following its April and May election victory, is planning to increase the country’s minimum wage rates, which could damage the current cost advantages enjoyed of Indian apparel exporters, warned an industry body.…

BANGLADESH’S major textile and clothing manufacturers are pumping millions of dollars into digital printing, encouraged by the lure of better margins, cost savings and shorter lead times, industry watchers say.

With conventional textile printing losing its prominence, the country’s top textile producers have spent around USD30 million buying European and Asian digital printing machinery in the past three to four years, industry experts have told Digital Textile.…

THE INDIAN clothing and textile industry thinks it is better able to score export orders internationally since March when the central government announced new tax benefits for the country’s garment exporters. Rahul Mehta, president of Clothing Manufacturing Association of India, told just-style, that the combined reduction in costs delivered by a refund of the central and state taxes, new benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), and renewed 2% duty drawbacks, is 9% to 10%, and that “makes us more competitive”.…

PAKISTAN’s apparel and garment exporters have called on the country’s new government to simplify what it regards as overly complex trading red-tape impeding the import of key inputs, vital for diversifying export-oriented production.

“To increase our exports, we will have to enhance our product lines and relax the existing import policy for import of raw materials,” Muhammad Ijaz Khokhar, coordinator of the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) told just-style.…

WITH decent working conditions eluding Bangladesh’s booming leather industry, an advocacy group has suggested forming a tripartite body involving the government, manufacturers and unions to help improve the sector’s health and environmental safety standards. Modelled after the efforts that have been made in the country’s textile and fabric-based garment industry, such a tri-party consultation committee would discuss the development of a leather sector whose safety and environmental records remain patchy, except for export-oriented units.…

CHINA continues to be the largest source of clothing and accessories detected as being unsafe for consumers in the European Union (EU), according to data analysed by just-style from the EU Safety Gate database.

Formerly the EU Rapid Alert System (RAPEX), the database shows that of the 221 safety warnings issued by the system about apparel and accessory products in 2018, 102 of these lines were supplied from China.…

IN a country where tax collection remains weak, Bangladesh accounting experts now hope that a 2012 transfer pricing (TP) law is finally starting to increase revenues, although progress is slow. Demonstrating the difficulties involved in rolling out complex tax legislation in emerging market states that targets powerful multinationals, the country’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) says that it collected just USD1.2 million’s worth more taxes from 10 multinationals (which it would not name) in the financial year to last June (2018) than without taking TP into account.…

THE CHIEF of an incoming regulator charged with ensuring quality financial reporting and corporate governance in Bangladesh’s major companies is looking forward to the challenge.

CQK Mustaq Ahmed is chairman of the three-year-old Financial Reporting Council (FRC), an agency still being built and should start effective operations by September 30.…

PAKISTAN’S textile manufacturers and exporters appear divided over the possible negative impact on the country’s textile sector arising from prevailing tensions on the Indian border.

According to exporters, concern cause by air strikes by India in Balakot – in Pakistan’s Khayber Pakhtunkhwa province – on February 26 – will affect export volumes as some foreign buyers may have diverted new orders to other countries like Bangladesh and China.…

THE PASSING of the USD5 billion annual clothing export milestone by Sri Lanka is especially significant, says its industry association, because it has been achieved while maintaining an “ethical and reliable brand”.

The country’s total clothing exports reached USD5.05 billion last year (2018 calendar year), posting an annual gain of 4.97% year-on-year, Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka (JAAFSL) secretary general, Tuly Cooray told just-style.…

THE RANA Plaza tragedy pushed Bangladesh’s USD30-billion clothing industry into making health and safety improvements to reassure brands they would not be tarnished by similar disasters. But now, the industry is going a step further, and seeking to establish a reputation for environmental excellence.…

Egypt is moving ahead with its Vision 2025 strategy to quadruple garment and textile exports, employ a further 1 million people, and attract USD17.5 billion in investment, but the double-digit growth needed to achieve the goals have yet to be reached.…

INDONESIA is seeking to be among the world’s top five textile and apparel producers by 2030, partly by taking advantage of digital technology, a government official has announced.

The adoption of industrial revolution 4.0 technologies will make Indonesia’s textile industry more efficient and competitive globally, said Muhdori, director for textile, leather, footwear and multifarious industries at the industry ministry.…

THE BANGLADESH government has started probing an aborted hijack attempt of its national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ Dubai-bound flight that had taken off from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Sunday (February 24, 2019).

The suspected hijacker, whose identity was confirmed Monday as Mohammed Polash Ahmed, of Narayanganj, near Dhaka, and police who said had previously been arrested for kidnapping, was shot dead in a commando operation at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong, the Bangladesh army said in a statement.…

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) Disputes Settlement Body (DSB) has approved establishing disputes settlement panels ruling on whether retaliatory duties imposed by the European Union (EU), on US knitwear exports, imposed in response to America’s controversial steel and aluminium tariffs, break WTO rules.…

JORDAN garment exporters maybe growing their export sales, but high costs and declining local purchases could weaken their ability to take advantage of robust growth in overseas demand, industry experts have told just-style.

Jordan’s garments exports are expected to have generated receipts of USD1.8 billion in 2018, and their value is expected to grow by at least 8% in 2019, a source at the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation told the Jordan Times newspaper this week.…

A FREE trade zone system in Egypt, linking its businesses with Israeli suppliers, is being targeted by Chinese companies wanting to access the USA, as the Trump trade war risks exports to America through standard channels. The resulting investment has been welcomed in Egypt, but some clothing and textile industry commentators are warning that large Chinese firms could muscle out local players unless Egyptian businesses are given time to mature.…

WITH the Asia-Pacific coatings market and industry being one of the most dynamic worldwide, experiencing continuous robust growth, the potential for additives to give brands an edge in seizing market share is increasingly important.

Backed by buoyant construction, automotive and marine industries across the Asia Pacific, the region’s paint and coatings additives market is showing promising growth, analysts say.…

CHINESE exports of knitted fabrics have been hit by major USA duties in the latest round of tit-for-tat tariffs imposed in the countries’ ongoing trade war. China exported USD470 million’s worth of knitted and crocheted fabrics to the USA in 2017, according to international trade data.…

THE ONGOING trade dispute between the USA and China could accelerate an existing trend of American apparel brands shifting their sourcing away from Chinese suppliers. Indeed, US fashion industry representatives were warned at a conference earlier this week that they need to prepare to establish new trading relationships in case Sino-American trading gets tougher still.…

BANGLADESH’S unions have yet to be satisfied by an increase in the country’s minimum wage, which was published in a government gazette on October 8, hiking minimum wages for entry-level knitwear workers by 51% to USD95-a-month from December, up from the USD63 set in 2013.…

AFRICAN garment and textile manufacturers have a long way to go to increase capacity, develop the supply chain and diversify overall production away from North Africa, an industry conference staged in Cairo has been told. But while north Africa accounts for more than USD10 billion out the continent’s USD13.54 billion in clothing and textile exports (during 2016, according to international trade data), the much discussed potential of Africa as the world’s next sourcing hub is starting to materialise.…

AFRICAN garment and textile manufacturers have a long way to go to increase capacity, develop the supply chain and diversify overall production away from North Africa, an industry conference staged in Cairo has been told. But while north Africa accounts for more than USD10 billion out the continent’s USD13.54 billion in clothing and textile exports (during 2016, according to international trade data), the much discussed potential of Africa as the world’s next sourcing hub is starting to materialise.…

DIGITAL production technologies could help African manufacturers pick up business lost by Chinese rivals because of the trade war in the USA, with brands looking to take advantage of the free trade agreements that many African countries have with the USA and Europe.…

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) have endorsed a project named ‘Greening Vietnam’s textile sector through improving water management and energy sustainability’ with the declared aim of transforming the Vietnamese textile industry into a more environmentally friendly and sustainable one.…

IN its trade war against China, the Trump administration in the USA has added tariffs on a wide range of upstream textile inputs and fashion-related consumer products, raising the spectre of fraudulent rerouting of Chinese textile-garment products through neighbouring regions, notably south-east Asia.…

THE CHINESE government has directly targeted the American knitwear sector in the latest tit-for-tat response in the trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump. Beijing has highlighted knitted goods in a list of products that maybe subject to retaliatory tariffs, should the USA impose a threatened third list of duties on Chinese tech, drafted over alleged thefts of American IP.…

WHILE Vietnamese government officials define the local textile and garment industry as among the economic sectors projected to have one of the highest growth rates in the country over the next 12 years, industry observers stress that more needs to be done to ensure this happens.…

PAKISTAN’s textile sector is gearing up to shift to solar and other renewable energy to combat the effects of escalating power costs which have rendered their businesses uncompetitive in the region.

Reon Energy, which is part of Dawood Hercules Group, based in Karachi, has recently completed the installation of a one megawatt solar project at Kohinoor Textile Mills Limited (KTML), in the Punjab province.…

THE INDIAN government has been sending out conflicting signals about its trading policy for its important knitwear sector. While it last month (July 18) announced it was increasing import duties for some key knitted apparel and knitwear inputs, talks are moving ahead to forge a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with 16 Asian counties.…

Signs of an accelerating relocation of garment investment from China to the Philippines are emerging, amidst the US imposing an additional 10% duty on textile and some clothing products from China. The Chinese government retaliation of an additional 25% duty on US cotton imports making raw material sourcing for China-based manufacturers more expensive has also raised the cost of doing business in China.…

India’s newly renamed Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishor Manikya Bahadur Airport, in Tripura state, which has its boundary wall running along a heavily defended Bangladesh border, is getting extra security and a new terminal building.

“As it is a hyper sensitive airport, its sanctioned strength of security force will soon be increased from 224 to 330,” Shekhar Dev Burman, director of the airport told Jane’s.…

China seems to have given the world nuclear industry back its mojo this summer with two big moves: the signing in June of an order for four Gen 3+ VVER-1200 reactors from Russia’s Rosatom. This certainly got the bubbly flowing at the World Nuclear Exhibition, in Paris, in late June, following two years of sluggish investment in this globalised industry.…

ENDING UP an entrepreneur was perhaps Arif Al Islam’s “Plan B”, but the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)-qualified financial professional has more than proved his business smarts.

“I had to build the company from a scratch,” says Mr Islam, who is now managing director and chief executive officer of Dhaka-based fibre optics major Summit Communications Ltd.…

THE ASIA-PACIFIC (APAC) region’s oil and gas sector faces an unprecedented level of decommissioning for which it is under-prepared and lacks experience, analysts have warned. Unclear regional government regulations coupled with a lack of local expertise mean that companies and regulators face a steep learning curve, high initial costs and the potential for mistakes, according to the consultancy group Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis.…

CHINA’S plans to become a significant exporter of nuclear power technology to the USA may have been targeted by new tariffs announced in June by the USA, but the Chinese nuclear sector anticipated the move and is pushing ahead with its plans to create a comprehensive supply chain.…

BANGLADESH’S garment owners and trade unions are far apart in the fraught ongoing minimum wage negotiations, proposing pay floors that are widely divergent.

The country’s clothing manufacturers have offered Bangladesh Taka BDT6,360 (USD76) as a minimum monthly wage for entry-level workers in their industry, up from the USD63 set in 2013.…

The digital integration of Bangladesh’s booming textiles and garment sector is gaining pace, with ‘Industry 4.0’ becoming a watchword for becoming more competitive. One company that has been taking such technological development very seriously is the Dhaka-based DBL Group, which has targeted digital efficiencies to turbocharge its business growth. …

FIRST coined in Germany in 2010, Industry 4.0 – the term for automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies – has been adopted by many countries as an industrial goal. And, with innovation in cyber physical systems, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and cognitive computing continuing at a rapid pace, the potential of this fourth industrial revolution is capturing the imagination of Japan’s academia, commerce and government.…

THE NEWLY signed 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could help Vietnam boost garment and textile exports to the lucrative Australian market significantly. But the Asian clothing makers may still face big challenges in taking market share in this mature market away from China, experts warn. …

PAKISTAN’S textile industry associations have urged their government to provide “an enabling environment” and relax import duties on raw materials to encourage exporters and boost value-addition for the country’s struggling textile industry.

Reacting to Sindh province governor Mohammad Zubair’s remarks in which he highlighted the importance of the industry adding value to its products to boost textile exports, association leaders say his comments are unfounded as manufacturers are doing their best but battling high production costs, against which they have campaigned long and hard.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has moved ahead with its plans to impose temporary safeguard duties on imports into the EU of USA-made knitwear, as a reaction to the levying of American import duties on aluminium and steel imports.

The EU executive, the European Commission, has published a regulation that should see some of the duties in force by July, after they have been approved by the EU trade barriers committee.…

THE BANGLADESH government could shut down more than 750 apparel factories if the units fail to complete safety improvement work by December (2018), the country’s junior labour and employment minister Mujibul Haque made the announcement.

“The factories that will not complete the work by December will be closed down in January,” he said in a statement issued by Bangladesh’s ministry of labour and employment.…

THE ALLIANCE on Bangladesh Worker Safety has also received a renewed mandate to carry on its health and safety work. The Alliance’s responsibilities will now be extended to December this year (2018), said Jim Moriarty, executive director at the Alliance, whose authorisation was supposed to end on July 10, (2018), but will now be extended.…

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh has been given a three-year extension to its mandate by the Bangladesh government – from June 1 – after a court order preventing this was lifted.

The Bangladesh High Court removed a restraining order on March 31, just one day before the Accord’s authorisation to work in Bangladesh would have expired.…

THE AMERICAN confectionery sector is facing tough tariffs in its key export market of Canada after the US government decided to impose punitive duties on Canadian exports of steel and aluminium.

Ottawa announced its own retaliatory duties, which it intends to impose from July 1, having consulted on a shortlist of products, including potential 10% duties on US-made maple sugar and syrup, liquorice, toffee, chocolate, sugar confectionery, strawberry jam, nut purées and pastes.…

The Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam, a religious duty every Muslim should perform once in their lifetime. But with 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide and the Hajj only occurring over five days every year, the event is a logistical challenge for the Saudi Arabian government, tour operators, hospitality service providers, retailers and accountants.…

PAKISTAN’S textile industrialists are downbeat over the diminishing prospects of investment by Chinese financiers and manufacturers, holding the government responsible for the apparent stalemate with its continued prohibitive production costs.

Speaking to WTiN.com, Pakistan textile industry insiders believe that sensing the high cost of doing business compared with rival manufacturing countries in south Asia, Chinese investors are losing interest in the Pakistani sector.…

AS China’s retreat from mass market clothing production continues, Bangladesh knitters are eyeing another added value knitwear niche – sportswear. Following the industry’s success in boosting sales within the profitable lingerie segment, Bangladesh manufacturers are ramping up production in sports apparels, although some experts say that work is needed on boosting its supply chain, particularly of manmade fibres.…

THE RIGHT of the Europe-based Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to continue working in Bangladesh has been thrown into renewed uncertainty after the country’s high court extended an injunction preventing the government from extending its operations.

This May 16 ruling prevents the government from implementing a plan to extend the Accord’s mandate for six more months after its original five-year term expires on May 31.…

BANGLADESH has eased regulations for forming trade unions at garment factories in what appears to be a bid to appease the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The government has decided to slash the requirement for workers’ consent to form trade unions from the previous 30% of a company’s workforce, to 20%.…

Enhancing the quality of passenger experience while maintaining maximum security was a recurring theme during the Dubai Airport Show 2018. The annual airport industry event, held from May 7 to 9, drew more than 7,500 visitors.

Covering 15,000 square metres of space across three halls of the iconic Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, its 18^th edition hosted more than 350 exhibitors from 60 countries.…

A GROWING wave of sophisticated digital technologies and automation is helping the US apparel sector to produce custom-made, locally-manufactured, on-demand clothing, at a scale that some critics thought was never possible.

Atlanta US-based machine vision and Artificial Intelligence start-up SoftWear Automation Inc, which launched autonomous sewing worklines in 2012 after seven years of research – says it has successfully overcome this challenge.…

EXPERTS have expressed mixed reactions on how a proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), now years in the making, could help revive the garment and textile sector in South East Asia.

The 16-member bloc that includes the 10 ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and six other countries – Australia New Zealand, China, India, Japan and South Korea – have been negotiating the deal since November 2012.…

THE INTERNATIONAL knitwear sector has found itself at the centre of the ongoing turmoil in global trade relations, with major jurisdictions considering imposing tariffs on knitted products, inputs and related machinery.

One concern focuses on how the USA has proposed imposing 25% duties on a wide-range of China-made manufactured goods over alleged thefts of American intellectual property by Chinese industrialists.…

FIVE years after the Rana Plaza disaster, Bangladesh’s apparel industry has undergone expensive structural transformation, but a fair price for garment producers remains elusive, industry-insiders and trade unionists say.
The Dhaka-based Envoy Group, which spent between USD2 million and USD2.5 million on a health and safety makeover following the tragedy accepts it was “a turning point in taking the industry to the next level”, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, Envoy’s managing director.…

The uncertainty of potential tariffs affecting the clothing and textile sector — and a Trump administration that appears poised to levy more of them — loomed large over a meeting held by the American Apparel & Footwear Association, in Washington DC, on April 25.…

Turkey’s textile exports appear to be moving ahead, with strong growth indicated in 2018, up 10.5% overall in March (2018) year-on-year, according to data from the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM). Exports of textiles and raw materials rose 13.8% year-on-year at the end of March 2018, to USD9.03 billion.…

THE FUTURE of Indonesia’s textile and garment industry could be bright, but it companies must deal with the challenges of high energy costs and competition from regional neighbours to succeed, said Ade Sudrajat the chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API – Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia).…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has warned that is prepared to impose temporary safeguard duties on imports into the EU of USA-made knitwear, as it launched its reaction to the establishment of American import duties on aluminium and steel imports. EU trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström told the European Parliament on March 22 that the preparations would continue despite the US exempting the EU from its metal duties until May 1, to allow discussions to continue.…

India’s new Goods and Services Tax (GST) system has severely disrupted tax refund payments and duty drawbacks to exporters, leading to higher production costs and a 30% dip in knitwear exports, experts have warned.

Since its adoption in July 2017, the new value added tax system has been criticised for its complexity – with the knitwear sector having to deal with four separate tax brackets – and forcing small business to invest in online accounting infrastructure that they cannot afford and are ill equipped to manage.…

REPRESENTATIVES of the USA fashion and apparel industries, along with most of the country’s business community and Congressional leadership, are voicing concern about President Donald Trump’s March 1 announcement that he intends to impose additional tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminium.…

PAKISTAN’S government is considering a fresh package of incentives for the country’s exporters, including the key textile and clothing sector, which is particularly interested in the fact officials are examining reducing energy bills. Industry insiders have long argued high energy costs in Pakistan are one of the key factors for increasing production expenses, reducing competitivity and hence overseas sales.…

IF there is a quality that gives many Israeli companies an edge internationally, it is innovation. And this trait can certainly be said to run through the work of Israeli apparel major Delta Galil, based in Caesarea, northern Israel.

“We could not succeed if we were not innovative” said Isaac Dabah, the company’s CEO of Delta Galil, in an exclusive interview with just-style, held at his office.…

With China losing its sheen as a low-cost manufacturing heartland, Bangladesh’s clothing exporters are tapping into this opportunity by diversifying into another new higher margin segment — suits.

Senior executives and analysts told just-style how potential larger profits are drawing in major manufacturers, who are now confronting the challenges of building technical knowhow, recruiting skilled labour and attracting global buyers available. …

CLOTHING and textile companies are grappling with new good practice guidance in supply chain management that was released by the Organisation for Economic Development & Cooperation (OECD) last May (2017). An OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector was staged in Paris last month (January 30-31), attended by governments, businesses, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working within or having an impact on the apparel sector.…

BANGLADESH’S trade unions have pushed for what they call “rational” minimum wages for workers of the USD28 billion garment industry, demanding a major hike in rates.

