Sri Lankan apparel exports declined by 11.3 percent to $822.4 million in the first two months of the current year compared to exports of $927.5 million in the corresponding period of the last year. According to the data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, textiles and apparel accounted for about 61.95 percent of all industrial exports made by the South Asian nation during the two-month period. In fact, the fall in export value has been higher in February compared to January. Export ear

The Union Government has been focusing on development of machinery for weaving and processing sector. It has supported loom development projects on public-private partnership mode and also cleared a project to set up a common engineering facility centre. If segments such as weaving and garmenting do well, demand for yarn will also pick up and this will drive investment. According to R. Rajendran, president of Textile Machinery Manufacturers’ Association, reduction in allocation of funds for T

Bangladesh Cotton Development Board has adopted a five-year project titled "Extensive Cotton Cultivation" considering importance of the sector and its further development. According to experts, cotton production can be enhanced to around 0.8 to 1.0 million bales from the existing hardly 0.1 million bales annually. On successful implementation of the project, the cotton production will increase many fold and that will save huge foreign currency. At a regional workshop titled "Prospect of Co

In the first three months of 2017, YTD imports of textile yarns amounted to 771 million sq m in terms of quantity, a 0.9% increase relative to the same period the year before. Despite the increase, the YTD value of imported yarns dropped 1.7% to $302.89m from $308m the year before. The increase in quantity imports was most likely due to cheaper supply of imported yarns, as the YTD value per sq m dropped 2.6% to around 0.39 per sq from 0.40 per sq m the year before. This has been good for Amer

Textile sector representatives has urged the government to reduce high cost of doing business, clearance of refunds, extension of long term finance facility for garment plants, reduction in minimum turnover tax and exemption of five exporting sectors from further tax. In a Joint press conference, the chairmen and office bearers of all textile industry associations pointed out that an immediate reduction in electricity tariff to Rs7/kWh without levy of surcharges and across the board supply of

The garment accessories sector is an emerging industry contributing much to the RMG export earnings, but it does not enjoy cash incentives against export The manufacturers of garment accessories demanded the same 15% corporate tax as RMG makers in the budget for Fiscal Year 2017-18. Mohammad Moazzem Hossain Moti, acting president of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), made the demand in his budget reaction on Sunday. Since t

'The global buyers prefer some accessories from multinational companies on the grounds of quality, which Bangladesh has already' The garment accessories sub-sector is taking on more importance for Bangladesh with the start of direct exports to global brands, and could see a three-fold increase in export revenues in the next eight years. According to data from the Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), the accessory sector earned $6

Apparel up to Rs 1,000, biscuits and footwear will get cheaper, while gold will get slightly costlier from next month as the Centre and states, excepting West Bengal, resolve to roll out GST from July 1. The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state counterparts, decided to tax packaged and branded food items at 5 per cent, tendu leaves at 18 per cent and bidi at the highest rate of 28 per cent. Unlike cigarettes, there will be no cess on bidi. While bis

Textile industry exppressed satisfaction with the proposed goods and services tax (GST) regime as it hails the dawn of fibre-neutrality in the sector. Both fibres have been exempted from the porposed tax structure, while keeping the value chain within the purview of GST. Garments makers and even denim companies are mostly relieved as they see no drastic change in prices following GST. Synthetic fabric makers, however, feel the pinch in the wake of a higher input tax being levied on them. E

Trading was slow on the cotton market on Friday amid lack of interest from buyers. The Karachi Cotton Association kept its spot rate unchanged. Brokers said that spinning-mill owners were not taking interest in buying as they were waiting for the arrival of new crop. The arrival of new crop in Sindh has started and the first ginning factory will start working from June 5. Cotton growers were also facing hardship to irrigate their crop due to the shortage of canal water for irrigation an