Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), told a press conference in Hanoi last week that the sector posted export revenue of only US$12.76 billion in the first six months, growing 4.72% year-on-year but representing just 41% of the full-year target. Again, the growth was mainly driven by foreign direct investment (FDI) firms while domestic peers struggled to find new orders in the period. VITAS forecast finding new orders would continue to be tough and

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has urged the European Union (EU) to terminate an old practice in anti-dumping investigations of Chinese products by the end of this year. The "surrogate system" adopted by the EU is set to expire in December, according to a protocol of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on China's accession 15 years ago, an MOC statement said on Thursday. All WTO members should abide by the protocol, regardless of their domestic standards or any other issues, including i

Nearly 800 readymade garment factories have been closed down for various reasons, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has said. “Of them, production at 39 factories were totally stopped while production at 42 other factories were partially suspended due to their failure to ensure safety of the workers,” he told the Parliament on Monday. Tofail said there were 5,190 RMG factories in the country. “Of them 4,834 are export oriented.” The 2013 Rana Plaza disaster that killed over 1,100 RMG worke

India’s cotton output is likely to decline 12.4 per cent to hit the lowest in five years for the current crop year (October 2015–September 2016), due to crop damage in major producing states. On Wednesday, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) under the Union lowered the forecast it had made in February, saying the picture was now clearer. Output is now estimated at 33.8 million bales (a bale is 170 kg) for the current crop year, as against 38.6 mn bales the previous year (when drought had hit many

China's ministry of commerce (MOFCOM) has announced imposition of anti-dumping duties on acrylic fibres originating in Japan, South Korea and Turkey with effect from July 14, 2016. The anti-dumping duties would be levied on tariff numbers 55013000, 55033000 and 55063000. The rates to be levied on Japanese producers are: Japan Exlan Co – 16.1 per cent, Mitsubishi Rayon Co – 15.8 per cent, Toray Industries – 16.0 per cent, and other Japanese producers – 16.1 per cent. For acrylic fibre from

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 191 basis points to 6.6860 against the U.S. dollar Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The decline came after the currency witnessed sharp fluctuations in the previous week. On July 19, the central parity rate of the yuan weakened to 6.6971 against the U.S. dollar, the weakest level in five and a half years, before the currency strengthened for three days in a row. Chinese central

Exports of textile and clothing dropped by more than seven per cent to $12.46 billion in the outgoing fiscal year (2015-16) from $13.45bn a year ago, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. These exports stood at $987.16 million in June, a fall of 8pc compared to $1.08bn in the same month of the last year. The textile group, which has 60pc share in Pakistan’s overall exports, has been witnessing a decline in the last couple of years. The readymade garments sector was the only bri

In June 2016, Brazilian cotton imports totaled 655,000 tons, a massive rise of 177 per cent over its previous month, where it stood at 236,000 tons and also much higher than 158,000 tons in June 2015. As per data from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (SECEX), Brazilian cotton exports however dropped in June for the sixth consecutive month and were down 1.8 per cent from May 2016. But, in the first six months of 2016, global sales were still 42.9 per cent higher compared to the same period of

The US looking towards doubling its export of cotton to Bangladesh over the next five years, which we feel is possible as Bangladesh is the number one importer of cotton now, said CCI President Keith T Lucas Lucas. Last December, Bangladesh became the largest cotton importer worldwide with China stopping cotton imports due to its previous stockpiling.Moreover, with the country's aim to hit $50 billion in garment exports by 2021 is also an important factor for higher cotton consumption. They a

The textile manufacturing market in Serbia is expected to grow at a modest rate, posting a CAGR of 3% during 2015-2020, a recent study on the sector in the former Yugoslav state reported. Backed by government policies and favourable trade agreements with the European Union (EU) apart from its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Serbia's textile sector is predicted to accelerate further with improvement in the business environment and inflow of FDI, noted the study by Tech