In a crowded press conference on Sunday, at the headquarters of the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity media organisation, in the country’s capital, the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) proposed hiking wages of an entry-level apparel worker to Bangladesh Taka BDT16,000 (USD192) a month from the current

BDT5,300 (USD64), set in 2013 after the Rana Plaza collapse.…

Vietnamese textile and garment industry officials have capped a bumper 2017 with forecasts for further robust export growth this year if it can overcome challenges from neighbouring country textile sectors by investing in skills, equipment and automation. 

Le Tien Truong, general director of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex), predicting a year-on-year increase of 10% in export value, to USD34 billion, from 10.23% annual growth in 2017 when exports totalled USD31 billion.…

PAKISTAN’S textile exporters have urged their government to speed up and

enhance a tax incentives package if they are to kick

start the country’s ailing textile sector.

The government has rolled out a series of incentives over the past year, including the abolition of a 4% customs duty and 5% sales tax imposed on import of raw cotton announced on January 5 (in force on January 8), meeting a long-standing demand of the textile sector. …

INDONESIA’S textile and garment exports rebounded strongly in 2017, rising about 5% to USD12.4 billion after four years of stagnation, the head of the country’s textile industry association has revealed.

Factory relocation, political stability and less labour unrest contributed to the growth, said the chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API – Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia), Ade Sudrajat.…

It is no secret that sources of illegal proceeds of crime are manifold in the Philippines – witness President Rodrigo Duterte’s notorious campaign of state-sponsored killings, aimed at what he has claimed is an active industry of selling and trafficking illegal narcotics.…

WITH full supply chains and innovative products, Thailand’s knitwear industry is thriving, making the country a nucleus for fashion manufacturing in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Thai Garment Manufacturers Association (TGMA) executive director Chartchai Singhadeja said: “Thailand’s strength lies in our full-value supply chains, starting from fibres to yarns and fabrics, then apparel and clothing within the fashion industry.”…

BANGLADESH labour rights groups have started demanding increased pay after the government set up a wage board this month (January 14) to recommend fresh wages for the country’s four million apparel workers.

In a recent meeting with the trade group Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA), the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) along with 16 local labour federations pushed for a minimum monthly wage of USD200, far in excess of the current minimum rate of USD67 fixed in 2013, after the Rana Plaza collapse.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) financial watchdog, the Court of Auditors, has highlighted concerns about how Chinese knitwear exporters maybe exploiting loopholes in EU customs and VAT controls to evade paying proper amounts of these taxes.

In a report on shortcomings in EU import procedures, the court noted how Chinese traders were abusing EU customs procedure CP42, which allows an importer to bring goods into one EU member state without paying VAT, because they will be sold in another EU country.…

LURED by a shifting global market and better margins, Bangladesh’s apparel producers are rushing into the lingerie space, predicting Chinese manufacturers will secure fewer export orders for these lines as their costs rise.

This new niche opportunity for the Bangladesh industry is fortuitous, as it dovetails with the country’s textiles and clothing makers’ core strategy of moving from their traditional low-cost growth pillars, such as t-shirts, shirts, trousers, jackets and sweaters.…

High on the agenda of Dr Oetker India managing director and chief executive officer Oliver Mirza is making India a major production hub, not just for manufacturing packaged foods scoring sales in India’s growing markets, but also for exports.

In a wide-ranging interview with just-food on the sidelines of the India Food Forum, staged in Mumbai last month (January 17-19), Mirza said that by 2020, Dr Oetker India was targeting sales of Indian Rupees INR10 billion (USD155 million) of which its sub-brand FunFoods will account for INR5 billion (USD 77.50 million).…

BANGLADESH textiles and apparels major the DBL Group is pressing ahead with a plan to build a dedicated industrial zone in Moulavibazar, within the north-east of the country, sinking as much as USD1.2 billion into the project by 2021.

This DBL Economic Zone, spanning more than 170 acres of land, will house 19 factories, mostly making textiles and clothing, the company has confirmed.…

BANGLADESH’S apparel makers have been facing one of the country’s worst bouts of gas shortages, which has disrupted production in 350 units in Dhaka and its vicinity, with no immediate let-up in sight.

With gas power plants supplying 70% of Bangladesh’s electricity, power cuts have halted production.…

Africa governments are waking up to the fact that the continent could be a ‘new frontier’ for clothing manufacturing sourcing, export associations and manufacturers at Destination Africa, a trade event in Cairo, Egypt, have told just-style.

They stressed that Africa has significant opportunities to divert manufacturing from Asia due to rising production costs, especially in China, and take advantage of the proximity to European markets.…

African clothing exporting countries are banking on rising costs in China and changing consumption patterns worldwide to attract buyers to the continent to take advantage of lower production costs.

Major hurdles abound, but manufacturers are hopeful that clothing facilities built from scratch that abide by international best practices will help the continent’s apparel sector develop.…

THE EGYPT government and leather industry is planning to boost the country’s leather exports by 80%, to USD1 billion by 2020, through modernising the sector and developing dedicated manufacturing hubs. The Egyptian leather sector took a major hit in terms of lost sales and output during the political and economic instability following the 2011 revolution, and there has been no major investment for the past 15 years to upgrade facilities and improve output.…

EGYPT is trying to develop its upstream textile capabilities to bolster exports and be part of an integrated African continent-wide supply chain, linking its cut-and-sew and quality cotton fibre base. While Egypt exported USD764 million worth of fabric and yarn in 2016 according to the country’s Textile Export Council (TEC), challenges abound regarding Egypt’s efforts to generate more value-added textiles.…

THE MAURITIUS textile and clothing industry is facing tough times, with exports falling amidst unfavourable currency shifts. Clothing and textile exports by value to all destinations fell by 9% in 2016, according to the Mauritius Export Association (MEXA), which has noted such sales declines have been happening for the last five years in key export markets.…

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has warned of the major impact on British and other European Union (EU) knitwear companies, especially brands with integrated upstream fabric and finishing units, should the UK quit the EU as planned, on March 29, 2019.…

MYANMAR has made impressive progress towards building a system meeting international standards to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. But huge swathes of the economy still lie outside regulatory control, and rapid modernisation presents the authorities with fresh challenges.

The country’s ethnic and political fragmentation, with 14 states and regions with extensive powers, and its location in the opium-producing ‘Golden Triangle’ region, including Thailand and Laos, make it particularly vulnerable to the illicit drug trade and its associated dirty money flows.…

IT is no surprise that Singapore has a significant exposure to money laundering and terrorist finance. It is one of the world’s largest financial centres, a major free-trade hub and has neighbours where corruption and Islamic extremist insurgent groups remain are real threats.…

AFTER introducing digital printing and leading Bangladesh’s knitwear sector by example, the country’s knitting major, the Knit Concern Group, has said it will ramp up its capacity to digitally print 1 million metres of fabric monthly by 2022. Presently, the knitter, based in Narayanganj, near Dhaka, can digitally print 260,000 metres of fabric a month.…

THE PAINT and coatings industry in south Asia maybe thriving, but regional trade between countries is not – being restricted to exports of pigments, resins, solvents and additives from India to its neighbouring countries. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan, as well as regional giant India, are all members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), but they import most of their paint and coating raw materials.…

TURKISH textile and clothing businesses hope to see increased commerce with Bangladesh buyers as the two Asian countries forge ahead with striking a free trade agreement (FTA). “We concluded an FTA with Karachi [Pakistan]. We are going to find the midpoint with Bangladesh also,” said Başaran Bayrak, a council member of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, an autonomous government body working under Turkey’s ministry of economy, that acts as a bridge between the government and the private sector.…

THE PAKISTAN textile industry is worried that a potential trade free trade deal with Thailand, now under discussion, may cause more harm than good to Pakistani manufacturers. Thai and Pakistan government negotiators are preparing for what maybe the final round of talks to forge a free trade agreement (FTA) between these two textile producing countries, with a deal potentially being signed in January.…

TEXTILE mill owners in Pakistan have expressed doubts over their government’s apparent enthusiasm to develop joint ventures (JVs) with their Chinese counterparts to boost dwindling export levels.

Pakistan’s textile minister, Pervaiz Malik, said at the 18th Textile Asia International Exhibition in Lahore recently that his government wants JVs with the Chinese textile sector and for his country to become a textile business hub for the Middle East, central and south Asia.…

VIETNAM’S textile and clothing and textile sector is looking to sell more product into Asian markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, while solidifying its traditional export bases like the US and EU, the latest trade data indicates. 

Last year, Vietnam exported USD2.28 billion’s worth of clothing and textiles to South Korea – a 7.45% gain compared with 2015, according to Vietnam customs data analysed by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). …

WHILE there is little doubt that the Asian fire resistant coating market is large – indeed New Jersey-based chemical consultancy Growney Kusumgar, Nerfli & Growny has argued that it is several times larger than that of the USA’s USD100 million-market – marketers can struggle to make sales. …

THE UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) may hold an enviable portion of the world’s oil and gas reserves, at 4% and 3.5% respectively. But this has not stopped the country diversifying its long-term energy sources through developing nuclear power. With generation imminent, nuclear energy regulators and companies are watching closely how this rare event – a country embarking on a new civilian nuclear programme – rolls out.…

BANGLADESH has ramped up investments in high-tech equipment to bolster security at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), in its capital Dhaka, but sustaining mechanical and procedural improvements remains an ongoing challenge.
The spending has followed a string of bans on cargo flights out of the country’s main gateway over security concerns, with the European Union (EU) becoming the latest to enforce such restrictions on June 1, (2017).…

BANGLADESH’S government is considering proposals to establish a new national workplace health and safety system to replace the international Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which are due to be wound up next June (2018).…

BANGLADESH’S apparel makers have heaved a sigh of relief following a government announcement that it has received new explosives–detecting equipment for Dhaka airport, which the industry hopes will persuade the European Union (EU) to lift a direct flight air cargo ban.    …

BANGLADESH’S apparel makers are pressing ahead with establishing a separate factory inspection and remediation body, which would operate after the 2018 expiry of existing international health and safety initiatives. However, experts have warned that there could be political motivation behind the proposal, questioning its rationale and potential effectiveness.…

THE VIETNAMESE government has said it wants to shift the country’s clothing manufacturing sector from its current low-cost model to an added value sector that includes design and branding.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc is behind the change in direction, releasing a government decision signalling this formal policy change, although details of specific actions are still awaited.…

AS Ethiopia rapidly emerges as a key clothing and textile hub of Africa, the country has been making impressive strides as a knitwear manufacturing and sourcing centre, attracting the attention of global clothing majors.

“International buyers are beginning to buy knitted clothes from Ethiopia including Zara, Tesco, H&M [Hennes & Mauritz] and Decathlon,” said Fassil Tadesse, president of the Ethiopian Textile and Garment Manufacturing Association (ETGAMA).…

AFTER it was discovered in February 2016 that Chinese cybercriminals had used the Philippines banking system and local casinos to launder USD81 million of the USD101 million they had stolen from the Bangladesh central bank (the Bangladesh Bank), Filipino officials vowed to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) controls.…

TURKISH and Pakistani textile executives are divided in their opinion about the likely benefits of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under discussion between Pakistan and Turkey, with Pakistan opinion in favour, but less enthusiasm in Turkey.

Seven rounds of talks between the two sides have taken place and further talks maybe staged in August.…

Amid concerns about a growing shortage of workers in Russia’s textile industry, leading companies are looking to recruit staff from India, China and other emerging market nations.

According to latest data from the Russian ministry of industry and trade, the current vacancy rate across the country’s textile industry is 36%.…

EXECUTIVES within Sri Lanka’s apparel sector predict its exporters can generate an additional USD400 to USD500 million in annual sales because of the country regaining the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade concession with the European Union (EU).

This happened on May 19, (2017), almost seven years since Sri Lanka lost this trade access status (in August 2010) because of human rights violations during the previous government of ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa.…

STEPS are underway to improve airport security in Bangladesh after the European Union (EU) introduced strict checks on airborne cargo originating from Bangladesh. On June 1, the EU added Bangladesh to its list of high-risk countries it considers have inadequate airport security.…

BANGLADESH textiles and apparels major the DBL Group is pressing ahead with a plan to build a dedicated industrial zone in Moulavibazar, within the north-east of the country, sinking as much as USD1.2 billion into the project by 2021.

This DBL Economic Zone, spanning more than 170 acres of land, will house 19 factories, mostly making textiles and clothing, the company has confirmed.…

ORGANISERS of a major three-day India Textile 2017 exhibition in Gujarat have hoped to use the event to encourage product diversification and better supply chain links within the country’s growing textile sector.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oft quoted maxim – ‘from farm to fibre, fibre to fabric, fabric to fashion and fashion to foreign markets’ – was the guiding principle for the event that concluded in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar on July 2.…

PAKISTAN’S textile industry, including manufacturers of fabric, yarn, and garments, suspended production and organised protests nationwide on June 20, dubbing the protest ‘Black Tuesday’, over the government’s slow implementation of a promised USD1.7 billion relief package for the sector.

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) organised the day of action, supported by the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA), All Pakistan Bedsheets And Upholstery Manufacturers Association (APBUMA), the All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA), the All Pakistan Cotton Power Looms Association, the Council of Loom Owners Association and other groups. …

THE INDIAN knitwear industry will have to pay a wide range of rates for the incoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates when the new tax is introduced from July 1 (2017).

This tax is supposed to simplify how businesses pay sales taxes in India, replacing a series of national, state and local charges, but a national GST Council has set a wide range of rates for knitwear products and inputs.…

A sudden shortage of leather in India prompted by government religious policies on reducing cattle-related trades is forcing major fashion brands to look for alternative sourcing destinations. Even Indian fashion goods exporters are having to buy costly imports of raw leather to service existing orders.…

GLOBAL knitwear outsourcing centre Bangladesh is expected to soon ratify the emerging market D-8 PTA preferential trade agreement, newspaper reports in Dhaka say, indicating the government may have loosened demands over rules of origin. Bangladesh has been pushing for its manufacturers to gain privileged access to D-8 markets (Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey, as well as Egypt if it also ultimately ratifies), if 30% of value in a product is created within Bangladesh.…

BANGLADESH’S planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has told an international infrastructure seminar that his government will construct a new airport on the west bank of Padma River, south of the capital Dhaka, with a runway accommodating wide-bodied aircraft such as the Airbus A380.…

BRIDGING the digital divide in a largely conventional and labour- intensive industry such as garment and textile manufacturing is often a challenge. But Malaysia’s G.PRO Technologies – an arm of Apparel Alliance Sdn Bhd – is re-defining shop flow operations in the apparel business with its innovative software and hardware – helping the industry transition towards digitalisation. …

Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has released a new Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG). This revised guidance encourages the development of corporate governance culture, not just within listed companies, but also state-owned enterprises, small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and licensed intermediaries. This code includes 36 practices to support strong board leadership; effective audit, risk management, and internal controls; and solid corporate reporting.…

Turkish textile entrepreneurs have been signalling a willingness to relocate their units to Bangladesh, tapping into the south Asian nation’s geo-economic significance, officials and diplomats say.
Interest was notably shown by Turkish investors in week-long seminars on Trade & Investment Opportunities in Bangladesh’, organised by  the Bangladesh embassy in Ankara, in April and this month (May), in five Turkish cities, including the capital Ankara, key textile production centre Istanbul, Kayseri, Bursa and Kocaeli province.…

Indonesia’s textile sector and government has been actively implementing workplace safety and health policies in its textile and garment factories that follow Garment Factory Construction Guidelines issued by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). These have been promoted since ILO’s Jakarta unit released its Better Work Indonesia (BWI) programme in May 2014 said an official from the Indonesian Textile Association (API – Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia) told WTiN.com.…

GLOBAL knitwear outsourcing centre Bangladesh is expected to soon ratify the emerging market D-8 PTA preferential trade agreement, newspaper reports in Dhaka say, indicating the government may have loosened demands over rules of origin. Bangladesh has been pushing for its manufacturers to gain privileged access to D-8 markets (Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey, as well as Egypt if it also ultimately ratifies), if 30% of value in a product is created within Bangladesh.…

Just a little over four years after the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in April 2013, key participants in the global garment supply chain met in New York City to assess progress in protecting garment worker safety.…

Facing a decline in its natural gas production, Bangladesh is diversifying supplies by building its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal—a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) on southeastern Moheshkhali Island, near Chittagong. The project is being guided by US-based LNG regasification specialist Excelerate Energy, with the facility designed to handle up to 700mcfd (million cubic feet per day) from next year (2018).…

A MALAYSIAN government scheme encouraging foreign investors to buy property in Malaysia may have led to thousands of Bangladeshis breaching their country’s strict capital control restrictions.

A total of 3,493 Bangladeshis has participated in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) long-term residency programme since 2003, according to statistics updated in December (2016) – 10.7% of all investors taking part worldwide.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission should bring forward legislation to enhance due diligence for supply chains in the garment sector, the European Parliament’s development committee said yesterday (March 21). MEPs backed a report by Spanish MEP Lola Sánchez Caldentey from the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group which asked the Commission to propose a European Union (EU) law saying a binding reporting system should generate data linking each product to its respective producers.…

PAKISTAN knitwear manufacturers and exporters say the country’s knitwear industry is passing through difficult times, with export sales becoming tougher to secure through growing input costs and a continued failure of the government to implement a much-vaunted and recently-announced bailout package.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) and Canada’s strong branded knitwear companies may benefit from additional mutual trade after the European Parliament’s approval and resulting signature of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the two jurisdictions.

This long-negotiated and highly contested deal, which could apply from April as far as its key duty and quota liberalisation elements are concerned, will remove nearly 99% of tariffs on all goods traded between the EU and Canada and eliminate tax discrimination.…

INDIA’S fast growing consumer goods company Patanjali Ayurved is launching a major international expansion initiative with plans to export products to China, Bangladesh and some African countries, just-food has been told.

“We presume [that] there is a great potential for our herbal products [in those countries], so we are intensifying our efforts to make it available at large,” a spokesperson from the Uttarakhand-based company told just-food.…

ASIA’S technical textiles sectors continue to grow, fuelled by ready buyers in domestic and overseas markets, but governments can and do help too – keen to promote these sustainable high tech industries.

China is a case in point. Its industry and information technology ministry plus the National Development and Reform Commission in January (2017) jointly issued development guidance for technical textiles as part of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which runs from 2016-20.…

EVERY time apparel industry executive Israfil Alam and his wife buy groceries, one item doesn’t elude them: chocolate for their 13-year-old son Isman Sayer.

“Isman’s favourite is Kit Kat Chunky,” Alam, a Dhaka-based general manager at knitwear maker Magpie Group, told Confectionery Production.…

With the global garment market still growing fast, Bangladesh needs to seize the so-called ‘China-plus’ opportunity while penetrating new markets and diversifying its products, a Dhaka conference has heard.

In a keynote speech Dr Nazneen Ahmed, a senior research fellow at the state-run think-tank Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), argued world apparel sales were USD445 billion in 2015, set to grow USD700 billion by 2021

But uncertainty over Brexit, the new Trump-influenced global trade regime and an India’s textile sector incentive package of Indian rupees INR60 billion (USD900 million) are posing fresh challenges for the Bangladesh industry, speakers stressed.…

THE BANGLADESH government is to formally propose a new Civil Aviation Operation Act 2017 which would include allowing the death penalty to be imposed on plane hijackers. The death sentence, which in Bangladesh is carried out by hanging, was recently added to the draft of the law, which updates the 1960 Civil Aviation Ordinance, dating back to when Bangladesh was East Pakistan.…

KEY MESSAGES

*The nuclear industry has an ageing staff and needs to recruit new professionals as they retire

*Its strong health and retirement benefits packages could help it attract the new staff it needs

*The nuclear industry outside north America has a strong expat component, making it easier for recruit staff from abroad

INTRODUCTION

The nuclear industry sector is facing some significant human resources challenges, but new research carried out by Airswift and Energy Jobline indicates that the nuclear sector can still compete for talent.…

AS Bangladesh aims to double its apparel exports in the next five years, industry executives and experts agree on one thing: value addition is the key and the development of digital printing services is a key strand of this strategy.
As a result, the launch of operations by Indian textile printing manufacturer and distributor DCC (Dhaval Colour Chem) in Dhaka last December was an important step towards creating such an integrated supply chain in Bangladesh.…

EVERY time apparel industry executive Israfil Alam and his wife buy groceries, one item doesn’t elude them: chocolate for their 13-year-old son Isman Sayer.

