Almost 85 per cent of female workers in the readymade garment sector face verbal harassment in their workplace, according to a report launched Monday. The watch report showed 84.7 per cent of female workers in the RMG factories faced verbal harassment including scolding and use of slang by their superiors, while 71.3 per cent of female workers experienced mental harassment at their workplace. Workers complained that the authorities scolded them regularly and very often they had to hear sla

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Monday that the Belt and Road Initiative is an extraordinary venture, which will change the landscape of the world through its development agenda and win-win cooperation. The minister made the remarks during a photo exhibition on the Chinese New Year in the ministry and said that the initiative signals the hope and spirit of South-South Cooperation. Asif said the visionary concept of the initiative is a harbinger of shared dreams, co

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has reiterated his welcoming attitude for investment from China on Tuesday, describing China's business community as "one of our partners in building the high-income, high skilled Malaysia of the future." Najib made the remarks when attending a luncheon in celebration of the Chinese New Year, which was organized by Malaysia-China Business Council, of which he is a patron. He told the hundreds of guests in attendance, including Chinese Ambassador Bai Tia

A meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile on Friday discussed various matters including export of 300,000mt sugar from surplus stock and establishment of TCP Rice Testing Laboratory.Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) Chairman Mushtaq Ahmed Shaikh briefed the committee about the performance of TCP, measures for procurement of 300,000mt of sugar from surplus sugar stock and export thereof and establishment of state-of-the-art TCP Rice Testing Laboratory pro

The stakeholders of cotton supply chain have constituted a Council of Cotton Stakeholders to finalise a joint strategy on achieving cotton production targets set under the Cotton Mission 2025 by the Government of Punjab. Provision of a level playing field all across entire value chain in Punjab by bringing down cost of inputs, improvement in productivity/yields through introduction of better cottonseed technology, upgrading harvest technology, improved extension services to provide timely inf

Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has announced that the country’s cotton exports declined by 36.7 per cent, falling to 128,300 kantars during the first quarter of the 2017-2018 agricultural season ending November compared to 202,500 kantars during the same period in the previous season. A kantar equals 45.02 kilograms. CAPMAS attributed the decline to decreasing area of cultivation, according to a report in an Egyptian newspaper. The quantity of cott

According to Tran Cong Khanh, Head of the Labourer Management Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority (HEPZA), HEPZA now has 290,000 workers, of whom 95 percent have returned to work after the Tet holidays. The rest either took a further leave or changed their jobs. According to the Centre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information (FALMI) in Ho Chi Minh City, the city saw a shortage of 30,000 workers after the Tet holidays, mostly in t

Raw cotton export form the country during first seven months of current financial year grew by 48.72 percent as compared to corresponding period of last financial year. During the period from July-January, 2017-18, about 33,306 metric tons of raw cotton worth $54.995 million was exported as compared to the exports of 21,352 metric tons valuing $36.951 million of same period last year. According to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 284,799 metric tons of cotton yarn valuing $739.267 million

Indian textiles minister Smriti Irani recently announced a proposal to jointly set up a yarn depot with the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to give a further boost to the textile sector in the state, which garnered proposals worth Rs 7,000 crore in the run-up to the two day investors' summit that concluded in state capital Lucknow on February 22. As subsidies hardly reached weavers, they can directly purchase yarn at subsidised rates at the depot, a top Indian newspaper quoted the minister as

Organic cotton cultivated in Pakistan, primarily in Balochistan, will be certified by global agencies from next year, it was announced in a recent meeting in Karachi organised by the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan (WWF-P) and the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA). WWF-P will supervise the procedure with a certified verifying body inspecting the crop’s quality. The meeting discussed efforts under way to produce certified organic cotton in the country, including issues related to seed, production