“Isman’s favourite is Kit Kat Chunky,” Alam, a Dhaka-based general manager at knitwear maker Magpie Group, told Confectionery Production.…

THE US Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has called on the new American administration of President Donald Trump to work hard to negotiate new bilateral trade deals with Asian markets now he has formally pulled his country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.…

CHINA’S textile sector is feeling positive about the Chinese government’s ambitious ‘Made in China 2025’ national strategy, hoping it will guide producers towards sustainable growth.

The policy was unveiled in May 2015 by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. It is designed to move the entire Chinese manufacturing sector away from low value-added activities to medium- and high-end operations in just 10 years’ time.…

2016 – Winners and losers

RETAILERS & BRANDS

WINNERS

US-based sportswear brand Under Armour delivered its 26th consecutive quarter of 20%-plus revenue growth in the third quarter of 2016, with sales increases across all divisions. Net sales were up 22% in the third quarter to USD1.47bn.…

AS BANGLADESH grapples with the problem of childhood stunting, a United Nations expert has called for a boost in animal protein consumption within this south Asian country to tackle the crisis. Stunting is a condition where children grow at slower rates than the average person, being shorter than a typical person of their age.…

AMERICAN fast food chain Burger King has opened its first outlet in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, predicting expansion amidst the country’s fast-growing economy and promising to target local meat procurement. Burger King has tapped Bangladesh-based Tiffin Box Ltd as its national franchisee: “Bangladesh is a growing market.…

Central Bank theft – casino repercussions: the Philippines

The theft in February of $101m from the Bangladesh Bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank New York in an audacious hack of SWIFT codes saw funds flow to casino accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in the Philippines.…

THE BANGLADESH government has launched mobile SMS (short message service) services to educate small farmers about animal diseases and treatment, officials have told GlobaMeatNews.

The state department of livestock services (DLS) has used a seed grant (of USD23,600) from a government innovation fund (part of a Prime Minister’s Office’s Access to Information project – a2i) to start the text messaging operation last month (October).…

THE PHILIPPINES’ textile sector is not a strong competitor to Asian outsourcing centres such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, but the industry has its own strengths to “create new niches for eco textiles”, aided by an abundant supply of natural fibres such as abaca, an industry expert told WTiN.com. …

PAKISTAN’S denim export industry hopes that help for the textile announced by the government in February (exemption from paying sales tax and payment of long overdue tax refunds) and in a meeting with industry leaders in September (a promised reduction in energy costs) will boost this promising segment.…

Indian cotton exports to Pakistan are expected to drop sharply after rising political tensions between the two neighbours over the Kashmir issue and the availability of more competitive cotton from West African countries and United States, WTiN has been told.

“There are concerns of [Indian and Pakistan] putting a stop to each other’s trade,” said Atif Dada, chairman of the Karachi Cotton Association, in Karachi.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) and United States negotiators have made as much progress as they can in their comprehensive trade talks ahead of the November 8 US presidential and congressional elections, with EU officials highlighting textiles, including knitwear, as a key area of agreement.…

Vietnam’s National Salary Council may have increased the country-wide minimum wage by the smallest proportion in a decade of such rises (7.3% for 2017), but the country’s clothing manufacturers are still warning this is a hike too far.

The Vietnam Textile & Apparel Association (VITAS) has opposed the increase.…

Leaders of Pakistan’s ailing clothing and textile industry have told just-style how they are concerned about their sector’s declining exports, calling on the federal government to intervene promptly to reverse this trend.

“Our exports have been continuously falling since 2013 and the government failed to take any remedial measures,” said Muhammad Ijaz Khokhar, Central Chairman of Pakistan Readymade Garments & Exporters Association (PRGMEA).…

BANGLADESH’S apparel makers have invested heavily in improving factory safety since the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster but global buyers are still failing to pay fair prices and following non-transparent purchasing practices, a conference in Dhaka has heard.

Speaking at the Sustainable Sourcing in the Garment Sector (SSGS) conference, held on September 29, in the Bangladesh capital, policymakers, producers, retailers and experts stressed that the race to the bottom should be stopped, as the industry needs to move from paying minimum wages to living wages.…

The demand for processed and packaged food is growing fast among India’s young, often aspirational and fast-expanding population. And this has made Nestlé India target a double digit annual growth in upcoming years. To realise this goal, the company is steadily introducing premium international products into India, such as its impending launch of Alpino chocolates this month (October 2016).…

A KEY women’s business group in Pakistan has voiced concerns about a fall in textile exports from the country, given the industry is not only the largest foreign exchange earning sector of the country, but a key employer of female workers nationwide.…

The Vietnamese textile sector may face challenges thanks to a newly approved national minimum wage, industry insiders say, with specialists suggesting different rates for higher skilled workers in upstream suppliers, but other worrying about a loss of competitiveness in clothing manufacturing.…

Executives within Bangladesh’s poultry industry are claiming that climate change is posing major management and operational problems as temperatures cause heat stress and promote disease among birds, increasing mortality rates.  

Industry insiders say that vector-borne diseases and cases of low-pathogenic avian flu, fowl cholera, Newcastle disease, heat stroke and gumboro (infectious bursal disease) are promoted by higher temperatures in sub-tropical Bangladesh.…

Growing competition across the world for clothing outsourcing contracts, with China not only being challenged in Asia, but by sub-Saharan African and even Russian suppliers, is pushing Asian governments to sharpen their industrial policy to retain market share, a major international conference has heard.…

Sri Lanka’s cosmetic and beauty product manufacturers are becoming increasingly anxious over the lack of sales regulations, promoting significant volumes of lower grade cosmetic imports, putting local manufacturers at risk. 

Until July 2015, there was a specific authority to oversee cosmetic products being imported as well as distributed in the country.…

SOUTH Asia’s growing personal care product sector is of increasing importance to international brands, with growing middle classes among vast populations creating a honeypot market with consumers, many accustomed to English-language marketing.

As the region’s hub and overwhelmingly most populous country, India’s beauty and personal care industry will generate sales worth USD13.3 billion in 2016, growing by 14.2% year-on-year, according to UK-based market research firm Euromonitor International.…

JORDANIAN clothing exporters are unhappy that the European Union (EU) has insisted that their workforces comprise a minimum 15% of Syrian refugees (rising to 25% in three years’ time) to benefit from special access to EU markets through the EU’s generalised scheme of preferences (GSP).…

MAJOR delays are expected at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after an Emirates airline plane crash-landed and burst into flames on a runway at Dubai International Airport just after 12:45pm local time today (August 3). Flight EK521 was arriving from Trivandrum International Airport, Thiruvananthapuram, India.…

Ethiopia’s government is promoting what it says is Africa’s largest eco-industrial park dedicated to textile and garment production. The Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP), boasting state-of-the-art water recycling facilities, has attracted major textile producers from Asia and the US including American clothing giant Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH).…

THE ASIA Pacific region remains the workshop of the world in terms of nonwovens production, and it is not only China’s producers who are growing, local suppliers are feeding growing domestic markets for nonwovens products elsewhere in east and southeast Asia.…

BANGLADESH has secured a strategic financial reserve to build its first nuclear power plant after Russia lent the south Asian country USD11.38 billion to push ahead with the project. But experts have warned Fuel Cycle Week that progress on the project could be “long and winding” and, unsurprisingly, “expensive”.…

The Philippines has been standing accused of passively aiding money launderers and terrorist financers ever since its Anti-Money Laundering Act in 2001 exempted local casinos from the duty of submitting suspicious transaction reports on their operations.. But pressures to revise that decision have been growing markedly since earlier this year Chinese cyber hackers managed to launder USD81 million through banks and casinos in Manila, with only approximately USD6 million of the booty recovered so far.…

India is pushing neighbouring Bangladesh to scrap its recent increase in billet import duties, saying it breaks commitments made under the regional free trade accord, the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The Indian government acted after Bangladesh imposed two types of tariffs on steel billets imported from India in its budget for the 2016-17 financial year, announced in July.…

Bangladesh is mulling controls over foreign investors in the country’s growing poultry industry after local rivals have said they fear being swallowed by overseas companies.  

The country’s state minister for fisheries and livestock Narayon Chandra Chanda said that there was concern that Bangladesh poultry farmers could lose trade if competition was unchecked: “We’re still observing … There should be a guideline,” he told GlobalMeatNews without giving further details.…

THE INDONESIAN knitwear sector stands to boost its access to European Union (EU) markets should new talks to forge an EU-Indonesia trade deal prove successful. Trade is already significant – Indonesian exports to the EU of knitted or crocheted men’s and boys’ shirts generated receipts of USD35.1 million in 2014, for instance; for knitted and crocheted fabrics the figure was USD14.1 million in 2014, according to international trade data.…

The emergence of Brazil as a major economic power and highly promising market of 200 million inhabitants is luring Mauritian textile producers to foray further in Latin America’s largest national market. Indeed, despite Brazil’s ongoing economic recession, Mauritian textile and clothing exports to the country have more than quadrupled since 2012, according to trade promotion body Enterprise Mauritius.…

MOBILE money transactions surged in 2015 across the world – increasing by 31% to reach 411 million mobile money accounts, and this is a critical platform for expanding financial inclusion globally, according to GSMA, a UK-based global mobile industry association, in its February 2016 annual report on the ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’. …

PRICES of beef in Bangladesh increased more than 7% after the Friday’s terror attack on a Dhaka café, causing India to seal its border, throttling cattle supplies to Bangladesh at the time of maximum demand during the end of Ramadan, traders have said.…

Banking security chiefs and their opponents in their opponents in the underworld of cybercrime are fighting a “cold war arms race” with no long-term solution in sight, fraud specialist academics have told Fraud Intelligence.

And if anyone should doubt that this threat is not just profound, but global in scope, witness that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB – Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti) announced last month that it had arrested 50 members of a gang believed to have been responsible for a Russian Roubles RUB1.7 billion (USD 26.6 million) bank cyberhack using the Trojan programme ‘Lurk’ to collect customer data.…

THE INDIAN geosynthetics market will double in next four years even though domestic manufacturers are struggling to build awareness about their products, a major conference has been told. A ‘Second Global Geosynthetics Summit, Enhancing Application in the Infrastructure Sector’, held in New Delhi on May 19-20, was jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the country’s national ministry of textiles.…

Indian garment exporters have widely welcomed a series of financial and labour reforms announced by the government on Wednesday (22 June) designed to make their industry more efficient, although it is being resisted by unions. The cabinet has earmarked additional funding of USD880 million for a duty drawback scheme and to also refund state government levies paid by the garment exporters.…

A SENIOR official at the Istanbul Apparel Exporters’ Association has told WTiN.com that Turkey’s textile sector is increasingly being guaranteed business by the country’s emergence as a fast fashion supply hub, selling to Europe and beyond. Turkish suppliers, as well as well-known retailers such as LC Waikiki, Colin’s, Koton, Collezione and Mavi, are increasingly strong players in the world’s fast fashion markets, boosting their performance in short development cycles, rapid prototyping and small batches.…

Bangladesh’s knitwear manufacturers see sunny prospects ahead, pinning their hopes on the transformation of the factories and equipment within their industry. But infrastructure gaps could undercut their ability to expand, making it difficult for the industry to fully capitalise on opportunities created by China’s rising costs and loss of business.…

Bangladesh’s garment makers have failed to complete a mandatory workers’ electronic database, breaching the June 15 deadline for compliance.

Knitwear factories, the worst performers in this task, will now start installing a biometric database for an estimated 2 million workers in around 2,000 factories from early next month.…

BANGLADESH’S knitwear makers have claimed to just-style that they are on track to establish a workers’ database by a government June 15 deadline, despite delays.

The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association has now refreshed its plan to electronically log an estimated 2 million workers employed at more than 2,000 factories, with details such as their employment history noted.…

Deciding where to source sustainable fibres and finding ethical manufacturers can be an overwhelming challenge for clothing companies entering the sustainable product market for the first time.

Many experts suggest that sourcing closer to home is the key to a sustainable practice, but Jason Kibbey, CEO of the US-based Sustainable Apparel Coalition, stressed that where materials are sourced from and where manufacturing occurs has no determination on sustainability.…

UNCERTAINTY might sound like a rather nebulous concern for international clothing brands considering their sourcing, but it can be a very tough problem that undermines operational efficiency up and downstream. It is an especially large challenge for brands who are venturing out to source apparel from emerging sources such as sub-Saharan Africa or Myanmar among others, Dr Patrick J Conway, department chair of economics at the University of North Carolina, USA, told just-style.…

Birla Spunshades, Aditya Birla’s vibrant, heavy metal-free, coloured spun-dyed viscose fibre, is helping Indian spinner score new orders linked to major international buyers. Fabric made out of Spunshades is being supplied to clients such as British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), to name two big names.…

KNITWEAR manufacturers used to plan production a year in advance, but the advent of fast fashion has changed all that. Today, suppliers are being asked to supply goods in some cases weeks in advance of a product line going to market.…

Bangladesh’s GPH Ispat Ltd has announced it is building a major integrated steel plant in south-eastern Chittagong city, as the country’s steel sector continues to develop its billet production capacity. The company says is expecting robust demand for long products and billets enabling their production as the Bangladesh government responds to continuing economic growth by financing public infrastructure projects.  …

Turkish denim firms have roared onto the global market in recent years, impressing consumers, terrifying the competition.

These companies are aided by Turkey’s high quality cotton – particularly that produced in the country’s Aegean region on the west coast. Aegean premium cotton is renowned for its ability to retain paint and for its softness and absorbency, all without genetic modification.…

PAKISTAN’S textile sector is struggling as exports are declining, with producers unable to compete with regional countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam,

Jawed Bilwani, chairman of the Pakistan Apparel Forum has told WTiN.com. In an interview he warned that looking at trade data for financial year 2014-15 compared to 2013-2014: “Our textile exports are declining persistently and are in a state of emergency.”…

WITH Bangladesh aiming to double its apparel exports over the next five years, the importance of maintaining secure and quality cotton imports from its top supplier India was underlined at an international conference staged in Dhaka this weekend.

Speakers at the first ‘Bangladesh India Cotton Fest 2016’, on Saturday (March 12) said that Bangladesh and its larger neighbour should establish joint-ventures and foster cross-border investments in the garment sector to strengthen this critically important supply chain.…

THE EUROPEAN Association of Sugar Pro­ducers (CEFS) and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) have called for the European Union (EU) to push for a global agreement ending all subsidies and other trade-distorting policies affecting the sugar sector.…

WHILE international clothing buyers today have a lot of sourcing choices, this multiplicity of options can bring its own management headaches, making it important that brands make subtle, complex and fluid purchasing decisions to keep ahead of the competition, Global research firm McKinsey’s biannual sourcing survey – last published in 2015 – of chief procurement officers (CPOs) at leading apparel companies is an interesting window onto today’s complex sourcing landscape.…

Politicians in the Philippines fear that the country will be censured by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) after USD81 million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank central bank in February entered the international financial system through Manila casinos. In its most recent evaluation on the Philippines made in 2013, the FATF determined that the country had made significant progress in improving its AML/CFT (anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism) but raised concerns regarding the absence of AML/CFT controls for the casino sector.…

India is battling to contain a boom in organised cigarette smuggling, which is fuelled by high domestic taxes, complex regulations and weaker criminal penalties compared to those levied for trading in other contraband. This trend is becoming a “growing threat to the national interests of not [only] India but several economies worldwide,” according to a detailed assessment called ‘Emerging Challenges to Legitimate Business in the Borderless World,’ released in January.…

SPECIAL trade access to developed countries is always a boon to emerging market suppliers, and the European Union’s (EU) GSP+ system is especially sought after, and – noted a recent European Commission report – widely utilised.

GSP+ suspends EU duties on 66% of EU tariff lines, while for standard GSP, these same duties are merely reduced.…

THE INDIAN government’s decision to increase its available subsidies to help companies purchase new textile machinery from 10% to 15% will boost the investment in the country’s technical textile sector, which has been struggling to build big capacities.

Under the ‘Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS)’, from January 14 (2016), a producer of technical textiles can avail itself of up to USD4.5 million as capital investment subsidy.…

Inspired by one of its biggest ever banking scandals, Bangladesh has launched a host of reforms to bolster internal control in public banks, but it is finding it difficult to fix the problem. Politics continues to threaten implementing the anti-fraud measures.…

BUREAUCRATIC red tape in Ethiopia has stymied Turkish firms’ once ambitious plans to set up shop in the country’s low costs textiles sector. “When you involve the government, this bureaucracy starts,” warned Kemal Oznoyan, a coordinator with Turkish textiles company Ayka Textile, whose Ethiopian subsidiary Ayka Addis has operated a USD140 million textile factory at Alemgena, west of the capital Addis Ababa, since.…

Bangladesh’s imports of scrap metal has risen sharply as local steel millers turn to billet production, bolstering supplies encouraged by growing demand for finished products, Steel First has learnt.

Industry insiders said the south Asian nation imported around 1.5 million tonnes of steel and iron scrap in 2015 and estimates suggest that annual imports could surge to around 2.5 million tonnes by the end of this year.…

PROGRESS made by Bangladesh’s knitwear sector in improving its health and safety standards will come under scrutiny this spring, through the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact. A second stock-taking meeting of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), European Union (EU) and United States-led ‘Compact for Continuous Improvements in Labour Rights and Factory Safety in the Ready-Made Garment and Knitwear Industry in Bangladesh’ was to be held on January 28.…

Bangladesh’s top textiles makers are racing against time to alter the way they print fabric. The reason is simple: go digital or risk losing a competitive edge.

Vertically integrated textile manufacturing major Noman Group told Digital Textile that it is carefully considering digital textile investments.…

Bangladesh is set to become the world’s largest cotton importer, with China’s cotton consumption waning and its south Asian rival expanding its textile manufacture. Bangladesh’s apparel and textile industry is boosting its spinning capacity to handle this growth.

The latest statistics from the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) suggests Bangladesh soon will overtake China as the world’s biggest importer of fibre (lint).…

Export subsidies for bioethanol and biofuel feedstocks in general are to be scrapped after a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Nairobi agreed on Friday (18 December) to phase out the trade sweeteners. The deal covers exports of soy, sugar, corn oil, palm oil, cotton oil and other feedstocks, including animal and vegetable wastes that are of importance in the development of second generation biofuels.…

Japan’s Kobe Steel’s (Kobelco) has entered the Bangladesh market as it aims to gain a toehold in the south Asian nation’s growing shipbuilding sector, focusing on high titanium oxide-based welding rods designed to connect mild steel sheets. The third-largest steel maker in Japan, annual revenues of USD16 billion has already delivered 100 tonnes of welding electrodes, which will be marketed among shipbuilders by its local partner TSI Marine Ltd.…

A CONSULTANT on the Asia textile and clothing industry has argued that a recent weak performance in Pakistan’s textile export segment should not be a concern for the country’s government, as long as ready-made-garment sales hold up. Indeed, industry expert and partner at Sydney-based Apparel & Textiles Industry (ATI) Group, Paula Rogers, told WTiN that Pakistan has made a strategic oversight by its past focus on textile processing.…

Although the final details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement have yet to be agreed, it is all but certain that the TPP’s free-tariff treatment for Vietnamese garments will see substantial amounts of yarn being shipped from US textile mills to garment factories in Vietnam, with the resulting clothing returning to the USA as finished ‘Made in Vietnam’ products.…

Sri Lanka’s government remains positive about the possibility of regaining its Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) concession status from the European Union (EU), which would probably boost the country’s knitwear exports. This privileged trade access status might help the country’s clothing industry overall achieve an ambitious target of earning USD8.5 billion from exports by 2020.…

BANGLADESH garment manufacturers are pushing for a tax break – urging the government to collect a levy only from just 10% of their export profits – instead from their overall profits, as at present.
The Bangladesh National Board of Revenue (NBR) collects 0.3% tax at source from a garment making factory based on their overall profit: “But we want the government to charge that tax only from a 10 percent of export profit,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) vice president Shahidullah Azim told just-style.…

The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain has told just-style he is working closely with the US Congress to secure a Tariff Preference Level (TPL) extension for the Gulf island kingdom this year. It would allow Bahrain exporters to continue selling apparel and textiles, among other goods, into the USA tariff-free. …

Deadly accidents such as the Rana Plaza disaster may have earned the Bangladesh textile and clothing sector notoriety, but there is a new generation of firms trying to erase that spot on the industry’s reputation.
Smart entrepreneurs are now courting buyers through a new sales pitch: sustainable production.…

In recent years, brands that source from textile and garments manufacturers in Asia have been targeted by bad publicity for everything from poor wages, long hours and dangerous exposure to chemicals and unsustainable use of water.
In response, they have tended not to work unilaterally but to sign up for either regional or international standards schemes, or co-operate on open platforms, where knowledge is shared.…

Sustainability improvements in the Asian outsourced clothing and textile sector are far from being the sole preserve of China. In Cambodia, Tonlé, a sustainable garment-making firm based in Phnom Penh, obtains 90% of its fabric from factory cut-out and 10% through sustainable suppliers to make a zero-waste clothing line.…

While countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia have a hold on global low-cost garment manufacturing, Thailand’s garment industry has found it needs to move up the international value chain to thrive – promoting digital technology is a priority means to this end.…

IN a fast-growing emerging economy such as Bangladesh, companies and consumers alike can sometimes play fast-and-loose with the truth to hide financial wrongdoing and commit frauds, but they will have to reckon with Bangladesh’s Comptroller and Auditor General Masud Ahmed and his staff.…

Bangladesh’s top auditor understands only too well the key role strong auditing can play in an emerging economy such as his own country – for good or ill. Indeed, he does not mince his words when he recalls the role auditors played in Bangladesh’s 2011 capital market collapse that ruined millions of small investors.…

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has announced new reforms to the European Union’s (EU) new biocidal products regulation, clarifying difficulties discovered in the original legislation, in force from last September (2013). Widely used in anti-microbial and insecticide-impregnated knitted fabrics, a new amending regulation for biocidal products in force from April 25 (334/2014) includes a new definition of biocidal product families by risk and efficacy.…

A dispute over the amount of Bangladesh-made jute being exported to India is increasing tensions between the two countries who are accusing each other of unfair trade practices, while at the same time subsidising their industries.
“The import [of jute from Bangladesh] is rising every year and it is a matter of concern,” Santosh Gangwar, India’s minister for textiles told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament in March.…

BANGLADESH meat traders have warned that cattle prices are spiralling in the country after the Indian government cracked down on cross-border smuggling, increasing scarcity. The Bangladesh Meat Traders Association secretary general Robiul Alam told GlobalMeatNews: “It’s a calamitous time…We’re ruined. Every day, prices of cows are rising as supply is short.…

THE CHINESE knitting sector facing transformation, being challenged by lacklustre economic performance in its key export markets, fast-rising domestic labour costs, as well as a determined government crusade for energy savings and emission reduction. The industry is, in general, cautiously optimistic about tackling these challenges and experts agree that if knitwear producers stick to their strategy of adding value through more sophisticated automation, they will manage to retain manufacturing supremacy over their south Asian and southeast Asian peers.…

Bangladesh’s knitting industry faces key changes in the next 20 years as the western-educated children of first-generation businessmen take over family-owned firms. Industry experts note that some second-generation entrepreneurs have already taken the reins of major knitwear companies and are introducing modern management practices and discovering new financing channels.…

After years of strong economic growth, salaries of Chinese clothing makers have increased, resulting in more expensive Chinese textiles and clothing manufacturing. But while cheaper outsourcing locations such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India have picked up the slack, experts both in China and abroad have yet to buy into the notion that garment production is dramatically shifting out of China.…

Changing textile and other input suppliers may be fraught with difficulties, but it is key to the role of any clothing buyer.
“It can be extremely difficult,” said Emma Wilson, buyer for UK-based specialist sourcing agency Smartway. “There are issues such as quality, lead-times and monitoring the supplier.”…

Bangladesh’s demand for cotton is booming, creating significant opportunities for international suppliers of cotton, according to textile industry experts at the opening of Bangladesh’s first Global Cotton Summit (March 20-21) in Dhaka. Muhammad Ayub, president of the Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) said at the conference that in the last decade, demand of cotton in Bangladesh has risen from 3 million bales to 5.5 million bales.…

With Bangladesh’S economy set to continue growing and local cotton production expected to remain insignificant, cotton imports are set to double by 2021, said industry players and experts attending the country’s first Global Cotton Summit. The two-day event (March 20-21) in Dhaka, was jointly organised by the Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).…

Pakistan’s ministry of textile industry has begun implementing a textile industrial policy for 2014-2019, despite concerns by manufacturers’ associations that it may fail to deliver on its goals. The ministry has set up committees to work toward achieving its targets and interacting with the industry to seek its input and support.…

The Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporter Associations (ITKIB) told WTiN.com this week that research and development in high value technical textiles will be a key focus for the Turkish textile sector as it aims for an export target of USD 20 billion by 2023.…

The government of India is modernising and expanding airports located in the remote north eastern part of the country. They generally generate low levels of civilian passenger traffic, but the region considered extremely sensitive politically and strategically due to several armed insurgencies and its proximity to international borders with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.…

The government of India is modernising and expanding airports located in the remote north eastern part of the country. They generally generate low levels of civilian passenger traffic, but the region considered extremely sensitive politically and strategically due to several armed insurgencies and its proximity to international borders with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.…

The government of India is modernising and expanding airports located in the remote north eastern part of the country. They generally generate low levels of civilian passenger traffic, but the region considered extremely sensitive politically and strategically due to several armed insurgencies and its proximity to international borders with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.…

The planned construction of a large textile factory in northern Ethiopia by the Bangladesh-based DBL Group, a diversified knit and garment-manufacturing textile major, is being delayed, although the Ethiopian industry association insists it will proceed. The USD30 million factory, which is due to be the second largest textile factory in Ethiopia, was expected to start operations in the last quarter of 2015.…

East Africa is emerging as an attractive sourcing alternative for apparel and textile producers around the world as costs in Chinese outsourcing centres rise especially. With cheaper labour and resources, the region has already attracted foreign investment, particularly from Asia.

International apparel and textile producers are looking hard at Ethiopia as an attractive production and sourcing destination.…

Africa is emerging as a viable, even strong, sourcing alternative to Asia, but Africa still needs to learn significant lessons from its rival on establishing a strong sourcing hub, say industry experts.

For instance, sub-Saharan suppliers should note how Asia’s garment and textile industry is well-coordinated and integrated regionally, with strong inter-country links.…

BANGLADESH’S textile and clothing exporters, who are still reeling from the impact of continuing political unrest in the country, now face a second shock wave: the free fall of the Euro.

Industry lobbyists and analysts fear the European single currency’s decline in value will cut exporters’ profit margins, weakening their ability to compete in the 19 counties using the Euro.…

The Philippines’ once formidable knitwear sector has been shrinking in size in the past two decades, but the Pacific archipelago’s inclusion in the European Union’s (EU) Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) preferential tariff scheme from January 1 is now filling remaining manufacturers with some hope for another heyday.…

INDUSTRY leaders, researchers and scientists wound up a three-day international poultry show and seminar in Dhaka on Saturday (February 21), vowing to improve food safety to help create a substantial Bangladesh processed chicken export sector by 2018.

The president of the World’s Poultry Science Association (NOTE SPELLING IS CORRECT – ‘WORLD’S’), Bangladesh branch Moshiur Rahman said local producers are planning to start exporting frozen chicken in between two-to-three years’ time, mainly targetting the Middle East, where millions of ex-patriot Bangladeshis live.…

A POLITICALLY-inspired blockade of highways in Bangladesh, launched by the country’s opposition parties, and related vandalism of lorries trying to break through, is devastating a Bangladeshi poultry sector still reeling from avian flu.

The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee is claiming the country’s poultry industry has sustained losses of USD32 million since political turmoil erupted on January 5 after police surrounded the home of Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.…

A MAJOR Bangladesh knitwear company has launched an innovation that may inspire a new segment in this key outsourcing industry – ‘fake’ heavy knitwear.

DBL Group, based north of Dhaka, has developed this fabric for jerseys made from cotton or a blend of cotton and synthetic fibres. …

Bangladesh’s struggling national carrier Biman is looking for a foreign suitor to upgrade the groundhandling services it currently single-handedly offers at the country’s airports, but the move has been greeted with suspicion from civil aviation unions.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines in December issued advertisements in newspapers seeking a consultant to ready tender documents for a joint venture in groundhandling operations at three international gateway airports within Bangladesh.…

The president of the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association (TCMA) has told WTiN.com that it is anticipating a slowdown in the Turkish textile and clothing industry’s export growth in 2015 due to difficulties in some of Turkey’s most important markets. Cem Negrin said that the Turkish clothing industry has reached its exports target of USD19 billion for 2014, representing growth of 9.2% on 2013.…

CLOTHING industry leaders in the USA met on Wednesday (Nov 5) in New York and considered whether America’s mid-term elections on the previous day had made securing agreement on the critically important Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) more difficult.

With the opposition Republicans taking control of the US Senate, and consolidating control of its House of Representatives, the task of President Barack Obama in securing special rights to ratify a deal got harder.…

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to work with the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction to help south Asian nations slow the spread of livestock diseases.

In India, livestock sector losses from foot-and-mouth disease alone are estimated at around USD4.5 billion a year, according to the ADB.…

The Bangladesh cabinet on Monday (Nov 10) finally proposed a long awaited law to regulate Bangladesh’s audit profession, which had been stalled amidst disagreements between auditors and management accountants

A draft Financial Reporting Act will now be presented for a vote by the country’s parliament, the Jatiyo Sangshad, although the government has yet to release full details.…

CAMBODIA’S “high cost of electricity  – the third highest in south-east Asia after Singapore and Myanmar – along with low skills are keeping the country away from producing  textiles”, the World Bank chief economist for the east Asia and the Pacific region, Sudhir Shetty has told WTiN.…

EXPERTS on China’s textile and apparel industry say that international brands must take increasing care to ensure their sourcing is environmentally and socially responsible, with tightening government restrictions anticipated.

Their comments to just-style come after the release of a China National Textile and Apparel Council’s (CNTAC) 2013-2014 social responsibility report of the textile industry, released last month (September).…

As the global apparel sector searches for more eco-friendly fibres and fabrics, innovative developments are increasingly focusing on more sustainable and often unusual alternative feedstocks.
Companies are being encouraged to innovate also by recent high cotton prices and a growing awareness that tighter control of supply chains can help keep costs down in general.…

THE STRENGTH and diversity of Bangladesh knitwear producers’ supply chains is one reason why this key outsourcing location is so popular with international brands. And indeed, attention to the supply chain is the mantra of Bangladesh knitwear boss Mohammed Abdul Jabbar.…

Ayka Addis Textile – the Ethiopian subsidiary of the Turkish textile and garment manufacturer Ayka Tekstil – has told just-style that it is anticipating strong growth in its sales over the coming years due to a growing number of European retailers looking to source from Ethiopia.…

China, the world’s top cotton consumer – has announced a significant reduction to its low duty 2015 cotton import quota to boost demand for domestically-produced fibre, but experts disagree over whether the policy could pose risks for textile and clothing manufacturers.…

BANGLADESH’S textiles and knitwear exporters are confident they will see off the challenge posed by the country’s key regional rival Pakistan, which is benefiting from the European Union’s (EU) Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) status.

With these low tariff benefits, the Bangladeshi industry – whose country also has privileged access to the EU market though its ‘everything but arms’ duty free status – has concern about their exports of home textiles to the EU.…

Sourcing trends in fast fashion in Europe and north America are in flux, being affected by the economic downturn, changes in consumer behaviour and growing awareness of industry practices, especially in the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh last year.…

If Cambodia’s USD5.5 billion garment industry is not quite at a crossroads, it is approaching one, according to participants at an industry trade show held in Phnom Penh over the weekend.
The Cambodia International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition, which closed on Monday (August 18), brought 260 exhibitors from 21 countries to display their latest wares and look for buyers and distributors.…

EXHIBITORS at this week’s trade show in Phnom Penh, the Cambodia International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition, called on the country to diversify into textile manufacturing, knitwear, finishing and other supporting industries.

Cambodia’s USD5.5 billion garment industry is a mainstay of the country’s economy, accounting for some 80% of exports.…

AFTER upgrading its laws against money laundering, Bangladesh has earned praise from anti-money laundering (AML) watchdogs however implementing this legislation remains an uphill challenge. Satisfied with the progress Bangladesh made toward plugging “strategic deficiencies” in its AML and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) removed the country from its special watchlist.…

INDIAN knitwear manufacturers are hoping for a major growth impetus because of industry-friendly policies being rolled out by the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government. “We are very optimistic about the new government,” Naval Saraf, proprietor of Super Knit Industries, a sock manufacturing company in Mumbai told Knitting International.…

INDIAN cosmetics companies are widening their manufacturing base in Bangladesh to meet surging demand in this key emerging market of 154 million people, while skirting higher import tariffs for products made in India. But the move of India-owned beauty and personal care products makers into Bangladesh has sparked concern amongst their Bangladeshi counterparts, who fear their domestic market share being grabbed by Indian companies commanding stronger financial firepower. …

Asia – the world’s textile and clothing workshop – is at the heart of many of the industry’s sustainability initiatives. The reason is that brands simply cannot afford not to care – their reputation can be seriously damaged if a supplier is responsible for a pollution spill or industrial accident.…

IN the past year, several developments – both new and built on previous initiatives – have emerged, suggesting the apparel and textile industry is continuing to move towards a more sustainable supply chain.

A key move was the publication of Version 4.0, of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), released by the GOTS International Working Group, in March (2014).…

MYANMAR appears set to become a major outsourcing destination among Hong Kong garment companies, with a deal signed last week to set up a 2,400 hectare apparel industrial park in the Yangon region’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The vice-chairperson of Myanmar Garments Manufacturer’s Association (MGMA), Dr U Aung Win, told just-style that a delegation from Hong Kong signed a contract to set up the apparel industrial park at the Union of Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) in Yangon on June 13.   …

Governments from European countries called on garment companies who sourced from Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, to fund compensation to victims of the building’s collapse one year ago. The message came in a joint statement from the governments of France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, and Spain, made by Lilianne Ploumen, Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation at an international Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) meeting yesterday (June 26) in Paris.…

The president of the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association (TCMA), has said that Turkey is targeting strong growth in exports of Turkish textiles and clothing to the UK. Cem Negrin told a conference on Friday (May 30) that the Turkish industry was looking to capitalise on the growing number of British brands and retailers looking to source outside south, east and south-east Asia.…

There are growing opportunities in the US for African clothing and textile producers, but a long term preferential trade agreement is needed for them to develop supply chains that can meet demand, industry experts at the Source Africa trade show have said.…

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has announced new reforms to the European Union’s (EU) new biocidal products regulation, clarifying difficulties discovered in the original legislation, in force from last September (2013). Widely used in anti-microbial and insecticide-impregnated knitted fabrics, a new amending regulation for biocidal products in force from April 25 (334/2014) includes a new definition of biocidal product families by risk and efficacy.…

INDIAN apparel exporters have demanded a series of favourable policy decisions from the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government while welcoming foreign buyers at the 53rd India International Garment Fair, held in New Delhi from July 14 to 16.
A presentation from the country’s Apparel Export Promotion Council was released to the conference, calling on the Indian government to conclude the planned EU-India free trade agreement “immediately to counter [the] competitive price advantage available to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam…” The paper also argued that until such a deal is struck the Indian government should compensate garment exporters with export subsidies equaling the burden of import duties imposed by EU.…

BANGLADESH clothing producers who follow good labour standards and comply with good social responsibility practice have seen orders increase in recent months according to a local buying intermediary group. The Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association has estimated that orders in “compliant” factories have expanded by 15%-20% in recent months, although some face problems in handling fresh work.…

A 15% year-on-year growth in the exports of Indian apparel in the financial year ending March 2014 has been caused by the diversification of export markets and stricter compliance standards by Indian factories, just-style has been told. “We are diversifying into the markets like Japan, Australia and Latin American countries,” Chandrima Chatterjee, director (economic and consultancy) of the Apparel Export Promotion Council of India told just-style.…

Global technology analysts Gartner Inc is well known for its articulated predictions. An announcement in January 2014 to accompany its report on ‘Predicts 2014: The Rise of the Postmodern ERP and Enterprise Applications World’, highlighted the complex, and at times conflicting scenario facing companies considering moving their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to the cloud.…

The shipbuilding director for the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has confirmed to Steel First that his government is seeking to influence the European Union (EU) as it clarifies the rules of its shipbreaking regulation, which came into force last December (2013).…

A detailed memorandum of understanding has been signed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Bangladesh government, aimed at improving safety standards in the south Asian country’s shipbreaking sector.

While scrapping 8.8 million tonnes of materials – mostly steel – annually for re-use, this Bangladeshi industry has been criticised to failing to impose effective safety and environmental standards, with chemicals spilling onto beaches, sometimes harming workers.…

Steel will be among a group of “priority” sectors for work safety inspections in Bangladesh, once checks on the country’s key clothing sector have been established, a senior government official has told Steel First. Syed Ahmed, inspector general at the newly upgraded Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) said a system being designed with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) could be used for a range of sectors.…

Bangladesh flat-steel product major Appollo Ispat has renewed a hot rolled coil supply memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and the Marubeni-Itochu Corporation.
“The demand for steel products is rising, even in rural areas,” Abdur Rahman, deputy managing director with Appollo Ispat Complex Ltd, told Steel First.…

Bangladesh steel makers are anticipating a rush of orders with the country beefing up efforts to implement new generation infrastructure projects involving billions of dollars. Government data indicates that more than USD13 billion will be invested in projects whose construction is planned over the next 10 years, ranging from a metro railway in the capital Dhaka, to elevated expressways, a deep-sea port and an underwater road tunnel in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.…

BANGLADESHI Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told a meeting with the German confederation of trade unions (DGB) that she wants global clothing buyers to pay more so that her country can afford higher wages for garment workers.

Hasina told DGB president Michael Sommer that Bangladesh was making sincere efforts in improving garment factory safety while increasing wages, the head of Asia section at the international department of DGB head office, Frank Zach told just-style.…

Apparel and textile companies must consider a variety of complex factors when looking to switch suppliers, especially to a new manufacturer, such as assessing the risk of delivery delays and receiving products of poor quality.

Software specifically geared towards apparel and textile production can now help companies track these changes, anticipate issues caused by the shift, and help integrate new suppliers within the supply chain, while tracking their progress.…

The increasingly fluid global market for outsourcing enables brands to switch countries for their manufacturing needs, and it is in the interest of exporting countries to make it easy for them.

Cambodia’s garment industry has been the beneficiary of sourcing shifts from more expensive countries such as China in recent years, attracting manufacturers with some of the lowest labour costs in the world, a past reputation for reasonable working conditions and favoured access to US and European Union (EU) markets.…

A leading Hong Kong politician has confirmed that 12 Hong Kong garment companies have decided to build plants in Myanmar’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone (Thilawa SEZ), covering 2,400 hectares in Yangon.

Felix Chung, a textile and garment industry representative member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council spoke about the plans at a seminar held on Monday (April 14) at Hong Kong’s Clothing Industrial Training Authority.…

A more sustainable fashion industry requires complete transparency and control over every aspect of production. That was the message at the third biennial Copenhagen Fashion Summit, held last Thursday (April 24) in the Danish capital. More than 1,100 participants convened at the Copenhagen Opera House, with 23 speakers focusing on consumer behaviour, recycling and CO2-emissions, all to guide the fashion industry down a more sustainable path.…

AS labour costs in China continue to rise, its apparel and textile industry is seeing orders being transferred to other outsourcing locations as foreign buyers seek lower cost manufacturers. This move could be especially damaging for smaller, low-end Chinese manufacturers, leaving China-based orders increasingly concentrated amongst larger companies, according to a report from the China Cotton Textile Association: “Small to medium manufacturers said their orders dropped sharply during the first quarter of the year while big manufacturers said they had enough orders to keep them busy,” it explained.…

The value of Bangladesh’s clothing exports to Japan are increasing and could hit USD1 billion in the next 12 months, because of capacity and product quality increases, a senior government official has told just-style. “Japanese buyers are increasingly showing interest to source our apparel items.…

MYANMAR’S booming construction industry is spurring rapid growth in the country’s paints and coatings sector, as a steadily increasing number of foreign firms attempt to stake out a share in a market that was, until relatively recently, decidedly lacklustre.

The Burmese  construction industry is currently valued at USD3 billion and is forecast to grow to USD4.2 billion by 2016, according to a February 2014 report by the financial advisory firm New Crossroads Asia.…

MYANMAR’S booming construction industry is spurring rapid growth in the country’s paints and coatings sector, as a steadily increasing number of foreign firms attempt to stake out a share in a market that was, until relatively recently, decidedly lacklustre.

The Burmese  construction industry is currently valued at USD3 billion and is forecast to grow to USD4.2 billion by 2016, according to a February 2014 report by the financial advisory firm New Crossroads Asia.…

A GLANCE at Hong Kong’s official trade data gives the impression that all is rosy for the Chinese special administrative region’s (SAR) knitwear manufacturers. In 2013, Hong Kong exported knitted and crocheted fabrics worth USD2.5 billion, up 4.1% year-on-year, easily outpacing the 1.6% growth posted by the city’s overall textile exports valued at USD10.7 billion, according to figures from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).…

BANGLADESH’S readymade industry expects a 10-15% growth in exports for the current fiscal year ending June, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) acting president Mohammad Hatem has told just-style.

The first eight months of the fiscal year fetched a “morale- boosting” 16.68% rise to USD16.13 billion compared to last year’s USD13.83 billion.…

BANGLADESH’S apparel and textile exports are growing despite the recent political unrest and workplace safety concerns among global buyers, claim the country’s exporters.

Mohammed Abdul Jabbar, managing director at DBL Group, said brands such as Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and Walmart kept buying: “Orders are just fine…We’re sure to record 11% export growth in 2014,” Mr Jabbar told just-style.…

DANISH dairy giant Arla Foods has merged its Bangladesh interests with Bangladeshi distributor Mutual Foods in a joint venture to accelerate already strong sales growth of powdered milk in a national liquid and powdered milk market estimated at USD700 million.

“We will plough USD40 million into the joint venture over the next three

years with an ambition to become the leader in this market,” Sanayet Kabir

Khan, chief financial officer of newly formed Arla Foods Bangladesh, told just-food.…

EVIDENCE is growing that Turkey’s knitting manufacturing industry is outsourcing an increasing volume of its production to contract knitters within Turkey, as it seeks to tackle a number of challenges faced by the sector.

Nesim Bensusan, president of Bensu AS, a knitwear manufacturer in Istanbul, told WTiN that in 2013 it reduced the number of its knitting machines from 40 to 20.…

A COMPROMISE between the European Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers in February over new non-financial reporting rules will insist that many of the largest EU companies disclose their impact and policies on the environment, social and employee-related matters, human rights, anti-corruption and bribery.…

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) scientific committee has sounded an alarm about potential health concerns regarding the use of nano-silver in clothing – the substance often used as an antibacterial in knitted socks.

The EU’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks has noted studies indicating that “nanosilver exposure leads possibly to genotoxicity, changes in activity of the immune system and an accumulation of silver in spleen, liver and testes.”…

ARE clothing and textile-relevant free trade agreements – which allow the garment and fabrics industries to import wares free of duties, or at sharply reduced rates – really worth the effort involved in their negotiation? Maybe not always, or at least not in the US, say some experts.…

Bangladesh is pushing ahead with its plan to pick contractors to build two economic zones in Chittagong district, which could further boost its fast-growing steel industry.

Muhammad Abdus Samad, secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, told Steel First it will invite expressions of interest from contractors following a study released in February that found the sub-districts of Mirershrai and Anowara, near Chittagong “suitable” for clustering heavy industries, such as steel and shipbuilding.…

British retailer Tesco is making efforts to raise working conditions and ethical standards in Ethiopia’s textile industry before it begins sourcing garments from the horn of Africa country.

“We think the garment industry in Ethiopia has great potential – both to produce good quality clothing for our customers and to create jobs and economic growth for the country.…

Clothing and textile industry disasters in the past year-and-a-half including fires and building collapses at factories in countries including Bangladesh and Pakistan have pushed companies to expand their definition of ‘safe’ suppliers to include more ethical and social standards. Yet, despite, brands’ desire to monitor more operations, the fragmented organisation of standards around the world remains a key challenge.…

BANGLADESH is far from being the only emerging market outsourcer that has had problems with factory safety and auditing. Elsewhere in Asia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and especially Cambodia have had their own problems.

Indeed Cambodia has been wracked by industrial disputes overworking conditions in its textile and clothing sector.…

Bangladesh’s accident-prone clothing and textile industry is struggling to meet safety requirements as factory inspections by North American and European retail groupings gather pace. These are being promoted by international safety initiatives the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.…

THE BEST packaging always seems to be an integral part of a product – indeed for personal care product consumers, the appearance of a container can be why they make a purchase. So for brands, making packaging decorations and finishing seem to melt into a product can be or critical importance.…

INDIAN publishers are adopting a smarter more holistic approach to fight book piracy and are focusing on awareness campaigns to tackle the problem.

“Educational authorities like the ministry of human resource development and other stakeholders should join hands with publishers to make people understand that there is some sanctity to copyrighted knowledge, which should be respected,” said Mr Sesh Seshadri, secretary of The Association of Publishers in India (API).…

Cambodian garment factories will pursue legal action against unions they hold responsible for strikes that caused a sector-wide shutdown over the Christmas and New Year period, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has said.

“Our members have granted power-of-attorney to GMAC to act on their behalf [in this matter].…

SOURCING in Asia has been a merry-go-round for many buyers in recent years. As the era of low-cost Chinese manufacturing draws more or less to a close, several countries have leveraged their low cost labour to capture a significant volume of the world’s lower end knitwear manufacturing, while others have sought to extend their reach into higher value-added manufacturing by investing in infrastructure and training.…

SOURCING in Asia has been a merry-go-round for many buyers in recent years. As the era of low-cost Chinese manufacturing draws more or less to a close, several countries have leveraged their low cost labour to capture a significant volume of the world’s lower end knitwear manufacturing, while others have sought to extend their reach into higher value-added manufacturing by investing in infrastructure and training.…

POOR building construction and inadequate fire safety infrastructure are still putting Bangladesh garment factory workers at risk, according to initial inspections led by Brad Loewen, chief safety inspector for the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Mr Loewen, a Canadian, is set to lead a team to inspect 1,500 factories this year, identifying ways that brands and factory owners can improve workplace safety in an industry plagued with factory fires and collapses.…

BANGLADESH’S pharmaceuticals industry lacks a “level-playing field,” leaving multinationals to wade through a raft of regulatory restrictions which may not apply to locally-owned manufacturers, a top official of Novartis Bangladesh said.

“This is a very challenging market. There are lots of restrictions on multinational companies,” Sazzad Rahim Chowdhury, finance director at the Swiss drug giant, told Manufacturing Chemist.…

A country famed for its beautiful traditional ‘batik,’ Malaysia is also home to a highly specialised textiles industry and these niche skills may prove vital for the country’s numerous finishing factories in what is shaping up to a challenging year. Economists are predicting a general slowing of the Malaysian economy, with average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the next five years estimated in Q4 2013 at 3.4%, revised down 0.2% from Q4 in 2012 (slightly slower than the Asian average of 3.7%), according to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research/International Chamber of Commerce’s World Economic Survey of business experts published in November last year.…

THE PAKISTAN government has started acquiring 1,562 acres of land near Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s most populous and main cotton producing province, Punjab, for a proposed major garments manufacturing centre.

Major General (Retd) Javed Iqbal, chief executive officer of the Punjab Industrial Estates Development and Management Company (PIEDMC), which is developing this so-called ‘garments city’ and some other industrial estates in the province, said that a pre-feasibility study has now been completed.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

A country famed for its beautiful traditional ‘batik,’ Malaysia is also home to a highly specialised textiles industry and these niche skills may prove vital for the country’s numerous finishing factories in what is shaping up to a challenging year.…

Leading Bangladesh steelmaker KSRM has joined rivals BRSM and Abul Khair in building new billet plants, lured by cheaper production at home and prospects of overseas sales.

All three companies now say they hope to start operations of new mills in the coming year (2014), with their combined annual output of billet reaching 3 million tonnes, double the size of the country’s estimated billet imports of 1.5 million tonnes per year, industry insiders have told Steel First.…

WINNERS AND LOSERS

RETAIL

WINNERS

ASOS

Fashion retailer ASOS showed online convenience and price are still a winning combination with shoppers. The UK-based online retailer continued its impressive trajectory this year, announcing pre-tax profit had reached GBP54.7m (US$88.3m) for the year ending 31 August, compared to GBP40m in the same period of last year, with retail sales jumping 40% to GBP753.8m, up from GBP537.9m last year. …

BRANDS and environmental groups are calling on the apparel and textile industry to use alternatives to wood pulp-based fibres such as rayon and viscose sourced from endangered forests as demand for these fibres is expected to explode.

Forest-based fabrics make up about 5% of total textile industry inputs, but demand is expected to increase by 112% in the next 40 years, said Nicole Rycroft, executive director of Canada-based non-profit organisation, Canopy.…

BANGLADESH’S garment makers face a drought of summer 2014 orders as western retailers have begun fleeing the South Asian nation after recent political violence and a physical attack on Spanish buyers.

Top industry leaders said that global buyers, seeking stable alternatives, have already diverted 30%-35% of orders to Bangladesh’s rivals, with India, Indonesia and Vietnam emerging as winners.…

THE LAST few years have brought significant changes to the apparel sourcing landscape in Asia. The era of Chinese low-cost apparel manufacturing is well behind us, and several countries have stepped up to claim their part of the manufacturing pie.

Apparel industry analysts say that although China’s dominance continues, a clear segmentation in Asia is now taking place.…

THE HIGHLY diverse and emerging markets of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) face major challenges in bringing financial services, accounting and auditing up to international standards. They are often lacking qualified professionals and sometimes overly reliant on expatriate expertise.…

Md. Sabur Khan, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

“Bangladesh is seeing an additional demand for holistic and sophisticated financial services because of the development of its banking sector. Financial institutions are very eager to comply with the international standards. …

WHILE American textile producers fear the potential impact of the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) regional free trade agreement, it is smaller and medium-sized Vietnamese producers who really need to be worried. That is the view of

Chris Walker, marketing manager for Thai Son S.P.…

THE LIBERALISATION taking place in Myanmar has been making the global textile and clothing sector excited about the country’s thus far untapped potential to export indigenous and mainstream textiles. Aung Min, research director of the business insight and social insight department at the Myanmar Marketing Research and Development Co.…

Although Hong Kong-based quality cotton shirt manufacturer Esquel Group has long placed most of its bets on China, one of its newest bases of operations – Vietnam – could soon prove to be its linchpin for knit shirt manufacturing.  John Cheh, vice chairman and CEO of the company said that Vietnam production could become increasingly important as it continues to scale up operations in anticipation of better Vietnam-China transport links and forthcoming trade agreements.…

Bangladesh’s top steel maker BSRM Group has secured USD115 million in what is billed as one of the largest ever syndicated loans for a local company, officials and bankers have told Steel First.

A total of 25 banks and financial institutions, including the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM), participated in the syndication, co-arranged by UK-based Standard Chartered Bank and local lenders IDLC Finance Limited and City Bank Limited.…

BANGLADESH is to rely on Belarus for its imports of potash fertilizer from Belarus, whose government is planning to set up a fertilizer warehouse in the South Asian nation, strengthening bilateral trade, Bangladesh’s ministry of agriculture joint secretary Pulak Ranjan Saha told Industrial Minerals.…

PAKISTAN garment manufacturers are anticipating significant trading benefits from an anticipated accession from January 2014 to the European Union’s (EU) new Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trading scheme.

Some are asking the Pakistan government to relax import duties blocking access to raw materials, especially artificial fibre, needed to diversify product lines so that they can take full advantage of the facility.…

THE RECENTLY rebranded United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has re-launched itself at its annual meeting in New York, amidst predictions that the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement should be completed in early 2014.

Julia Hughes, the president of USFIA, and head of its predecessor the United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA) told the November 6 meeting: “We are definitely much further along in the TPP negotiations, but we think it’s likely to take into next year to really wrap it all up,” she said.…

While small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan’s knitwear sector have significant manufacturing capacity, they have yet to harness their full potential, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Pakistan exported USD2.3 billion’s worth of knitwear in 2011 says the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, and many producers are small.…

Bangladesh plans to upgrade Shah Amanat International Airport (SAIA) in Chittagong as air traffic surges, with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) last week (Thursday, Nov 7) recognising it as an international facility.

Flight numbers have grown 56% to 25,000 since 2000.…

INDIAN garment exports are expected to rise 24% to USD16 billion in 2013-14, according to D K Nair, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) secretary general. He says the increase is because of the recovering American economy, increased demand from Europe and rival Asian exporters facing a slew of problems.…

THE COMBINED apparel market of China and India will grow to USD740 billion by 2025 and will surpass the projected combined US and European market of USD725 billion at that time, according to a textile and apparel sector report released at an international clothing conference on Friday (July 19).…

PAKISTAN’S anticipated membership of a revised European Union (EU) Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) from January has sparked a debate over whether the country’s industry is ready to benefit from the duty-free access the system provides.

Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) senior north zone vice-chairman Jawwad A Chaudhry has argued that Pakistan’s garment industry might not fulfill orders because of a shortage of raw materials.…

THE MALDIVES may best be known a tropical paradise with rare beauty, but this south Asian archipelago is also a hotbed for terror financing and money laundering, analysts fear. The country is now attempting to strengthen weak anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws that have created a “magnet effect for foreign organisations to pour money into local extremist groups,” warned Jean-Charles Brisard, US based terrorism financing expert and former chief investigator for the 9/11 families’ lawsuits against Al Qaeda financiers.…

WHETHER improved transparency in clothing supply chains will be enough to guarantee a sustainable future for outsourcers in south Asia remains to be seen, but a conference staged in Sri Lanka last week (Oct 10) heard plenty of calls for improved openness.…

AN INTERNATIONAL clothing and textile conference has heard how the growing retail market in the Asia-Pacific region may enable emerging economies such as Sri Lanka to realise ambitious dreams to become regional production hubs.

Kurt Cavano – founder/vice chairman & chief strategy officer of cloud computing company GT Nexus addressing the South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum, held in Colombo on October 12, noted: “The top six retailers that are growing are not in North America, it is in the Asia Pacific.…

For manufacturers looking for a cost effective fibre in current global markets, cotton prices are at last stabilising following the last few years’ price distortions and increases, said Mark Messura, US-based Cotton Incorporated’s senior vice president of global supply chain marketing.…

World fibre production, especially for cotton, is strong, with cotton prices stabilising after experiencing a few years of high prices. Yet, the apparel and textile trade landscape is shifting as production moves away from China and domestic demand in Asia is set to boom, which will put more pressure on existing fibres and fabrics production worldwide.…

China’s textile industry must create new competitive advantages to compete with emerging low-cost producers such as Vietnam and Bangladesh in today’s tough export climate, according to a senior official with the China National Textile and Apparel Council.

“It’s clear from the trade data that apparel exports in low-cost countries including Vietnam and Bangladesh are growing faster than those in China and we must increasingly look to expand the value of exports rather than rely on bulk selling at low prices,” said Liu Yaozhong of the council’s international trade office at a seminar during the Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics trade show Tuesday.…

CAMBODIA’S garment industry has long had a cost advantage over its competitors: paying some of the lowest wages in the world. Growth in the garment sector in 2013 has been robust, with exports growing 32% year-on-year over the first six months, with exports reaching US dollars USD1.56 billion, said the Cambodia commerce ministry.…

THE BANGLADESH garment industry is worried about rumours swirling Dhaka about a potential hike in national insurance rates for fire and marine services, saying it would hurt the sector amidst pressure to raise factory standards and wages for garment workers. 

It would be “too much to absorb” for the industry, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) director Fazlul Hoque told just-style.…

Turkey’s textile and garment sector is aiming to significantly expand its sales to key global markets outside of Europe, such as the US, while continuing to grow exports to European Union (EU) countries over the next few years, WTiN.com has been told.…

THE INDONESIAN textile industry is being targeted by Italian machinery suppliers, who are aiming for further strong growth in sales to Indonesia over the next few years noting that the south-east Asian country’s textile industry is set to update much of its plant.…

THE COST of making Bangladeshi garment factories safe would add USD0.10 cents to each garment shipped out of Bangladesh over the next five years, Ismat Jahan, the ambassador of Bangladesh to the European Union (EU) said yesterday.

Speaking in a meeting of the European Parliament’s international trade committee organised to take stock of the progress in Bangladesh following the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April, Jahan said the overall cost of making her country’s factories fully compliant with structural and fire safety rules would be about USD3 billion (EUR2.24 billion).…

A PARTNER at advisors McKinsey has argued that Bangladesh’s advantages in low cost and convenience for brands will ensure its clothing and textile sector keeps growing, despite the Rana Plaza disaster.

Dr Achim Berg led a study released at last week’s World Fashion Convention, Shanghai, which concluded that about 72% of the total 29 chief purchasing officers (CPO) surveyed are planning to move orders from China to other Asian countries in the next five years, although China will still remain as the largest sourcing market.…

INTERNATIONAL clothing and textile experts gathered near Shanghai last week (September 23-7) to discuss solutions to China’s twin challenges – dealing with less foreign demand, while managing rising production costs.

Speaking at the 29th World Fashion Convention, Shanghai, staged in nearby Kunshan, Texhong CEO Hong Tianzhu told delegates it was time for Chinese manufacturers to upgrade their plant and processes, while moving some production outside China.…

THE PAKISTAN textile sector is anticipating a bumper cotton harvest due to the favourable weather conditions in the main cotton-growing Punjab and Sindh provinces. Government officials and textile industry representatives said timely rains would boost output. A report from the government’s cotton crop assessment committee has said Pakistan was likely to produce 13.255 million bales (of 170 kilograms each) in the fiscal year of 2014, ensuring cotton production would rise by 1.68 million bales, or 14.52%, compared to the 11.57 million bales produced in the fiscal year 2013.…

Philippine garments exporters are expecting to profit from a comeback of American and European buyers, who have started increasing their outsourcing activities in the country. Robert Young, president of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP), told just-style that an increase in orders from major US and European department stores has been felt since the beginning of the year after having been stagnant for three to four years because of the global economic crisis.…

BANGLADESHI consumers have traditionally relied on unbranded meat from butcher shops—unmindful of hygiene and food safety. But a growing army of time-constrained, safety-conscious corporate workers are turning to superstores seeking ready-to-cook meat.

Practicing microbiologist Tasmin Aziz represents a new breed of white-collar executive, who finds little time to prepare protein-rich food herself.…

The European Union’s (EU) new ship recycling regulation that controls how European-flagged ships are to be scrapped in Asian countries has been ridiculed by experts in Bangladesh and India, the two major shipbreaking centres in Asia. They told Steel First that even if the poor existing facilities in these countries are upgraded to meet the minimum environmental standards as prescribed in the new regulation, verifying them would be tough. …

BANGLADESH is planning to import 200,000 tonnes of cotton annually from Uzbekistan in a new multi-annual deal to be finalised shortly. Negotiations are underway to set its terms in a Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Atiqul Islam told just-style.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Cotton Association (ICA) has told just-style that Bangladesh cotton importers need to clean up their act after 93 companies were blacklisted by the ICA for non-payment of bills.

More companies from Bangladesh than any other country were listed by the UK-based association.…

The senior official at Bangladesh’s labour and employment ministry has told just-style he hopes the government’s recruitment of an additional 200 factory inspectors will hasten the planned inspection of 5,600 apparel units. Mikail Shipar, the labour and employment secretary, said he now hopes the assessments will be completed by December, maybe placating a United States administration that in June suspended some trade benefits for Bangladesh.…

BANGLADESH’S fast growing economy is developing a robust and booming personal care product market. Mosaddeq Hossain, owner of a general store at the Shagoria Bazaar in Hatiya sub-district, neat Chittagong, recalls 10 years ago, there was almost no demand for his stocks of Sunsilk shampoo.…

VIETNAM’S plans to undertake a major expansion of its textile, texting finishing and fibre production sector were a key focus of an International Exhibition on Garment Manufacturing Equipment and Fabric, held in Ho Chi Minh City from July 11-13. WTiN.com attended the conference, where 125 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions showcased a range of garments, leather and footwear, and other industry products.…

THE PAKISTAN textile sector is anticipating a bumper cotton harvest due to the favourable weather conditions in the main cotton-growing Punjab and Sindh provinces. Government officials and textile industry representatives said timely rains would boost output. A report from the government’s cotton crop assessment committee has said Pakistan was likely to produce 13.255 million bales (of 170 kilograms each) in the fiscal year of 2014, ensuring cotton production would rise by 1.68 million bales, or 14.52%, compared to the 11.57 million bales produced in the fiscal year 2013.…

Calls to streamline and coordinate the myriad initiatives taken to prevent another factory fire or collapse in Bangladesh dominated a two-hour debate on the aftermath of the Rana Plaza disaster in April held by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last month (June  26-7).…

THE INDIAN apparel industry has made progress with backward integration over last five years but exporters rely too heavily on refunds of custom duties when re-exporting apparel based on fabrics and fibres bought outside the country, a Li & Fung India executive told a New Delhi conference on Friday (July 19).…

IT is common sense that for really fast fashion, sourcing should be made as close to a home market as costs will allow. And for the world’s two largest fast fashion markets – the European Union (EU) and the United States – geography does provide some useful neighbours able to offer lower cost out-sourcing, albeit not as cheap as in east and south Asia.…

To meet apparel and textile brands’ desire to move into fast fashion, manufacturers have begun to embrace new production processes that improve efficiency and performance. Apparel and textile manufacturers have been slower than many other manufacturing industries to embrace supply chain improvements in speed, but are now succumbing to pressure from brands moving into fast fashion retail.…

APPAREL and textile manufacturers looking to streamline their supply chains can benefit from product lifecycle management software, which can make communications and risk management processes linking suppliers and retailers more efficient and accurate.

“There’s a lot of new technology that’s been introduced in the last few years that helps manage that supply chain – everything from the finances, the logistics, quality, design, right through into merchandising,” said Robert Cammilleri, senior account executive of business development at US-based safety consulting company, UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc).…

THE MANAGEMENT of fast fashion retail supply chains is not just about maximising speed to market, it is about flexibility too. Retailers have had to make their supply chains and decision-making sufficiently quick and flexible to cater to consumers shopping with a ‘buy now, wear now’ mentality.…

The European Union and Bangladesh concluded a new “compact” today (Monday, July 8) on addressing labour abuses in the Bangladeshi garments industry, with EU trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht warning it risks losing duty-free access to the EU market if reneges on its commitments.…

The China National Textile and Apparel Council has told just-style that it is looking to implement the government’s ‘Going Out’ strategy of external investment by shifting some production overseas to lower cost jurisdictions, especially in south-east Asia.

A spokesman from the textile and apparel council said his organisation would focus its ‘Going Out’ efforts on ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, as a tactic to keep Chinese influence over the lowest cost clothing and textile manufacturing.…

THE INDIAN cotton textile industry has increased its global competitiveness over the last decade, but still its exports have not shown the corresponding results, said a report compiled by Zurich-based consultancy agency Gherzi. Entitled ‘Cost Benchmarking Study – India vis-à–vis Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt, China, Pakistan and Turkey’, it was commissioned by the Indian Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council and released in New Delhi last week (July 25).…

The European Parliament’s environment committee has backed the new law provisionally agreed between European Parliament negotiators and European Union (EU) member states on improving the environmental and working standards for scrapping EU-owned ships. Under a planned EU regulation, such ships would have to be dismantled in ship recycling facilities listed by the EU as meeting specific requirements, and are certified and regularly inspected.…

VIETNAM’S textile manufacturing industry stands to gain as multinational garment companies look to distance themselves from Bangladesh in light of the collapse of Rana Plaza, the multi-story facility in the outskirts of Dhaka, which housed five clothing factories, in April.

The catastrophic incident, which left over 1,100 people dead, has compounded Bangladesh’s hapless record for safety and triggered an exodus as brands seek more reliable manufacturing markets across Asia.…

THE WORLD’S 49 least developed countries have been given another eight years to implement the intellectual property protection rules demanded by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This means that their governments have the freedom to choose whether to protect trademarks, patents, copyright, industrial designs, geographical indications and other rights, potentially harming pharma companies.…

IF there is one country where the need to improve environmental performance in clothing and textile production is clear it is surely Bangladesh. With more care and attention paid to industrial processes and premises comes improved safety and working conditions, and after the recent factory collapse and fire, Bangladesh knows it has to raise its game.…

New Jersey-based Centric Software is a leading supplier of PLM software to the apparel as well as accessories and footwear industries, noted James Horne, the company’s vice president of marketing. Centric Eight is an all-in-one web-based PLM solution tracks products from development and merchandise planning, technical design, supply chain, cost and quality.…

ORDERS from key American and European buyers to Bangladesh garment manufacturers are already falling year-on-year after the Rana Plaza factory collapse. Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) director Fazlul Hoque told just-style the overall drop in garment orders are around 10% during this spring and summer compared to last year, although unnamed industry sources in local media have claimed the drop is 30-35%.…

INVESTORS have shown faith in the long term prospects of the Bangladesh clothing and textile sector, with four garment factories costing nearly USD50 million to build starting operations in Bangladesh’s Comilla Export Processing Zone this year (EPZ), its general manager MD Abdus Sobhan told just-style.…

“We use our earth as if we have a planet and a half; we have a deficit relation with our natural resources. The biggest challenge facing not just business, society and government, but humanity is the question of our sustainability. And business, as usual, will do nothing to solve it.”…

THE RECENT industrial accidents that have marred the reputation of Bangladesh’s knitwear outsourcing industry have increased the pressure on the small firms in the sector to merge so they can improve investment in equipment and premises.

Last year’s Tazreen Fashions fire and the factory collapse in April have prompted questions in the global knitwear sector about its “race to the bottom” low cost gambit, unleashing public outrage and calls for improved factory conditions and better safety regulations.   …

Knitwear companies on Mauritius have been inspired by the economic malaise harming their key European export markets to diversify their sales strategy by seeking to tap the key regional market of South Africa. It is now the Indian Ocean island country’s second largest knitwear export market after the European Union (EU).…

Bangladesh’s foreign investment policy is considered the most liberal in the region, offering a range of incentives for overseas investors. Foreign companies enjoy fiscal and non-fiscal benefits such as tax holidays for five to seven years; the ability to own all capital in a Bangladesh-based business; investment profit and dividend repatriation; duty-free imports of capital machinery; exemption from double taxation; a zero dividend tax; and no investment ceilings.…

Bangladesh, once derided as a “basket case” by Henry Kissinger, is now on par with other emerging Asian economies and developing rapidly.

*It has 150 million people, and 15 million people left poverty [SAYS WHO?] between 2000 and 2010. The country has 150 million people, and the World Bank says 15 million people left poverty between 2000 and 2010.…

AFRICA’S beleaguered clothing and textile industry could take advantage of a projected downturn in exports from Chinese manufacturers, but only if a wide range of reforms are implemented locally.   

Industry experts have told the Source Africa trade event in Cape Town on April 12 that if the difficulties currently hamstringing the sector could be overcome then Africa’s clothing and textile sector could thrive.…

ETHICAL sourcing in the garment and textile industry is a key consideration – not just because it is the right thing to do, but because consumers are keen to know how their clothes and accessories have been produced. But one key question is who sets the parameters of what is ethically sourced?…

THE EVER-CHANGING sourcing equation is a challenge to the global garment and textile industry supply chain. There is talk of moving production back home to western countries – bringing it closer to market- but its viability is being questioned. Meanwhile in Asia, where the majority of clothes are currently produced worldwide, the sourcing landscape is changing, experts say.…

IT is a long way from China, east Asia and south Asia to the key developed world markets or Europe and America. And with fashion being so dynamic, demand for a line could have dampened in the months between placing an order and receiving delivery.…

WITH Chinese clothing and textile manufacturers struggling with rising costs – through inflation, wage increases and currency adjustments – international brands have been shopping around for new sourcing countries. There are plenty of options, especially in China’s east Asia neighbourhood, where Vietnam and Cambodia have developed lower cost centres.…

Clothing and textile companies in Mauritius are looking to South Africa to recoup export sales, given European export markets have been weakened by the ongoing financial crisis.

“The South African market is rising… which is benefiting directly local textile operators,” said Ahmed Parkar, chief executive of Star Knitwear a leading Mauritius clothing group.…

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solutions have become powerful and numerous, allowing apparel companies to manage vast amounts of complex data under one umbrella, from finance, stock and manufacturing processes to distribution. Driven by the need to leverage this information and obtain even greater precision and speed in time to market, in recent years many ERP packages have come to include modules specifically tailored for the clothing industry, either as an add-on package or an integration with a product lifecycle management (PLM) system.…

INCREASED competition and a weakened global economy have not dimmed expectations for Vietnam-based knitwear exporters, with two major trade deals looming, able to guarantee duty free exports to the US and the European Union (EU). They will also remove non-tariff barriers impeding trade, boosting optimism amongst established exporters of quality Vietnam-made knitwear.…

BANGLADESH and Turkey are knitwear rivals, with differing levels of development. Bangladesh overtook Turkey in 2010 becoming the world’s second largest knitwear manufacturer (by output) in the year ending June 2010, pushing the Turks into third place.

In the year ending June 2010, Bangladesh exported 7.78 billion pieces of knitted items or USD 6.48 billion worth of knitwear, overtaking Turkey’s shipment of 7.74 billion pieces, according to BKMEA.…

THE PRESIDENT of the of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) has told just-style that falling demand from United States and Europe means Indian garment exporters must explore domestic markets for new sales. “For some companies it is a matter of survival, while for the others it is to achieve growth,” said president Rahul Mehta, “I see few other options for them but to try and enter domestic market.”…

THE BANGLADESH government yesterday allocated land close to the capital Dhaka to relocate potentially unsafe garment factories, ahead of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) hearing on March 28 on whether the country should continue to enjoy GSP access to American markets for textiles.…

IN Nepal, women habitually beat men when it comes to doing business. They generate 6% more profits than men, according to a study by the International Financial Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank. “Nearly half of Nepal’s women are economically active and many rural households are female-headed,” said Puja Tandon, co-founder of Nepal-based Beed Management, an international management consulting firm.…

AFTER months of speculation about the future of Poland’s nuclear program, the New Year has brought an encouraging sign of progress.

On January 9, PGE EJ 1, the special purpose vehicle handling the construction of Poland’s first of two planned nuclear power plants, announced the result of a public tender to select a contractor to assess possible sites, looking at a shortlist of three.…

THE CHINESE government is drafting a new five-year anti-corruption plan for 2013 to 2017, which is expected to increase supervision of lower-ranking Communist party cadres. To be finalised and published before June, the new plan, said a Politburo statement is likely to “intensify supervision of officials’ adherence to various disciplines…” The statement backed more “limits and supervision of officials’ power and campaigns to promote a clean work style at grassroots levels…”

Other recent international fraud news:

*Global law enforcement representatives and football executives have met for the first time at a conference held to combat match fixing frauds, which generate millions of dollars of illicit gambling revenue for organised crime syndicates.…

DECLINING demand from the USA and European Union (EU) for Bangladesh knitwear has not dampened the world’s second largest clothing exporter from aiming high. Rather, Bangladesh is planning to more than double its current knitwear exports, to USD20 billion by 2020, seeking out new markets.…

Malaysia’s textile and clothing industry is planning to focus on three key areas – higher value fashion, dyeing and finishing, and technical textiles – to sustain strong growth and continue to compete with significantly lower-cost competition elsewhere in Asia.

The country’s textile and apparel exports grew 28.4% to USD3.8 billion in 2011, according to the Malaysian Textile Manufacturers Association (MTMA), with a further significant increase expected in 2012.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WINNERS

Bangladesh

Despite its well-trailed labour and environmental problems, analysts still backed Bangladesh as having the potential to become a long term apparel sourcing hotspot. Indeed, ready-made garment exports could triple within a decade, as buyers move sourcing away from China, according to research by McKinsey & Company.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

GBP 44, International telephone call expenses GBP 1.19

PR GBP 33, International telephone call expenses GBP 1.19

The executive director of US based labour-rights group the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) has told just-style that clothing manufacturers and their buyers in Bangladesh have a “moral obligation” to spend an extra 10 cents to make each garment, to boost factory safety.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WINNERS

Nike

Multinational sporting goods giant Nike made positive moves to shrug the bad PR associated with low cost sourcing, announcing it was "changing the rules of the game" in May, with a new factory rating system – the Sourcing & Manufacturing Sustainability Index.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has asked international donors to offer money after a new aid report calling for greener production in Bangladesh’s clothing sector.

The study by the South Asia Enterprise Development Facility, a business initiative of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) said the ready-made garment sector can save 125 billion litres of water annually by cleaning up its textile wet processing units.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

Bangladesh has scrapped 203 ships so far this year, making it the largest number ever in the history of its thriving ship breaking industry, the Bangladesh Ship Breaker’s Association (BSBA) secretary Nazmul Islam has told Steel First.

In 2010 Bangladesh scrapped only 75 ships, and the number improved to 145 in 2011 before it shot up to 203 in this year so far.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

BANGLADESH is risking serious economic problems by concentrating so much on clothing exports, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has concluded in a report released ahead of a review of the country’s trade policies. "Exports remain highly concentrated both in terms of products and destinations, which carries some risk, with readymade-garment (RMG) exports to the EU and the US the current mainstay," it warns.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

BANGLADESH’S state minister for labour has told just-style an immediate pay hike for garment sector workers is not possible despite employees’ demand for 30% increase. "At least there should be a gap of three years between two wage reviews.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is waiting for a response from the Bangladesh labour ministry over its proposal of regular meetings about pay and working conditions between brand owners and garment workers.

"We expressed a desire that brands’ representatives and the ministry of labour should meet regularly to discuss current issues.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

THE BANGLADESH Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) has told global clothing buyers to increase the "cutting and making" (CM) prices of garments so local manufacturers can afford higher wages to workers.

Speaking to Knitting International, BKMEA president Salim Osman said this would help ease the labour problems currently harming the sector: "If buyers do not give higher prices or at least as expected, how would manufacturers cope with the matter of pay hikes?"…

BY MARIANI DEWI

BRANCH campuses of established western universities can be major prizes for emerging market higher education systems – but attracting these institutions is not easy, even for economically dynamic countries such as Malaysia.

There are still only six branch campuses in this south-east Asian country.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE NEW vice-chancellor of Bangladesh’s Asian University for Women (AUW) has told University World News how she plans to help her institution move forward after management disputes sparked negative publicity. Fahima Aziz was appointed four months ago and is focusing on securing quality academics and attracting more students to the university’s temporary campus in Chittagong.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

A PILOT project of the World Bank’s private sector agency the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has kindled hope that Bangladesh’s burgeoning knitwear and garments industry could overcome its notorious environmental pollution problems at an affordable price. However, replicating the pilot’s innovative strategies across the industry in the country will not be easy: struggling with the challenges of sourcing environment friendly finance; securing power availability amidst irregular supplies; operating effective effluent treatment plants; and dealing with a lack of awareness amongst entrepreneurs.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers are expecting to struggle for business in the rest of 2012, with the worsening Euro crisis dampening demand in key export markets and improving sourcing rivals from neighbouring countries becoming increasingly competitive.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

A PILOT project of the World Bank’s private sector agency the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has kindled hope that Bangladesh’s burgeoning knitwear and garments industry could overcome its notorious environmental pollution problems at an affordable price. However, replicating the pilot’s innovative strategies across the industry in the country will not be easy: struggling with the challenges of sourcing environment friendly finance; securing power availability amidst irregular supplies; operating effective effluent treatment plants; and dealing with a lack of awareness amongst entrepreneurs.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

CLOTHING brands have no shortage of alternative sourcing locations to Bangladesh. And if Bangladesh wants to stop Western buyers from pulling out in the long run, factory owners have to improve productivity so that they can afford higher pay rises than inflation and bring an end to recurrent labour unrest, industry analysts are arguing.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO AND MUNZA MUSTAQ, IN COLOMBO

Of course the BRICs countries are far from being the only emerging market suppliers for the global apparel sector – and a knot of competitors such as Bangladesh and Vietnam have long been vying for business.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER, IN SÃO PAULO; RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI; HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI; AND WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

WHILE the focus on emerging markets for the big international clothing brands has often been to view them as outsourcing opportunities, the truth is that there are a lot of people with a lot of money in these countries.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) has told just-style global clothing brands are pressing the Bangladesh government to establish "a forum where buyers can raise concerns and discuss current topics", following waves of labour unrest.

An H&M spokesperson said Marks & Spencer, Walmart, The Gap and Carrefour joined it and 15 other buyers have been pressing Bangladesh labour minister Khandker Musharraf Hossain for a permanent liaison body.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

OUTSOURCING textile and apparel production is a necessary step along the supply chain for many large international brands, which – more than often – have long-standing relationships with manufacturers abroad. These partnerships have to start from somewhere, though – and with economic development continuing to grow in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and other emerging market countries, there are many third-party companies and services that can help international buyers choose the right manufacturer.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI

THE INDIAN apparel and textile industry needs to evolve and adapt quickly to overcome the changing demand patterns from its major export markets, delegates at the textile conference were told in New Delhi on Thursday.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO, IN LONDON

Demolition prices for older ships have fallen by a quarter in 2012, signaling a "historical drop" shipbroking, chartering and sale major Braemar Seascope’s research director told Steel First. He urged ship owners to scrap elderly candidates immediately and claim its "end of life bonus" as freight market would remain weak over the next two years.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

THE LEADER of Bangladesh’s clothing industry association has told just-style nearly 300 garment factories in the troubled Ashulia industrial zone in Bangladesh will reopen today (Thursday 21 June). This follows an assurance from the government that it would preserve security and arrest protestors who have damaged plants and vehicles owned by manufacturers.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

Bangladesh garment factory owners have refused to reopen factories closed in the country’s troubled Ashulia industrial zone, despite the government forging a deal with striking textile and clothing workers on Monday, raising their minimum wage by 50%. Businesses are upset that protestors vandalised factories and their vehicles during the dispute and want the offenders brought to book.…

BY HANA KAMARUDDIN, IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Students in some Asian countries, such as Japan, Indonesia and South Korea now earn credit hours for voluntary work, an incentive that builds volunteering into the university assessment system and promotes community work as an integral part of higher education, a conference has been told.…

BY KARRYN MILLER, MJ DESCHAMPS, LEAH GERMAIN AND KEITH NUTHALL

THE BYELECTION victories in Myanmar/Burma by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her political allies have loosened the tough trade sanctions that have thus far hampered efforts to develop the country as a new sourcing hub for knitwear and other clothing products.…

DESPITE the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May, Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups remain a global money laundering and terrorist financing concern. Yet a decade on from the September 11 attacks, counterterrorism specialists say there has been too much focus on Al Qaeda itself (it means The Base in Arabic) but not enough on associated and other militant groups that pose significant threats.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

CHINESE clothing and textile manufacturers in key provinces are raising wages amidst heightened fears of labour shortages.

"We are about to lose 50 per cent of our workers after the (Chinese New Year) holiday, and hiring new workers will be difficult," Sea An, spokesperson for Shenzhen-based A.M.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WHILE the thought of bundling up in big knit sweater to brave the cold is how knitwear is usually marketed around the world, over in Canada – where winters are trite with snowstorms, and temperatures drop well below zero degrees Celsius – wearing a wool jumper in a blizzard to clean 10 centimetres of snow and ice off your car is not exactly practical.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

TUNISIA

Of all the countries disrupted by the Arab Spring revolts in 2011, Tunisia liberated itself in the swiftest and most business-friendly fashion. This key European supplier rid itself of despotic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January14, and one week later, its textile and clothing sector was back at work.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

The Bangladesh government is currently withholding permission for a United States-sponsored survey to check if child and forced labour is employed in the country’s apparel sector, even though the local garment industry has no objection. "The government should grant the permission", Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association told just-style: "Anyone can visit and check that there is no child labour in our industry".…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

BANGLADESH will not oppose the European Union’s (EU) plans to grant Pakistan GSP+ status, just-style has been told. However, the country’s powerful clothing exporters have called on their government to press for the EU to withhold these privileges for products that are important to Bangladesh’s manufacturing industry, including some clothing lines.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE RECENT decision by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide duty-free access to the Indian market for 46 different garment products from neighbouring Bangladesh, has been met with angry responses from the Indian garment industry.

"The prime minister has made a major mistake," said Kandasamy Selvaraju, secretary general at the Southern India Mills’ Association, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu: "It is a disaster – our industry will now be ruined".…

BY MARK GODFREY

THOUGH it remains the world’s key manufacturing powerhouse, gobbling up raw materials, China’s demand for imported metals scrap is currently slack. There are several reasons for the conundrum say local and international scrap players, among them exchange rate volatility and weak Chinese prices for scrap.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

WHILE India’s soaps and cosmetics manufacturers are currently reaping the benefits of a rapidly expanding domestic market, they are at the same time bracing themselves for the challenges of dealing with increased competition and a more complex segmented marketplace.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA is known for its rich history of garment making traditions; however, its knitwear manufacturing centres have been facing serious labour shortages of late – leading to the underutilisation of capacity, spiralling costs and even relocation of some factories to more rural areas.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

Bangladesh’s knitwear industry has welcomed India’s easing import restrictions for border clothing trades. "We are hoping for an increase in knitwear exports and an expanding trade relations between the two countries", said A.K.M. Salim Osman, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association.…

BY MARK GODFREY

COTTON prices have eased in 2011, lifting the price pressure on major brands, according to VF Asia Pacific president Aidan O’Meara. The Hong Kong-based executive, who oversees 30 brands in the region, says it was the first time in 19 years at VF that he had seen inflation of production costs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Bureau (IMB) has warned scrap buyers to beware of fraudsters selling phantom waste metal cargoes that never arrive at port. The IMB – part of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – says the scam involves a sophisticated abuse of bills of lading, letters of credit and associated documents.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

Violent labour protests forced Bangladesh’s Grameen Knitwear to close its factory in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone last Wednesday (July 20), however company’s top official has told just-style that the work will resume in next two to three days.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Bureau (IMB) has warned heavy melting scrap buyers to beware of fraudsters selling phantom waste metal cargoes from Trieste, Italy, that never arrive. The IMB has reported 13 such scams (one involving aluminium profiles) involving a sophisticated abuse of bills of lading, letters of credit and associated documents.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

THE POOREST countries in the world have an unprecedented opportunity to attract investment in the pharmaceutical sector, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The study stressed how large research and development-based pharmaceutical transnational corporations facing the expiration of blockbuster drug patents are entering into partnerships with profitable generic manufacturers in developing countries as a survival strategy.…

By WANG FANGQING

FACING soaring wages and an appreciating local currency in the Yuan, Chinese clothing makers are being forced to make a hard choice – keep clients or make profits. So far, the answer seems to be clients.

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, profits in the export sector (for all industries) fell to 1.44% in February 2011 from 1.47% in 2010.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

ENVIRONMENTAL concerns and the health hazards faced by the workers engaged in the ship and tanker breaking industry of Bangladesh have forced its government to reform controls of this most dangerous service. Dhaka has made administrative changes and proposed a new law that could force the international oil companies to share the costs of cleaning up the chemical and other waste left by this beach-based industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Bank is spending US dollars USD195 million on helping Bangladesh squeeze fraud from government assistance programmes through the creation of a secure, accurate and reliable national ID system. A bank statement said the project, covering all Bangladeshi adults, would boost "transparent service delivery".…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

For some it was a total disaster, for others a bump in the road, but the recession left no part of the clothing and textile retail sector unscathed. World Trade Organisation (WTO) statistics from 2009 show that while globally important manufacturing jurisdictions such as China and the European Union (EU) suffered 11% and 15% drops respectively in clothing exports, countries such as India, Vietnam and Bangladesh lost just a couple of percentage points and in India’s case, exports remained stable.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

Packaging giant Tetra Pak is investing USD130 million in India to set up a second facility at Chakan, near Pune, western India, to manufacture carton packaging for dairy beverages and fruit-based drinks in south Asia and the Middle East.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BANGLADESH, whose industrial expansion has been criticised for energy profligacy, is being helped by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, to improve its energy production and consumption. Working with the Bangladesh-based Eastern Bank Limited, the IFC is identifying investment projects involving renewable energy and energy efficiency.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

The Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association (TGSD) has said delicate negotiations are under way to ensure every part of Turkey’s apparel industry supports a potential widespread introduction of anti-dumping duties on clothing and textile imports. These would be imposed on deliveriesfrom countries not having free trade agreements with Turkey, which excludes the European Union (EU), but includes many key emerging market suppliers, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

HAS the world found the means to drive rapid growth of distributed power generation in the rural areas? Yes, believes a group of young entrepreneurs in India who are using the rice husk-fired gasification process to operate small generation units in off-grid remote villages.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA’S home ministry has confirmed to the Money Laundering Bulletin that it will approach the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) with formal claims and evidence alleging Pakistan’s key intelligence agency is counterfeiting Indian currency.

A senior official from the ministry said the Indian government would approach the international body in next two to three weeks.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

KNITWEAR manufacturers in Tirupur, the southern Tamil Nadu state city that accounts for 60% of India’s knitwear exports, have struggled to retain sales due to high cotton prices, forcing manufacturers to look to synthetics as an alternative. In 2009, the city’s total exports of garments and knitwear rose to US dollars USD2.55 billion, after dipping 10% in 2007-2008, but the rise in cotton prices has led to a 15-20% drop in production and job losses of 25,000.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Bank is financing a US dollar USD359 million health service improvement programme in Bangladesh, which will strengthen the country’s pharmaceutical distribution. The bank said the project would especially focus its efforts on the deprived areas of Sylhet and Chittagong.…

WINNERS

TURKEY

This was the year when Turkey really came into its own. With a well-established and successful clothing and textile industry, supping Europe, Russia and the Middle East, its industry this year laid claim to becoming a fashion centre. August’s Istanbul Fashion Week caught a lot of global attention with 21 catwalk shows, an audience of 40,000, and more than 500 overseas guests.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

27

THE BANGLADESH textile industry and its chemical suppliers will improve its environmental standards helped by a wing of the World Bank and five major clothing brands. The bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), working with H&M, Kappahl, Lindex, Levis and Mothercare, will use regional and international consultants to transfer knowledge to Bangladeshi consulting firms and auditors to work with textile companies to assess existing environmental practices, then improve waste-management and energy efficiency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has hailed as a success an initiative to use global expertise to clean up Bangladesh’s notoriously dirty wet textile processing units. The IFC claims it has helped install new cleaner and efficient production equipment in 12 factories thus far, reducing water consumption by annual 75 million litres and saving US dollars USD1million in operating costs.…

BY WANG FANGQING

TO many Chinese manufacturers, 2011 has been a difficult year – an unfortunate combination of the fast-rising Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY); soaring inflation; and a shortage of available investment. And the horizon is not getting brighter: at the beginning of October, for example, the US Senate passed a controversial currency bill, aimed at punishing China for ‘currency manipulation’ with retaliatory tariffs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BANGLADESH textile industry and its chemical suppliers will improve its environmental standards helped by a wing of the World Bank and five major clothing brands. The bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), working with H&M, Kappahl, Lindex, Levis and Mothercare, will use regional and international consultants to transfer knowledge to Bangladeshi consulting firms and auditors to work with textile companies to assess existing environmental practices, then improve waste-management and energy efficiency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BANGLADESH textile industry will be helped to improve its environmental standards through a wing of the World Bank. Its International Finance Corporation (IFC) will use regional and international consultants to transfer knowledge to Bangladeshi consulting firms and auditors to work with textile companies to assess existing environmental practices, then improve waste-management and energy efficiency.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE TEXTILE and clothing industry maybe almost unrecognisable from its organisation today in 10 years’ time: Chinese-owned offshore production; unstoppable e-commerce, demand for eco-textiles, shifting luxury markets to Asia’s new middle class, and higher prices for everyone, are just some predictions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SIGNIFICANT benefits to tobacco and tobacco product companies will present themselves if a deal on the long-running Doha Development Round is clinched next year at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). And some diplomats at the WTO’s base in Geneva are asking if agreement is not reached next year, whether the current negotiations will be scrapped.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA continues to attract international cosmetic and perfume brands as its consumer base and their spending grow. According to the United States Trade Mission to India, the country’s USD2.68 billion beauty and wellness market is growing at 15-20% annually, almost twice as fast as the United States and European markets.…

BY MINI PANT ZACHARIAH

BOB DYLAN was spot on: "One man’s loss always is another man’s gain." The stringent anti-smoking laws passed in India as a result of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) framework convention on tobacco control’s have stubbed out cigarettes from public places.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE TEXTILE and clothing industry maybe almost unrecognisable from its organisation today in 10 years’ time: Chinese-owned offshore production; unstoppable e-commerce, demand for eco-textiles, shifting luxury markets to Asia’s new middle class, and higher prices for everyone, are just some predictions.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY’S clothing and textile sector has rebounded this year on the back of strong sales to Europe and emerging markets, with clothing exports up 11% to US dollar USD9.5 billion as of August 2010, and textile exports reaching USD4.1 billion, up 23% on 2009.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE TEXTILE and clothing industry maybe almost unrecognisable from its organisation today in 10 years’ time: Chinese-owned offshore production; unstoppable e-commerce, demand for eco-textiles, shifting luxury markets to Asia’s new middle class, and higher prices for everyone, are just some predictions.…

BY MINI PANT ZACHARIAH

BOB DYLAN was spot on: "One man’s loss always is another man’s gain." The stringent anti-smoking laws passed in India as a result of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) framework convention on tobacco control’s have stubbed out cigarettes from public places.…

Kencho Wangdi

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is renowned for its untouched mountainous beauty. It is also known for its political innovation: it tobacco sales ban and use of ‘gross national happiness country’ as a yardstick for development. But it may soon become known as a higher education hub of Asia, if current plans go well.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LATEST annual report from European Union (EU) anti-fraud agency OLAF has shown how its investigators recouped Euro EUR30 million from a Chinese clothes rules of origin export scam. An OLAF probe of Bangladesh clothing origin certificates issued since 2005 showed "hundreds of thousands" were false – and in fact cargoes had come from China.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIAN garment exporters are losing to competition from China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, said a recent report released by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Shipments to the European Union (EU) and the US account for nearly two thirds of the country’s textile and apparel exports, but registered a decline by value of 11% in 2009.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN ESTABLISHED international model has been working with tribal women in Assam, India, to commercialise their traditional woven garments, and provide them with financial independence. Bangladesh-born Bibi Russell and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have been helping Bodo women blend traditional weaving techniques with high fashion design, production and marketing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IMAGINATION and guile continue to help fraudsters milk hundreds of millions of Euros from the European Union’s (EU) well-stocked budgets, explains the latest report from EU anti-fraud agency OLAF, writes Keith Nuthall.

OLAF spends a lot of money sniffing out fraud in the institutions and programmes of the EU and the payment of duties earmarked to fund this spending.…

BY WANG FANGQING

JAPAN’S leading food seasoning manufacturer Ajinomoto Co.,Inc is expanding across Asia and the Middle East. In Jakarta, Indonesia, Ajinomoto is building a new plant at about Japanese yen JPY6 billion (US dollar USD67.7 million), scheduled to start manufacturing food seasonings in 2012.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IT has been a tough last few years for north African knitwear, clothing and textile manufacturers, but the signs are that the knitwear sub-sector is outperforming its woven textile partners. With the European Union (EU) the region’s primary export destination, the region’s manufacturers have been hit by the end of restrictive quotas on imports from China in 2008, and then by the impact of the global financial crisis when demand slumped.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

PAINT companies looking for an edge may very well find themselves turning to robots, as the industry in the Asia-Pacific region increasingly embraces automation. Cost effective, efficient and consistent, robots are indeed replacing employees in paint manufacturing processes and applications of coatings to products such as cars and machinery.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

BANGLADESH’S knitwear industry owners have worked with police to quell violent strikes by workers who had been demanding higher wages in the country’s key clothing sector. The protests started June 19, spreading across four districts, and two days later 10,000s of workers pelted stones and set vehicles on fire while police used rubber bullets and tear gas in Ashulia, a clothing manufacturing centre about 30 kilometres from Dhaka.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE TOWN of Asbestos in French-speaking Québec, Canada – named after the mineral that underpins its economy – is waiting to see whether its provincial government will approve a Canadian dollar CAD58 million (US dollar USD56 million) loan enabling an underground mine to tap an immense deposit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MAJOR emerging markets Brazil and India have told the World Trade Organisation (WTO) they are fulfilling commitments to open their markets duty-free to the 49 poorest countries worldwide (called ‘least developed countries’ of LDC) mostly sub-Saharan African, Asian and Pacific islands.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

WITH an aim to moderate the domestic prices of cotton yarn, last week the Indian government said it would suspend a 7.5% duty concession for exporters – essentially raising the price of Indian cotton by 3.5% on world markets (because of a complex formula framing these tariffs).…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE BANGLADESHI demand for textile dyes and finishing chemicals such as sodium sulphate, oxalic acid and ferrous sulphate – imported from the UK, Asia and India – could deflate as the country’s US$10 billion apparel industry is facing a sudden rise in input costs.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

A SWIFT rise in the price of south Asian cotton yarn has forced closures in Bangladesh’s US$6.43 billion knitwear export sector and pushed some manufacturers to the brink as the whole industry struggles to overcome the costing problem.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE PRICE of yarn in Bangladesh has risen 20%-30% within the last month, affecting knitwear exporters. Fazlul Hoque, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said this would harm the sector and hit 150 to 200 factories.…

By Alan Osborn, International News Services

Nature has dealt a string of savage blows to the world’s hungry and poor over the past year or so but just when we might have hoped for rich countries and individuals to help out by digging a bit deeper into their pockets, along comes the economic recession. The crunch may or may not have imposed genuine limits on the cash available to alleviate drought and famine but it has certainly given cautious people a wonderful excuse for doing less, especially after the record food aid donations of 2008.

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

BANGLADESH knitwear companies such as Ambia Fashion Wear and Knitex International are looking forward to further relief following their government’s announcement last week of a second economic stimulus package within one year. It will funnel US$150 million to Bangladeshi export industries – mainly in the knitwear, garments and textiles sector – through direct export subsidies, fiscal policy support and assistance to lower input costs.…

By Raghavendra Verma, in New Delhi

India is the latest example of a country struggling against a Maoist insurgency fuelled by rural inequality, showing how emerging market governments worldwide risk harbouring violent rebel groups while promoting economic development.

In Peru, the notorious Maoist guerrilla group ‘The Shining Path’ continue operations, funded by the illicit drug trade, after a major insurgency in the 1980s and 1990s failed to achieve its political ends. In Nepal, an armed insurgency was successful, ending with a peace accord in 2006, its Communist Party of Nepal (Unified-Maoist) (CPN-UM) joining the country’s parliament and briefly leading its government.…

By Raghavendra Verma, in New Delhi

India is the latest example of a country struggling against a Maoist insurgency fuelled by rural inequality, showing how emerging market governments worldwide risk harbouring violent rebel groups while promoting economic development.

In Peru, the notorious Maoist guerrilla group ‘The Shining Path’ continue operations, funded by the illicit drug trade, after a major insurgency in the 1980s and 1990s failed to achieve its political ends. In Nepal, an armed insurgency was successful, ending with a peace accord in 2006, its Communist Party of Nepal (Unified-Maoist) (CPN-UM) joining the country’s parliament and briefly leading its government.

Other Maoist groups continue to operate in pockets worldwide, for instance in The Philippines, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. But it is maybe in India where the phenomena has most prominence today. The Indian government, for its part, has identified the Maoist insurgency as a leading domestic security concern and it is unclear how this insurgency will end.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

STREET protests are wracking Bangladesh’s urban centres as its 2.5 million knitwear and garment workers protest against closure of factories and demand a raise in their minimum hourly wages from US$0.11 to US$0.35. Last week, (October 31) four people including a policewoman were killed and over 100 injured in clashes with police at Tongi, 20 km north of capital Dhaka.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

AN INDIAN textile mills federation is demanding an immediate ban on cotton exports as weak production in the country is leading to a "grave situation" for industry supplies. The Southern India Mill Association says a delayed monsoon and heavy floods in many cotton growing areas may lead to a 10% lower output in the world’s second largest producer of cotton.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THE NUCLEAR power authorities of Bangladesh deny they have reached terms with Russia’s Rosatom atomic energy corporation, despite Russian claims that it had secured the deal to build Bangladesh’s long-planned nuclear plant. Mohammed Muzammel Haque, chief engineer at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), claims Bangladesh has opted to build a 1,100 MW plant.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CORRUPTION begets fraud and fraud begets corruption, and there are few harder crimes to tackle than complex frauds rooted in institutionalised and culturally tolerated corruption. As a result, the work of international organisation Transparency International has been key in fighting fraud worldwide, especially that linked to corruption.…

BY MARK GODFREY

AUTOMOBILE sales are down slightly this year in Bangladesh, after a decade of dramatic growth in vehicle ownership. Fluctuating orders for the country’s export-dependent garments industry is depressing sales of vehicles, commented Shah Khaled Pavel, assistant manager for sales at Navana Ltd, Bangladesh’s largest dealership for new Toyota cars.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA’S cosmetics industry appears to have taken the international economic downturn in its stride as the US$950 million market grew by more than 15% in 2008-09, according to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

All the major brands speaking to Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics are registering a positive growth and companies remain confident about the future prospects.…

BY MARK GODFREY

INVESTMENT in Bangladeshi dyeing capacity appears stalled as growth in the country’s garment exports slows. Prices for imported dyes are also dipping. Yet given long-term steady growth expected in the country’s apparel industry, there are opportunities for dye importers.…

BY MARK GODFREY

WITH the global recession raging across most of the world, Bangladesh’s knitwear sector is maintaining a strong commercial position and looks better geared to survive the economic downturn than some of its regional competitors. Orders have only dipped marginally say local knitwear producers.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THE EMPTINESS of the Giordano store in the departures terminal at massive Baiyun International Airport outside the southern Chinese megapolis of Guangzhou suggests hard times for Hong Kong’s most vaunted and ambitious apparel retailer. This is the capital of wealthy Guangzhou province after all, the manufacturing base for most of Hong Kong’s garment firms.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE INDIAN paint and coating industry is currently passing through a significant transitional phase – being forced to shift its production from solvent-based to water-based products. The high crude oil prices in 2008 so increased the cost of raw materials that despite the fall in prices from last summer, many paint manufacturers have had little option but to move away from oil-based coatings.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

POTATOES have become a lucrative cash crop for many developing countries, but this boom may shudder to a halt because of the credit crunch and its spawn, the global recession. UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) statistics in a report ‘New light on a hidden treasure’ claim the potato has become the world’s number one non-cereal food crop, with global production reaching a record 325 million tonnes in 2007: more than half in developing countries.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE INDIAN textile and clothing industry is striving to make its own at least 10% of China’s annual garment export hail of US$115 billion: "This is not difficult to achieve because of cost factor and various other reasons", said Darshan Lal Sharma, managing director of Vardhman Yarns & Threads and a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) national committee on textiles.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi; and KEITH NUTHALL

AN INTERNATIONAL conference took place this month in Hong Kong (May 11-15) and adopted a new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) convention on globally applicable ship recycling regulations for international shipping, including oil and gas tankers.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the unexpected gainers, especially as 75.83% of its national exports come from knitwear (39.21%) and woven goods (36.62%), primarily to the European Union (EU) and US markets. The expectation might be that exports of Bangladeshi ready made garments would slide in accordance with the drop in global stock markets and plummeting retail sales.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BANGLADESH’S knitwear sector is undergoing unprecedented growth: averaging 24% per year over the past 12 years, and an astonishing 45% in the first three months of this fiscal year, with exports projected to reach US$10 billion by 2011.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BANGLADESH’S fledgling anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime faces an uphill struggle, with the country ranked as one of the most corrupt on earth and money laundering equivalent to 13% of the country’s GDP. Furthermore, Abul Barkat, Professor of Economics at Dhaka University told the Money Laundering Bulletin, an estimated US$7 billion flows into Bangladesh through illegal alternative remittance systems, and there is an ‘economy within an economy’ generating some US$300 million in profits every year for Islamist political parties linked to fundamentalist and terrorist activities.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES, DOMINIQUE PATTON and LUCY JONES

The growth in outsourcing within the clothing and textile sector worldwide has highlighted a key issue, and that is the relative merits of running an integrated company that handles basic production and design, or relying on a string of specialist suppliers to deliver the goods, from fibre supplies, to textile manufacture, design, clothing assembly and retail.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

EVERY year villages and fields in Bangladesh are trampled by herds of roaming wild Asian elephants, destroying houses and gorging on crops central to people’s livelihoods. Villagers are also frequently wounded or even killed warding off elephants, so what do Bangladeshis think should be done?…

By Paul Cochrane

The old dictum goes – ‘one man’s loss is another man’s gain’. Curiously, in a globalised world in the midst of a financial downturn, this saying is particularly true, with certain countries unexpectedly benefiting from an otherwise near universal crisis.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BANGLADESH’S clothing and ready made garment sector is undergoing unprecedented expansion, registering an average growth of 20% year on year, and with plans to be one of the top three exporters globally by 2013.

In the first four months of Bangladesh’s fiscal year, from July to September 2008, the sector reported 45% growth in exports of woven and knitwear to US$3.35 billion, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exports Association (BGMEA).…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BANGLADESH’S US$100 million annual dye and associated chemicals market has reported double digit growth over the past three years on the back of the rapid expansion in the ready made garments and knitwear sectors.

"Bangladesh is a growing market for dyeing, especially since 2005 as more factories are opening," said Wohid Uddin Mahmud, managing partner in Technocrat Enterprise, agent for textile dyeing, washing and laundry machines for Italy’s Flainox, the US’s X-Rite and South Korea’s DaeLim Starlet.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

PLAYERS serving the US$900 million Bangladeshi tobacco market have contracted over the past several years from 15 companies to just seven – with Dhaka Tobacco and British American Tobacco (BAT) now joint number one companies in terms of quantity.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI

LIKE other nurses in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, religion played a part in convincing Dechen Om that she should become a nurse.

A Buddhist, like most of her co-patriots, she believed that by becoming a nurse she would get the chance to serve ill people and earn good karma so in the next life she would be born into a good family.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

CHINA’S entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2002 and the recent end of quotas in the US and European markets have created gigantic changes in the textile industry worldwide, with developing markets like those in Latin America expected to suffer the most from these shifts.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi; SAEED AKHTAR BALOCH, in Lahore; and KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo

THE SOUTH Asian knitwear industry is experienced mixed fortunes at present, with the impact of China’s production boom and the global liberalisation of the textile sector still changing sub-continental fortunes.…

BY DOMINIQUE PATTON, in Beijing, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi, and KEITH NUTHALL

TIME was when the Chinese clothing industry was all about exports. But the astonishing success of China’s export industry has inspired competitors, making life harder for its exporters.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

AS one of South America’s largest economies and the world’s leading

exporter of soy and sunflower oil, Argentina experienced a GDP growth rate

of 8.4 percent in 2006 and 7.9 percent a year earlier, according to the US

Energy and Information Administration.…

SAEED AKHTAR BALOCH, in Lahore

THE PAKISTANI biscuit and confectionery sector has been faring well, with 12-15% growth last year, but there are storm clouds on the horizons because of skyrocketing prices of sugar and flour. In recent years, these ingredient problems have been overshadowed by massive domestic demand, fed by more than 255 biscuit and wafer manufacturing units (42 mechanised) with an installed capacity of 47,000 metric tonnes for biscuits and 5,200 metric tonnes for wafers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are researching the genes of black Bengal dwarf goats, a key leather livestock in Bangladesh, to improve breeding techniques and the species’ health.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPECIAL training programmes are being launched by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to spread Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) procedures in Bangladesh’s food manufacturing sector. These formal food health check systems are not widespread in many developing countries, lessening the appeal of their food exports to high value rich county markets.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
WITH Sainsbury removing all plastic carrier bags from its checkouts for last Friday (April 27), handing out reusable paper bags made from 100% recyclable material, another nail is being hammered into the global reputation of this ubiquitous packaging.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, has signed a deal with the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies to help raise the social and environmental standards of the country’s clothing manufacture sector towards globally-recognised models. With Bangladesh fighting to maintain the competitiveness of its key 2.2 million employee clothing sector against Chinese competition, the IFC has concluded in a statement: “Compliance with global environmental and social standards is a critical issue.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH global trade ever increasing, and the power of brands to generate massive profits made starkly clear with every company report, the counterfeiting of goods is one of international organised crime’s major boom areas.

It is a serious problem for legitimate business, especially those based in developed countries with tough piracy controls, who are seeking to export to poorer countries where intellectual property crimes are a low priority.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INDIA has been branded a serious hotspot for counterfeit books, in a global European Commission survey of countries where product fakes are manufactured. The Commission’s directorate general (DG) for trade gathered information from companies, diplomatic missions and trade federations.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

CHINESE exporters have emerged as winners in an ugly spat between South Africa’s retail industry, the Pretoria government and local unions over quota limits on China-made clothes and textile imports.

Chinese exporters will now be able to sell a full range of clothes and textiles to South Africa until January 1, 2007, avoiding a quota system which was due to go into effect on September 28.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

SOUTH African retailers have been warned by their government that they could be guilty of "treason" if they try to get around quotas placed on Chinese clothing and textile imports.

The bizarre and disconcerting warning from Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka came after leading retailers warned that an imminent cap on Chinese textile imports would force them to import alternative supplies from other foreign producers – including those in Vietnam, Bangladesh and eastern Europe – whose goods are cheaper than local manufacturers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE REIMPOSITION of quota limits last year on some Chinese textile products has driven official overseas sales down, according to European Commission figures. During the first quarter of 2006, China saw an overall decrease in exports to the EU of minus 12% in volume, although unit prices increased by 9%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) has launched a research project aiming to document the effects of long-term, low exposure to toxic metals, such as mercury and lead, with the aim of influencing – probably tightening – future pollution controls.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) has launched a research project aiming to document the effects of long-term, low exposure to toxic metals, such as mercury and lead, to influence future pollution controls. Although many metals have been proven toxic in sufficient quantities, much less is known about the damage caused by trace elements in water, the atmosphere and soil.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

THEY may take a few years to come into effect, but binding international rules now under discussion, to cover ship recycling will "green" the dirty and unacceptable face of an unregulated industry notorious for environmental damage and appalling working conditions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNESCO, the UN’s scientific and cultural organisation, has launched a filter removing arsenic from water and which could save tens of millions of lives. Unveiled at its headquarters in Paris, UNESCO said the filter was “simple and ecologically sound”, using as an absorbent recycled iron oxide coated sand produced as a by-product in groundwater treatment plants “available at no cost almost everywhere”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S premier anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, has again hailed northern Europe as the region most free of graft, bribes and kickbacks. Such financial crime is rarest in Iceland, says the 2005 corruption rankings from the German group, with Finland and New Zealand tying at second place, Denmark, fourth, Sweden sixth, and Norway eighth.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNESCO, the UN’s scientific and cultural organisation, has launched a filter removing arsenic from water and which could, it claims, save tens of millions of lives from a pollutant created by many mines. Unveiled at its headquarters in Paris, UNESCO said the filter was “simple and ecologically sound”, using as an absorbent recycled iron oxide coated sand produced as a by-product in groundwater treatment plants “available at no cost almost everywhere”.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI
BANGLADESH’S paint industry claims to be thriving on an upbeat construction and healthy economy, despite the knocks it has suffered because of global liberalisation of the country’s key textile industry this January. Piggy-backing on a real estate boom, the Bangladeshi market for residential paints and wall coverings continues to maintain a relentless upwards march of around 7% a year.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
FIGHTING money laundering is about getting your hands dirty. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) may pronounce global standards that it would like jurisdictions to follow, but all governments need help, and often regional bodies are better placed to do the detailed work than more remote global organisations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA’S competitors in the race to exploit this year’s abolition of clothing and textile import quotas have been holding their own in sales to the European Union (EU), new trade figures show. Released by the European Commission, the statistics illustrate how China has – as expected – grown EU exports sharply: from January to May, it sold Euro 7.3 billion’s worth of clothing and textile products, up from Euro 5.4 billion the previous year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL tea production hit a new record high in 2004, growing 2% to reach an estimated 3.2 million tonnes, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has reported. The expansion was mainly due to increases in Turkey, China, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, offsetting declines in other major producing countries, notably India and Bangladesh.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BANGLADESH’S first quarterly results following the abolition of textile trade quotas worldwide have been buoyed by the success of its knitwear industry in exporting to the European Union (EU). Prof Mustafizur Rahman, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has been quoted in Dhaka’s press saying that the knitwear sector had actually enabled the country to grow its garment exports from January to March by 9.5% compared with the same period in 2004.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI
“NO smoking on the dance floor guys, please,” the DJ screams into the microphone of a nightclub in Thimphu, the capital of the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.

But the younger members the country’s English speaking elite continue to writhe on the dance floor, fingers gripping half-smoked cigarettes, clouds of smoke wafting through the neon light, even though since March 1 public smoking has been illegal.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI
THE TINY Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has never been if great – if any – interest to the tobacco industry, until this January 1, when it became the first country in the world to ban domestic tobacco sales.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LEATHER industry could shed significant numbers of jobs in poor and rich countries following a successful World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Development Round agreement on industrial and textile goods. Its aim is to slash tariffs across the board, and in that instance, said a UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, there will be winners and losers.…

Keith Nuthall
CIVIL unrest could be sparked in smaller developing countries next year by the abolition of World Trade Organisation (WTO) textile trade quotas and resulting loss of export markets to Chinese competition, new European Union

(EU) trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has claimed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GLOBAL Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank are planning to bring off-grid renewable electricity, especially via solar power home systems, to an additional 50,000 Bangladesh households by 2008.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL corruption watchdog Transparency International has confirmed Britain’s place as one of the world’s cleaner countries, ranking it 11th in its annual league table of government probity. In a report containing few surprises, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland and Singapore were lauded has having the most honest governments, while the graft-ridden administrations of Nigeria, Bangladesh and Haiti were bottom of the table.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REPRESENTATIVES of 40 governments have heard how space technology can be used to boost drinking water quality worldwide. A conference organised by the Vienna-based United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs heard how satellites can aid groundwater monitoring, flood predictions, lake and river water movement assessments, and other key tasks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA has resisted calls at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by its developing country competitors for special efforts to protect them from economic dislocation caused by January’s end of textile import quotas. Mauritius, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uganda pushed at a WTO Council on the Trade in Goods for a WTO secretariat study identifying the likely problems and recommending solutions.…

KEITH NUTHALL
OUTGOING European Union (EU) trade commissioner Pascal Lamy has tried to advise textile exporting developing countries on not being steamrollered by China when textile and clothing quotas are scrapped this December. He told the European Parliament’s trade committee that countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka should exploit continuing tariff preferences for their exports to the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BLOW to smaller developing countries far from key American and European markets from the abolition of protective quotas in January could be cushioned by the continuing use of preferential tariffs, a new World Trade Organisation (WTO) report has predicted.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi has launched talks with member countries on maybe staging an emergency meeting of the WTO council for trade in goods on the oncoming abolition of textiles and clothing quotas. He has been consulting on this idea, proposed by Mauritius, Bangladesh and Nepal, which want the council to examine the costs of adjusting to a global quota-free regime from January, under the WTO’s agreement on textiles and clothing.…

Keith Nuthall
AS the European Union (EU) prepares to abolish its remaining restrictive import quotas for textile and clothing products, the latest European Commission statistics confirm that China is best placed to exploit this liberalisation. For 2003, China exported more textile products to the expanded EU, with 10.7% of imports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ATTACK has been made on the United States, European Union (EU), and other textile importing jurisdictions for waiting until the last minute to abolish most restrictive quotas under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Textile and Clothing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TRADE liberalisation is not enriching the world’s poor, claims a new UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, with increased exports not necessarily boosted local consumption. Bangladesh, Guinea and Uganda were the only least developed countries where this happened in the 1990s.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA is the exporter to watch following the abolition of import quotas for textile accessories and footwear this December under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) agreement on textiles and clothing (ATC). Indeed, a detailed report written for the European Commission on this major liberalisation predicts that not only are Chinese export volumes expected to rise, and developed country production levels to fall, but China is expected to exploit its bulk-manufacturing expertise to seize markets from developing country Asian competitors.…

BY MARK ROWE
WHEN anti-money laundering officials draw up their lists of most notorious nations, Burma – or Myanmar by its official name – is routinely identified as one of the murkiest epicentres of money laundering. Ignore the fact that Burma has only been classified as a non-cooperative country or territory (NCCT) by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) anti-money laundering body for just three years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUP of least developed countries have called on the European Union to increase by 20 times within 10 years the amount of sugar it imports duty-free. Sudan, Mozambique, Bangladesh and Nepal want duty-free quotas raised to more than 1.6 million tonnes by 2012/13.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN has been given a relatively clean bill of health in the latest Transparency International corruption rankings, being viewed as joint-11th least-corrupt country in the world, sharing its billing with Canada and Luxembourg. Finland was the most honest place in which to do business said the pressure group’s survey, followed by Iceland and the Denmark plus New Zealand at joint third.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has joined formal World Trade Organisation (WTO) consultations between Bangladesh and India over New Delhi’s imposition of anti-dumping duties on Bangladeshi exports of lead acid batteries. Brussels said it “shared a substantial trade interest” in the dispute, which could go to binding arbitration if it is not solved by the talks.…

BY RICHARD HURST
Nigeria is widely regarded as the country as the hub of money-laundering activities in the region, despite having a reasonably comprehensive set of anti-money laundering laws in place. Press and non-governmental organisation reports have highlighted cases where Nigerian banks have been hit by money launderers trying to conceal illicit earnings from corruption, the arms trade, narcotics and the e-mail frauds.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SOUTH Asia regional meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has agreed to set up a Central Reporting Agency (CRA), which would evaluate ground and airborne ADS/CPDLC systems performance in an operational trial for the Bay of Bengal area.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BANGLADESH has launched the first stage of disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a row with India over its imposition of anti-dumping duties on Bangladeshi exports of lead acid batteries. Dhaka claims that New Delhi broke 17 WTO rules in its erection of the tariffs and has called for formal consultations on the issue at the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
RUMOURS about possible deals involving Bata India with UK multinational Reebok and US retail giant WalMart have been pushing the Indian company’s stock price to high levels. Talk about Reebok focused on a possible partnership with Bata India to sell shoes in Bangladesh, while WalMart rumours suggested that the American company was looking at using the Indian shoemaker for an outsourcing contract.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SHIPBREAKING, a ready source of scrap steel, is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. What is more, agreed a recent meeting of experts from the International Metalworkers Federation, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and others, it need not be so deadly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SURPRISINGLY wide support for the west African plan to rid the world of cotton subsidies has been voiced at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit, in Cancun, Mexico. The Canadian and Australian governments yesterday (10 Sept) threw their developed country weight behind the plan, as did WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Heath Organisation announced that 40 countries and the European Union signed the new global Framework Convention on Tobacco Control within a week of it being agreed. Signatories included Britain, Spain, Iran, South Africa, Bangladesh and France.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Heath Organisation announced that 40 countries and the European Union signed the new global Framework Convention on Tobacco Control within a week of it being agreed. Signatories included Britain, Spain, Iran, South Africa, Bangladesh and France.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE US government has signed a bilateral textile pact with Vietnam that gives the south-east Asian country the most generous access to the American market ever granted in an initial two-country agreement, according to a critical American Textile Manufacturers’ Institute (ATMI).…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
US oil and gas major Unocal has begun developing Bangladesh’s Moulavi Bazar gas field to meet the country’s domestic demand, allowing Dhaka to export natural gas to India from existing fields. Moulavi Bazar could provide 100 million cubic feet of gas per day.…

BY EDWARD PETERS
FOR a snapshot of the current state of the Chinese tobacco industry, casual observers need go no further than the massive adverts blanketing some of the main highways in Shanghai, which is generally considered to be the most go-ahead city in the People’s Republic (PRC).…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SLOWLY but surely, the world is becoming a little more open and honest in its business transactions. Bribery and corruption have existed as long as people have traded with each other and in some parts of the world remain as matter-of-fact as ever.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A MEMORANDUM of Understanding has been signed by nine south Asian electricity utilities regarding the promotion of regional cooperation in energy development. As a result, utilities from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal will share information on best practice regarding energy generation and management.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND MONICA DOBIE
CONSIDERING the high value of many cargos shipped around the world, a rational observer might assume that pirates would ignore fishing boats in favour of vessels carrying spices, cigarettes, alcohol, metals or electrical goods. Not so.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the UN Conference on Trade and Development are developing a task force helping developing countries establish administrative regimes guarantee that locally produced organic foods were made without artificial aids. UNCTAD promotes organic production as sustainable, because its labour intensity and lack of expensive chemical inputs matches poor countries’ economic realities.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
CEYLON Carriers Ltd., and the Transport Corporation of India have signed an agreement to launch a cost-effective system of cargo transportation in Sri Lanka. The partners will introduce a new Express Cargo System in the country, extending an air freight and shipping network that already covers India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank is to extend for another five years a stipend scheme that has successfully encouraged poor and rural families in Bangladesh to send their girls to secondary schools that were until recently predominantly male.

Working with the country’s directorate of secondary and higher education, which operates the programme, the bank is to loan Dhaka US$120.9 million interest free.…

Keith Nuthall
INDIA V USA

THE EUROPEAN Union and Bangladesh are to join formal World Trade Organisation talks launched by India, which is challenge changes made by the USA to its rules of origin legislation, that New Delhi claims favour the American and European Union textile industries, unfairly discriminating against Indian producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EAST Asian shipping companies are expected to receive a boost from the ratification by China of the Bangkok Agreement, making one of Asia’s oldest trade accords the world’s largest in terms of market potential.

With China joining the arrangement – which is based on shared trade preferences – it becomes the largest regional trade arrangement, opening up a market with a combined population of more than 2.5 billion, said the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, (ESCAP).…